As CBD’s Director of Operations, Jeremy’s responsibilities include ensuring rigorous quality control at all levels, tasting coffee, and “making sure that we have the coffee we need to roast.” Jeremy also spends a lot of time with our coffeehouse managers and barista teams, instilling coffee knowledge and an appreciation for what goes into making amazing coffee.

Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Jeremy’s love affair with coffee began at the tender age of ten, when his father purchased a coffee subscription for their household. The subscription boxes showed exotic locales, with information about the history of the regions and the farmers, or boasted of the exotic flavors which our fledgling coffee fanatic was determined to experience one day. In college, Jeremy was one of the few students with a French press, coffee grinder, and hot water kettle in his dorm room. After college comes a blur of educational courses with the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association), including Q-Grader certification (equivalent to being a sommelier in the wine industry, it signifies having reached the highest level of being able to identify, grade, and evaluate coffee), long trips in the back of trucks in Honduras and Peru, and many hours slurping over cupping tables.

Now happily ensconced in Augusta, Maine, Jeremy enjoys helping to elevate coffee above simple commodity status by sharing stories of its rich history and the pivotal role it plays in our world today. Outside of work? Jeremy says, “I’m figuring out how to be an amazing dad. Family is important to me, and I’m still figuring out how to balance life, travel, and the occasional game of DnD.”

How he likes his coffee: I drink my coffee black, and I’m always excited to try a new coffee or something familiar roasted a different way.

His most unexpected experience at Coffee By Design: Back in April 2019, I got to brew coffee with Olga Hazard, one of the farmers who we purchase coffee beans from. It was a really cool and unique experience to share the farmer’s coffee with our customers and with the farmer herself.

His favorite writer: Fyodor Dostoevsky—I think his books are some of the most beautiful stories of human interaction.

What he finds special about being based in Maine: I think we get to introduce people to amazing coffee at their vacation spot. All over the world, people drink Coffee By Design, most of them because they came to Maine for vacation and discovered an amazing cup of coffee.

The three most important lessons he’s learned while working at Coffee By Design:

1. Good coffee requires we start paying farmers more.
2. There are no emergencies in coffee.
3. Every coffee has a home.