Jackson Free Press

Paul Bonds, who owns local coffee roaster and retailer BeanFruit Coffee, says he grew up hating coffee until a single cup changed his perspective. After reading an article about specialty coffee while working as a materials manager for Eaton Aerospace in Jackson, Bonds decided to attend a coffee tasting at Mississippi Coffee Company in 2009.

"The cup I had that night, a washed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, changed my whole mindset about coffee," Bonds says. He says that after that, he started buying specialty coffee to try and started making it at home as a hobby. His friends would come over, and he would serve it and talk about it.

"One day, one of them asked If I had considered opening my own business," he says. "That got me thinking, and I couldn't shake the idea. I bought a small commercial roaster and started selling coffee at the farmers market on High Street every Saturday, and soon I started selling to restaurants and collaborating with Sneaky Beans in Fondren." He opened BeanFruit in 2012.

Bonds, 34, grew up in Liberty, Miss., and attended Southwest Mississippi Community College for two years before transferring to Mississippi College in 2003, where he majored in business administration. He received his bachelor's degree in 2005 and moved to Pearl after graduating.

Today, BeanFruit supplies specialty coffee from all over the globe to restaurants such as Parlor Market and businesses such as Lemuria Books in addition to providing coffee brewing accessories, supplies and BeanFruit-branded merchandise in-store. Bonds divides the specialty coffee selection into either blends or single-origin coffee. Blends are consistently available year-round and include dark, decaf, espresso and medium blends such as BeanFruit's own Crimson Stamp blend. Single-origin coffee is made from beans that all come from one farm and is only available in limited quantities for a limited time until the farmers grow the next lot.

"Single-origin coffee is kind of like a limited vintage wine in that way," Bonds says. "It was a bit difficult when BeanFruit first started out because I was trying to introduce something new here in Jackson. Specializing in single-origin coffee was a different focus from what other roasters were doing at the time, but I think we've been able to educate our local customers about it over the years and get them used to trying something different."

Bonds and his wife, Anita, have a 4-year-old daughter named Kennedy.

For more information on BeanFruit Coffee, visit beanfruit.com.