My journey in coffee began at an early age. Even before high school, I was always interested in coffee without knowing how big the world of coffee was. My father bought a KitchenAid espresso machine and burr grinder when I was about 10. I knew nothing about the machine or espresso, only that my father needed the shots to have “crema.” Watching him try to achieve this was always the highlight of my day.
Throughout high school, my enjoyment of coffee continued. I was drinking very dark roast Starbucks and Peet's; however, this is where I found out about the different types of coffee. I remember buying every type of special blend and single origin, without quite knowing what those terms meant. Starbucks is where I bought my first pour-over set. I’d make endless pour-overs and would force myself to drink it black because that’s what people who loved coffee did, right?

During high school, I started working at a restaurant named La Mo Cafe in Turlock. While working at La Mo Cafe, they decided to open up a coffee shop. During the process of the coffee shop, I became more interested in different types of coffee and different methods of making coffee. During the first year of being open, I was introduced to a company named Mast Coffee Company and Entimos Coffee Roasters. I made some great friendships with the owners from Mast, Mike and Stephen, and they were super helpful in any coffee knowledge that I was looking for. One day, the guys from Entimos, Matt and Tim, came to La Mo and set up a cupping for us baristas. On the cupping table was a natural Yirgacheffe Ethiopia; my first taste of it was a monumental moment for me in my coffee journey. To this day, I still feel like I cannot find a coffee that tasted that good to me. I don't know if it was just the first natural coffee I'd ever tasted, or if it was a phenomenal year for Ethiopian coffee. Either was that experience will stick with me for the rest of my coffee journey.

The experience with the Natural Ethiopia from Entimos really was the beginning of my dive into third wave specialty coffee. I spent the next few years at La Mo Cafe really honing my craft and diving into specialty coffee. During that time, I became the shift lead for the baristas there and gained experience leading a team.
Some time after my time at La Mo Cafe, I started working at a coffee shop in Modesto named Heart and Soul Coffee. I worked there for a bit, and then a while later I became the general manager. This was a slower-paced cafe that was using experimental coffees; because of this, I was able to get “nerdy” with coffee techniques.
While working at Heart and Soul, a mutual family friend, Ronda, expressed some interest in starting a coffee company. She had the business experience and schooling background, and I had the coffee knowledge. After some initial planning in the first year, we decided who we were going to be as a company. Our values aligned, and our journey through the coffee chain began: to create relationships from the farmer to the coffee drinker, to elevate the coffee we serve, to illuminate the journey coffee takes, and to empower all those that touched the coffee along the journey.
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