Eileen Roddy

J&S Coffee Co., 4821 W. Sixth St., celebrates its fourth birthday Wednesday.

Owners Joe and Sarah Farthing met at

Washington University in St. Louis, where they earned graduate degrees – she in social work and psychology, and he in physics and chemistry. He’d been fascinated with different tastes since childhood and once bought various brand-name waters just to discern the differences. During study breaks at home, he roasted coffee. The smells, tastes and textures bewitched him, and friends declared his coffee the best they’d ever had. In class, he wondered why some professors appeared more successful than others.

“They were all intelligent and well-qualified, yet some got better results than others. I realized the difference lay in the passion they had for their work.”

Joe knew his passion was for roasting coffee, and he dreamt of opening a shop when he retired.

“That doesn’t sound like retirement,” Sarah laughed. “Why don’t we do it while we’re young?”

They took the plunge and came to Lawrence; they’d fallen in love with the city on previous visits.

A new strip mall in West Lawrence was available and seemed like a perfect location for the shop named with their respective initials. Before George Williams Way opened, those driving between Lawrence and Topeka, or coming east off Interstate 70, passed the Sixth Street intersection. This proved to be good reasoning.

“We cornered Topeka commuters very quickly,” Joe said.

There’s no drive-through, but great parking enables people to stop off for their favorite brew. They also attract home-office folks from West Lawrence who make use of free wireless access and continue working during coffee breaks. Seating in the elongated premises is restricted (by federal law, because there’s only one restroom.) You can pick a Washington University chapel pew, or chairs and small tables. The sofas secluded in the back corner are more comfortable.

Within days of opening, they hooked an executive from a software company in Kansas City. He was so impressed with the taste and quality of the coffee, roasted in full view of customers, he asked them to supply his firm. Word spread quickly, and J&S now supplies many sit-down restaurants, including Pachamama’s, Tellers and the Eldridge Hotel. Joe works with owners to achieve the unique taste and blend they want for their business. Wholesale business now accounts for 50 percent of sales.

Jane Baier, a customer from day one, appreciates the work involved in owning a successful coffee shop. She opened one at Sunrise Beach in the Ozarks in 1995.

“It just didn’t take off for some reason. We worked really hard, but it wasn’t a success,” she said. “Not like here.”

She loves J&S.

“I’m hooked on their latte; I think they lace it,” she grinned, wiping the froth from her lips.

“The scones and muffins are addictive, too. They’re made daily on the premises.”

Jane’s enthusiasm is contagious. Her knitting group friend Joyce Rankin, a local artist and retired nurse, drinks vanilla latte.

“I call it ‘designer coffee’ because a signature leaf is ‘drawn’ on the froth.”

Barista Gretchen Kidd, a nursing student, starts the design as the froth nears the lip of the cup.

Joyce is convinced it makes the coffee taste better.

The tea offering is tame. There’s a small selection of Mighty Leaf bags and some loose teas. For $2.33 one can have a glass teapot with in-built strainer and a heated stand. I discovered this after some questioning, and after I’d already dunked a teabag in so-so water and used 2 percent milk.

“We don’t get many tea-drinkers here,” Joe explained.

Whole milk is available on request.

I had to work pretty hard to discover what might have been a good pot of tea.

In his book “Professional Techniques: for Espresso,” David Schomer wrote: “If the passion is not present in your heart for things you eat and drink, you will never master gourmet coffee.”

The passion in Joe’s heart is evident. He has mastered gourmet coffee and achieved his dream while still young enough to enjoy it.