Amanda and Tyler Doyle woke up one morning and smelled the coffee. From this, Slippery Rock’s mom-and-pop micro-roastery was born.
Rock Falls Coffee and Tea opened in 2022. Amanda Doyle said their passion for quality beverages was a foundation for their business.
“It started as a small family project that bloomed into a micro-roastery business,” Amanda Doyle said. “We are entrepreneurs by heart and we recognized a gap in the market. We wanted to bring good high-quality products to Slippery Rock.”
The couple’s care for coffee was sparked by their daughter’s homeschooling project, which tasked her with starting a small tea company. They picked up a small roaster and tried homemade coffee for the first time.
“It was almost as soon as we started roasting our own coffee and tasted the difference. We recognized the coffee that we had been drinking was not good in comparison,” Doyle said.
The Doyles upgraded to a larger gas roaster and began developing a roastery that was state-inspected and certified. They consulted state officials and other roasters for advice throughout this process.
“We grew slowly so we could learn as we went, and when we made mistakes, they were small enough that we could learn from them without heavy financial repercussions,” Doyle said. “…It saved us such a steep learning curve and we were able to avoid a lot of mistakes.”
To save on overhead costs, Rock Falls operates out of the Doyles’ own home. Doyle said that the shift toward online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic showed them the business could success without a storefront.
“People were much more comfortable shopping online rather than going to a storefront, so we recognized this business model will work because the way people interact with their shopping experience is changing,” Doyle said.
Doyle explained that the same coffee from the same harvest can taste different depending on roasting style, equipment and environmental conditions. Rock Falls only specialty-grade coffee rather than commodity grade to prioritize quality.
“It literally is better in the cup than other coffees… Specialty grade coffee comes from higher up the mountains, it’s got higher altitudes. The farmers take more care in harvesting it,” Doyle said.
Large bags of beans are transferred into storage buckets for the Doyles to manage storage conditions. When orders come in, they schedule their roast sessions from darkest to lightest and store the coffee in airtight containers preserve its quality.
“We will go from the air-safe containers into the packaging that goes to the end consumers, so whether it’s a 12-ounce bag, a two-pound bag or a five-pound bag, it goes from the roaster into those bags pretty fast,” Doyle said.
Doyle said many people believe they do not like coffee because they have only had low-quality coffee. Rock Falls’ products can help them discover they enjoy it, she said.
“If they are destined to like coffee, they will like it after they’ve tried ours. Now, there’s some people who just simply do not like coffee, and that’s fine,” Doyle said. “But our coffee has taken people from ‘I don’t like coffee’ to ‘I love coffee.’”
Rock Falls currently offers 25 varieties of tea. Doyle said that they focus on comforting and relaxing flavors.
Some selections include Banana Nut Break and Blueberry Pancake, both caffeine-free, along with Masala Chai, a spiced tea that can be served hot or iced. Sweet cream, a sweeter caffeinated option, is popular with younger customers, Doyle said.
Rock Falls is also gearing up for winter with Holiday Cheer, a spicy cinnamon tea with notes of orange and ginger. Doyle hopes that 2025’s seasonal tea, Noël, can make its return as well.
“It sold faster than I could get it packaged. It sold so fast. So, it seems like tea is a really good holiday gift as well as coffee,” Doyle said.
For new coffee-connoisseurs, Rock Falls’ sampler pack is a suitable starting point that offers customers a variety of flavors to discover their preferences.
“If they’re just starting out, the sampler is a good place to start,” Doyle said.
Doyle said, “without our customers, we are nothing,” and the company aims to support its customers. Rock Falls offer free local delivery and exchanges, along with flat-rate shipping.
“If a customer wants to exchange something or is unhappy with something, we don’t ask any questions,” Doyle said. “If you’re not happy, then we’re not happy, and we do what we need to make it right.”
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Doyle had some advice.
“You have to have determination. You have to have a lot of self-initiative and self-leadership. A lot of self-leadership,” Doyle said.
