When I was 19

You know, I still sort of feel nineteen. Well … maybe twenty-nine*. I read somewhere that big changes usually come at the end of decades. The eclipse of our teens or twenties … or forties signals something in our brains that causes us to self-reflect, to search for existential meaning, and to make changes in our lives. It can be a time for increasing your fitness, divorcing your spouse, committing suicide, changing careers … trading in for that midlife-crisis sports car or trophy husband (oh stop it!). For the DoubleShot, it seems, approaching a new decade has brought about a restlessness that has us thinking in ways that might surprise you.

Finally, we’re back to traveling and rekindling relationships with coffee growers, exporters and foreign friends we haven’t seen in three years. Our foray into farming is a departure that will hopefully reap rewards as we enter our early twenties. We’re ending relationships that felt old and were bringing us negative energy, while striking up new relationships that brim with promise and positivity. The research-and-design arm of our business has been busy fabricating and iterating and planning for the launch of a few new products in the coming weeks and months. We’re starting to realize that nineteen years has brought us a certain maturity not found in a lot of coffee people. All the experience and experiments, listening and viewing the world with a skeptical eye has given us a unique perspective on coffee. I want to spend the next few years sharing what we’ve learned to encourage kids and aspiring coffee entrepreneurs and to show everyone who is curious what coffee really is so that we can all make better coffee. Just like a nineteen-year-old to think he knows it all, right? Well we don’t, but we sure want to.

Anyway, here we are, nineteen years old. Nineteen because of you. Come help celebrate us Saturday and Sunday at The Rookery, and Sunday evening from 5-8p at The Bowstring (see your barista for a ticket with all the info you need to know).

While you’re at it, we’d love it if you would call in and share birthday wishes with us. Tell us a story, touching or funny, about an experience you’ve had at the DoubleShot. Tell us what it was like the first time you came in. Or about your favorite DoubleShot memory. We want to hear your voice. This birthday is for you. Thank you for supporting us through thick and thin, through India and Panama, so to speak. Here’s the number: (539) 664-7220 (leave a message).

* For years, anytime anyone ever asked my Grandpa Franklin how old he was, he would say, “Twenty-nine.” At some point, probably as he entered his seventies or eighties, at each birthday he would say he was “thirty-nine again.” Maybe he knew something I didn’t know about the power of nines, of change, and how to stay young mentally. I got you Papa.