Why We Built Frequent Coffee

"Decaf is about taking control. It’s about having the freedom to enjoy coffee whenever you want, while choosing exactly how much caffeine fits your life."

The Beginning

My journey into specialty coffee began over twenty years ago, thanks to a friend and beach volleyball teammate. She worked for a large coffee importer and introduced me to freshly roasted, specialty grade coffee with real character and depth. That experience fundamentally changed the way I thought about coffee.

Not long after, I discovered Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, back when it was still a single café and very much a pioneer in the specialty coffee world. They had just been named Roaster of the Year, and you could feel that energy the moment you walked in. The coffee was thoughtful, expressive, and unlike anything I had tasted before.

That period was filled with constant tasting and comparison, lots of cupping, cupping, and more cupping of coffees. I was learning how subtle changes in roast, origin, and processing could completely transform a cup. It opened my eyes to just how much range and nuance coffee could have.

Learning by Doing

As my curiosity grew and prices rose, I decided to start roasting on my own. Around that time, I was introduced to Sweet Maria’s, a resource that played a huge role in my early learning. By pure chance, I met the owner on a van trip through Big Sur. We started talking about coffee, roasting, and learning by doing, and not long after, he sent me free green coffee to experiment with.

It was an incredibly generous gesture and a reflection of the kind of people who make coffee special, those doing it for the right reasons and genuinely wanting others to learn and grow. That moment stuck with me and reinforced the community driven spirit that first pulled me into coffee.

My first roaster was a five dollar popcorn popper from a thrift store. It was messy, loud, and could only roast about twenty grams at a time, but it was enough to hook me.

I was running another business during this period, but coffee slowly took over my free hours. I eventually upgraded to a Gene Cafe roaster and began roasting regularly for friends and family. What I expected to be a short-lived hobby never faded. The more I learned, the more invested I became.

Going Deeper

That passion eventually led me to the California Roasting Collective in San Marcos, California. It was a dream environment for anyone serious about coffee. After completing their training, I had access to an incredible range of equipment, from small batch Mill City roasters to full-scale production machines like a thirty-five kilo Loring.

I took full advantage of the opportunity, spending countless hours roasting, tasting, and evaluating coffee through constant cupping, cupping, and more cupping. I studied relentlessly, attended online roasting seminars, read books, watched hours of educational content, and showed up at events like the SCA Coffee Expo and LA Coffee Fest.

Around this same period, I completed an unofficial internship with a large coffee importer in San Diego. There, I learned the discipline of professional coffee cupping and spent time alongside experienced buyers and Q Graders. That exposure sharpened my palate and deepened my understanding of how quality is evaluated long before coffee ever reaches a roaster.

Origin, Education, and Perspective

I traveled extensively throughout Central and South America, visiting farms and mills in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and beyond. While in Colombia, I took formal classes on brewing methods and gained hands-on experience that reinforced how profoundly farming decisions, processing techniques, roasting, and preparation shape the final cup.

A few years later, I continued that education abroad by completing a coffee and barista training course in Florence, Italy. Immersing myself in Italian coffee culture added a new dimension to how I think about coffee, not just as a product, but as a daily ritual.

The Question That Changed Everything

Back home, my kitchen became a regular cupping lab. Friends and family gathered around tables covered in bowls, spoons, and notebooks. The deeper I went, the more questions I had. I quickly realized that coffee exists at the intersection of science and art.

The final push into the decaf world came at an industry trade show. Like most attendees, I tasted an overwhelming amount of coffee over a few days. The caffeine crash hit hard enough that I found myself lying on the floor of a convention center hallway just to recover.

Rethinking Decaf

That moment completely changed how I thought about decaf. I began to see its beauty not as the absence of caffeine, but as the ability to control it. Decaf and low caffeine coffee make it possible to enjoy the ritual, flavor, and comfort of coffee at any time of day.

When I started searching for truly great decaf, I was surprised by how limited the options were, especially for high-quality, lightly roasted decaf in the United States. Decaf was treated like a compromise rather than a craft.

Building What We Wanted to Drink

So we did what people often do when they notice a real gap in the market and complain about it long enough. We tried to build the version we wished already existed.

That pursuit became Frequent Coffee.

Frequent Coffee truly came to life when I partnered with a close friend who had stepped away from a career in marketing. He brought creative clarity, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of how to communicate ideas in a meaningful way. Together, we saw an opportunity to fill a void in the coffee world.

Gratitude and What Comes Next

At the heart of this journey is gratitude. None of this would have been possible without the unwavering support of my life partner. She has encouraged me at every step, through countless experiments, late nights, travel, and uncertainty, always believing in the vision.

Our goal is simple. Offer exceptional decaf and low caffeine options for every kind of coffee drinker, while continuing to push the boundaries of how good decaf coffee can be.

As they say, the true lover of coffee is often the decaf drinker, because they are there purely for the flavor and experience.

Sip more. Jitter less.

Cheers.