Welcome, reader, to our Living Room. The idea behind Living Room Roasters stems from two things: First, we are specialty coffee roasters who started roasting coffee in our living room. Second, our mission to share life with others and see others sharing life together comes from a dream to be the “living room” of our city, but what does that even mean?

Humans yearn for connection and intimacy. Unfortunately in the age of technology, it has become increasingly easy to become isolated or disconnected from those around us. We find connection and intimacy through social media, reading blogs, or living vicariously through films and shows we watch on Netflix. In this isolation and state of disconnection we start to fear others. We’re either afraid of what they could do to us, or we’re afraid of what they think of us. We gather information from the internet, news sources or the latest gossip, and make judgments about our neighbors based on how they look, completely missing the opportunity to learn about who they are.

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What if instead of avoiding others, you got to know them? What if you invited others into your living room- right now- to share your life with them? Don’t worry about the dishes you need to wash, the laundry you need to fold, or the coffee stain the bottom of your mug left on the table from the coffee you drank this morning. Brew some delicious coffee, share it with your neighbor and discover who they are, not who you think they are, and in the process let them discover who you are.

Inviting people over to your house before getting to know them might be a bit much for you and for the person you invite, so take it slow. Build up your connection with people first. Maybe you create a “Living Room Space” over coffee at your local coffee shop, or by sharing a meal at your favorite restaurant. Maybe it’s going for a walk at the park, or spending your 15 minute break at work with another employee. Maybe your job is about connecting with others over the phone or driving them to their destination. Wherever you have contact with others there is opportunity to create Living Room Spaces and make connections by being intentional, being authentic, and being real. Life at best is messy, and at worst, it just sucks. I promise you, life is better when you embrace the messiness and live it together with others you know and who truly know you.

So who are we? I’m Allen. I was born and raised in Colorado, and moved to the Northeast Georgia mountains to go to college. This is where I met my wife, Hayli- born and raised in Macon, Georgia. We met while serving people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta. What brought us together was our shared heart for people- particularly those who are unhoused. Our business was born from the dream I mentioned earlier- to be the “living room” of our city. Connection, I would argue, is already at the heart of coffee culture, so we chose to start roasting specialty coffee to enrich our customer’s coffee experience. Our hope is for our coffee to be used as a tool to connect with others.

The purpose behind our business is to generate enough revenue that it can support employing people transitioning out of homelessness. If you take this dream to its furthest conclusion, our desire is to see a collective of businesses working together to educate about homelessness, to give resources and care to the people experiencing it, and for people from all walks of life to experience a sense of belonging. Our biggest hurdle is that this dream of ours takes an unbelievable amount of resources and manpower. For that reason, our goal will be easier to accomplish if we pursue it together.

We humbly ask for your support in our dream. If you share a heart for people, we ask you to participate in our purpose. We ask primarily for prayers. We are followers of Jesus, and trust that God will provide for this mission that He has called us to. Whether that be through a successful business, or something else entirely, we are confident in our purpose to create spaces where people can love and be loved.

Next we ask you to join our community by subscribing to this blog. It’s free, and your subscription encourages us to keep going. If you love people and love coffee you are welcome here. Honestly, if you don’t love either of those you’re welcome here too. You’ll just enjoy what we have to say a lot more if you do. This blog is something of a Living Room Space- an invitation to get to know us more and hopefully for us to get to know you.

In our living room, we have lots of conversations about coffee, so we’re going to bring you in on those conversations. The world of coffee is fascinating, complex, and extremely satisfying. Coffee has a relatively complex supply chain that is rife with opportunities for connection with others. Its history can teach us the value coffee holds in cultures throughout the world, and how we have the opportunity to consider others as more valuable than ourselves. Coffee has seemingly unlimited potential when it comes to how you consume it, and even more potential around who you share your coffee with. Changes and innovations are happening almost daily, so there is always something new and exciting to learn.

We’ll also have conversations about social issues- particularly poverty among others. Most coffee businesses are focused on social justice- from caring for veterans, minorities, animals, or our planet- just to name a few. Coffee is always about more than just coffee. By participating in the coffee supply chain you can directly make a global impact. Social issues do not have borders. If you are passionate about something or someone, I promise there is a coffee business supporting that cause.

You can also support us by buying our coffee. I’m fairly biased, but we have delicious, freshly roasted coffee available on our website. We’d love for you to try it, and better yet, brew some to share with other people in your life. Join us on our journey of discovery as we explore this world of coffee, and hopefully along the way, we’ll get to know each other, and both of our lives will be better for it.

Create those Living Room Spaces, and maybe one day invite those people into your actual living room to share life together. Because life is better together - and coffee is better when it’s shared!

Welcome to our Living Room

What is Coffee?

Grind Size Matters.