the first flame
creation
The soil, sun, and seed that begin the journey.
the second flame
refinement
The heat of the roaster that transforms raw beans into something rich and complex.
the third flame
fellowship
The place where coffee is finally shared, where stories are told, and where community is cultivated.
1 in 10 People worldwide Live without clean water.
80% of the world's harmful diseases are caused by unsanitary water.
4,500 children die every day due to exposure to dirty water.
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OUR mission project
We believe clean drinking water is a basic human right.
Third Flame Coffee has partnered with charity: water to dig our first clean water well in Ethiopia. Click the link below to learn more about how you can help.
charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people around the world.
our origin story
by Liz Skillern
For Jim and Dixie Davis, coffee has become a way to bring people together.
It is a story of family, faith, craftsmanship, and community that stretches from a high school gas station coffee mug to the mountains of Ethiopia, and, today, to a small roasting room in Maryville.
“It’s really about bringing people together,” Jim Davis said. That idea is at the heart of Third Flame Coffee, the couple’s small-batch coffee roasting business that officially launched in 2025 and now supplies coffee to Haven Coffee & Goods in downtown Maryville while offering a growing selection of signature blends and single-origin coffees.
But the story began decades before the first bag of coffee was ever roasted.
Jim laughs when he talks about where his love of coffee began. As a high school student, he and a friend shared a daily ritual of filling a refillable gas station mug with black coffee before school. “We had no idea then,” he said, “that those rough cups of coffee would turn into something much bigger.”
Life moved forward. Jim and Dixie married and raised two sons, Davin and Delton, before feeling called to grow their family through adoption. After months of paperwork, inter-views and waiting, they traveled to Ethiopia in June 2010, where they met their daughter, Nyah, for the first time.
It was a life-changing trip in more ways than one. While in Ethiopia, the Davises participated in their first traditional coffee ceremony.
Unlike the hurried pace of grabbing coffee on the way to work, the Ethiopian ceremony invited people to slow down. Green coffee beans were roasted over an open flame, ground by hand and brewed while family and friends gathered to visit, laugh and share stories.
“It wasn’t just about drinking coffee,” Jim said. “It was about community.”
That experience planted a seed. While touring a local coffee roastery during the trip, Davis found himself imagining what it would be like to roast coffee himself someday. The dream remained just that, a dream, for more than a decade.
As the family settled into life back home, Jim continued working in banking while quietly studying coffee roasting in his spare time. In 2021, he purchased his first sample roaster and traveled to Chicago, where he trained and earned certifications through the Specialty Coffee Association. He experimented with roasting profiles, tasting coffees from around the world and learning how subtle changes in temperature and timing could dramatically affect flavor. “It’s really a craft,” Jim said. “Every coffee is different.”
Four years later, that hobby became something more. The Davises invested in a five-kilogram Diedrich commercial coffee roaster affectionately named “Rosie,” transforming part of their property into a professional roasting facility.
Today, burlap sacks filled with green coffee beans from Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Sumatra line the walls, waiting for their turn inside Rosie. Each batch spends about 10 to 12 minutes roasting while Jim carefully monitors heat, airflow and color, creating coffees that highlight the unique flavors of each region.
Although the roasting process is technical, the vision behind Third Flame Coffee is remarkably simple. The company's name reflects from what Jim calls "From Farm to Flame to Fellowship."
The first flame represents creation — the farmers, the soil and the coffee plant itself. The second flame is the roasting process, where heat transforms green coffee beans into something rich and flavorful. The third flame is fellowship — the conversations, friendships and sense of community that develop when people gather around a cup of coffee.
Today, the business continues to expand while remaining intentionally small. The Davises roast coffee in small batches to ensure quality, and they continue building relationships with importers who work directly with smaller farms around the world. For the couple, however, the business has always been about more than coffee. Their family’s connection to Ethiopia inspired another dream years ago — to someday give something back to the country that forever changed their lives.
That vision has become the WOW Fund: Widows, Orphans and Water. Through a partnership with Charity:Water, Third Flame Coffee is helping support clean water projects in the region of Ethiopia where Nyah was born.
A portion of the company’s profits will also support widows, orphans and communities connected to the family’s story. “It’s one way we can honor Ethiopia,” Jim said.
As Third Flame Coffee continues to grow, Jim still balances roasting with a full-time banking career, while the business has truly become a family endeavor. Dixie works alongside him in nearly every aspect of the operation — from roasting and bagging coffee to deliveries and planning for the future. Their sons have also found their own roles. Davin helps lead the company’s marketing efforts, while Delton is learning the roasting process, helping design the future roasting room and tackling the physical work of moving 150-pound bags of green coffee. Although Nyah is away attending the University of Missouri, where she is studying strategic communications, she remains at the heart of the business. Jim said she helps keep the family focused on the values and purpose behind Third Flame Coffee and will play an important role in guiding the WOW Fund’s mission. “It’s truly a family business,” he said.
The Davises know they are still at the beginning of the journey. They hope customers enjoy the quality of the coffee, but they also hope every bag encourages something that has become increasingly rare — a chance to slow down, share a story and connect with another person.
Standing beside Rosie, surrounded by the aroma of freshly roasted coffee, Jim smiled as he reflected on how far the journey has come. It began with a gas station coffee mug. It led halfway around the world to meet a little girl named Nyah. Today, it continues one cup at a time. For the Davis family, Third Flame Coffee has become more than a business. It is a way to honor a country that has given them so much, celebrate craftsmanship and cultivate community. From farm to flame to fellowship. Third Flame Coffee can be experienced daily at Haven Coffee and Goods on the north side of Maryville’s downtown square, as well as, online right here where bags can be ordered.
Third Flame Coffee Values
craftsmanship
We roast every batch with purpose and precision. From the source to the flame, we pour care into every detail to create a cup worth savoring.
authenticity
We tell honest stories and stay true to the farms, the people, and the process behind each bean. The bold flavor of our coffee reflects who we are and where it came from.
community
We believe coffee connects us. We exist to bring people together, around tables, campfires, and moments that matter.
curiosity
We stay open to new ideas, new origins, and new ways to grow. We explore coffee and the people who love it with wonder, creativity, and respect.
purpose
We believe coffee is a catalyst for something deeper. What we roast is more than a product, it’s an invitation for joy, reflection, conversation, and community.
partnership
We build meaningful relationships with our farmers, our customers and our communities. We roast better coffee and tell richer stories by walking together.