Salt Spring Coffee

April 1996. Ganges, Salt Spring Island. We opened the doors of Salt Spring Roasting Company.

We bought the roaster in the fall of '95. Signed the lease in January. And four months later, we were serving fresh-roasted coffee to our island community.

One early lesson: don't assume people know what you're doing.

We called ourselves "Salt Spring Roasting Company" thinking people would obviously know we were roasting coffee. Turns out, Salt Spring Island is famous for its lamb. So half the people who came in thought we were roasting lamb. 😅

A few years later, we became Salt Spring Coffee Company. Problem solved.

But here's what didn't change from day one: our values.

We chose organic. We chose fair trade. We chose to build long-term relationships with farmers instead of chasing the lowest price. We chose to use coffee as a tool for messaging about people, planet, and purpose.

Thirty years later, every single one of those choices is still paying off.

What's a "first lesson" that taught you more than you expected?

Like if your first business decision taught you something unexpected."

-Mickey McLeod

“Before Google, There Was Coffee and Tea Magazine (And A Lot of Road Trips)”⁠ ⁠

This was the mid-1990s. No internet. No Google. No shortcuts.⁠ ⁠ Robbyn and I subscribed to Coffee and Tea magazine from New York. We read every issue cover to cover. We made pilgrimages down the California coast, visiting every small roaster we could find — Santa Cruz to San Francisco.⁠ ⁠ What we discovered was revolutionary: small-batch roasting wasn’t just possible. It was becoming a thing. These roasters were creating an experience, building community, and delivering the ultimate in freshness.⁠ ⁠ We looked at each other and said: “This is what we want to do on Salt Spring Island.”⁠ ⁠
Then we went to Coffee Fest in Seattle.. Met Helen Russell from Equator Coffee, bought a Petroncini roaster that she was representing. Heard where to buy green coffee and met Alex Mason from Royal Coffee in Oakland (still connected 30 years later) With a roaster and green coffee we were on out way to being in the roasting business. ⁠

The best business research I ever did didn’t come from the internet — it came from showing up, asking questions, and learning from people who were doing it right.⁠ ⁠ What’s the best business research you’ve ever done?⁠ ⁠ Like if you’re old school about learning. Comment with your story.”⁠ ⁠

-Mickey McLeod.

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"One Book. One Kitchen Roaster. One Crazy Idea.

Christmas 1994. Robbyn's mother's house in Eugene, Oregon. I picked up Kenneth Davids' book on home coffee roasting.

There was a section listing small roasters you could actually buy. One was in Corvallis, Oregon — 30 minutes away.

We stopped by Michelle Sivits' place on our drive home. Bought a converted popcorn popper roaster. Bought some green beans. And headed back to Salt Spring Island with no idea what we were doing.

That spring, roasting our first batch in our kitchen, something became clear: our community needed this. Real, fresh-roasted coffee.
So we did what any sane person would do: we decided to start a business.

(Spoiler: it worked. Thirty years later, we're still here.)

What's the craziest business idea you've ever turned into reality?"

-Mickey McLeod

Like if you've ever said 'I'm just going to do it.' Comment below.