It’s a classic story. Two guys meet in college. Become friends. Become roommates after college… and start a business to bring you delicious coffee.
And while we are no longer hosting spontaneous M.I.A. dance parties in our living room, we’re on the move to bring more great coffee to Long Beach. As with anything, it seems like we’ve had several “beginnings.” We had the idea. We had the learning.
We had the development… At each stage it felt like most of what we wanted to do was being re-born into something newer, better. With our latest incarnation we’ve posted a little bit about ourselves below.
Enjoy!
Andrew Owen (The Talent)
Andrew is our Master Roaster. You get to be the master when you’re the head roaster- it’s one of the perks. This is not to say that Andrew is without his coffee credentials. Becoming a barista at 13, Andrew joined the coffee workforce a little earlier than some and has continued through the industry since bringing with him a wealth of coffee knowledge and experiences. He will vehemently state that he has much, much more to learn about coffee but that he is darn-tootin good at what he does.
He is an active member of the the SCAA’s Roaster’s Guild, and got his start with roasting coffee at Polly’s off of 2nd Street in Long Beach. Andrew is currently a roaster for Kean Coffee and works mostly out of the company’s Tustin location.
Andrew lives in Long Beach with his beautiful wife, Megen.
Nathan James (The Legend)
Nathan James Tourtellotte (turtle-lot) basically just believes. More or less he brings whatever he can to the table so that Andrew, master roaster that he is, can do his roasting thing.
You could say that Nathan is the literary type. Or, you might say Nathan is the entrepreneurial type. But the certain constancy remains that he believes in bicycles, in Long Beach culture, in building cleverly conscientious business, and in the coffee roasting nuances tirelessly pursued by Andrew O.
A wise wise man once said, “Similarly to the intrigues of man’s soul, this coffee is damningly complex!”
So began Rose Park Roasters.
