Since launching Hermetheus Coffee in 2020, Jason Scott has tried to do things differently.
The brand got its start in 2020, selling its home-roasted coffee online, at city events and at the Olathe Farmers Market. As an engineer, Scott used his background to give Hermetheus Coffee an edge — including by developing a robotic heat controller for artisan coffee roasters.
In its four years, Scott said, not a single farmers market day has passed where customers haven’t asked if Hermetheus Coffee has a brick-and-mortar store. The next market season will mark the first where Scott’s answer to that question will be yes.
He plans to open Hermetheus Coffee’s first storefront in downtown Olathe to customers in early 2025.
Hermetheus Coffee will be at 101 S. Kansas Ave.
- The coffee shop will occupy a roughly 2,000-square-foot space, across the street from the Johnson County Square.
- There, it will neighbor the Cutting Room barber shop.
- Regular hours for Hermetheus Coffee have yet to be finalized.
The shop will serve coffee with a tech-y twist
The shop’s menu will feature traditional coffee drinks made with beans from Kansas City-based Anthem Coffee Imports — as well as some grab-and-go food options.
Those drinks will be prepared with the help of the roaster co-pilot — a robotic device that regulates the coffee’s heat automatically as it’s being roasted.
The roastery will operate in the back of the shop, with windows to the front so customers can watch the roasting happen. (As a former teacher, Scott said he enjoys the educational aspect of letting customers in on the process.)
“In layman’s terms, it’s cruise control for the entire roast,” Scott said. “In that sense, our coffee is roasted unlike any other company’s coffee, and it’s really exceptional coffee.”
Customers will also have the option to take the process into their own hands, via a touchscreen device in the shop that allows customers to roast their own coffee.
“It’ll be a coffee shop unlike any, literally, in the country,” Scott said. “The equipment that we have acquired and reengineered is really awesome equipment. So it’s going to be an experience unlike anything else.”
The brand got its name in part from Scott’s dog, Hermie — who Scott and his family often affectionately call “Hermetheus”, after the heroic Greek god Prometheus.
But Scott said the name is also a nod to the shop’s focus on community. When he and his wife, Faith Scott, first launched the brand, the name represented the “her, me and the us” that made up Hermetheus Coffee.
“As the company grows, so does the ‘us’, and so the ‘us’ encompasses the community that we interact with,” Jason said. “It encompasses the downtown Olathe community that we believe passionately in. It encompasses the Olathe Farmers Market that we’ve been a part of for years, and the community that we formed with that.”
The shop signifies a new chapter for Hermetheus Coffee
Opening a brick-and-mortar shop wasn’t necessarily in the cards when Hermetheus Coffee got its start, Scott said. But over time, as the brand gained customers at markets and events, the idea of having a place to interact with those customers more often became more and more appealing.
“At the end of the day, I’ve realized it’s not the roasting of the coffee that fills my tank,” he said. “It’s actually the interaction with the people that are enjoying the coffee that really drives me. It inspires me, and that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”
Hermetheus Coffee comes as one of several incoming additions to the area — including three popular Kansas City restaurants planning downtown Olathe locations.
With the growth and ongoing redevelopment in downtown Olathe, Scott said he looks forward to being a part of the growing enthusiasm around the area.
“Our downtown used to be thriving back before I can remember,” he said. “We want that to happen again, and we believe it can and will happen again with all of this new investment that’s happening.”
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