Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Johnson.
Trident Coffee Roasters was started in 2015 by brothers Matt and Eric Johnson. We started with a simple mission to find and source the worlds finest coffees ground by some of the hardest working people on the planet. Working hard starting at local farmers markets and self-distributing. . We would deliver or cold brew bottles, kegs, roasted coffee beans to local markets, coffee shops and other stores around San Diego area. During that time we Brayan looking at our brick and mortar store that would become our home. We found it in the beautiful city of Imperial Beach at the new Bike Way Village off 13th street. By summer of 2017 after many hurdles, we opened our first location which held our roaster, all our brew equipment, out canning line and coffee bar taproom.
At that location, we have 16 nitro cold brew on tap serving a variety of coffees from all around the world, with different roast profiles and flavors. Since opening our imperial beach location we’ve also picked up and expanded our distribution of our 12oz nitro cans to a bigger audience. Most recently as of May 2019, we opened a second location on Harbor Island which is more focused on coffee and food offerings. Goal always the same focus on our connections, our transparency, and our core values.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the coffee journey just like with any startup, we’ve certainly have had our fair share of ups and downs. Definitely can say with 100% certainty that nothing has come easy. Sometimes it almost felt at times that whatever could go wrong was going wrong. Distribution is always a bit of a struggle stores with one regional buyer hard to get ahold of. Biggest struggle has equipment issues mainly not working as intended. Also had struggles during our build-out of our Imperial Beach location as it was an open warehouse and was a totally new build out. Permits, dealing with the power and gas company, plumbing. However big the storm was or got we weathered it and pushed through. At the end making us stronger for it. Being very passionate and hardworking about what we’re doing has been our anchor. That and our love for coffee, our family & friends their love and support has made any wave that’s tired to capsize us makes us just turn our bow into it and push through and come out the other side. We won’t stop till we reach our destination!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Trident Coffee Roasters – what should we know?
Trident Coffee and roasters we specialize in directly sourcing, roasting and brewing nitro cold brew coffees. Eric is our chief executive officer working on just about everything in the business from roasting, coffee souring, managing the social media posts, graphic design logo design along with Matt who now running the harbor island location and developing the menu there. He also was the original brewery maintaining all the cold brews designs the recipes, canning operations, management and maintenance of the brewery. What Trident is known for is our cold brew and in particular our directly sourced Brazilian nitro cold brew with emulsified medium chain triglyceride (MCT OIL) first of its kind it’s perfect for those on a keto lifestyle. I’m most proud of our integrity as a company. We all know you can ad sugar or syrup of other junk to a product to make it taste good.
Our focus is on being there to provide a great craft product with transparency, hiding nothing behind the curtain for people to see that we control from farm to can or keg. What sets us apart is that we do it all in house. We talk with our farmers all the time, we help and give back to them so they can do what they’re doing better. We called our self “America’s finest cold brew for that reason. Nowhere will you come to a coffee shop or coffee brewery as we have come to call it. Where the coffee in being roasted, ground, brewed, canned and keged all under the same roof. Oxidation is the worst thing that happens to coffee after it’s been roasted. We take great steps to ensure that our coffees our off-gassed perfect amount of time after roasting to being ground, brewed under nitrogen and at a cold temperature to ensure optimum taste and freshness.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Being true to ourselves, our core values and work ethic. Being innovative and keeping ahead of trends while we continue to make a great product and never compromising or sacrificing the quality of our product and name.
Pricing:
- Nitro cold brew $4
- Nitro cold brew w/mct $5
Contact Info:
- Address: 955 Harbor Island Drive Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92101 - Website: Tridentcoffee.com
- Email: eric@tridentcoffee.com
- Instagram: Tridentcoffee
- Facebook: Tridentcoffee
Image Credit:
Left to right Matt Johnson, Angela Cordoni, Eric Johnson
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