Finding The Special Blend In Love, Music And Coffee
Entrepreneurship has many challenges. But it’s even better when you can experience it with the one you love. Tio and Kenzel Fallen have mastered this craft together while curating their own coffee brand. Set to the tone of jazz and a keen eye for art, the married couple created Three Keys Coffee. The specialty blend is roasted and brewed with a hint of jazz.
Founded in 2019, Three Keys Coffee serves as a roastery in the heart of Houston, Texas. The crafted coffee brand is named in honor of the valves on the trumpet instrument. The trumpet is also the backdrop to many influential jazz songs. Co-Owner, Tio Fallen played the trumpet for over 15 years. His experience even includes playing for the renowned FAMU Marching 100. Coffee became a passion for both Tio and his wife, Kenzel, after traveling to coffee-producing regions and exploring the art of home-roasting.
Tio is also a mechanical engineer who was drawn to not just coffee but the science behind the roastery process. The couple’s curiosity and love for coffee spiraled into Three Keys Coffee. They offer a sophisticated specialty blend that merges jazz, art and great coffee into one masterpiece. Here’s what the owners, Tio and Kenzel Fallen shared:
What's the significance behind the music playlists offered with each coffee blend?
“Our goal is to make “specialty” coffee more inclusive and accessible to everyone. Jazz itself is uniquely unifying across all demographics and looking at the history of vinyl recordings as an analogy, that was one of the first means of bringing aspects of a live music set/club into the home. This allowed for wider audiences to listen, hear and enjoy the sounds of the time. In turn jazz was able to gain huge popularity. We intend to do the same with our coffee and we want to make “specialty” coffee more inclusive and accessible just like jazz recordings made music sets and concerts more inclusive and accessible. With our accompanying playlists, we seek to essentially bring the atmosphere of a coffee shop or jazz café to your home through our curated pairings.”
How do you maintain a healthy blend of business, marriage and self-care?
“Being married entrepreneurs and parents of two young children, time is very limited. Both Tio and Kenzel enjoyed careers in professional roles that are highly focused on efficiency and optimization. That translated heavily when starting and building Three Keys as we always strived to work smarter and not harder. We maintain highly organized and detailed planning/roast schedules to ensure we can appropriately balance work and family life. We also allow our children to be involved and present in our business operations so that they understand the value of work and can feel included in that part of our world. Of course self-care and breaks are essential and so we usually take at least one weekend day to devote to family time and gladly embrace any moments of downtime by listening to music, enjoying a good meal, and drinking coffee.”
Three Keys Coffee is a dope brand that we all need in our lives. They have specialty blends to satisfy the pallette of any coffee lover while also infusing it for the jazz culture. I applaud their ingenuity and flavor. Connect with Three Keys Coffee here:
https://threekeyscoffee.com/
https://www.facebook.com/threekeyscoffee/
https://instagram.com/threekeyscoffee?utm_medium=copy_link
Writer, C. Scott is a mom, authorpreneur and lover of all things literary related. Follow her on Instagram as @curls_coils.