Coffee With Some Groove: Rohan Marley Tells His Story

Rohan Marley, Marley Coffee JAMN founder, which went public as Jammin Java Corp in 2011, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to tell his company's story. "After I left college, and I look in the mirror and say to myself, you know, being Bob Marley's son, you know, what is your mission? What are you going to do in life, you know? And I knew I had something inside of me to give, you know, because I'm not a singer, but I knew I had something inside me that I wanted to do, just besides help myself," said Marley. He got the opportunity to do it when Marley went to Jamaica's Blue Mountains in 1999, where he bought what he described as a beautiful piece of land, complete with a river running through it. He said that after purchasing the land, he went out into the community. He talked to the people. He asked them what was on the property. They said coffee. "I said, 'Do you know anything about coffee?' They said, 'Well Mr. Marley, we've been farming coffee all our lives.' Well I said 'Alright, we're in the coffee business,'" said Marley. Marley was thrilled to not only create a sustainable business that benefited him, but also one that provided an opportunity to benefit the community. Marley Coffee is organic. Creating a quality product was key in Marley's plan while building and learning his business, and to getting his brand in the right stores, like Whole Foods WFM. The names of the coffees are derived from his father Bob Marley's song titles. "In the sixties there was a lot of violence in the community in Jamaica, and my father, you know, The Wailers, they wrote a song called 'Simmer Down.' So I said, you know, 'Why not use your own names?" said Marley. Simmer Down is his decaffeinated coffee. Marley joked that when the right time comes, he may venture out into other business opportunities that are currently in the process of being legalized in certain states like Colorado.