Bob Mastin, owner of Custom House Coffee on Aquidneck Avenue in Middletown, measures out fresh-roasted beans as customers get their morning cups of coffee. Rhode Island café owners say that even in these tight economic times, a good cup of coffee remains an affordable luxury.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

In a state where the official drink is coffee-flavored milk, it should come as no surprise that despite the recession there’s a niche in the java-based business world that is perking along nicely.

Specifically: small roasting companies that have invested the time and equipment to master the science (and art) of turning pale green coffee beans into aromatic, mahogany-colored pods that are the base for any good brew.

And although there are only a handful of small roasting houses in Rhode Island, many of them are saying that they are not only holding their own these days but are actually seeing an increase in their business.

Ken Marot launched Taylor’s Landing, a coffee roasting house and café, about two years ago in West Kingston, not far from the University of Rhode Island. Although the economy has tanked, he says he’s been pleasantly surprised to see his customer roster and roasting batches continue to grow.

“Our business has grown steadily,” Marot said, “and doesn’t seem to be affected by the economy.”

On the other side of the Bay, at Custom House Coffee in Middletown, Bob Mastin, who has been roasting specialty and blend coffees for the past eight years, just added a second roaster to his café and wholesale base on Aquidneck Avenue.

The roughly $52,000 investment for the gleaming Diedrich “Rolls Royce of roasters” from Idaho was worth it, he said, because the demand for his fresh coffees is still growing.

“I think a lot of it is about the quality, which is important even when people are watching how they spend their money,” Mastin said. “Once you’ve had fresh-roasted coffee, you won’t want anything else.”

Rhode Island’s coffee roasters have varied histories, which are reflected in the different ways they do business. Some rely more on wholesale than retail, while others have added coffeehouses to showcase their brews.

The one thing they all have in common is absolute dedication to the roasting process.

Mastin, who last year roasted more than 40,000 pounds of coffee, is usually making a couple of fresh batches every day, drawing on his stockpile of beans from South America, Africa, Vietnam and other parts of the world. As he fired up the Diedrich last week, he explained some of the steps that transform plain green coffee beans into the stuff that great java is made of.

The bean is the pit of the berries on coffee plants, a rather tasteless fruit that most professionals refer to as cherries, Mastin said. When raw, the beans have virtually no aroma, he said, but all that changes in the flame-heated interior of the shiny black Diedrich, which looks a little bit like a locomotive engine.

The roaster agitates the beans like laundry in the washer, while the roast master keeps an eye on the front window and the temperature gauge, which starts out at about 400 degrees and fluctuates throughout the roasting process.

Everyone has their own roasting secrets, which include how and when they tweak the temperature and when the beans are released and cooled. The longer the roasting time the darker the beans, which expand and crack during the process. Depending on whether it’s a medium roast or rich dark roast, Mastin said that he and his staff are looking for the green beans to turn various shades of brown –– from cinnamon to chocolate.

The process goes on daily at various local roasting companies such as New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Pawtucket and the long-popular Coffee Exchange on Wickenden Street in Providence.

In addition to the taste factor, the Rhode Island roasting companies attribute their recession resilience to other factors, such as people wanting to save money by brewing their morning beverage at home. That trend increases consumers’ interest in the quality of beans they are buying, local roasters say.

As for steady customers who are still making for busy mornings at roasting-house cafés, the owners say that a good cup of coffee remains an affordable luxury. “For about $2 or so they can start their day here with the coffee they want, fresh roasted and fresh brewed,” said Mastin whose café draws everyone from commuters to Town Council members. “Also while our bagged coffee might sell for about $12 or so, it’s a full pound, which is not what you’re getting in the supermarket.”

Charlie Fishbein, at Providence’s Coffee Exchange, was probably the second small-batch roaster, following Ocean Coffee Roasters in Newport, which lead the way in local coffee roasting in the late 1980s. Fishbein said that the recession has not thinned the line of coffee aficionados who are at his shop every day, and he thinks that there’s another factor at play besides great-tasting coffee and the satisfaction of buying local.

Over the years, his business has invested in the community and the environment, he said, and he thinks that matters to people. He noted that “Coffee Kids,” a charitable organization his brother started in 1988 to help coffee-farming families, is still going strong. Operating under the slogan, “Grounds for Help,” it is now an international nonprofit agency reaching out to children in Mexico, Central America and South America to improve the quality of their lives.

Then, of course, Fishbein said there is the Rhode Island factor and the thirst for all things coffee-flavored, which forces him to draw his ice coffee from huge brews attached to beer pumps in the summer months.

“Rhode Islanders do love their coffee,” Fishbein said. “And thank God they do.”

bpoliche@projo.com