A certified barista, Michael Bruley loves the coffee business. In June, he reopened Higher Grounds Coffee House in the Duluth Fitger’s complex and opened Kaio Coffee House as a ministry for Glad Tidings. He also managES the cappuccino cart for the DECC since 2007.

Every morning, seven days a week, Michael Bruley, 50, drives into Duluth from his home in Fredenberg Township to put on the coffee at his Higher Grounds Coffee House, located just inside the front doors of the Fitger’s Brewery Complex and between the vats brewing beer and Fitger’s Wine Cellars.

By 6 a.m. (and until 2 p.m.) Bruley will be ready to serve only the highest-quality of Fitger’s Brand coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, frappes and other specialty drinks – hot and cold.

Bruley is truly a coffee enthusiast -- a barista, which is a person who has acquired expertise in the preparation of coffee drinks. He is the only certified International Academy of Specialty Coffee barista in the state of Minnesota. And, he just loves the atmosphere of the coffee house.

Sitting on a tall stool at the coffee house, Bruley talked about his love for the coffee business.

“I love interacting with the people,” he said. “I like giving them something they enjoy and asking them, ‘Do you like this?’ I get personal satisfaction from making someone’s day.”

The Fitger’s complex invited Bruley’s Higher Grounds Coffee House, formerly located at Twin Ports Bible and Books in the Matterhorn Mall in Duluth, to set up next to the four-diamond Fitger’s Hotel. The coffee house opened there on June 15. Bruley is excited to be at the Fitger’s Brewery Complex because he feels “God believes it is important for me to be there” and because his father worked at the brewery in 1945.

“The people at Fitger’s are fantastic to work with,” Bruley said. “The coffee house is totally independent, but I am committed to the Fitger’s Brand of coffee – a different kind of brew.”

The name, Higher Grounds, has a spiritual meaning to Bruley, and he is committed to serving the best coffee available because of “the God I serve, because I am attached to a four-diamond hotel and because I am a certified barista. I am obligated to do so.

“I use the best ingredients. I use Ghirardelli Chocolate and Oregon Chai, and I don’t skimp, cheat or compromise.”

Bruley always wears black, which to him is a status symbol.

The Higher Grounds Coffee House is set up in such a way that customers can see their coffee drinks being made and so that Bruley can interact with them as he is preparing their drinks. Bruley said people like to watch him steaming the milk and making the drinks.

“Ninety percent of my customers don’t know about coffee. For example, an espresso should have three different layers of color with cream being the top layer. A customer becomes part of the drink he or she is buying.”

For more information on Higher Grounds, visit the Web site www.cremedebrule.wordpress.com.

The ultimate coffee man, Bruley also has been the cappuccino cart manager for the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center since 2007.

“The cappuccino cart is an event-driven job,” Bruley said. “It is sporadic, but works for me and provides income for my family.”

Bruley also manages the volunteer-run Kaio Coffee House, which opened on June 26 as a ministry of Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church to young people 16-22 years of age. The Kaio Coffee House is in the annex building across the street from Glad Tidings, which is located at 1901 E. Fourth St. in Duluth. Kaio is open 4 p.m. until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights and from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.

“Kaio is a hangout for college-age kids,” Bruley said. “On Friday night there is live music. Helping out here fills my need for ministry.”

Bruley is a native Duluthian who attended Duluth Central High School and graduated from the College of St. Scholastica in 1980 with a business management major and a minor in psychology. He basically worked as a bookkeeper for various companies until he became a barista.

Bruley worked for Bill and Joyce Alworth in their Bible and book stores in Superior and Duluth. In 2001, Bruley suggested adding a coffee shop in one end of their Twin Ports Bible and Book store in Duluth. The Alworths were excited about that and Higher Grounds Coffee House was opened. When the Alworths made the decision to close the store in 2005, that meant closing Higher Grounds as well.

He remembers that location and time with fond memories. He said people came to have coffee and study the Bible, and he remembers two women who came and then prayed together.

“If someone came in and said they’d had a bad day,” Bruley said, “I could talk with them and pray with them. It was the atmosphere. I wouldn’t hesitate to pray with anyone at the Higher Grounds in Fitger’s either, but the atmosphere is different than when I was in the Bible and book store.”

Bruley remembers the exact day he became a believer in Jesus Christ. It was on Nov. 10, 1975, the day the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter sank in Lake Superior. He’d been dating his high school sweetheart, Becky, but she told him they couldn’t continue their relationship unless he knew Christ. Becky was a Child Evangelism Fellowship teacher and showed him how to become a Christian through the CEF’s wordless book.

Bruley said he’d been raised as a Catholic so he had head knowledge, but he didn’t have the personal relationship with Jesus.

“On the way home from being with Becky that night, it all started to make sense,” he said. “I pulled the car over and prayed to receive Jesus into my life. It was very cool to marry the person who brings you to Christ. She has kept me on track ever since.”

The Bruleys have a son, Sam, 20, and a daughter, Sarah, 16. They attend Fredenberg Chapel.