Our Stories

Our love for coffee and the art of it first began in 2012 when Mahlon’s brother-in-law  got an espresso machine and introduced us to craft coffee.

Over the years we sampled many varieties of coffees from different roasters and dreamed of someday opening a roaster of our own. We pursued several different coffee shop/roaster opportunities over the years but it never felt like it was the right time, so we just waited.

During our “waiting time” Mahlon experimented with different home roasting methods - even using a popcorn popper to roast our own beans! When COVID came around and the first stimulus checks were sent out we knew without a doubt that we were going to put that money towards buying a small home roaster.

Mahlon was ecstatic to start using our home roaster and began giving samples out to our friends and family. The feedback we received was overwhelming - they all loved it and said it was the best coffee they had ever tasted. This was quickly followed up by them asking if they could buy it.  Before we knew it, each week we were spending an entire day roasting with our little home roaster so we could supply all of our friends with their new favorite coffee.

We relocated from upstate New York to North Carolina in 2021 and suddenly felt like this was going to be the place that we would open our roastery. We started praying that the Lord would give us a name for it and I (Ruth) told Mahlon that when I envisioned our coffee roaster that I kept seeing a green color and instantly he said “sage!” From that day, we knew that Sage, as in wisdom, was going to be the name of our coffee roastery.

We then knew that it was time and decided to research what North Carolina offered for small business funding, but right away the Lord told us that this was not the way and that He would provide the funds for us, so again we waited.

About three months later we got a call from Merle, who told us that him and Rochelle had been wanting to open a coffee shop or roastery and heard about us. They felt that there was a chance that we could work together. When we met with Rochelle and Merle we knew that it was the right fit and we knew it was in His timing. Sage Coffee Roasters was officially born.

We (Rochelle and Merle) have had entrepreneurial spirits for years now . Together we built a very successful jewelry business and have held a top leader position in the company for years. 

It has been a dream of ours to start something in the coffee business for a while and we had begun talking to friends about our desire to do so. 

In 2021 one of our friends from church mentioned that Mahlon and Ruth also had a longing to start a roastery. We decided to touch base with them and see if our visions aligned. 

We gathered at a cute little restaurant for breakfast one summer day in 2021 . We connected and felt an awesome partnership brewing. We took it slowly one step at a time and doors were opened one at a time . 

We are excited to offer something more than your average coffee that you can buy at any grocery store in town. We celebrate that we provide high end coffee that you can enjoy whether you are in a rush to get to work or want to slow down and enjoy a cup with a friend.