When Clay Rozell isn't fighting fires or serving the community through i [heart] denton, a nonprofit he and his brothers started, he's roasting coffee.
Though he says he's "not a businessman," Rozell jumped at the chance to make his passion his part-time job when Bookish Coffee was being sold last summer.
The previous owner, Brian Daskam, ran the business for four years before selling it to Rozell.
The change-up came at a good time for both men, Rozell said: Daskam was looking to get out of the business, while Rozell was wanting to get involved in a local business.
After running the numbers and getting his wife's blessing, Rozell took over Bookish.
Now he has the best of both worlds, he said - he gets to learn about coffee, while still fighting fires full time.
But juggling the two jobs hasn't been easy.
"It's been a challenge keeping this as a part-time job," he said. Since taking over the business, Rozell estimates that he's roasted about 250 pounds of coffee a month.
He said roasting coffee is straight-forward, generally speaking: buy the coffee beans and put heat on them. But it's not enough to have the basics down. A good cup of coffee requires more than heat on beans.
"What I'm learning is the art behind coffee," he said. "The difference between a mediocre coffee and a great coffee could be 30 seconds."
Every bean is different, Rozell said. Improving the batch sometimes means changing the temperature of the roast; sometimes it means introducing more air into the process.
Roasting involves a lot of trial and error, he said - not to mention a lot of coffee drinking.
"It's almost a little bit of science to it," he said. "As little as 30 seconds can make or break a great bean."
Rozell rotates the types of coffee he offers every couple months, depending on which coffee bean varieties are in season.
"Coffee beans are kind of like a vegetable. Some beans are in season and some beans are out of season," he said. But he tries to keep four types on hand at a time.
Right now, Bookish Coffee has Brazil Condado Estate, Guatemala Finca el Injerto, Papua New Guinea Madan Estate, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and Brazilian decaf.
"Guatemala seems to be the Rozell favorite," he said.
Because he is a micro-roaster, Rozell tries to plan ahead for upcoming orders. He normally roasts on Wednesdays or Thursdays depending on his full-time job.
To help him plan, he offers subscriptions. People can set up subscriptions to have a bag of coffee ready every week or every other week. If customers order that way, they can get a discounted rate as well.
December was a busy month, Rozell said, because people were buying coffee for Christmas gifts. His wife created the bags for the holiday season with a "To" and "From" at the top.
Like Daskam, Rozell lets customers pick their coffee up at his house. He likes small-town accessibility, he said, and wanted to keep Daskam's idea alive.
Unlike Daskam, Rozell offers Bookish Coffee elsewhere around the county, including Denton Square Donuts, Cups & Crepes and a drugstore in Pilot Point.
Bear Cahill, one of the owners of Denton Square Donuts, said he knew Daskam and wanted to use local coffee in the shop.
He said some of his customers have become regulars because of the coffee. 
"I don't drink it black, but it's the only coffee I can drink black," Cahill said.
The doughnut shop, which opened on Denton's downtown Square in August, also sells bags of the coffee.
"We didn't intend to be a coffee shop," Cahill said. "We're a doughnut shop, but we are very proud of our coffee."
Rozell has enjoyed seeing the business grow in the few months he's been at the helm. And there's a sense of pride - both for him and the customers - in owning a piece of the community.
"People really like the local aspect of it," he said.
RACHEL MEHLHAFF can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is rmehlhaff@dentonrc.com.
BOOKISH COFFEE
Phone: 423-762-9152
E-mail: dentonbookishcoffee@gmail.com
On the Web: www.bookishcoffee.com, www.facebook.com/bookishcoffee
Details: A bag of coffee costs $7; a month's subscription is $25.
