First, much thanks to Global Recon for asking us to write this. We appreciate the opportunity, as any small business absolutely needs some highlighting every now and again. Most importantly, thank you very much to those who’ve tried our coffee and support this venture with your purchases. Coffee roasting is a completely saturated industry with some very good options, so purchasing a bag from an obscure roaster with a crazy name had to have been a leap of faith.
This article was written a number of times and deleted as many since we were not trying to create a long-winded advertisement. However, we’ve heard multiple times that people did not think that we were a real company as, apparently, our name is a little confusing and we thought we should explain.
To clarify, De Espresso Liber is a play off of the Special Forces motto ‘De Oppresso Liber.’ We are real, we are growing and we’ll give you a few points about ourselves until we can talk about some other subjects in the future and hopefully have time to contribute to Global Recon again.
So, why a small coffee roasting business when the industry is so saturated, you ask?
Both of us running De Espresso Liber, Alex and Mando, came to appreciate coffee while in the military and dealing with countless hours accomplishing the tasks we were assigned or ‘voluntold’ to do. Whether pulling guard, planning a mission, teaching some tactical class or going on patrol, a brew was always close at hand just incase sleep wasn’t. Mando, our social media coordinator, was a hard charging, blue cord wearing infantryman and served in Iraq while the, I, the founder of the company, worked my way through the Special Forces Q-Course eventually earning the long tab and Green Beret.
Regardless of our different paths and units, we both agreed that during our time in the service, it seemed like we were constantly drinking some form of the brew. We also agreed that the standard military coffee and a lot of regular store bought coffee just didn’t cut it. When awake constantly and spending the time drinking stale brew, it’s difficult to not have a massive stomach ache afterward. Over time, you just get used to bad coffee and think that is the pinnacle of the coffee experience; there’s nothing to enjoy, you simply drink it to stay awake.
However, the founder discovered a plantation in Southeast Asia during a previous trip and the taste from coffee roasted directly at the source was better than any cup he had previously. He later tried to replicate and started home roasting after reading some do-it-yourself articles on how to roast with a heat gun and steel bowl. After a few tries and getting some decent results, he slowly began selling coffee within his old unit on the side and building the business.
When assessing whether a full-on roasting operation would be a good move, it was agreed that there was simply no shortage of customers. Coffee is consumed by almost everyone in the United States and it shows no sign of slowing down. Most importantly, coffee is brewed in connection with every event, business, social or athletic. Whether going to the range for the day or spending the weekend camping or fishing, folks usually brew coffee as part of their ritual. It’s a product embedded into the American way of life and while the British have their teatime for afternoon leisure, we have our coffee break for conversation.
Knowing that folks have their favorite coffee companies, we really had to figure out what was going to make us stand apart and draw business. Aside from being a veteran owned and operated company, and roasting on order, we also built a strong inventory of merchandise of American made items that supports other small businesses, and we will continue to do so.
Of the businesses De Espresso Liber is proud to work with is Guerrilla Outfitters of Portland, Oregon, which is a Special Forces owned-business, that engraves all of the tumblers we buy from Planetary Design in Missoula, Montana. Guerilla Outfitters also provides us with smaller steel mugs and will be handcrafting a number of other products for us in the future. We purchase handcrafted mugs made from American sourced clay by Potters Fire in Herndon, Virginia. By purchasing from these companies, we know that we are giving our customers the best products available, along with supporting American businesses and feeding American families.
We also wanted to support veteran support and charity organizations. We have donated to the Green Beret Foundation since our beginning and we have also started a Gold Star Line of coffees honoring Fallen Servicemen, a portion of the profits from which are donated to designated charities.
For each individual blend of the Gold Star Line, we work directly with the families of the fallen. Together, we create an image, title and history, and get input from the family to create a type of coffee that would match their soldier. They taste a number of blends before settling on the one they feel is the best match. So far we have developed three blends, are finishing up a fourth and have plans for a fifth. Additionally, each family designates the charity that the blend will support. Currently, one supports the Green Beret Foundation, another The Unquiet Professional Foundation, and the third raises money to support a fallen soldier’s son.
Thanks for reading and, if you have a chance, please check us out and see if there’s anything we can do for you. We stand by all of the folks we work with and know the quality of their products and work ethic. We look forward to writing a bit more in the future as things develop and we have more content to share.
Till next time, remember: work by, with and through the folks in your communities and please support those small veteran owned businesses when you get the chance. You might find some of those old ‘forgotten’ American values are actually still around. To us, it’s simply about the man on your right and your left, choosing to do the right thing, and providing the best possible service to those who choose to support our business! Thanks again!
DEL / DOL
“Freedom Doesn’t Brew Itself”
Check out http://www.deespressoliber.com
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