About TK

When was the last time you thought about where your coffee came from? Chances are you might not have thought about it. Whether you get yours from the green mermaid, your local grocery store, or even that gas station on the way to work it probably isn’t local and more than likely mass-produced. Here at King of Clubs Brewing Co. located in Williamsburg, VA, we care that every bean is roasted to exceed your expectations, and no one cares more about coffee than our in house roaster, Toby Kufahl. 

Meet Toby:

Toby grew up in a small farming town just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Growing up he spent lots of his time working on the farm, at a small grocery store bagging during his high school years, and just learning work ethic from a young age. At the age of 19, he had a friend with a younger brother that was diagnosed with ALL (Acute lymphoblastic leukemia) at the age of 7, this led Toby to start a not for profit to help out the family. The organization is called ‘Hope for Austin’ and was completely run by and organized by Toby. 

Having spent his younger years in Wisconsin, he decided to join the Navy to give back to his country. He specialized in Explosives also known as Ordnance. After 6 years of service, Toby decided to further his education and enrolled in Wyotech in Pennsylvania. His main study was heavy duty diesel mechanics. Over the next few years he worked at a few Toyota dealerships in the mechanic departments. Unfortunately, Toby was in a single vehicle accident on his motorcycle that ended in a snapped collar bone and several fractured vertebrae. Between the accident and the surgeries that it led to he had to give up his line of work.

The accident closed one door, but opened another when Toby got to fulfill a childhood dream to become a volunteer firefighter in New Kent County. Sadly this did not last long due to a compressed nerve from his accident causing him to be unfit to continue volunteering. He spent some time working at ice rinks and installing them around the country. Soon after that experience, he got the opportunity to be a stay at home dad and help with his kids virtual classes. He stated that staying at home made it harder to get coffee whenever he wanted, so he learned to roast coffee beans at home in a skillet. This process piqued his interest and caused him to research more about coffee and the roasting process. He heard about King of Clubs, a local roastery and started to become a regular customer shopping for unroasted beans. Not long after he was offered a job to be the roaster, and the rest as they say is history.

Toby’s preference:

Toby prefers African medium roasts due to their naturally fruit-like nature when roasted, saying Yirgacheffe has a natural lemon flavor and Sidamo has blueberry notes. Toby is extremely proud of his personal coffee blend, having put roughly four and a half months of research into it. It is named ‘High Roller’ due to the store’s 1920’s speakeasy theme. It is a triple origin blend that, due to its nature, actually changes flavor as the cup cools. When first poured it has a natural bite, as it cools it transitions to more cherry notes then to grapefruit, and right when you’re ready for your next cup you’ll pick up a hint of caramel flavor. It is the perfect medium roast breakfast blend because as Toby says, “There is no aftertaste, so you aren’t still tasting your breakfast at lunch.”