My new series: Getting Caffeinated…Is my pursuit to continue to support veterans, and now first responders (my wife is a physician, I was Medical in the Air Force), I’m searching for great coffee.

There is no shortage of veteran and first-responder owned coffee companies, no doubt about that. So how do you weed through all of them? Well, don’t worry, i’ll take one for the team.

In this new series of blog post called Getting Caffeinated, I’m going to review and highlight these companies as I find them, acknowledging their dedication to keeping this country caffeinated and ready to rule the day.

First on Deck: Roastery 48

Roastery 48 is out of Arizona, owned by a firefighter and a Navy Veteran. Their sense of humor is evident on their website, as is their passion for coffee. They take a smaller approach to roasting coffee and use a smaller drum to roast each batch. This makes for a more personal cup of coffee, to which they praise their smaller production over the mass-produced and roasted larger companies. Jon and Kelly obviously have a unique company that they take great pride in.

I have to say, the packaging is very professional, impressive, and they even included a hand-written “thank-you” on my receipt when I opened my box. I’ve ordered a lot of coffee in my life, and never has a company hand-written anything for me to this day. Nice touch, and made me appreciate them even more.

I ordered a dark blend called “Black & Tan Organic Blend”. I love a good dark roast and this sounded interesting, plus I love the “Black and Tan” beer from Yueng-Ling.

Description from their website:

“Black & Tan Organic blend. Ying & Yang! Good vs Evil! Light vs Dark! Reach out and try something truly different. One of our favorite things is to create new products and this one fits the bill. Try it today.”

The roast was a combination of dark roast and medium roasted beans, blended beautifully into a small batch that gives you that dark roasted flavor, with the smooth flow of a medium or light roast. For everyday drinking, I like a good medium roast that is smooth and full of flavor. This roast gives you that, plus the punch of a dark roast.

The Brew:

The Brew

I brewed it in my pour-over Chemex, approximately 40 grams of fine ground beans with 700 grams of water, or about 3.5 cups out of my electric kettle. The smell was amazing. You could see and smell the dark roasted characteristics as it dripped down into the Chemex. The beans bloomed very well opening up my kitchen to the smell of small-batch coffee.

Overall, it was a great cup. I liked it a lot and respect Roastery 48 for blending together something like this. Traditional coffee folks would probably turn their nose up at the thought of blending a dark roast with a light roast, but this is no ordinary coffee company, and I’m not looking for normal, boring coffee. I’m looking for people who want to push the envelope and keep me going. I have a brutal work schedule sometimes, and I need that first cup of coffee at 5 AM to really start my engine.

Roastery 48 has got my full endorsement. They have many other blends on their website, including a whisky barrel-infused blend (I have to try). Their unique approach to coffee is fun, innovative, and creative, to which you should check them out!

Roastery48.com