Perkatory Coffee Roasters serves java with a punk-rock vibe
Johanna and Joe Perazella met on a dating app but felt an instant connection as soon as they met in real life. “Our first date ended up being like seven hours long,” Johanna says. “And then we never left each other’s side.”
They’d fallen in love thanks to a shared passion for tattoos, skating and all things punk rock. But before long they also realized they had an additional love interest in common: coffee. “We had only been dating for a few months and we took a vacation to California together,” Johanna recalls. “We went to a bunch of different roasters and coffee shops there, and the atmosphere of the coffee shops in Southern California was just something that we felt that Connecticut needed. Like really big open spaces. One that we particularly like is James Coffee Co. in San Diego, and one of his shops is in an old airplane hangar.”
Johanna had long worked at Starbucks, which she acknowledges is the “fast food of coffee,” but also gave her a good foundation in the industry. Joe became fascinated with roasting coffee. Initially, they looked to start out as a coffee roaster, just selling coffee beans, maybe even operating out of their home. Then they came across a warehouse space in downtown Middletown. It was vast with airy ceilings, and was the ideal place to recreate the relaxed and open vibe they had fallen in love with in California. “It was just the perfect spot,” Johanna says. “We just went, like, alright, we’re going full into this and we’re gonna do the cafe.”
Perkatory Coffee Roasters was born in 2018. The wideopen space had the feel of a brewery and reflected its owners’ punk sensibilities — a lifesize skeleton featured prominently in its decorations, and it was instantly the type of place
you could work on your laptop or meet with a friend for record recommendations. This atmosphere combined with great coffee — a variety of specialty in-house roasts from different countries of origin are featured in pour-overs, cappuccinos and many other items including monthly specials — proved a winning recipe. More than five years later, not only is the original Perkatory a success, but the brand has expanded. In addition to Middletown, it has locations in Southington, West Hartford and Branford. A second Southington location is in the works, and Perkatory is opening its own bakery that will provide unique baked
goods to all locations.
A guiding principle in the original Perkatory and all subsequent locations is that it has to be a place where the Perazellas would want to hang out and one that is welcoming to all. In addition, “they’re all kind of punk rock,” Johanna says. But they also draw inspiration from the space and community. So since Branford is a coastal town, the skateboards in other locations were replaced on the walls by surfboards and other changes that reflect a seaside vibe.
“All of our locations have a skeleton. Well, that one has a mermaid skeleton,” Johanna says.
And Perkatory isn’t done growing yet. “We do have another one planned,” Johanna says. “We don’t have a location picked out yet. We are going to be reaching out to our customers via social media to see where everybody’s at and where we’re in most demand and go from there.”
Beyond that, Johanna isn’t sure. Any bigger and it may become too much for the couple to manage on their own. They’ve thought about potentially franchising.
As the business has expanded, so has the Perazella family. The couple now has a 4-yearold son, Jackson. The family remains thrilled and a little surprised by Perkatory’s success.
“Even after all these years we’ve been open now, we’re still kind of speechless about it,” Johanna says.
Perkatory Coffee Roasters 725 Main St., Unit 23, Middletown
168 Center Southington
625 New Park Ave., Unit H, West Hartford
4 Brushy Plain Road, #515, Branford
All locations open daily perkatoryroasters.com, @perkatorycoffeeco on Instagram
St., Suite 108,