Marberry, Perkins Urge Folks To ‘Take A Breath And Take A Sip’
Rooted Coffee is now open at 122 North Main Street.
By MARK EVANS
mevans@stegenherald.com
Taylor Marberry and Erika Perkins hope to see the name of their business prove prophetic.
The Rooted Coffee name of their shop at 122 North Main has a pair of meanings.
“One comes from in order for a coffee plant to thrive an produce good coffee beans for good coffee, the roots have to be planted in really good soil – soil it can flourish in and actually grow in,” Marberry said. “So we thought that was a really beautiful metaphor of what we are trying to do here. We’re trying to plant our roots here and be able to have healthy soil for us to be able to flourish and grow. That’s one meaning.”
The other meaning has to do with their clientele.
“One thing we’ve always loved about coffee shops and why we wanted to open one was just the atmosphere of a coffee shop,” Marberry said. “We want to be a place for people to be able to come and just ground themselves and root themselves into who they are and what they believe and why they do what they’re doing, kind of their purpose. And we just kind of thought it’s a beautiful time for people to come before work and slow down, take a breath, grab your coffee and then start your day.”
The pair of college friends opened up just in time for Jour de Fete last August. That proved to be a wise move.
“Our opening weekend was the weekend of Jour de Fete, which was kind of crazy,” Marberry said. “It was honestly really nice because it was just full, and what a better way to open than to have a full shop? So, I think that kind of helped us.”
“A lot of people got to know us that weekend and were excited to come back,” Perkins said.
Marberry agreed that the opening “was really helpful.”
Marberry is from Farmington, while Perkins is an Iowa native. The two met while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia.
“We both loved coffee,” Marberry said. “I started working at a coffee shop my freshman year in college and I just absolutely fell in love with coffee I fell in love with the atmosphere, the way that it brings people together.”
Marberry majored in journalism with an emphasis in strategic communications. After college, the two first moved to Colorado, where they both worked at a marketing agency.