Our Story
Ahrre was born and raised in Summit, New Jersey, graduated Summit High School in 1978, and went out to California to study Theater. He eventually changed direction and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at the University of California in Riverside. Upon graduating from college, Ahrre moved to Berkeley, CA, just outside of San Francisco. Ahrre says that he became accustomed to good-tasting, fresh-roasted coffee while living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ‘café scene’ and coffee-drinking are an integral part of the culture out there. Whenever he returned to New Jersey, he would bring several pounds of coffee with him from his favorite Roastery in Berkeley. He needed to bring the coffee simply to survive the visit, but he also enjoyed introducing his East Coast friends to quality coffee. As a result, a few of his friends began playfully calling him “CoffeeBoy!” But after a while, his endless complaining about the quality of coffee available in North Jersey became so irritating to his friends that one of them strongly suggested that he either move back to New Jersey and open a Coffee Roastery or SHUT UP! The rest is history! Ahrre thought about this for a while and decided that such an enterprise would do well in the Summit Area. So, upon returning to California, he began working at his favorite coffee Roastery in Berkeley, to learn about the ins and outs of the business and began planning the logistics of opening his own Roastery. He originally intended to open the Roastery in Summit—his hometown—but couldn’t find a suitable space. Finally, he found just the spot, and Ahrre’s Coffee Roastery opened in Cranford on February 10, 1990. Two years later, Ahrre found an even better spot in the heart of downtown Westfield and relocated his Roastery on April 10, 1992. Since 1990, Ahrre’s Coffee Roastery has been providing North Jersey with the finest “fresh-roasted” coffees available. Then, in 1996, the Roastery established a web presenc
Our Coffee