Brad Unruh purchased a small commercial roaster in early 2019. He started roasting and selling fresh-roasted coffee to family and friends from his family business on Jackrabbit Road in rural Hiawatha. A little over a year later, we (Monte Unruh and sons) purchased the roaster and equipment from him. We changed the name to Jackrabbit Coffee, moved the roaster to a commercial kitchen, and expanded our offering of coffee. In 2021 we moved the roastery to Hiawatha, KS, and purchased a larger drum roaster and more packaging equipment. We also started to serve coffee drinks on Saturday mornings. We spent the next two years building our brand, providing a service and product people enjoyed. 

Now, fast forward to 2023, and significant changes are brewing!

In August, Jackrabbit Coffee is going to take a colossal hop! And that is, our family is moving to Panamá! Panamá is one of the great coffee-growing regions in the world. Due to its elevation and tropical climate, the Tierras Altas (Highlands) of Panamá produce some of the world’s finest coffee. One big bonus we look forward to is bringing Panamá coffee directly from the farm to Jackrabbit Coffee. The coffee shop in Hiawatha will continue to sell and serve Jackrabbit Coffee, hopefully adding more open hours. Also, we plan to start another roasting company in Panamá to support the local coffee scene there. Since we will be in Panamá, we won’t be roasting in our Hiawatha location. Hence, the change, and we think it’s exciting! We are collaborating with Euphoria Coffee in Iowa. They are a small roasting company like we are, with many of the same goals and values.  Euphoria focuses on direct trade and relationships with coffee farmers.  This focus fits in with our vision for our new coffee adventure in Panama.  By working together with them, we will have more access to direct-trade and relationship coffees. Soon we will be able to trace every one of Jackrabbit’s coffees back to the exact farm, and each one will be a direct-trade/relationship coffee.  While Euphoria Coffee will roast and package Jackrabbit Coffee in our bags, Jackrabbit Coffee will still be owned and operated by us.   We will be sampling and selecting which fresh-roasted coffees to sell in our shop and online.  Thank you for your continued support of our business!