Danny O’Neill has had a lot of what he would describe as “turning points” in his life.

There was a time as an ISU student O’Neill was thinking about law school. Then there was the possibility of working with the CIA, followed by some time in the corporate world, which ended with him as a self-described “corporate dropout.”

Now he is known as the Bean Baron.

O’Neill is the president and owner of The Roasterie, a specialty coffee-roasting company, which he started in 1993 from the basement of his home in Kansas City, Mo.

Gourmet coffee from The Roasterie is served all across Iowa State’s campus, and this year, O’Neill has debuted a coffee designed specifically for Iowa State called “1858,” named for the year the university was founded.

“I have absolute total love of all things Iowa and all things Iowa State,” O’Neill said, who was born and raised in Iowa and graduated from Iowa State in 1983.

1858, which is being sold at campus cafes for only $1 until Sept. 16, is a 100-percent organic light-roast coffee that was created by O’Neill specifically for ISU Dining.

“It was Iowa State’s idea. …We love it, and we’re behind it,” O’Neill said, who described the coffee as being “a great lingering coffee that sticks with you well after your last taste.”

1858 will not be the only coffee that The Roasterie debuts on campus this semester.

“Olivia’s Akvavit,” a coffee created by The Roasterie from their My Blend program by Olivia Madison, dean of the library, will be served at President Steven Leath’s installation events this week.

Madison took a survey on her taste preferences from The Roasterie and was able to create her own special blend, which she named Olivia’s Akvavit, a name that represents her Danish heritage.

“It’s rich coffee,” Madison said. “Every time I drink it, it’s just like I’m in Denmark.”

Madison did not choose her own coffee blend for the inauguration but offered it as a choice alongside 40 Sardines, another Roasterie blend, for Leath to choose from in a blind taste test.

“I was so impressed with the care he took,” Madison said on how Leath chose which coffee would be used at the installation events.

In the end, Leath chose Olivia’s Akvavit.

Madison has worked closely with O’Neill and The Roasterie since the opening of Bookends Cafe in the library in 2006, where she first met O’Neill.

“For him, he knows the personal touch of how to do good business,” Madison said of O’Neill.

O’Neill believes in selling only the best, but it took him awhile to discover that the coffee business was where he wanted to be.

After a visit to Russia in 1992, he returned wanting a change.

“I was just hell-bent on doing something different, and coffee was the only idea that I had,” said O’Neill, who first picked coffee in Costa Rica while studying abroad in high school.

O’Neill bought a hot air popcorn popper and began air-roasting coffee in his home.

For three months, O’Neill knocked on doors trying to sell his coffee, and for three months, he did not make a sale.

“I call those the dark days,” O’Neill said. “[But] I didn’t want to quit. … I focused on quality, and I thought that was the only way I could compete.”

Eventually, O’Neill began to make sales, and the business took off from there.

O’Neill wanted to take the best coffee and “connect it with a cause.”

The cause came when O’Neill felt that one of their farmers in Brazil was offering too low a price for the coffee beans.

“He gave me the price, and I said I would be embarrassed to pay that; it’s too low,” O’Neill said.

The Roasterie began to pay 15 cents more per pound for the coffee beans from the farmer; the extra money went to fund a preschool in the farmer’s area.

There were soon 60 students at the new school.

“There were unexpected consequences, but in this case, they were all good,” O’Neill explained.

While the children were in school, their mothers were able to pick coffee beans, thus doubling the income of the households. The children were also bringing what they learned in the school home and teaching it to their parents.

As time passed, the money was able to fund a school lunch program, showers, hygiene classes and Internet access.

The Roasterie has continued this program in other areas, and they now have opened multiple schools in Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica.

“All this started by us adding 15 cents a pound because we thought we were underpaying,” O’Neill said. He further explained the first school has since “graduated” from the program when they asked for funding to go toward band uniforms. The Roasterie has taken the funds to areas with more need.

“We come up with a price that is solid and fair and then those farmers can take their mind off of the risk and pick the best coffee they can,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill is excited for students to get a taste of the 1858 blend and will be offering advice to ISU Dining on how to prepare the coffee in its best form for Leath’s installation.

The public will have a chance to drink Olivia’s Akvavit at the open reception following the installation.