A brief personal note: After a few restless months, my roasting project, Aviary, is live.

I funded Aviary using a crowdfunding mechanism and without any outside investment (save an equipment loan through the Small Business Administration) with the intention of keeping the company unencumbered from financial influence or expectations of a return on investment. I keep overhead low; the only permanent staff member is me. This way, I have the freedom to roast and release not based on a predictable cadence or interval, but only when I come across a coffee I want to present.

Since I began publishing my blog in 2020, many readers have suggested I find some way to monetize my writing through a platform like Patreon—so as to subsidize the work (and indeed producing the content I do is work) and as a way to invite readers who’ve benefited from my writing to pay for it. Like many middle Millennials, I suffer from an allergy to commitment; the notion of having a base of paid subscribers to whom I owe frequent content creates a tremendous amount of pressure that, in my personal experience, would diminish both the quality of work and my enjoyment of it.

And at the end of the day, I view the work that I do as a writer as subordinate to my primary work: buying coffee.

Enter: Aviary. The coffees that I source and roast for Aviary arrive through the relationships I’ve built and the curiosities that have been stoked over my time in the industry—curiosities and relationships that you’ve read about or that I’ve alluded to here. When I have the capacity and time (e.g. when it’s not the midst of pre-ship season for Ethiopia, less than a month before SCA Expo, and I’m not launching a new company), you can expect that these coffees will be my muse for future entries on this blog.

I intend to tell stories about and around Aviary’s coffees; why they’re significant or interesting, why I chose them, and what lessons we can learn from them. And then, if you wish to support this blog and the work that I do in this space, I’ll link to the inspiration for the post on Aviary‘s website. You can choose to support this work by buying the coffee—as often as you’d like, if you’d like—and enable me to continue doing it.

I’m grateful for the support that I’ve received in launching Aviary and couldn’t have done it without our Kickstarter backers:

Aaron David Marks, Abel Burnem Wilson, Adya, Alex Levitt, Alexander Anggada, Alexander Scholten, Alina Dukstansky, Alison Marlborough, Amanda Hay, Amira Fahmy, andrew, Andrew Andrego, Andrew Lou, Andrew Mauney, Anne Hu, Antoine Cornil, Arun Sen, Bailey, Ban Long Yeo, Ben Heins, Benjamin Johnson, Benjamin Muller, Bill Li, Bleys, Bow Smith, Brian Quan, Bryan Germann, Caleb De Avila, Camille, Caroline Feran, Castricone, Cheryl Thompson, Chris Abney, Chris Pak, Chris Pierson, Chris Shotwell, Christopher Little, Christopher Nguyen, Cory Hughart, Cory Monty, Craig Seko, Dan Eils, Daniel Garrido, Daniel Shafer, Danner Friedman, Dash, Dav, Dave Stanton, David, David Lalonde, David Neumann, Dennis Reed, Deviantfish, Dinc Ciftci, Dob, Doug, Drew Miller, Emilie Rouse, Eric, Eric D. Chang, Eric Starkman, Ertan Agar, Ethan Paek, Federico Alvarez, Grace Lowman, Greg, guy chriqui, H&S Coffee Roasters, Hannah Kirby, Henry Levine, Hue, Hillary Ward, j l, Jacob Foord, Jacob Pettie, Jacob Schimelman, Jake Pusey, Jared Bobier, Jayesh Vats, jeff g, Jeffery, Jesse Hellman, Jim Osborn, Joe Gramc, Joe Wood, John Gibson, John Lemaster, John Rice, John Winters DiMarco, John Wolfe, Jonathan Gagné, Jordan Flowers, Jordan L, Jordan Lee, Josh Kelner, Joshua Adams, Joshua John, Juli Burden, Karine Ng, Karlo Dieron, KC, Ken Schwartz, Kevin Diffley, Kevin Jacinto, kun min lee, LadyZabyth, Laura H. Drapac, Leanne Andrysco, Levi Stands, Loryn Bortins, lotana, LT Magnotto, Luca Costanzo, Mackenzie Leigh Kimmel, Madhav, Maggie, Mahipaul Tak, Maksym, Mark Shankman, marty mccabe, Matthew Capelouto, Matthew Lin, Megan Robinson, Meghan, Meticulous., Michael Gallagher, Michael Vigers, Mike M, ming lin, Morgan Baker, Nick Attard, Nicolas Carpenter, Nicole Kusold-Matheou, Niels Haagsman, Noel Babu, Nugent, Patric Garrison, Patrick Ju, Patrick Rivers, paul sack, Pawel Sendyk, Peter Zambon, Peter Lada, Phing Yuan, Pierre Mercier, Preston Scully-Wolfe, Robert Asami, Robert Keplinger, Robert Mennell, Robin Carey, Rohan B, ryan, Ryan O’Donnell, Sam, Sam Knowlton, Samantha, Samo Smrke, Sankar Bhamidipaty, SB, Scott, Spencer Dunnison, Stephen Levene, Stephen Long, Sylvan, Taylor C White, Thomas Chung, thomas elder, Tim Feran, Tim Goldfarb, Tom P, Tony Owens, Torbjørn Brekke, Ty Achten, Tyler Cartner, Tyler Gund, Will Davies, William Kochi, www.beanmind.com, Yianni Vernardos, yongc.sd (っ ˘ ڡ ˘☕ς ), Yuta Labur

Visit the Aviary website to browse the archive of our releases, sign up to be notified of new releases, and order.

– Christopher