RICHMOND, Va. — You’ve likely sipped on a steaming cup of coffee with beans sourced from far-flung locales like Colombia, Ethiopia and Brazil. But Pi’s Coffee founder Piyush “Pi” Jessani is betting you haven’t experienced beans imported from the farms of India, delivered green and pristine to Richmond, Va. and roasted expertly by an engineer-brained entrepreneur.
“I taught myself how to roast,” says Jessani. When his parents received a care package from India during the pandemic that included raw coffee beans, Jessani jumped at the opportunity to experiment. “I started with a pan and learned that whole process, then moved on and turned a popcorn maker into a coffee roaster and slowly and surely got better,” says Jessani…