It wasn’t an easy decision to come to. At least not in the sense that I thought. It didn’t seem logical at the time, and what made it hardest was that it wasn’t what I thought I wanted. It wasn’t something that I just came up with and though, “fuck it, lets do this, exploit the industry, make a good product and (hopefully) make a living.” This whole thing took some time (years…literally), contemplation, and ultimately a realization that the industry I had tried to hard to run away from just wasn’t going to happen.

I was born into this. This lifestyle and culture. That one that found your entire family hanging out in the kitchen or around a table for EVERY holiday. It had me at a cellular level. It is simply in my DNA, and I cant just NOT, do it. Its like telling that kid who grew up in a household dedicated to the Chicago Cubs, to all of a sudden become a White Sox fan… it doesn’t happen often. Cooking, tasting…sensory acuity and the culture cultivated around it is found in a persons DNA….that’s my conclusion. No matter how many times you, “leave the kitchen” one always finds their way back. Its an addiction to pain. Those whom have lived their lives as a surf to a kitchen understand the pain that is involved. The counter-culture of playing while others sleep, sleeping while others work, and working while others play. Gluttons for punishment.

In my transition back into the civilian world, and a few brief stops during the military, is when I realized I wanted back into the game. Not how I used to be in it, but nonetheless a return to similarities of my past life. A slurried mix of the new and the routine. A constant struggle to find something to break the monotony of routine while staying abreast of and conquering the trend. The artfully competitive dance self advancement and self ridicule, a lifecycle paradigm in search of balance. It is a true calling with fortunate undertones of my current employment. A fortunate realization that the bonds you made in kitchens are just like the ones you make in the military. They last forever, usually. They are commutable. Pick up and continue from where they were left 10 years prior.

I realized that

it was my time to transition to the civilian world...

A few years ago I wrote for a Paleo diet based website and social media presence called, “My Paleo Table.” It was cool, had a few dedicated readers. But mainly, it was my independent dive back into the culinary world. A re-centering to what I had loved so much. Looking back the passion really came through. I would spend about 7 hours on a weekend coordinating and shopping and prepping my production menu for the week. Then every evening, I would rush home and create a beautiful plate of seemingly “normal people” food that was entirely Paleo. Living and thriving and creating within those confines reinvigorated my passion for the challenge of cooking and what initially caused my dedication to the craft. And in that quest to live and share a dedicatedly Paleo lifestyle my life long love affair with coffee was rekindled. If you’ve never tried bulletproof coffee, you’re wrong. Or the delightfully acid-free cold brew that can easily be consumed by the gallon during a hot summer in the desert. But at that time, a small coffee business was just a baseless dream...and primarily a focus on cold brewed coffee. Although great in its own right, I had no idea the thought would mature and grow over the following years. Settling on opening a coffee roasting business is daunting, and apparently that’s where I decided my passion lies; in the most basic culinary theory of applying heat to, and transforming a raw product. And to varying degrees, increasing and enhancing the end result. An adoption of a new form of artisanal craftsmanship.

coffee is

young...

And so, a few months ago I realized that it was time to transition outside of my role as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and into the civilian world. I was ready to be on my own. I was ready to build something for myself. It was no longer time to wait and save and bide my time for the, “perfect” idea to come along in which to build a business off of. The process was simple. It worked for me. It was as simple as making the decision, logical. It was the right field, for the right reasons, and a passion that I had carried with me for the majority of my adult and some of my adolescent life. I’ve loved coffee for more than ¾ of my life. The understanding that the versatility and functionality of coffee is still young. There is still so much left to learn about coffee. And for those reasons, I decided that this was it.