In April 2008 Aquent Studios sent Thom Hollis on a Silverlight design trip to Florida for a conference smack-dab in the middle of Disney World. Since it is just not right to go to Disney World without taking the rest of the family, the Hollis crew packed their bags and headed out on what would be a trip of a lifetime. While in Florida, however, Thom had to do a little more than play and was called away to work...from the only place he could find a web connection,...the new, state-of-the-art library just south of Clermont. The real beauty of this library, however, wasn't the Internet connection. It was that wonderful little coffee shop in the front of the library. They not only had the nicest people in the world working there, but they introduced Thom to great single-origin coffee. He hasn't been the same since. Two cups each of some amazing, fresh-roasted Peruvian and Guatemalan coffee and he was hooked.

After the Florida trip, Thom came home and began to play around with roasting his own green single-origin coffee. Better coffee begat fascination, fascination begat hobby, hobby begat even better coffee, even better coffee begat the desire to share it. The next thing you knew, he was looking at bigger roasters and figuring up start-up costs. The rest, as they say, is history.  :o)

So, what does BB Joe stand for?

Well, we actually stand for many things, but if it's the name you're wondering about, we were going to call the company Burning Bush Coffee. This, of course, does not have anything to do with President Bush. :o) On the contrary, Burning Bush is a tie-in to the Biblical story of Moses, reflecting on his first encounter with God. Now, of course, we're not saying that drinking a cup of BB Joe is like having an encounter with the Almighty, but when you taste fresh-roasted, single-origin coffee for the first time, you might just reflect on how Moses must have felt when he was initially awakened by the presence of God at the Burning Bush.

And a "cup of JOE," you ask? There are many explanations of the origins for using the term "joe" for coffee, and no one out there really has a definitive answer, but I like the descriptions on this page about the best...What is a cup of JOE?

I, personally, believe it stems from the French word "chaud," which means "hot." I've read that in the Revolutionary War, the French soldiers who were in the colonies to help America fight the British would ask for a "hot cup of coffee." The word "chaud," when spoken in proper French, sounds like "joe," so the American soldiers mistook them for asking for a "cup of joe."