Small-Batch Roasted by "The Coffee Guy"
I've always had a taste for good coffee, from the times that 12-year old me would be brewing a pot for Mom and Dad in the morning (oldest of 7 kids), to growing up in the Pacific Northwest where you could get coffee EVERYWHERE. I was a bit spoiled by choice, but still couldn't find a drink that I loved - and tried many different coffees. Finally, I settled - and would just get that brand of bean, going out of my way to get it instead of the alternatives.
Decent Coffee started in 2021, because COVID wrecked my sense of taste, and I had to venture out to find another bean that matched by new tastebuds. I started with a tiny inexpensive roaster and I burned a lot of good beans. I found beans that were great, beans that were not so great - and a LOT about the interesting world of coffee chemistry/physics (thanks James Hoffman and many others).
The first time I roasted 20 pounds in a day was monumental, and when most of them sold in the first 24 hours - it was even better. I spent my time learning the trade, tasting, testing, and getting papers in order to become a 'cottage food business' in the State of Maryland.
Flash forward to today, and it’s one evening per week in my Elkton garage, the sound of a quality 1-kilo drum roaster tumbling hot coffee beans, and churning out fresh batches, with a stack of bags with the "roasted" date written in by hand.
I don’t do flavored, I don’t do pods, and I don’t do fancy. Just good beans, roasted right, for people who like a simple cup and a quiet morning.
Nick LaBrant - Roaster