BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) --- There’s an old saying about coffee tasting better with a friend.
For Jack Cucci, Eric Covo, and Sean Leahy, all retired members of the NYPD, their perfect brew, which is processed and bagged in a Brooklyn roasting facility, is a product of the company they keep and the values they hold dear.
"This is the best part, just smelling it when the bag is open. This is really about high-quality coffee," Cucci said.
The brand, Pour the Finest, which recently celebrated its second birthday, donates most of its revenues to a charity called NYPD With Arms Wide Open, which assists department families raising children with special needs, like Covo's.
"My youngest son is on the spectrum and many years ago I had large medical bills. Insurance paid some of it. They said 'Just put in for it.' That's what we're here for," Covo said.
To fully appreciate the commitment these three friends made, it helps to know just how far back they go, and to what lengths they went to get Pour the Finest off the ground. The men started working with each other after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when they were randomly assigned to the NYPD's Intelligence Division.
After their retirement, they randomly reunited when they started working together again at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. But the business is completely intentional. It started with a trip to South America looking for the right coffee bean,
"I had more of an understanding of what good coffee should taste like. We went out to dinner and said, 'Either we're going to do this or we're not,'" Covo said.
Merritt Riley, co-founder of the NYPD With Arms Wide Open charity, raved about how the former cops are helping the organization.
"These guys could have easily just taken that money and put it in their pockets," he said.
The new businessmen are brewing bigger plans, all in the spirit of service.
"The more we grow, the more we sell," Cucci said. "I actually would love to hand our charity a huge check one day."
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