Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Blaser. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Aaron Blaser initially started Curioso while living in Panama. A videographer by trade, he needed more references to start a coffee business. Still, he knew he wanted to create an environmentally sustainable venture that helped the local community of the off-grid startup where he was living. His curiosity led him to make a small rudimentary cafe where he laid the foundations for the business: a place for connection around coffee, sustainability, and localism. After his return to Minnesota, Aaron began collaborating with Luke Hofland, a local musician and accountant with a background in homebrewing. Together, they started selling coffee beans and cold brew at local farmers’ markets and selling beans online for direct delivery to their friends, family, and local area. In 2021, Curioso acquired its production roasting machine, a 2.5lb Phoenix Oro. After a long summer of markets and events, they also took the opportunity to move into a retail space in Seven Points Mall (formerly Calhoun Square), which would become Curioso’s first brick-and-mortar: Curioso Coffee Bar: Uptown.
The year after, I was busy figuring out how to transition from a mobile operation to operating and staffing a physical location. Curioso added crew members and new capabilities while growing and developing existing ones. At the end of 2023, Curioso began a partnership with Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative and moved into their new taproom, which would become Curioso’s second brick-and-mortar location: Curioso Coffee Bar: Northeast. Curioso now finds itself as a multi-faceted small business that does everything from serving delicious and creative coffee drinks to selling their beans to other cafes and businesses to keeping their customers supplied with local and shipped coffee deliveries.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Curioso has been a journey of patient and purposeful growth. Our main struggle is one that many businesses deal with: how do we best use our limited time, money, and energy? We didn’t start with a lot of money or big investors, so we had to be careful and intentional about choosing the things into which we invested our resources. The business and its operations have always been very scrappy and DIY; it’s all about finding the least expensive but most sustainable way to get things done, but how often those two overlap is surprising!
We’ve been impressed with Curioso, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Curioso is a Minneapolis-based coffee company focused on localism, sustainability, and cultivating the art of all mediums through coffee and community. Curioso’s ongoing mission is to create a gathering space where the artistic communities of the Twin Cities can share the experiences that make our neighborhoods unique through conversation and creative expression, all while sipping on the finest locally crafted coffee. At present, Curioso sells coffee beans to individuals and businesses in the Minneapolis area and operates two brick-and-mortar locations: Curioso Coffee Bar, located in Uptown Minneapolis, and Curioso Coffee Bar: Northeast, located at Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative. These two coffee bars highlight creativity and quality through coffee while fostering the gathering spaces Curioso strives to create. Curioso aims to improve accessibility to fresh, quality coffee and beverages sourced from local small businesses, all while keeping the environmental impact of our operations as low as possible. In our efforts to reduce waste, Curioso emphasizes composting and recycling and utilizes reusable containers to store and deliver beans. We also incentivize our customers to bring containers for all their coffee needs.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
Apps:
– Slack
Podcasts:
– Cat & Cloud Podcast
– The Tim Ferriss Show
Books:
– Eat A Peach (David Chang)
– Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)
Pricing:
- $15 – Quart of Coffee Beans (Local delivery or shipped)
- $9 – Pint of Coffee Beans (Local delivery or shipped)
Contact Info:
- Website: curiosomn.com
- Instagram: @curiosomn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curiosomn.coffee
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18855166/admin/feed/posts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@curiosomn
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/curioso-coffee-bar-minneapolis-3
