About us
We both moved a lot as children. He got plucked from Texas and transplanted to Tennessee when he was a rising senior in high school, and graduated from William Blount the first year it existed. She moved quite a bit more, landing in East Tennessee as a rising sophomore in high school. We are both the oldest of three, and each of us have both a brother and sister, all of whom are close to the same age. Val was born in Chapel Hill NC, and six weeks later, Ken was born in Nevada, Iowa. The stars aligned on visitation night at her ETSU dorm, when we met by way of a “blind date” arranged by a mutual friend, who “just knew” we were supposed to be together. We parted ways midway through college, and eventually he joined the Air Force and she graduated from college.
Some time later, we both attended the same New Years Eve party, and renewed our relationship. We became engaged and later married in a beautiful little white Episcopal church.
We made the decision together at year ten of Ken’s satellite communications military career in the USAF, to voluntarily separate when the enlistment was complete and separate from the Air Force. Without a job even on the horizon, and WAY before internet and cell phones had arrived on scene, we relocated our little family from Nebraska to Tennessee by way of a U-Haul and a cram packed full little Saturn.
"Other than to buy our first and only house and relocate from Louisville, TN to Maryville, we haven’t left, for what we believe are obvious reasons, as we look out the window at our mountains."
A Small Roaster with the TIME to Find the Best Beans for Our Customers.
How KC Roasters came to be – Ken saw a TV show called Dangerous Grounds around the same time we did our first cupping over at another coffee shop. At that point we both became obsessed with all things coffee. Soon after, following in the footsteps of the legendary Maryville coffee guru, Ken purchased his first “Whirley Pop” and began roasting over a propane torch. Eventually he moved through several home roasters, including the Behmor, which is when a friend begged him to start selling it. He did, he quickly outgrew his machine, and eventually landed at a custom built drum that he installed on a grill rotisserie, which is how he roasted for years in the beginning. He roasted this way in the rain, cold, and heat, blowing off the chaff with a leaf blower until just prior to our first Farmers Market in 2022, when he took the leap to roasting on an Artisan roaster. It was love at first site as he became acquainted with what later became named “Mr Fields” (for those old enough to know about WC Fields, you will get it), because the roaster looks like him!
Kens interests: Serial killers. Well, books and movies that is, and he has the most eclectic, interesting, and varied taste in music out of just about anyone, other than our son. The same can be said about his taste in what he reads. He has been a life long concert goer to concerts of all kinds in all venues. Long drives in the mountains and riding his Ebike are two of his favorite things to do. He also serves on the vestry at his church, St Andrews Episcopal Church.
Vals interests: Spending time with loved ones. She loves to cook. She loves the ocean. Could be a TV junkie but not. She loves bike riding, music, podcasts, gardening, bird watching, thinking about landscaping, listening to audio books, taking Harper, our HABIT dog into her gig (the elementary school “ruff reading program” classroom). Spending time around trees and in mountains, and perfecting her coffee chocolate recipe for Beyond the Bean. She spends a lot of time testing out chocolate with area entrepreneurs at Sky City, a place where one can go to collaborate, work in peace, work “in community” vs being in a dark room at home. She’s also working on getting us more involved Chamber of Commerce/Blount Partnership. She is known to carry chocolate at almost all times, and give a lot of it out, in her quest for THE FINAL RECIPE.
We have a coffee snob of a son, who is a Pride of the Southland Band four-year veteran, and followed that up with five years in the Tennessee Air Guard. He has now cross trained into his career field (cyber security) as a newly commissioned Officer. Unless there is a “need for us to know”, we likely never will know exactly what he does.
Learn about the roasting process
You will be surprised to learn all that
goes into roasting beans from the time
they are harvested to the time you
enjoy a hot cup of coffee.
KC Roasters of Maryville
616 Darby Cir
Maryville, Tennessee 37804
