New Haven Independent

“I’m not kidding,” he said early Monday morning on his way to his job at Planned Parenthood. “I have a friend at the office who comes in from Hartford and she’s trying to make up her mind whether to buy a house there or in New Haven, so I bring her Mark’s coffee to convince her the best coffee in Connecticut is right here, so why live anywhere else?”

Although he’s leased the store from local developer Joel Schiavone since November, the store’s been open to the public for only three weeks, and only from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. weekdays at that because of his other work obligations. Still, said Orintas, business, beginning with a drip and trickle, is now definitely perking up. He’s a savvy marketer (click here for full profile in a previous Independent story) who brings to coffee brewing the not unrelated olfactory expertise of his day job, as perfume purveyor at Sak’s in Stamford. Bare Beans is Orintas’ first solo venture as an entrepreneur, and it’s brought challenges.

“I rented just the back of the store,” he said, “to do the roasting, and then we found out that there’s a 1950s law on the books that says you cannot have a coffee roaster in New Haven without a retail component! Joel said, in effect, oops, I didn’t know that. But he’s a good guy, so we added the tables and chairs — and we’re only allowed 15! — but he didn’t increase my rent either.”

Orintas said he is gradually going to increase the retail business, by stages, funds permitting. “Next week there will be teas, and then in the fall muffins, scones, and bagels.”

However he’s having a hard time finding suppliers as his ordering is, at least now, modest in quantity. As a reporter was poured a cup of aromatic Dominican Republic Barahona, a mild blend with chocolaty scent, a wonderful lemon-cranberry-pistachio biscotti, withdrawn from a beaker nearby, did not last long either.

The e-commerce and wholesale frontsh are a big part of Orintas’ business model, and perhaps give his establishment a better chance of success than its two predecessors, which were more firmly retail focused. The one-pound bags of Orintas’ blends — all free trade and organic selling from about $12 a pound to his most expensive, a $16 Ethiopian blend are for sale on his site, with free delivery.

“But Paypal,” he said, “which I use, is not set up to click for free delivery in New Haven only. Only throughout the state.” Orintas has solved that. He also had to cope with a bare space, back in November, with no equipment at all, the former baking appliances having been taken away. He even had to put in sinks. He’s renting a roaster, which is green in its technology, and expects to be “organic certified’ very soon by an outfit called Quality Assurance International.

“That means not only that the beans are organic, and the roasting process is as environmentally friendly as possible, but that everything I do, including the materials I use to clean the floor are “green” supplies. Orintas said this is all good, but he was surprised to find out the certification is going to cost him $2,000. That’s a lot of coffee.

“The experience is stretching me,” he said, with his usual optimism. Teas (honey bush and rooibos, from South Africa and Australia) are coming in the next weeks, and he’ll be serving iced coffee as well. He’s dipped into a lot of savings to get this far, but hopes business will turn successful enough so that he can afford an espresso maker too in the months ahead. Your latte, he said, is cooked up on a machine that runs $10 to $15,000.

Although it was not Orintas’ original intention, he’s eager also to fill up his seats and to serve the community’s desire for a gathering spot as well. The monthly “cuppings,” the equivalent wine-tasting events for coffee, will continue in the summer. He’s arranging to have his blends in stores such as Edge of the Woods and restaurants like Cassius, the cheese-ery on Trumbull. He envisions an event planned aroundfinding the best coffee to drink with your gruyere.

Orintas, a Westvillian, credits Lee Cruz of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven with turning him on to the possibilities of Fair Haven. “It’s a wonderful community,” Orintas reported as another morning customer came in asking for a flavored coffee, of the premade hazelnut variety that, for example, Dunkin Donuts makes.

“I could squeeze in some syrup for you,” Orintas said, hopefully. And he pointed to a selection of agave-based sweeteners on the counter. “It’ll taste much better.” The customer seemed intrigued, but the sale was not made, not yet.