Pomarrosa Coffee Founder Sebastian Legner at the recent Roast Summit Chicago. Photo by Daniel Mendoza.
A new small-batch roasting company in Denver called Pomarrosa Coffee Lab (Instagram) is extending a family legacy in coffee that spans more than three decades and touches three generations.
Pomarossa Coffee Lab is the creation of Denver-based Sebastian Legner, yet it borrows a name first established by his father, Kurt Legner, who bought an abandoned piece of wild forest in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and began planting coffee with his son 32 years ago.
“I like to say I started in coffee when I was like 10 years old,” Sebastian Legner recently told DCN. “I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. My mom is Puerto Rican, but my dad is German. So I consider myself German-Rican.”
Legner, who is also the head roaster of Denver-based coffee company Coda Coffee, launched the new small business out of his garage after his father died this past summer, on July 17.
He said he created the business to honor his father and their family life in Puerto Rico, while also looking towards the future for his own young son and family.
Kurt and Sebastian Legner. Courtesy photo.
“My dad’s favorite motto was ‘life is beautiful’ — I have that tattooed on me, and also the day he passed away — and that’s also the motto behind Pomarrosa Coffee Lab: Life is beautiful,” said Legner. “No matter what life throws at you.”
Legner is currently roasting for Pomarrosa with an Aillio Bullet machine, offering 8-ounce bags of high-quality specialty coffee directly to consumers, and 1- to 5-pound bags for to wholesale clients. With no website or e-commerce store, sales to this point have come through in-person connections and through Instagram DMs.
Green coffees have come from Nicaraguan specialist Gold Mountain Coffee Growers, Colombian specialist Forest Coffee, Genuine Origin and Guatemala-focused Collaborative Origins.
Legner said some coffees, like a current 60-hour natural-anaerobic-process coffee named Guava Banana, may be intentionally experimental and adventurous, while others may lean towards traditional washed profiles and longer development for deeper roasts.
Sebastian Legner at the recent Roast Summit in Illinois. Daily Coffee News photo.
“I like a lot of naturals, but I also like a good washed, or a good honey,” Legner said. “I like to diversify. I believe every coffee has a home.”
Although the family farm in Puerto Rico was sold several years ago, Legner hopes to soon carry coffees from his home island, especially as its coffee sector attempts to rebound from 2017’s devastating Hurricane Maria and more recent incidents of coffee leaf rust and coffee borer beetle outbreaks.
“I love Puerto Rican coffee, and I want to promote my island and all the hard work that young farmers are doing,” Legner said. “I know the hard work that a farmer has to go through to produce the cup of coffee that we’re drinking every morning, because I lived it myself.”
At his home in Denver, Legner is now hoping to grow the roasting business into a dedicated production facility, with the hope of one day owning a storefront.
Sebastian Legner’s son cupping coffees. Courtesy photo.
“Like we all know, starting a business is hard,” Legner said. “I also have a 3-year-old boy, so it’s kind of hard. But it’s fun. It’s really fun. I like the challenge — and I feel my dad’s presence when I’m roasting. I know I’m doing it proudly.”
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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