July 31, 2019

When Brandon Wollman began roasting his own coffee in 2013, it completely changed his perspective on the popular drink.

“It’s not just some item you take off the shelf,” the Watertown native said. “We know who the farmers are, and we know what they’re trying to accomplish by growing specialty coffee instead of commercial coffee. We can taste the work they put into it.”

Now, Wollman is bringing his roasting knowledge to Sioux Falls with roasts like a Honduran fair-trade organic and a limited-time Costa Rican blend.

Wollman and his family operated under the name Wollman Coffee Roasters while they lived in Minnesota, but when they moved back to South Dakota in June, they rebranded to Parable Coffee Co.

A parable is a story in the Bible that carries with it a deeper meaning. Wollman said the name is reflective of every bag of coffee he sells because it has an origin and a story behind it.

Wollman has always been passionate about recognizing those stories, which is why he often visits single-family Guatemalan coffee farms that supply him with a lot of his product.

“We love to be connected with them and help people realize these coffees come from hard-working families,” he said. “It’s not just a commodity that has no connection to anyone; that’s why we like to connect with the people who actually make it.”

Wollman, his wife, Helena and their two sons operate Parable Coffee Co., which primarily sells products online but also is carried by a few Sioux Falls retailers, including Pomegranate Market, Severance Brewing Co. and the Lake Lorraine Farmers Market, which will start selling it Thursday.

Wollman is passionate about his business and said he hopes to attract both new and old customers to his rebranded company while also combatting challenges of adequate funding and marketing.

Mostly, he said he’s just excited to share his specialty coffees with people, introducing them to the “amazing variety of tastes” that come with a high-quality blend.

“A really well-roasted coffee brings out the sweetness and complexity of the coffee, and it has to be brewed and extracted properly with the right water, right temperature and right ratios,” he said. “If you can drink it without adding anything, you know you’ve made a really good cup of coffee.”