History of The Alpaca Bean Coffee Company, LLC

 (As Requested, here is a summary account...)

As all things new, The Alpaca Bean Coffee Company began as a thought shared by two folks...then it turned into a dream...and finally became a reality.  This sounds relatively simple, but it evolved over a period of more than a year.  First, we had to make sure that there were no other coffee companies with the same or similar names.   Next while taste testing was taking place, we had to register our name and trademark with the Patent and Trademark folks at the national level.  But hey...I am getting a bit ahead of myself...

The Alpaca Bean Coffee Company, unknown to Judy and I, really began somewhere around 1980 or so...yep, that is around the time that Charles Mustard and Allison Pickles came into our lives...  You see, Judy and I were youth counselors for our church in South Carolina where we lived for around 17 years.  Our daughters, Dawn and Jennifer, were members of that same youth group and friends of Charles and Allison.  Matter of fact, Allison and Dawn probably could be classified as "best friends" you might say.  Well, that is just a bit of background...

Judy and I moved back to Georgia in 1991 and thought that we had dug up those South Carolina roots and there would be no offshoots from them arising in our new home...but boy were we wrong.  Shortly after arriving in Athens, Georgia and beginning our new jobs, Judy with the folks that provided educational services to the hearing impaired kids of our region and me at UGA, we got word that Charles and Allison (now married to each other) were on their way to the University community as well.  Charles got a job to support his graduate school habit in micro-biology with a local coffee company, Jittery Joe's.  Soon he became an excellent roaster and later actually bought the roasting portion of the company.

I know this is getting a bit long...but most histories are you know...

In the year 2002, Judy began a thought process that has changed our lives...she, being the spark and guiding light, started us off on an adventure involving the incredible creature known as alpaca.  Well, from that beginning we found that most, if not all, of our waking moments revolved around two things...our parents, and our new passion...our alpaca herd.  Both of these centers gave us reasons to be thankful for each moment we had to share, with our genetic families and with our alpaca world families.

Of course, this led us naturally to putting all this together...yep, the coffee company was borne out of all these unique puzzle pieces.  We looked at our families and saw a central beverage that was always present when we were enjoying each others' company...we also recalled our first national alpaca show in Kentucky where coffee offerings abounded among the farm booths and stalls.  Then we put those pieces together with our friendship with a unique fella', Charles Mustard, and the picture of The Alpaca Bean Coffee Company came into focus.

Judy and I knew that we did not want a "joke" of a coffee company based on the name, but we did want to get folks to notice the new product we were about to launch...so the name, The Alpaca Bean came about.  We took extreme care to only select the best as our basis for operation, conducting a North American taste test among farms located in the United States and Canada...with one outlier, a well known fiber fella from Australia.  From this masked testing we found our initial offerings, which we immediately ordered from Charles and packaged for unveiling at both the South Carolina and Florida Shows in 2004.  Since that time, we have refined the packaging and approach to where and when we offer our wares. 

Charles, and Jittery Joe's, continued roasting for us until it became apparent that we could no longer service the demand for our product in this manner and at a cost that we wished to offer it.  We made the decision to purchase a commercial roaster and begin operation on our farm, Walnut Knoll.  We were fish out of water on this count, but determined to continue producing the highest quality coffee at the most reasonable cost possible.  This is where Charles came in to help us...and why we, to this day, will not attempt to sell in 'his' market areas.  Because of Charles, we were able to purchase the ideal roaster and grinders for our business, we were able to have initial contacts for the importation of green coffee beans from Peru and Bolivia, and we were able to roast these beans at the level our customers had grown to expect and with total consistency.

We now have perfected our roasting of a number of roast blends and single origin roasts at both the full city and dark medium levels.  We are getting our trademarked wares out on the market, including caps, mugs, and tee's...and our demand is increasing each year...mainly through word of mouth and show exposure.   We have always promised that we will deliver 20% of our net profits to alpaca research to assist in the improvement of the alpaca's health and wellbeing here in the U.S.A.  However, because of heavy investment in equipment and startup costs we have not realized tremendous profits to date...however, Judy and I have (from our resources) made good faith contributions to The Alpaca Research Foundation, in the name of The Alpaca Bean Coffee Company.  Hopefully, that group will be realizing an increased level of support from us soon!

As I wind down on this "short and dirty" version of our history, please know that Judy and I sincerely appreciate the support you have given this effort to this point.  We also pledge to you that we will always seek to provide ONLY the best products for you and your families, whether genetic or otherwise! :o)  We want you to always feel free to contact us with your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and ORDERS!

Finally, we are exploring new markets for The Alpaca Bean Coffee as members of Georgia Grown.  We may take the brand into some small chain supermarkets in the future, but only if we can control the quality and freshness of our product.  If we do, we are working on a plan where that venture will be serviced out of an expanded roasting operation...not out of the roasting operation as it now exists...in other words, we will continue to roast for "inner circle" clients right here on the farm.

We do encourage you to pass this newsletter to your friends, tell them about your experiences with our products, and give them the opportunity to enjoy as well!  Most of all, we want you to always be able to brew up a pot of The Alpaca Bean Coffee and have it bring a smile to your face.

Until later...