The Captain's Coffee has Headed Out West!
Hello friends! we've got a HUGE announcement today: we have consolidated ownership of TCC under one Captain and moved our headquarters from North Carolina to Oregon. Whew, what a journey it's been! We are SO excited for the future of The Captain's Coffee and have many plans to improve and grow, so read on if you'd like to know more!
Let me start by introducing myself, the now sole owner of The Captain's Coffee: my name is David Tatum and I have been the co-owner of TCC since 2015. I purchased it in partnership with Josiah and Meredith Davis, the owners of Local Lion, and we moved TCC operations to their coffee shop in Boone, NC. At that time, we were already partners in a coffee roasting business, so TCC felt like a natural addition to that. During that time, we operated 3 companies out of that small coffee shop! That time was an absolute blessing, but after a while, I began to notice the limitations of such an environment. For one thing, I was trying to do too much and wasn't able to invest nearly as much time, energy and money as I wanted to into Captain's Coffee. Our roasting business kept me busy roasting coffee for local shops as well as doing consulting, barista training and fixing espresso machines. Additionally, squeezing so many businesses into one small coffee shop really limited our options on physical growth. As much as I loved the work I was doing with TCC and the wonderful folks at Local Lion, there just wasn't enough time and resources for me to give it the attention I knew it deserved. It was time for a change!
Early this year, my wife and I both realized we had gotten restless with our work situations. After many months of discussion and deliberation, we decided we were ready for a REALLY big change and a new chapter in our lives. We had fallen in love with Oregon years ago when we visited together and decided we wanted to make it our new home. So I had a choice to make: sell my interest in The Captain's Coffee and start fresh, or take it with me! After more discussions and thoughtful consideration, it became clear to me that it really wasn't a choice at all. Owning and operating The Captain's Coffee was my dream job, so it was coming with me!
I do apologize for not releasing this news earlier, but with such a huge move for my family and TCC, there were too many things that could have gone sideways and I don't like jerking folks around. I really wasn't sure it was all gonna happen, much less when it would happen, until everything finally came together...but that time has come! That's right, I've been here in beautiful Eugene, Oregon for the last 4 weeks preparing everything for a smooth transition. In the meantime, my old partners, the amazing folks at Local Lion, have been taking sole charge of all your orders and doing their level best to supply your coffee needs. I am forever grateful to those fine folks for that as well as for their support and encouragement for me, my family and for The Captain's Coffee.
Now, on to the really important info: how will this move impact YOU? Well not to worry! As I mentioned earlier, I have been hard at work preparing for this transition and I am confident it will go smoothly. For our new West Coast neighbors, you can expect your orders to arrive much sooner than usual under normal circumstances, though the slowly dwindling wildfires may continue to impact all shipping operations with a short delay just for the next couple weeks. As for our East Coast friends, we haven't forgotten about you! We want to continue to be your source of amazing green coffee and coffee info. Your orders will take a day or two longer than you're used to, but I'm working hard to get orders out the door as fast as possible to keep that minimal. You may just want to get in the habit of keeping a closer eye on your supply and order your coffee a day or two sooner than you currently do! We have experienced one hiccup though, our roaster isn't set to arrive till December. I'm really bummed about not being able to offer roasted coffee till then and I sincerely apologize for that interruption...but it would take me ages to roast all your orders in my whirley pop! In the meantime, if you'd like to continue purchasing roasted coffee from Local Lion, just send me an email and I'll put you in contact with them. Until then, we'll be focusing on our green coffee and I'll focus on other great improvements I've got in store for you!
Speaking of which, I can not emphasize enough how excited I am about growing The Captain's Coffee! While we wait for our roaster, we'll be putting most of our effort into making sure this transition continues to go as smoothly as possible. In the coming months I've got a laundry list of improvements coming and a couple small ones that will happen right away. One of these is our packaging. I think there is a lot of room for improvement here and I've already switched over to new bags. After much research, I've landed on plastic bags which can be recycled at any grocery store or big box store along with your grocery bags! This was the best compromise between keeping your green coffee safe from moisture and oxygen while providing a greener solution (our old bags actually couldn't be recycled as they mixed plastic liners and paper). But most importantly, I want to involve you in the process! Email me directly with any and all feedback and suggestions at david@thecaptainscoffee.com, I want to hear your suggestions and I'll do my level best to respond to all of them.
Once we're good and settled in here, I'm also planning to do many more guides and tutorials, both in written and video format. One of my favorite aspects of this job is geeking out about coffee! Let me know what sorts of topics you're interested in covering. Should I do videos on cupping? How about breaking down using moisture loss for roast analysis? New guides on using specific roasters? Best brewers to take on your next camping trip? Let me know! I've learned so much over the 15 years I've been in coffee and yet there's more to learn everyday, so if you've got the hottest latest coffee news, I encourage you to teach me as well as your fellow coffee fanatics a thing or two!
Well I feel like I've talked long enough about this move. I hope the major thing I've imparted to you is just how excited I am about the opportunities these changes present and how elated I am that I can now commit my full energy and time to TCC! I want to personally thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making that a reality and I look forward to making The Captain's Coffee the best experience it can be.
David
TCC
