On roasting day at Black Gold Coffee Roasters in Venice, the parking lot outside the local coffee shop smells of a combination of coffee, toast and roasting popcorn. But step inside and you’ll see owner and master roaster Gary Lauters II hard at work roasting the 800 pounds of coffee beans he prepares each week to keep his local customers hooked up with their caffeine fix.
Lauters, at 37, is a 10-year coffee roasting veteran who sources beans from around the world and roasts them small batches according to their flavor profile, to deliver their best flavor. In addition to roasting custom beans for sale in the shop, Lauters also has a booming online business.
Inside Black Gold Coffee Roasters in Venice. Photo by Rachel S. O’Hara
He opened his cafe in August 2010 in the Jacaranda Commons shopping center at the intersection of Jacaranda Blvd and Venice Ave, Lauters just celebrated the café’s five year anniversary in a location that many thought would doom him to failure.
On his opening day, he was sandwiched in between two empty storefronts. Within one month, the city had closed the streets in front of the entrance to the shopping center to build the now-infamous Venice Ave roundabout.
But a local crowd of coffee connoisseurs and young Venice residents (we swear they’re real) made his business a must-visit for anyone coming through Venice. He now has lines of customers even in the low months of July and August, and during the tourist season, the café is nearly always full.
“Our customers were all local at first, but through word of mouth, we now get seasonal and tourist customers too,” Lauters said. “We literally have people who make us their first stop on vacation, come to the shop every day while they’re here and buy beans to pack in their suitcase to take home.”
Gary Lauters II, owner of Black Gold Coffee Roasters in Venice, roasts coffee. Photo by Rachel S. O’Hara
At any given time, Lauters has about 10 different kinds of roasts to try. He recently got in a bean from Guatemala that’s certified by the Smithsonian Institute as “bird friendly” because the farmers who harvest the beans keep the majority of the surrounding jungle intact.
He takes care to roast each bean according to its flavor profile—whether it’s a floral coffee from Ethiopia, a citrus-flavored coffee from Nicaragua or a chocolatey coffee from Sumatra. The custom roasting is what gives each coffee its individual flavor, said Lauters, who learned to roast beans as an apprentice in Madison, Wisc.
Gary Lauters II started selling Black Gold Coffee Roasters’ cold brew coffee in growlers on July 2. It is called “Liquid Crack”. Photo by Rachel S. O’Hara
He’s also recently started selling 64 oz. growlers of what he refers to as “liquid crack”, his potent and highly-caffeinated cold brewed coffee.
After five years in Venice, Black Gold is still a local, unpretentious and delicious place to get an outstanding cup of coffee or latte. They also have an expanded menu of sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, and feature work from local artists.
Bags of coffee beans get turned into artwork inside Black Gold Coffee Roasters. Photo by Rachel S. O’Hara
It’s not been an easy road for Lauters as a young small business owner in the retiree-focused Venice, but he’s stuck it out.
“I’m 37, and there are no other business owners my age,” Lauters said. “But I didn’t give up. I’ve put my literal blood, sweat and tears into this place. It’s never been easy but with passion and hard work, we’ve seen it through.”
If you go:
Black Gold Coffee Roasters
2386 E. Venice Avenue, Venice
(941) 488-8242
