Kinder Coffee Lab is celebrating its 1-year birthday with free coffee, treats and more!

Last year, three Central Minnesota friends/colleagues decided to use their COVID-related downtime to pursue a passion project -- roasting and selling high-quality coffee beans. In March/April 2020 Guy Magno, Ryan Schoepf and Taylor Feero began roasting under the name Kinder Coffee Lab.

“We were brainstorming things we love about coffee, and things we think coffee represents,” Magno explained. “We threw about 100 names at the wall, and we really liked something in the realm of ‘kind’ or ‘kindness.’ It sort of represents what we’re about. One of the unfortunate things about (coffee) is that people get kind of snooty about it. When people learn a little bit about it, it’s easy to turn around and look down on the people who don’t consume it the way they do. Like, ‘oh, you still drink it with cream? You put sugar in it?’ People do that all the time, and we think it’s kind of a bummer."

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Located at 203 Cooper Avenue North in the Cooper Collective space, their brick and mortar isn't a coffee shop. Rather than a place to come in for a coffee or to purchase beans to-go, Kinder Coffee Lab's model is subscription-based.

“If you know you drink one or two bags a month, then, like any other subscription-type service, you would subscribe to one or two bags a month,” Magno told us in an interview. “Every month, we roast and ship it fresh, so that when you get it, it’s just a few days old.”

Kinder Coffee Lab has since expanded its distribution, and beans can now be found at Coborn's stores in Sartell and St. Cloud.

With a year under its belt, Kinder Coffee Lab is throwing a one-year birthday bash and inviting the community to come out to celebrate. Thursday, July 15 from 8am-4pm "we'll be giving away free coffee, special treats, and other fun things to be announced," reads the Facebook event. Hot and cold coffee will be available as well as pastries from Backwards Bread and ice cream from Jupiter Moon.