Ryan Bergeron has something special brewing at the Arsenal Place Business Accelerator. The 30-year-old Selma native has opened a local coffee roaster called Revival Coffee Company.

Bergeron hopes to brew the best coffee in the region while making a difference close to home and across the world.

How Bergeron got into coffee roasting is a long story but one that he enjoys sharing.

“About 10 years ago, I came into a job that I knew I wouldn’t want to be doing for the rest of my life. I started putting in applications for a new job everywhere,” Bergeron said. “I remember feeling so frustrated whenever the jobs I applied for didn’t work out.”

During this time, Bergeron started during mission work in local neighborhoods through the Blue Jean Church.

“I remember that every time we would pray for a young man, his request would be that he could find a job,” he said. “I started to feel the pulling on my heart that there was more I could do to help this situation.”

As Bergeron thought about what he could do to help bring jobs to Selma, the idea to open a roaster was first planted by his friend Robert Armstrong, founder of Selma Good Co.

“I said I can’t do this right now. I need to pray about it and look into it,” Bergeron said.

With start-up costs like buying a roaster, Bergeron started taking baby steps when considering the prospect.

“It seemed like every step I took there was confirmation to go with it. There were some really neat God moments in the process,” he said.

Bergeron took a leap of faith and left construction work to focus on starting his own business.

“I knew [there] wasn’t where I was supposed to be in life. It was time to be the change and stop waiting on a change,” he said.

Bergeron said he took the name Revival Coffee Company and slogan “Awakening a Nation” because, “That’s what coffee does, it wakes us up but that’s what revival does as well.”

Now with a roaster that took 10 weeks to arrive from Turkey, Bergeron’s business is drawing interest across Selma, especially when the wind blows just right.

His coffee is now available at Mark’s Mart and is served at the Coffee Shoppe on Broad Street.

Bergeron hopes he can add in employees in the near future and wants to partner with nonprofits like schools and churches.

Each Revival Coffee Company blend will help support a certain nonprofit organization. He has plans for a Redemption blend for scholarships and a Restoration blend to help with Alabama Teen Challenge.

Bigger dreams down the road include helping Meto, Kenya set up coffee farms. Years ago, Bergeron and his wife, Kennedy, traveled to Kenya on a mission trip with Integrity Worldwide.

“The Lord wrecked me when I was on that trip with his love for the people there. Since that trip, I have always had a desire to do more to help the people in Meto,” Bergeron said. “He gave me the dream of being able to one day go and set up coffee farms in the town of Meto. Being able to bring an industry to Meto would be such an answered prayer.

Revival’s coffee comes from all over the world, including Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Kenya and Sumatra. Bergeron hopes to sell at local retail stores, coffee shops and churches as well as through fundraisers for schools and other youth activities. It will be sold both ground and whole and online soon at www.revivalcoffees.com.