I grew up in East Alstead, a small town in southwestern New Hampshire nestled within a wider community of creative and kind people. I have over a decade of experience working with food or drink of some kind. I've worked with L.A. Burdick Chocolate to support cacao growers in Grenada. I spent a year in Europe as a brewing apprentice, working with De Struise Brouwers in Belgium, Brasserie Thiriez in France, Thornbridge Brewery in England, and BrewDog in Scotland. When I returned to the states I joined Hill Farmstead Brewery as an assistant, and later in life moved to Washington, D.C. to share head brewing duties at Bluejacket Brewery. My truest love, though, is coffee. I cut my teeth at Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco, one of the West Coast's most revered roasters. While the ownership of Four Barrel at that time was problematic, the company attracted some of the most talented baristas, roasters, and trainers and shaped my path in the industry. (Four Barrel has evolved beyond its history and continues to produce superb coffee.) After moving to D.C. I was fortunate to find a job at one of the city's best cafes, A Baked Joint, where weekends were a nonstop blur of pulling espresso shots. As a multi-roaster cafe, A Baked Joint allowed me to explore coffees from roasters all around the country. In December I moved back to East Alstead, feeling burnt out on city life and seeking to build a sustainable future within the community that raised me. As the pandemic hit and I lost work, I decided to lean into the dream of starting a roasting business to serve both friends from around the country and the locals who may not have experienced nuanced, complex, specialty coffee.

why I'm doing this

My goal is to offer a new realm of coffee experience for the community/area I grew up in and to be able to provide coffee to people and places I’ve loved. To that end, I hope to leave as small a carbon footprint as possible, be able to exercise my creativity, and support myself and future staff as best I can. As far as business goes, I don’t have a capitalist instinct: I’m not a natural salesman and I don’t worship endless perennial growth. If I can create something interesting that survives at least a few years, I'll be happy, and more happy if it perpetuates further into the future. I recognize I was born with many systemic advantages which have allowed me to live a relatively comfortable life. I’ve also struggled with some mental health disadvantages which have made thriving difficult. The East Alstead Roasting Co. project is an attempt to reshape my own internal narrative while hopefully giving others a bit of joy. I can combine the desires to provide something delicious to all sorts of people, to support myself, to express myself, and to keep my mind and hands active. I may not be the most technical, ambitious, or competitive roasting company out there but that’s not what I’m aiming for. I just want to give people a little taste of how good coffee can be.

Owen