Surrounded by burlap bean sacks, Danny Rittgers (’16) explains commonalities between working with coffee and corn. Apply heat, and aromatic coffee beans’ shells crack like popping corn.
“The way we roast the coffee, it’s just like corn dryers for seed corn,” Danny says. “We watch those drying curves, and we use the data. This is just a higher temperature and smaller scale.”
Both crops are part of Danny’s story, the twists and turns of which took him from surfing international beaches to studying at Iowa State University, through the forests of Peru, where he met his wife, Gigi, and back to the Midwest. In his day job, Danny leads global seed data integrations at Corteva Agriscience. Nights and weekends, he can be found firing up a commercial-grade coffee roaster in De Soto, Iowa.
Before co-founding Curious Joe Coffee together, the couple worked side by side at an agroforestry company in Gigi’s home country. Their meet-cute came after an old surfing buddy reached out for Danny’s help managing operations. As a nontraditional college student studying Spanish Language and Cultures, Agricultural Businesses, and International Agriculture, Danny saw the opportunity in Peru as a chance to gain practical experience.
“I took it as an internship,” he says. “I had to keep a journal and write papers. I ended up spending a total of six or seven months there and eventually proposed.”
The newlyweds welcomed their first child just before Danny’s graduation. It was a full-circle moment for the third-generation Cyclone born in Ames.
“My first outing was at my dad’s graduation,” Danny says. His mom worked as a cook at a fraternity house.
Starting a direct-trade coffee company together allows Gigi and Danny to share their passion for specialty foods while ensuring their supply chain remains aligned with their values.
“We thrive on working directly with growers,” Gigi says.
After moving to Iowa, she enrolled in ISU’s Intensive English and Orientation Program to refine her communication skills. Conversing with Curious Joe customers at the Grimes Farmers Market, Gigi connects each product to specific farmers and processing methods. A label for “The Explorer’s Reserve,” for instance, lists the region of origin (Pozuzo, Pasco, Peru), estate (Gregorio Espinoza – Finca Batan), elevation (1,700 meters), variety (Catuai), and process (Hydro-Honey).
“We focus on three things: sustainability, ethics, and quality,” Danny says. “We watch the entire journey. The only way I can truly guarantee those three things is to trace everything from seed to cup.”
