Rhonda Stivers always loved coffee. As an international flight attendant, the native Chicagoan would frequent coffee shops around the world. And she purchased a bright-red espresso machine, her first, in 1976.By 1985, she convinced her then-husband, Greg Stivers, to open Color Me Coffee in Lake View — making them one of the few coffee shops in Chicago to roast beans on-site. That same year, a young Barack Obama first arrived in Chicago.Forty years later, the two have become linked. Color Me Coffee was recently named the sole coffee supplier for the newly opened Obama Presidential Center.After a blind taste test that included seven other local roasters, the brand was chosen as the winner in February. The judges included representatives from the Obama Foundation, Bon Appetit magazine and the Chicago Beverage Co.The Lower West Side roastery now supplies the presidential center's restaurant, cafe and catering events. Visitors can also purchase their beans at the Cafe inside the center, though they were sold out on Tuesday morning. In honor of former President Barack Obama, Stivers and staff created the 44 Reserve, a proprietary blend of Kenyan, Hawaiian and Indonesian beans, symbolizing Obama’s roots. The blend is available at the center and on Color Me Coffee's website.Stivers isn’t sure if the Obamas have tasted Color Me Coffee yet.“We do know they have espresso machines in their private suites,” she said. Color Me Coffee products on display at the Cafe inside the Obama Presidential Center.Provided by Rhonda Stivers Stivers, 71, said Color Me Coffee was the first Black roastery in the country. The couple spent years traveling Europe and researching the industry, prior to opening its shop.“No one was roasting in Chicago, so we took a leap of faith because it provided an opportunity,” she said. “It provided us the opportunity to provide coffee to other coffee shops, cafes.”The business roasts beans sourced from over 30 countries, including many Caribbean countries.“We are sticklers about coffee. We don't cut any corners. We don't throw additives in,” she said. “We are coffee purists, and we are about the single origin of beings.”When the couple divorced in the early 1990s, Greg Stivers took over the roastery and turned it into a wholesale business, called Stivers Coffee, with his own collection of coffee. Clients included a number of businesses, such as cafes, ice cream shops and colleges.Rhonda Stivers took over the retail business for the Color Me Coffee collection, selling at kiosks and carts at McCormick Place, Navy Pier and the Chicago Riverwalk. She stopped producing Color Me Coffee a decade ago but remained in the business with her ex-husband “from afar,” she said. Jason Stivers, the couple's son, also works at Stivers Coffee. “I got my coffee from Stivers Coffee. Anything I did in coffee, Greg was my supplier,” she said.Greg Stivers, 71, suffered a debilitating stroke a couple years ago, leaving him “incapacitated,” Rhonda Stivers said. She then stepped in to help.“We didn’t want the business to go away,” she said. She gained control of the company, and in October, she was back in the coffee business.“Rhonda … repurchased the company and is investing in it to excel us,” Kavia Simmons, Stivers Coffee's roastery manager, said. Simmons, who learned the business from Greg Stivers, started her own coffee company, I Love My Coffee Black, using beans sourced from the roastery. Color Me Coffee cofounder Rhonda Stivers (left) and Kavia Simmons, Stivers Coffee’s roastery manager, at the Obama Presidential Center.Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times Rhonda Stivers describes her return to the business as a "full circle moment." “I was very fortunate to walk into a business that was viable," she said.She expected to have some presence at the Obama Center. That's because the company's long-time client, Chef Cliff Rome, owner of Peach’s Restaurant, was selected to lead the center's fine dining restaurant, cafe and catering services.But Rome, who knew about the blind tasting, referred Stivers to the Obama Foundation — giving Color Me Coffee a chance to submit their beans.“We still can’t believe that we’re being honored like this,” Stivers said. “Everybody's just ecstatic to be a part of this and to provide something that people put in their body and that they trust us with ... so it's just a good feeling overall.”Meanwhile, Stivers Coffee will soon move to Grand Crossing, after outgrowing its Lower West Side building.“It's going to be the first roastery — especially the first high-tech roastery — on the south side of Chicago,” Stivers said.She said landing a contract with the Obama Center isn’t the pinnacle of her coffee career.“Even though this is where we are ... I have bigger aspirations, bigger dreams to go with coffee,” Stivers said. “This is definitely a great stepping stone to get there.” Inside the Cafe at the Obama Presidential Center.Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times Related Here’s a photo tour inside the Obama Presidential Center Obama Presidential Center visitors share ‘bittersweet’ reflections on America’s 250th birthday ...read more read less