Maverick Coffee’s Steve Lewis took a less than traditional route to become an Arizona coffee shop owner. The former Olympian and British Record holder for the pole vault, retired from competition and left the world wondering what he would do next. Initially the plan was to stay in the world of sport but his and wife’s attentions soon moved to one of America’s favorite pastimes – coffee.
“In 2012 after the Olympic games I actually moved out to Arizona to start an Olympic training facility,” said Lewis “and we were living in North Scottsdale, loving the area and there just weren’t many spots to go and hang out in this area and sit on a couch and get coffee, chat with friends. Myself and my wife, we found this location and we began the process of starting a little local coffee shop.”
“Our concept here is to do things really small but really well. So we try to source the best coffee from roasters in the US, try to source all our food locally and just give a hearty local experience.”
“Coffee’s a medicine for your heart.”
Being a world class athlete, Mr. Lewis is obviously sensitive to the health benefits of the food and coffee he’s serving. “The list is really long but it reduces risks of certain kinds of cancer. There’s obviously research that goes on with antioxidants, but I think the one thing that we look at, which is not really a science to it, we see this as a coffee experience. This is a thing that people do to make themselves happy, to connect with other people, to be sociable. So we really like the idea that coffee’s fun and it’s a medicine for your heart.”
