Steven

Growing up, I remember walking into the kitchen on those early mornings and seeing my parents with their coffee. It's what they did every day. Work day, day off, or holiday, it didn't matter. The day didn't begin until the morning coffee was finished. The routine was so prevalent that I tried to do the same, though having just entered middle school, I wasn't yet old enough to crave that feeling you get when you taste that flavor to truly begin your day. It would be years before I got into this staple beverage for myself.

As the years went by, going through college but never feeling like it was truly right for me, to having my first real long-term job after my college days, and even working multiple jobs just to pay the bills, coffee was never at the forefront for me. It wasn't until I met my good friend and business partner, Gabe, that coffee would come back into my life. Having spent days and nights together as roommates at the time, we began to share stories of our past, noticing the similarities and differences between our childhoods. One of these similarities was the presence of coffee and the importance it had in both our lives. It was a reminder of home and our childhoods, before we understood how the world really worked and where we fit into it. Our friendship grew and remained strong even after we both went our separate ways and moved out of the apartment we shared with two other people, his brother and another friend of ours, Patrick.

During this time, I was still at my long-term job, having risen through the ranks from a simple bag boy to upper management in a grocery store. Gabe had moved away to run his own business, Black OPS Show Services. I didn't understand anything about being an entrepreneur or having your own business. I just knew what I had learned from my job: dealing with customers, how to treat them, and how to help manage a store on a day-to-day basis. After a few years of us both building foundations for our futures, he told me about an opportunity. He had been reminiscing about the past and decided to start another business, a coffee business called Mocha Meadow, and he wanted me to join him on this venture. I was hesitant at first. I knew about running a store, but to be part of a startup business? I had no clue what I would be doing or how I would even go about helping create our new business together.

Over some months, he began to teach me how starting a business works through countless conversations. He reminded me of the times we discussed our past and how coffee was a mainstay in our homes, and that's why he wanted us to start Mocha Meadow together. He wanted to remind us of the good times with our families at home and to be able to sit down and take that deep breath so many of us feel we need to have, to be in the present. We wanted great coffee and to have this feeling spread to as many people as possible. So brew a cup, sit down, and stay awhile. That's what this is all about.