Hello world!

My name is Elliott (Dane) Hatcher.

I became infatuated with coffee after trying my first truly ‘Specialty’ coffee several years ago now.
The completely ‘not-coffee as I know it’ taste blew my mind. I didn’t realize coffee could taste like that.
This particular encounter was like Skittles® and blueberry.
Now I know that it was a natural processed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe…..

Growing up, my mother drank coffee every morning like it was routine.
Folgers® in her cup.
I never liked coffee because that was what I considered coffee all my young life.
Bitter, stale, sometimes sour, overly hot…..

After my mind and palette opening experience, I chased that bewilderment continually.
Being someone who loves to cook and develop my skills with anything I do, naturally I decided to start making it myself.
Took a lot of learning to figure out why that close encounter of the espresso kind was so good and my attempts weren’t even 50% as good.
But, after researching and saving up for proper equipment, I was in there like swimwear…..for a while…

Of course, I couldn’t let it be and enjoy the results. I had to improve beyond anything I could get/pay-for out in the wild.
Buying beans off the shelf or ordering them at that time, and with my still-limited knowledge did not produce the quality I was searching for.
Supermarket beans are rarely fresh, and even more rarely up to Specialty level.
I didn’t research deeply and find the handful of amazing Specialty Roasters who ship to your door.
I instead chose to start roasting my own coffee….

Whew was I ever in over my head.
If I thought making passable espresso was difficult, roasting even remotely good coffee was substantially harder.
Much more research, burnt beans, under-developed beans, and nasty tastings later, I was starting to make some semblance of progress.
Upgraded roasting equipment a few times, each bringing their own learning curve and limitations.
After a few years, I finally started to have actually good results.
From there came sourcing even better beans and fine-tuning my knowledge/skills.

One thing I truly believe is we are never done learning, so I continually look for ways to improve myself as well as my coffee.

Cheers!
Dane..