Alabama’s Conecuh Sausage launches a coffee brand
What could be better than a plate of Conecuh Sausage rolls for breakfast?
How about a cup of Conecuh Sausage coffee to go with it?
The iconic Alabama sausage company recently introduced its Conecuh Sausage branded coffee, which is available in the Conecuh Sausage gift shop in the company’s hometown of Evergreen.
The 1947 Founders Blend – a medium roast Columbian coffee named for the year Conecuh Sausage began – is roasted and packaged by Bluebird Coffee Company in neighboring Andalusia, where Conecuh plans to open a second production facility.
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Members of the Sessions family, who own the Conecuh Sausage Co., eat at the Bluebird “at least once a week,” the coffee shop’s owner, Casey Teel, tells AL.com.
“They love Bluebird,” Teel says. “My uncle is good friends with them, and he would bring them in.”
So, with that connection and with Conecuh expanding into Andalusia, Teel pitched the Sessions family the idea of Bluebird Coffee roasting a special Conecuh Sausage blend.
“I just approached them one day,” Teel says. “I bought the bags. I did the roast. I came up with the label for them. And I just pitched it to them by giving them a bag. And they loved it.”
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Teel delivered the first roast of Conecuh Sausage coffee to Evergreen in time for the long Labor Day weekend.
“They sold a pretty good bit,” he says. “So (they have) already put in another order.”
The coffee, which is currently available only in the Conecuh Sausage gift shop, comes in one-pound bags that sell for $15.
Teel adds that he also plans to start roasting a Guatemalan coffee blend for the Conecuh Sausage label.
Casey Teel and his business partner bought Andalusia’s Bluebird Coffee Company in April 2023.(Photo courtesy of Casey Teel of Bluebird Coffee Company; used with permission)
From baked bread to roasted coffee
Bluebird Coffee Company opened in 2021 in the former longtime home of the Andalusia Baking Company, a once-thriving downtown business famous for its “Blue Bird Bread.”
“The name of our coffeehouse comes from the heritage of the building,” the Bluebird website says. “Where there was once the delicious aroma of fresh baked bread, there is now the smell of fresh roasted coffee.”
Teel and his business partner, Andalusia accountant Greg White, bought Bluebird Coffee from previous owners Lee and Debbie Williams in April 2023, Teel says.
It is Teel’s second venture into the coffee business, having previously been a partner in Andalusia’s Java Time coffee shop.
“It was fun,” Teel says, “and I just had it in the back of my mind that if the opportunity ever came up, I want to do that again.”
The coffee shop is open from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
In addition to coffee and lattes, Bluebird offers a breakfast menu that includes a cheese-and-bacon frittata, a Belgian waffle with fruit and a ham-and-Swiss croissant, as well as a lunch menu that features a grilled chicken pesto club sandwich, a brisket taco and a strawberry and roasted pecan salad.
Bluebird Coffee Company’s house coffee blends are available in a medium and a dark roast at the coffee shop and on the website.
Bluebird Coffee Company is at 200 South 3 Notch St. in Andalusia, Ala. The phone is 334-923-1698.
The Conecuh Sausage gift shop is at 200 Industrial Park in Evergreen, Ala. The phone is 251-578-3380.