Bags of Frequent Coffee. All images courtesy of Frequent Coffee.
From the buzzy San Diego enclave of Ocean Beach, a new company called Frequent Coffee is launching with a mission to keep strong, tight-ratio brews flowing freely with an emphasis on high-quality decaf.
Frequent launched over the summer with five packaged decaf offerings, including three signature blends and two adventurous single-origin coffees. Rounding out the lineup are a half-caff and three fully caffeinated blends.
“I wanted to push the envelope in the industry on how great decaf can really be,” Frequent Coffee Co-Founder and Head Roaster Mark Gano told Daily Coffee News. “I love strong coffee, but I also love to get good sleep. As I searched for better and better decaf, I found a real shortage of truly unique and high-quality decaf in the U.S. We decided to start a decaf-focused coffee company to fill this niche and offer mind-opening decaf options to the public.”
Gano recently shut down the construction company he ran for 15 years with the goal of diving full-time into coffee, which has long been a personal passion. The partner in the OB-based venture is Gano’s longtime friend and marketing expert Jakob Bechgaard.
Gano said he has leaned on education and collaboration with established local coffee pros, including Chris O’Brien of Coffee Cycle, consultant and legendary roaster Chuck Patton, Mehmet Sogan of Memli Coffee Lab and others. Roasting at the California Roasting Collective in nearby San Marcos, Gano continues to experiment with new decafs in between production roasts.
Beans are packaged in bags designed with bold colors and lighthearted names to grab shoppers’ attention. Special-edition coffees get shinier labels, reflecting differentiating factors such as progressive post-harvest processing or exceptional cup attributes.
“We want our coffee to stand out, both in taste and in emotion,” said Gano. “We wanted the packaging to come across as colorful, fun and unpretentious — something that catches your eye and signals, ‘this looks fun.'”
Frequent Coffee Co-Founder and Head Roaster Mark Gano.
Frequent’s decaf coffees are currently sourced in small quantities, while Gano seeks broad geographic representation plus assurances from suppliers that the coffees were initially purchased at prices benefiting producers. Gano said he’s looking forward to additional decaf-sourcing opportunities as the business grows.
“We aren’t at the quantity yet that we can have an entire container decaffeinated and be able to go through it in a reasonable time frame,” said Gano. “Soon, though, that might change, and then the sky is the limit.”
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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