Maritime Roasters

12/05/2024

Good morning, coffee lovers! It's been a long time since I've been active here due to merging with Danique - beauty and the beans. I do see occasional activity with new followers and views, so I thought I'd provide a recap and an update.

Maritime Roasters started in 2018 with a small Huky coffee roaster, a medium garage, and a big dream. From 2018 to 2021, we found some people who liked our coffee as much as we do and built up a decent size Cottage Food business.

In 2021, I realized I needed to do more than simply roast coffee if I wanted to replace my day-job income, so I tried my hand at making chocolate. I found a supplier for cacao beans, roasted them, cracked them, winnowed the husks from the cracked nibs, ground the nibs into chocolate, then tempered and packaged them. Yes, it was fun and enjoyable, but also as much work as it sounds.

Then in early 2022, we moved into a new house in Clear Lake. I decided I could only do one thing, and thought I could switch to chocolate because I saw so much more I could do with it - make truffles, hot cocoa mix, coated snacks...all sorts of ideas. But the amount of work it took while keeping my day job, as well as how we displayed it, the switch never really took on. So I brought coffee back after only a couple of months. However...I quickly got a call from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), the organization that oversees food production and sales and manages the cottage food practices. Some other cottage food producer saw that I was including shipping on my website and notified them. I had to remove shipping, which also impacted my subscription option, which completed the collapse of Maritime Roasters. I stopped making chocolate, only had coffee available at our in-person shows, and basically went back to the beginning.

About that time, Monique's soap and lotion activities were building. I didn't want to give up completely, so we merged our work to rebrand as Danique - beauty and the beans. Given cottage food limitations, we have focused more on building her side of the business, which if you haven't seen her items, please follow our page! Her product line is incredible!

In December 2023, we officially formed as a new LLC and let Maritime Roasters lapse. Over this past year, we've been able to grow at a terrific rate! While coffee roasting is no longer a primary focus, it does still exist. I can't legally ship my coffee, but if you want to order, you can message us and we'll find a way to get it to you.

Also, watch Danique's page for info on where we'll be when we attend craft shows. We only have two more weeks this season, then we'll be largely quiet from mid-December through about April, but when we start up again, we'll post there. We also have some additional things we're working on to expand our business and should have more to announce within the next few months.

Thank you to all of you for your support over the past 6 years! I appreciate you!

Send a message to learn more

12/16/2022

To all my faithful followers and customers:

Thank you.

Thank you for your support over the past four years. Thank you for sharing my coffee with friends and family. Thank you for your reviews and compliments.

After just over four years, it is time to close this chapter. Maritime Roasters had a great run, but the run has ended. Effective December 31st, we are closing our doors. (Metaphorically speaking, of course. We never really had doors...)

Several reasons play a role in our decision, not the least of which is starting to make chocolate. Monique and I are teaming up to make Danique - beauty and the beans. Her line of soap, lotions, body butters, and other body care products include cocoa butter, and my chocolate bars use the cocoa beans. (She's beauty, I'm the beans.)

If any of you are in the St. Cloud area, please give Kinder Coffee Lab a try. Their roaster took the same classes I did from Mill City Roasters, and after tasting their coffee, my first thought was, "this is what I'm trying to make." They have a cart in the Sherburne County Government Center in Elk River, and they also ship from their website. Please give them a try!

Thank you again for the last four years.

-David

09/28/2022

09/25/2022

Our Brazil dark roast makes an excellent espresso and can be used in all of these drinks.

09/10/2022

We're at the annual Little Falls Arts and Crafts Fair! At the corner of Broadway and 1st St, come see us! Danique - beauty and the beans is here with her soap, and Fizzique is next to us with her bath bombs. See you soon!

08/17/2022

Stacks of Mocha Chocolate ready for labeling!

07/20/2022

If you're anywhere near Howard Lake in Wright County and decide to stop at the Fair, we're in building 4 right next to all the food!

We'll be here today until 10pm, then tomorrow through Saturday 10am-10pm, and finishing the fair on Sunday from 10am-7pm. We'd love to see you!

06/06/2022

Today is Angelo's birthday. ...wait...who?

This is the guy who invented the espresso machine! Angelo Moriondo patented his invention in 1884, and while it wasn't much like the single-dose machines we see everywhere today, his achievement is what those machines were based on.

So Happy Birthday, Angelo! And thank you for your machine!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Moriondo

04/12/2022

Finally, some better news! We're ready to go! The website updates are still being made, so if your favorite still shows as "out of stock", feel free to message me and I'll confirm whether it's available or not.

Currently, I have our Mexico Dark Roast, Ethiopia Light Roast, and Sailor's Delight medium blend. As soon as I can get to the warehouse, I will be picking up some Brazil for dark roast and Peru for medium roast, as well as some additional Guatemala that I usually roast light to reveal a tasty citric nuttiness flavor note (it's also one of the beans in Sailor's Delight).

We're excited be back at the roaster and providing everyone with great tasting coffee again!

04/03/2022

Finally, some good news! The HVAC people came out last week to vent the roaster, but ended up bringing out the wrong equipment. BUT, they were able to get the right equipment very quickly and reschedule me, so they'll be here on Wednesday!

I'll be roasting a couple of test roasts to make sure everything is still working properly, then assuming a successful test, will start roasting over next weekend!

Can't wait to get started again! For everyone who's been waiting, thank you for your patience.

03/15/2022

We're finally past another milestone in our journey. We've moved into the new house! I haven't heard back from the ductwork people yet, they are supposed to be here later this week to install the venting for the roaster. As soon as that's done, we're good to start roasting!

Production will be a little rough as we set up the new space, but all the critical elements are in place to start as soon as the venting is finished. We can polish the rough spots as we go.

Thank you everyone for your patience. This project took about 3 months longer than we anticipated, though from everything I'm hearing, we still finished in less time than many builds going on right now. The final step to getting back is near!