Lincoln’s Coffee Roaster Celebrates 30 Years

By Randy Bretz, always in search of a good cup of coffee

It started in his basement in 1995, back then it was known as The Coffee Purveyor. Gary Karnes just couldn’t seem to find fresh roasted coffee beans that suited his taste, so he started roasting his own. Gary didn’t roast coffee in just any old roaster, he went on a nationwide search and discovery mission and found Michael Sivetz out in Hood River, Oregon. Gary and Michael were like two beans in a coffee cherry. By the time they met in the mid 90s, they’d both been on a search for the perfect cup of coffee for years.

But that’s a story for another time. Gary bought one of Michael’s seriously engineered roasters which was designed to provide a more effective and consistent roasted coffee. The roaster, which to me looked like a modified furnace, was installed in Gary’s first out-of-home shop in Lincoln’s Trade Center in 1997. The business began to percolate. That’s where I got to know him, acting on a suggestion by some friends from church. 

I still remember that first one-pound bag of perfectly roasted beans. Each day I’d grind just enough to make 8 to 10 cups. Coffee heaven. Next time I went into The Coffee Roaster, I asked for two bags. I didn’t want to have to make the trip to buy a bag each week. “No, you only get one pound at a time, that guarantees it’ll be fresher,” was Gary’s response. To me, he sounded like the “Soup Nazi” on Seinfeld. So I started calling Gary the Coffee Nazi. I bought coffee a
pound of beans at a time until his daughter Sam and her husband Vince Ruhl took over. 

Sam and Vince moved the operation to 50th and Old Cheney, and in the last six months, they’ve installed the very latest Sivetz Roaster, which by the way, no longer looks like a furnace. Most days, when you drive along Old Cheney with your window open, you’ll notice the inviting aroma of freshly roasted coffee. In 2025, Sam and Vince and, no doubt, Gary will celebrate the 30th anniversary of that first roaster imported from Oregon. And while you’re there, you can add some Coffee Roaster apparel to your bag along with the latest in coffee preparation and serving devices. Oh, and there’s some fantastic chocolate, too.

Randy Bretz is well past 55 and enjoying life as a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, storyteller, author, professor, communicator, and civic activist.