Sean Hunziker, a self-described coffee “addict,” first bought a coffeeshop for “something to do” when he moved to Nixa.
“I like working. I like producing things, making things,” he said.
That first business, The Coffee Rush, lasted until 2008. The shop came with a small coffee roaster, which had never been used, and the owner thought he could figure out how to start roasting. It proved to be a difficult process.
Today, Hunziker’s company, Copper Canyon, roasts about 25 bags of beans per week, each one weighing up to 165 pounds. Copper Canyon distributes coffee to 45 coffeeshops and 15 other businesses, with about a fifth of its clients located in the Springfield area. It caters large events and serves drinks to customers from a small storefront in the Battlefield roastery at 4243 W. 3rd St.
The owner has also stumbled into a couple of other ventures, from beekeeping and honey sales to shipping tea all the way to Japan.
On Dec. 6, Copper Canyon will host the Caffeine Crawl, a nationally touring event. It has not been in Springfield since its first year in 2011, but Hunziker has been asking Caffeine Crawl’s founder to bring it back to the Queen City.
“The coffee community in Springfield is fractured,” Hunziker said. “There have been so many shops opened and closed.”
Caffeine Crawl showcases independent coffee
Copper Canyon. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
The Caffeine Crawl is the brainchild of Jason Burton, who has a background in graphic design and marketing. When the Caffeine Crawl came to Springfield during its initial 2011 run, Copper Canyon was a participant.
“We’ve just been wanting to do Springfield (again) for so long,” Burton told the Daily Citizen.
Hunziker is proud to say that he purchased the first ticket ever sold for a Caffeine Crawl, for the inaugural event in Kansas City. Hosting the event again is a meaningful moment for the owner.
“(Coffee chains) have done a successful job of knocking the local shops, mom-and-pop shops, down. So we’re deciding to reinvest a lot in local stuff,” Hunziker said.
“That’s part of why we wanted to do the Caffeine Crawl here. We want to help build an independent coffee culture.”
Saturday’s event will give a few different businesses a chance to connect with each other. Copper Canyon is hosting a “coffee holiday-mart” from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Visitors will be able to watch a roasting demonstration, craft their own coffee and shop from vendors.
Tickets for the crawl pay for a second stop at Echelon Coffee, Asa Al-Furat, Brick & Mortar or the Workshop at Finley Farms.
Hunziker learned to roast by interrupting a coffee guru’s date
Copper Canyon’s owner shows a handful of raw, green coffee beans. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
By 2011, Hunziker said, he knew that he needed a good consultant to help him learn the coffee trade. He had been reading articles on the industry — so when he recognized leading coffee consultant Tracy Allen in a Kansas City cafe, Hunziker knew it was his chance.
“I actually saw him at a restaurant and ran in, and he was on a date… I sat down at his date and just, that’s how we started,” he explained.
“(I said), ‘I don’t know you. I’d like to know you. I need your help, though.’”
Hunziker shows a bucket of roasted coffee beans. Copper Canyon currently has seven blends and 10 single origins. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
Hunziker developed a friendship with Allen. At the time, his company was the smallest client the consultant had ever taken on.
“I mean, it was just desperation, because I probably wasn’t going to go any farther if I didn’t have somebody that refined my skills and introduced me to the correct suppliers,” he said.
The Copper Canyon owner said he still roasts coffee the way Allen taught him. With the consultant’s help, he developed relationships with about 17 coffee farmers in 11 countries.
Imports became more challenging with tariffs
Copper Canyon caters corporate events from a refurbished emergency response vehicle. (Photo from Sean Hunziker)
Copper Canyon works with two coffee importers, based in Kansas City and Minneapolis. The company keeps most of its inventory in the importers’ warehouses — which proved fortunate when President Trump’s tariff policies began to impact the market.
“The reason we keep it in their places is, they’re international warehouses,” Hunziker explained. “It actually saved my butt because we had a bunch of coffee, but we don’t have to pay the tariff on it, because it was considered a trade-free warehouse.”
Most of Copper Canyon’s beans come from Brazil, a country that Trump has deemed an “extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
A July executive order from the president placed a 40% tariff on certain products from Brazil. As of Nov. 13, certain Brazilian agricultural products are no longer subject to the additional ad valorem tariff rate.
Hunziker said that although the tariff policy has evolved, coffee prices have not gone down to their original rate. “The freight companies have been really rough to work with,” he said.
Owner has broken into tea, honey industries
With a new machine, Copper Canyon will be able to make 60 tea bags in a minute. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
Almost 10 years ago, Copper Canyon’s Sumatran coffee importer sent the company 50 pounds of tea from his family’s farm.
“At that time, Teavana in the mall became big, and people were like, ‘Can you make this?’ We made everything,” Hunziker said.
That was the start of Phoenix Tea Company. Today, the owner is “paring down” to about 30 blends of tea. It’s a totally different world from coffee, he said, with a profit margin four or five times greater. Phoenix Tea Company is bringing in about $250,000 annually; Copper Canyon, $1.2 to $1.4 million, according to the owner.
Phoenix Tea Company sells goods to about a third of Copper Canyon’s customers and 35 additional clients, including a number of dedicated tea rooms. None of them are local. In fact, Hunziker said Phoenix Tea Company ships twice a year to Japan.
“I still don’t understand this. I’m like, ‘Dude, you can buy it there cheaper,’” he quipped.
Sean Hunziker talks in one of Copper Canyon’s back rooms. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
Hunziker attends yearly tea shows, where he said that he “sticks out like a sore thumb.” His first year visiting, he arrived wearing embroidered Dickies, “looking more like a mechanic than a tea person.”
Phoenix Tea Company’s inventory is stored in the 2,500-square foot basement of Copper Canyon’s building, a carefully controlled room. To keep the tea from becoming tainted, people who enter the room must suit up and avoid wearing any fragrances.
Like his venture into tea, Hunziker also discovered beekeeping through coffee. He has been cultivating honeybees for three years after producing coffee for a beekeepers’ conference. Now Copper Canyon’s “beekeeper’s blend” is a bestseller, with 8,000 cups of the coffee selling at the conference each year.
Route 66 Honey is currently based in the same building as Copper Canyon and Phoenix Tea Company.
Up next: coffee truck storefront and a cold drink trolley
Hunziker recently purchased a one-of-a-kind 1984 Chance trolley. He has been refurbishing it to create a mobile cold drink stand. (Photo by Zoe McIntyre)
Over the next two years, Hunziker said that he is going to put more energy into Phoenix Tea Company. He also has plans brewing for Route 66 Honey, with the centennial celebration of the Mother Road coming up in Springfield next year.
Copper Canyon will be expanding its operations, as well. The company caters big events from a repurposed 1980s emergency response vehicle. Hunziker wants to turn the truck into a full-time storefront.
The owner said he is considering two parcels of land in Springfield around the area of Missouri State University. He aims to purchase a property for the truck to park and serve customers, with a goal of opening it around March 2026.
Additionally, Hunziker is refurbishing another unconventional vehicle: a 1984 Chance trolley from Wichita, Kansas. This one will serve only cold drinks, like lemonade and iced coffee. Hunziker said it isn’t easy to drive, but it is fun.
“That is the coolest thing going down the road, because everybody waves at you.”
