EASTON, Md. — For Tim Cureton, coffee was the last thing in his world until he traveled the globe to learn how coffee could change the world.
After graduating from Salisbury, Tim took off on a Peace Corps mission.
While working a summer at Camp Wright on Kent Island, he met a bank manager whose kids were there.
"She loaned me $19,000 American dollars, and I logoed it up to say, 'Serving a sip of the world and drink organic coffee,' but I needed a place to put it," he said.
Back to camp to remember Glenn Higgins from Higgins Crab House, so Tim sent him a letter.
Glenn let him set up shop in a parking lot in St. Michaels but warned him the county would not approve. And they didn't.
But Tim begged for mercy over a cup of coffee, of course.
"Over the course of a year, we were writing our own legislation to define what it is to be a roadside vendor in Talbot County," Tim said. "So basically, one out of every $4 we made went to our attorneys to write this piece of legislation."
It must be the coffee, because Tim looks at locations and buildings where others have never succeeded.
And to go one sip further, Rise Up is now serving up a 100% compostable product, meaning the coffee, the beans, the cups, and the bags all return to Earth.
The man grounded by coffee makes sure Easton will be the heart and soil of Rise Up.
Rise Up has a dozen locations and is about to start brewing on Ritchie Highway in Severna Park.
