CRAFT excellent coffee. 10 Years Later...

10 years ago this line was breathed into being (though I am confident it wasn’t the first time) as the first line to our 3 part mission statement.

But if we’re honest, how are we, consumers, though also those in the business, to actually understand or interpret mission statements? Is it just marketing bullshit? Words to sound good? I mean, do we actually really look at company mission statements and hold it up against their products or values? Or have we become so numb to it all because nowadays everyone uses the right trendy word to make you think they give a shit when we all know they don’t. 

Though the above may be generally true, I personally think mission statements, especially if unchanged from the genesis of a business, can be great markers of whether or not a company is serious about what they do, or even whether they do it.

The irony in that, back then, is that I didn’t really craft excellent coffee. Not that it was bad, but knowing what I know now, I can say confidently that the green coffee we sourced itself wasn’t really very good, and the tiny roaster I used wasn’t great.

But that phrase wasn’t necessarily meant to carry a definitive statement about our coffee as though it had reached perfection and couldn’t improve. I really do take the present tense verbiage literally in that we ask ourselves, “Are we crafting excellent coffee right now?”. 

Are we growing? Are we improving? Are we learning? A constant curiosity to whether we are being good stewards (more on that in a near future email…) of what we’ve been given.

I always found it odd that people claimed things like the “best” coffee. Like, really? That’s pretty lame to presume, not to mention lazy marketing. If we come to understand the reality that we can only really ever improve, why would we suggest something is the “best”... or I suppose they didn’t come to understand that.

And for me, this has only become even more apparent in my life, both personally and professionally. 

There is literally never a ceiling. We have the opportunity to ALWAYS be growing. Sadly, we often don't, because we are too afraid of change. And I am pretty sure we all know what happens when a plant stops getting water and the nutrients it needs…

So here we are, 10 years in with the exact same goal. To CRAFT excellent coffee. Excellent representing two arms of coffee quality from the supply side, and the roasting side. With a growth mindset. Always learning. Never settling. Even if there’s pain (because face it, just choose your shit sandwich, cause the pain will be there either way).

+Michael, High Priest