Aaron Donohue fell in love with
coffee in the 1990’s in a coffee shop up the street from where Proper Joe’s is
located. He recounts, “They were selling cappuccinos and bagels, and I was
like, ‘what is this stuff!’” Snohomish is a town where coffee stands dot nearly
every street corner, and there is no shortage of Starbucks or coffee shops.
Proper Joe’s coffeehouse has joined one of the many businesses in Snohomish serving
coffee. Formerly Rock City Café, Aaron Donohue bought the establishment last
April and reinvented it.
“I have always wanted to own a
coffee shop” He says. Donohue and his wife grew up in Snohomish then moved to
Seattle, where he played music and worked in various coffee shops. “If you played music in Seattle, chances are
you’ve poured some coffee.” He and his
wife thought about opening a coffeehouse in Seattle but chose not to because
the market there is really competitive.
Snohomish “is a special little town”
says Donohue. When he and his wife returned to their hometown the possibility
of opening a coffeehouse came alive. “If we’re not going to do it now, we’re
never going to” they decided. While looking for a place to open a coffeehouse,
Donohue’s mother discovered Rock City Café and found out it was for sale. Donohue
remembers, “I made an offer the next day.”
Along with the business, Donohue
bought the espresso blend from former owner Christopher Dayton who had spent
seven years perfecting it. Unlike many other places, Proper Joe’s grinds and roasts
its own coffee in-store every morning. The
former owner’s son Julian Dayton continued as a barista for some time and often
tells customers about the amazing coffee.
The espresso blend at Proper Joe’s is a
mixture of Brazilian and Sumatran coffee. Donohue describes the taste as having a, “really
full body with a kind of spicy acidity, almost peppery.” He says it has earthy
undertones and the “smoothness comes from Sumatra.” They also grind the coffee
extremely fine. Dayton credits how good it tastes to being freshly roasted.
“I started roasting coffee on the
stove using a Worthy Pop popcorn-maker” says Donohue. In addition to the
espresso blend, he now sells and roasts single origin Tanzanian, Sumatran and
Guatemalan coffee. He is working on a few others, including organic decaffeinated
Guatemalan coffee and organic coffee from New Guinea. Costa Rican and Papua New
Guinea and Ethiopian, which he hopes will be available by the end of the month.
Aside from bringing new blends of
coffee, Donohue and his wife, Angela re-did the interior when they bought the
place. Within a few weeks new paint and new furniture led to an altogether new
atmosphere. There’s a red couch in front of a brick wall with string lights
hung near the ceiling. It’s a popular place for customers to sit while waiting
for their drink, or just to hang out. The coffeehouse is usually quiet with
oldies music playing in the background. Regular patron Sarah Casel says there’s
“always fun music” and compares the atmosphere to the ever popular Spotted Cow
in Mill Creek.
Donohue says he wanted to do
something that felt like what you walked into 20 years ago in his own coffeehouse.
“I love this neighborhood” he says of historic downtown Snohomish. You can pay
a visit and taste for yourself at 1101 First St, Snohomish, Washington.
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