Fresh brew: New coffee producer in town

Christian Waskiewicz doesn't want to create the next Starbucks. The 47-year-old founder of Alpen Sierra Mountain Roasted Coffee said he just wants to maintain his company's near 20-year reputation as a high-quality niche coffee producer: That's why he relocated the roasting operation from Lake Tahoe to Minden.

"The Tahoe Basin is a tourist-based economy, great for retail, but it does not facilitate manufacturing," Waskiewicz said on Friday, in his new roasting facility off Airport Road.

Waskiewicz grew up in El Dorado County, Calif., and worked for a local coffee roaster while finishing up his senior year in college. During a rainy trek in the Austrian Alps, he envisioned a small, hands-on roasting company based in the similar mountain climate of Lake Tahoe.

In 1991, from inside a South Lake Tahoe cabin, Waskiewicz started Alpen Sierra.

"I loved the industry and still have a passion for what I do," he said.

Studying Germanics in college, Waskiewicz visited Germany several times and learned old-fashioned roasting techniques. The small-batch roasters he now uses are based on German models from the early 1900s.

"We are what you would call a micro-roaster, a boutique or niche producer," he said.

"We produce about 110,000 pounds of coffee a year."

Now a 20-person operation, Alpen Sierra offers more than 30 specialty coffees from 18 different countries, including USDA certified organic coffees. The company emphasizes heirloom varietals, coffees unique to an area and family of growers.

"We seek to establish direct relationship purchasing," said Waskiewicz , who travels to many of the coffee-producing countries himself. "Coffee is an $11 billion industry and the second largest traded global commodity behind crude oil.

"Sustainability is important. You have to make sure money is going back into the schools and infrastructure of the farmers."

Waskiewicz dipped his hands into a bin of roasted Ethiopian coffee beans. He brought a handful to his face and inhaled the dark, caramelized aroma.

"If we don't take care of the folks growing this stuff, we won't have what we love," he said.

More than 120 restaurants and stores throughout the Sierra Nevada region sell Alpen Sierra coffee, including Lira's Market and Coffee On Main in Minden.

"We focus on quality and word-of-mouth. We answer the phone a lot," Waskiewicz said. "The businesses we choose to work with are quality food partners."

Alpen Sierra's sole coffee house remains in South Lake Tahoe, but the company sells coffee directly from their new facility in Minden and also takes orders via Internet.

"I've had my eye on the Valley for a long time," Waskiewicz said. "There's an increasing demand in Nevada."

Waskiewicz has invested more than his business in Carson Valley. He and his wife Megan have purchased a house in Gardnerville where they plan to raise their three young children.

"I think a retail store down here is on the horizon," he said.

For more information about Alpen Sierra Mountain Roasted Coffee, call 783-7263 or visit www.alpensierra.com.