For many years our team has had two major passions in life. The first of which is amazing coffee. When created correctly coffee is truly one of life's greatest beverages. From the smell of a freshly opened bag to the aromas pouring off that first cup, to that first sip. I think back to all the relationships that were forged and strengthened over a cup of coffee and will forever be grateful. The hunt for that rare perfect cup of coffee was something we loved. After trying to find that cup out there in the retail world we started roasting our own. As our passion for coffee grew into creating our own. There is so much that goes into that perfect cup of coffee and we knew we could achieve it. 

Our second passion is what got us here today. A complete addiction for the great outdoors. This part for myself, Jon Baatz was just starting an amazing journey. My wife and I started a journey in 2019 that will forever change our lives. In 2019, we decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. It was truly the adventure of a lifetime that I could never describe in a few paragraphs. But in short the trail taught us to go after our dreams. We both left corporate America to open our own business and travel the country. It was time to roast coffee for the world to taste. Time to create that perfect cup.

But in short, that adventure brought us to a huge epiphany. The wilderness, and truly amazing coffee to fuel us through it, are the passions we want to follow . We got into our campervan and toured North America sampling local craft coffee along the way.

Out of these adventures, and our desire to create truly amazing small batch coffee, 803 Outpost Coffee was born. The final piece of the team was brought in; our head roaster, a biochemist, and of course, an outdoor lover.

Meet our head roaster, and biochemist! I mean, Breaking Bad has nothing on us.

Jacob brings a unique outlook as a coffee roaster. After serving as president of the American Chemical Society at his alma mater, Jacob went on to spend time working in analytical and research laboratories and pursue an education in biochemistry from the University of South Carolina. There he worked in a laboratory specializing in macromolecular crystallography. While focusing on chemistry, Jacob spent time in anthropology and ethnobotany classes learning about the ancient relationships between humans and chemicals from plant sources (phytochemicals). 

Applying these background influences, Jacob roasts coffee with an attention to the details of the chemical processes and reactions occurring during roasting. Meticulous detail is put into the research of each bean origin and its processing to be considered before roasting. 

Outside of roasting, Jacob enjoys spending time outdoors backpacking, longboarding, and fishing. He also enjoys wild plant foraging and survival craft.