Explore the Richness of Island-Inspired Coffee: An Interview with Chris Baldwin

Meet Chris Baldwin: A Blend of Art and Coffee

Our guest, Chris Baldwin, is a true craftsman. As a designer and artist by profession, Chris has always had a passion for branding, commercial art, and graphic design. His journey led him to Whidbey Island, where he combined his love of coffee with his background in design and marketing to create Island Time Coffee.

Island Time Coffee: A Brand Born from Passion

Chris’s love for coffee and design naturally led to the founding of Island Time Coffee on Whidbey Island. He explained the brand concept through a Venn diagram, showcasing what makes his coffee unique—from its intense blends to the island lifestyle it represents.

Launching Island Time Coffee

Launching a new brand during a pandemic comes with its set of challenges. Chris faced significant supply chain issues, with costs skyrocketing shortly after his product hit the market. However, he adapted by scaling back and focusing on growing the business organically.

Island Time Coffee’s Growing Reach

As of September 2024, Island Time Coffee has expanded to about 40 retail locations, particularly thriving in small, privately owned boutique stores. Recently doubling his footprint, Chris anticipates solid growth in these new stores over the next year.

Future Plans and Brand Strategy

Chris plans to maintain the brand’s purposeful nature, focusing on the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound region and potentially expanding to the San Juan Islands. He stressed the importance of remaining true to the island lifestyle that defines Island Time Coffee.

Fun with Art Cars and Whidbey Island Activities

Aside from coffee, Chris indulged in artistic endeavors through art cars during his time in Seattle. These cars, covered in toys and artistic materials, were a hit at events like the Fremont Fair. Even though he faced challenges with ferry inspections, the experience added a unique twist to his journey.

Community Involvement and Orca Network

Chris is passionate about giving back to the community. He collaborates with Orca Network, a nonprofit focused on whale awareness. By donating a portion of his coffee sales and using authentic whale photos, Chris combines his business with meaningful contributions to local causes.

If you enjoy coffee I know you will LOVE Island Time Coffee Thanks for listening to the episode.

Island Time Coffee Chris Baldwin Episode Transcript

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Alright. I am sitting down today with Chris Baldwin, who is probably my favorite person in the world right now because Chris sent me coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:00:33]:

And, Chris is the owner of Island Time Coffee in Whidbey Island. So Chris, welcome. I’m sipping. I’m sipping on some of your Deception Dark blend right now.

Chris Baldwin [00:00:47]:

What Deception dark.

Scott Cowan [00:00:48]:

Deception Dark. I’m trying to decide if I wanna say it’s my favorite of the of your coffees. It’s it’s a tough battle for me. Yeah. Others too. I I really like the, I really like your your French roast too. And, but we’re gonna we’re gonna Oh, okay. So, Chris, what I know about you is that you are a designer and an artist, and you’ve been doing that for a long time.

Scott Cowan [00:01:13]:

And you own Island Time Coffee Company, which my biggest question that I think is important for me is I love coffee and I don’t own a coffee company. So what was the motivation for you to launch this thing? That’s my first question.

Chris Baldwin [00:01:38]:

Yeah. Well, that’s a long question. The motivation for starting a coffee company, its genesis goes way back, I think. It because it was really it’s more to me than just a coffee company.

Scott Cowan [00:01:53]:

K.

Chris Baldwin [00:01:53]:

It’s it’s a brand. And I’ve always been, you know, kinda consumed with branding and commercial art and graphic design and kind of a love of coffee. I guess if you simplify it this way, and we can kinda get into sort of the the genesis of it. But if you if you visualize the a Venn diagram, right, with 3 circles

Scott Cowan [00:02:15]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:02:16]:

And the first the first circle would be just sort of like my interest and love of coffee. The second circle would be, you know, my my background in design and marketing and my interest in all things packaging. And then the 3rd circle would be island life and the island lifestyle and living here on the island. And, you know, where those three circles meet in the middle, that’s Island Time Coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:02:39]:

Alright. Thank you for the great introduction and the reason, but let’s now we’re gonna go back a few years. So what I’m aware of is you went to Western.

Chris Baldwin [00:02:49]:

Yep. Graduated Western in 1986. K. Moved to Seattle right after that and started my career as a commercial artist, illustrator, and graphic designer.

Scott Cowan [00:03:04]:

I loved living in Seattle in 86. I had just gotten out of college at Central in 86. And so, Seattle in the late mid and late eighties was a great place to live. So I lived in Redmond. A lot of my friends were musicians. So, we would spend our, you know, Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays at various establishments in the Puget Sound region, not just Seattle, Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma, all of that, and you could get around. Traffic wasn’t you could go from Redmond to Tacoma in an evening and not worry about it being stuck on 405. It was easy.

Scott Cowan [00:03:48]:

So where did you start your career?

Chris Baldwin [00:03:51]:

What the secret sauce? The secret sauce back then was that you could actually rent a cheap apartment. You could get a few guys together and actually rent a crappy house in Seattle. Mhmm. And you can get get started that way. I mean, that’s how all those musicians got started. That’s how, you know, artists got started. You know? I mean, it’s such a shame that, you know, that’s kind of vanished from the ecosystem. You know, you just can’t get that foothold in the door, but, anyways, I’m digressing.

Scott Cowan [00:04:22]:

No. No. You’re you’re okay because I will share this with them with you. So later on in 86 near probably October, November, I found a 1 bedroom beach cottage over in west Seattle by, Lincoln park, right on the water. And I got that for $600 a month and everyone thought I was absolutely insane for paying that much rent. And I was, but man, that was a cool place. I had a duck to go through all the doorways because it was like a 3 quarter size house. It wasn’t, it was a beach cabin.

Scott Cowan [00:04:56]:

It wasn’t designed for full time living. You know, it was designed for somebody to go and spend their summer afternoons there. And that was, I, that was a great place. So I don’t know what that place would, well, it’s not, it doesn’t even exist anymore. They put a 3 story house there. What was your question? Let me ask you this question. Your first place that you remember in Seattle, what was what was your rent? What’d you have to pay for? What was your share of rent?

Chris Baldwin [00:05:23]:

Oh, I think it was a $100. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. You know, I was in a house up in Delridge for a while. And, and after a few years of kinda doing the roommate thing, I kinda finally decided to get my own apartment. And so that was in, off Stoneway, near the Woodland Park Zoo.

Scott Cowan [00:05:43]:

Yeah. Yeah. Great area of town.

Chris Baldwin [00:05:45]:

So so good. I live in Wallingford and a couple of different places. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:05:49]:

Okay. And where were

Chris Baldwin [00:05:50]:

you You’re right. You know, the beauty of it oh, go ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:05:53]:

No. No. You’re fine. Go ahead. Sorry.

Chris Baldwin [00:05:57]:

You know, and the beauty of it in that location too is that, you know, I5 was still sticky even back in the day back then, but, you know, you could hop on I ninety and be anywhere in the Greater Seattle Area in just, like, 10 or 15 minutes. Yeah. I’m sorry. I 90 I’m at 99.

Scott Cowan [00:06:12]:

99. Yeah. But You

Chris Baldwin [00:06:14]:

know, I could roll it. And, you know, we’d go downtown every weekend to see, you know, bands and do the whole thing down there at Pioneer Pioneer Square. And,

Scott Cowan [00:06:27]:

so I gotta ask you, in in 86, who were you going to what bands were you seeing in 86? And this is welcome to the show that starts off about coffee, and now we’re gonna talk about 80 Seattle music. But what’s wrong? What who were you going to see in the in the mid to late eighties?

Chris Baldwin [00:06:45]:

Mostly, probably towards the late eighties, I had a bunch of friends that got into the grunge scene. We’d go see this band called Hell America, Red Platinum. Gosh. Boy, Runaway Trains, they’re a little bit more of a, you know, a punk band. And I remember, you know, even seeing, like, Alice in Chains a few times before they hit. You know? And Soundgarden was playing at the, the off ramp. They sometimes play the underneath the spoodle name. So I saw them a bunch of times.

Chris Baldwin [00:07:24]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:07:25]:

My, a friend of mine, Alice in chains played for a birthday party for him. And, you know, in a a private a private party, you know, I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah. Anyway, now, Seattle That

Chris Baldwin [00:07:37]:

was the first time I saw Alice in Chains at the Central

Scott Cowan [00:07:41]:

Tavern. Oh, jeez. Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:07:42]:

And I had no idea who they were. Mhmm. And my friend’s band opened up for him. And we decided to stick around and and hear him, you know, oh, let’s see what those other brands like, you know? And, you know, it was loud and noisy. And I didn’t know the music, you know, and I know that they were, you know, they’re banging it out. And I appreciate it. But, you know, I didn’t think anything of it.

Scott Cowan [00:08:02]:

Neither did I. Neither did I. I just that one, they, yeah, I saw. Yeah. No, they just, it looked no disrespect, but it just, it wasn’t my, they didn’t click for me either. Cause like you said, they were loud and I didn’t know the songs and yeah, I just, yeah. Anyway, the good old days

Chris Baldwin [00:08:22]:

And then you have to ask yourself, where were you the first time you heard teen spirit?

Scott Cowan [00:08:29]:

I know exactly where I was actually. I was in a where I was in a warehouse in Kent putting cookies and crackers into the back of a truck.

Chris Baldwin [00:08:40]:

That’s funny.

Scott Cowan [00:08:41]:

Yeah. I know.

Chris Baldwin [00:08:42]:

I was I was actually I was in Bellevue, going to my parents’ house, and I just parked the car and had the radio on. And I got out of the car to check the mailbox right for my parents. And some of this riff comes on the radio, and I go, what’s that?

Scott Cowan [00:08:59]:

And I

Chris Baldwin [00:08:59]:

go in the car and and and heard it for the very first time. And I remember just being just blew my socks off.

Scott Cowan [00:09:06]:

Yeah. I was, I was loading trucks, for Nabisco. I was, effort effort of failed professional launch as a college student, I, I took a blue collar job to pay the bills and, that was supposed to last just a brief period of time and seven and a half years later. But anyway, in the warehouse, whoever was standing in the back of the truck, stacking the cases of cookies and crackers in the truck would get to control who was blasting music throughout the warehouse. And this kid who was a couple of years younger than me, put this thing on and I’m like, what is this? Wait a second. You know, and that was that was the first time I heard it. And I I was like all of us, I think, amazed at what it was and how it took over the airwaves for quite a while. So

Chris Baldwin [00:10:02]:

Yeah. Yeah. That was a fun time. Yeah. It was a fun time being in Seattle, you know, at ground center of the the grunge revolution and just all the attention Seattle got. And, yeah. It was fun.

Scott Cowan [00:10:15]:

But then you left and you moved to Whitby. No. Just kidding. And I moved away too. But so you started your professional career there, and then how long have you and well, let’s go to Whitby. How long have you been living on Whitby?

Chris Baldwin [00:10:29]:

Well, let me get to that in a second. So I was living in Seattle at the time, and, that’s where I met my wife. And, and then we got married and decided that, you know, we wanted to buy our 1st starter home. So that’s what got me out to Whidbey Island. Even even, you know, even though we started this interview, you talked about how pricing was a lot more affordable, housing is a lot more affordable. Know, I still had to move out quite a ways to get my 1st starter home.

Scott Cowan [00:11:00]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:11:01]:

And, you know, I we were living in Shoreline at the time, you know, in the mid nineties. And, you know, I I loved living downtown. I loved living in Wallingford. I love living in West Seattle, but that more suburbia environment of, like, shoreline just didn’t work for me. And at the time, you know, I was doing all my work, you know, through, you know, faxes and FedExes and things like that. And I was almost working remotely anyways because a lot of my clients were national clients at the time. Mhmm. So I, you know, I I could go work remotely somewhere.

Chris Baldwin [00:11:35]:

So, you know, either either I’m gonna live in the city or I’m not. I’m gonna get out. So we chose to move someplace a lot more rural, to, yeah, start our lives over and and raise a family and do the island lifestyle. So that was in 1995.

Scott Cowan [00:11:52]:

So almost 30 years.

Chris Baldwin [00:11:53]:

But going back to yeah. Yeah. You know, my kids were born and raised. Am am I local? No. If because, you know, if you compare yourself to, you know, the old school families that live out here, Yeah. It it takes a while to be considered a true local.

Scott Cowan [00:12:11]:

Right. Did you when you when you moved out there in in 95, did you miss I mean, now you’re on an island. Yeah. You can drive around the Northway and, you know, you don’t have to take a ferry, but let’s be realistic. It’s you’re going to take a ferry to get off the island. What sort of, if any, did you guys have any, you know, acclimation challenges to to island lifestyle, or did you just settle right into the less hectic pace?

Chris Baldwin [00:12:48]:

There was definitely an acclamation period, But I think that when you have small kids

Scott Cowan [00:12:54]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:12:55]:

That you’ve sort of immediately part of the club, because you’ve, you know, you’re doing school stuff, your kids make friends, and you meet other parents, and then there’s soccer games and, you know,

Scott Cowan [00:13:10]:

you

Chris Baldwin [00:13:10]:

know, it it’s nice to be in a community that’s really based on, you know, following the schools and and all of that. So it it takes a while to make, you know, a new set of friends that way, but, you know, you’re busy. I’m busy with my home, my own business. I’m busy with, you know, with familyhood, doing all that kind of stuff. So, you know, plus we still had all of our connections in Seattle. We saw all of our friends and so forth. So, yeah, I I I loved it.

Scott Cowan [00:13:44]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:13:44]:

I love getting to know new people, the new environment, the new community. And back then, you know, Southwood, in particular, you know, was a was a thriving, real community. It had a middle class. It had jobs. It had a growing school system. So it was a it was a really special place to be.

Scott Cowan [00:14:05]:

Yeah. It’s it’s beautiful there. I remember as a little kid, my great aunt, her and her husband and their they had a family cabin somewhere on the water there. Don’t ask me where. The only thing I really remember is we went there for a visit, and I might have been 8, 10 at the most. And my cousins were going outside, and I was younger, a little younger than them. And you know, when you’re 8 or 10 and somebody is like 12 and 14, there’s a, that’s a big gap, right? Like, yeah. And they, they closed the, they closed the sliding door glass slider door.

Scott Cowan [00:14:44]:

And I didn’t see that. And I ran right into that thing at full speed. That’s that’s my that’s my biggest memory of Whidbey Island is running into that, slider door. I don’t know that that’s the best memory to have. Yeah. I still, when I think about it, it still hurts. You know,

Chris Baldwin [00:15:00]:

anyway, it’s it’s funny you mentioned that. It’s funny you mentioned that because I know that, you know, whenever I’m off island or visiting people in Seattle or friends or whatnot, and you meet you know, you’re always meeting new people. And it inevitably, that comes up in conversation, oh, where do you live? You know, da da da da. And then I’ll tell somebody, you know, I live in, on Whidbey Island. I lived in Langley. And I almost always get this universally same response, And that is that, you know, they go, oh, Kiel. That’s so cool. Yeah.

Chris Baldwin [00:15:34]:

My cousin got married out there. Or, you know, my dad used to go fishing out there. Or I have a friend that’s got a cabin or this, this, and that out there. And I always get this really, you know, positive, you know, reaction from. And and I know that part of the brand that I wanted to build was that, you know, embracing, you know, the island lifestyle is part of that because of that that 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon separation that I just discussed. You know, people, you know, have that they understand the brand. They understand what the islands are like, and they have that you know, try to build that sort of emotional connection with the brand.

Scott Cowan [00:16:15]:

So when did you launch the brand? What year did you officially hang out the shingle?

Chris Baldwin [00:16:23]:

It was I actually started in 2021. K. Right at the height of the pandemic. What you made from the college? Back story before. Yeah. I majored in graphic.

Scott Cowan [00:16:38]:

I’m teasing. Well, you’re opening a business in the pen okay. Yeah. Alright. What’s the back story?

Chris Baldwin [00:16:43]:

Yeah. Okay. So, again, I was thinking about this this morning. I was thinking about my first sort of experiences with coffee, and I know that I I had a roommate in college that was really into coffee culture. And I and I barely even had my first cup of coffee back in that day. So I I learned a lot from him. And, and I remember after graduating and getting my first bachelor place, literally, one of the first things I bought was a coffee grinder.

Scott Cowan [00:17:15]:

Wow.

Chris Baldwin [00:17:15]:

Because I knew that I had to right. I know. I was like, what is this thing for? I didn’t, you know, grind my own beans and make fresh coffee every morning. I just that’s what I was taught, how to drink coffee. And, you know, and back in the day, you know, the the coffee revolution in Seattle was just getting going, and you could actually start to get, you know, whole bean coffee, local roasted whole bean coffee on the shelf. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:17:42]:

And I

Chris Baldwin [00:17:42]:

remember trying, you know, Starbucks and, and Tully’s Coffee and Seattle’s Best Coffee. You know? So I started drinking those brands.

Scott Cowan [00:17:52]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:17:53]:

And, you know, I was digging in and, but I didn’t think too much of it. It was just something that I kind of enjoyed. And but, you know, as my career in commercial art and graphic design grew and so forth, I started to become more and more aware of brands and marketing. And, you know, I mean, I could walk into a grocery store and just geek out on almost every single aisle, you know, on the different packaging, you know, the different design trends, and all this kind of stuff. And, of course, you know, buying coffee, you know, I’m always following, you know, the design trends for coffee. And I I remember I remember in the late eighties when Starbucks first came out with one of their, first packaging pushes, and they had this, they had this generic bag. They had one bag for all their different varieties. But then to designate the variety, they had these stickers that they would put on the bag.

Chris Baldwin [00:18:49]:

Mhmm. So for instance, the French roast would be they would have this sticker on it, you know, that that, you know, had the Eiffel Tower and said French roast, you know, and they had a sticker for Italian roast, and they had a sticker for Ethiopian, you know, and all these kinds of things. And the stickers were kind of modeled after, oh gosh, you know, traveling in the early 20th century, you know, with your steamer trunk.

Scott Cowan [00:19:13]:

Yep.

Chris Baldwin [00:19:14]:

And you could cover them with travel stickers from around the world. Right? Yes. That was sort of, you know, what these these stickers look like. And I I just remember just thinking that was so cool. What a great packaging idea, and I love the designs and so forth. So that you you kinda get an idea how my my mind’s kinda works when I’m looking at this stuff. And and as I was working as a commercial illustrator, I even got called into, Hornell Anderson, which is a design firm in Seattle at the time, and one of their accounts was Starbucks. And they called me in.

Chris Baldwin [00:19:51]:

They were gonna be doing a a the next generation of packaging after the packaging I just discussed. And it’s not uncommon that they’ll call in commercial artists to kinda come in and do some storyboards or do some comps and things like that just to kind of, see what my take would be on their sort of marketing direction. And and I did some ideas and so forth, and they didn’t really fly. And they, you know, they they just paid me for my time.

Scott Cowan [00:20:18]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:20:18]:

But I got a glimpse at, you know, kinda where that was going and so forth. And, I was a little disappointed they didn’t pick my designs and directions, but, that’s okay. That’s kinda the way it goes sometimes. But, anyways, so then a few years after that then, I moved to Whidbey Island, and I’m still deep in the industry. I still have an agent. I’m still doing, projects from all around the country. But when I go into my local coffee shop I mean, my local grocery store, you know, now I’m starting to notice, you know, the local brands. So Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:20:54]:

You know, now I gotta start drinking, you know, the local roasters. So, you know, I kinda got to know them. I got to know their product and so forth, and I personally got to know a couple of roasters. But I tell you, when I when I was looking at how they handled their marketing and their design and their brands, I saw a hole. I I saw a gap in, I think, how they should have been marketing. So I I I just kept coming back to that again and again and again thinking, god. You know what? If I ever started a coffee company, you know, I know what I would do. Right? Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:21:38]:

I would I would do it differently because I would be an authentic local roaster. Right? I would roast locally. I would have that quintessential northwest coffee flavor profile, and I would embrace a sense of place. I would embrace I would embrace all things island life. And that that thought was in my head for years, and then, you know, and then the pandemic came along. And suddenly I had extra time on my hand, and that thought kinda percolated

Scott Cowan [00:22:14]:

at the

Chris Baldwin [00:22:15]:

top of my mind. I thought, you know what? I’m gonna I’m gonna put together a business plan. So I designed up all the packaging, designed up all the labels. I ran all the numbers the best I could, and I put together a business plan. Of course, you know, I promised my wife, Darlene, I would put together a real business plan if we were gonna actually try to pull off a real business. So we massaged it and went over it together and so forth, and and then decided to pull the trigger, you know, right there in the middle of this massive slowdown.

Scott Cowan [00:22:49]:

Alright. So I gotta ask you this question. I gotta ask you this question. Now, this is the toughest business question I’m gonna ask you. And it’s, it’s, I don’t mean it to be tough, but you said you designed, you ran some numbers, right? You projections of what you thought it would be. Were you close? Were you close, or did you miss the mark?

Chris Baldwin [00:23:17]:

I I think it was solid. Okay. But literally 3 months into the endeavor of getting on the shelf, all of a sudden, there’s these massive, shortages and supply chain issues. And inflation was kicking in, and suddenly the cost of bags went up 50%. The cost of coffee went up 30%. All these things just blew a hole in my business plan right off the bat.

Scott Cowan [00:23:45]:

Right. And So what I’ve what I’ve experienced is that, a business the first business plan especially is, you know, it’s it’s a good exercise, but it’s

Chris Baldwin [00:23:58]:

it’s an exercise.

Scott Cowan [00:23:59]:

It’s not nothing nothing to really I mean, you got what is it Mike Tyson famously said, you know, something like, you you got a plan to fight somebody until they punch you in the face. Something something to that effect. And it basically yeah. I mean, you, how do you predict supply chain? How do you predict inflation or, you know, in coffee, a bad coffee crop year, you know, a devastating coffee crop year, let’s say, you know? Yeah. So one of the things

Chris Baldwin [00:24:30]:

You know what? Go ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:24:33]:

No. You go ahead.

Chris Baldwin [00:24:35]:

Oh, I was just gonna say that that, yeah, it, it completely turned everything kinda upside down as far as my initial plan and so forth. But, you know, that just made me back off a little bit. It made me realize that, you know, let’s just ride this thing part time.

Scott Cowan [00:24:52]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:24:52]:

Let’s just grow it organically. And that actually ended up being a blessing because it gave me a chance to back off on my expectations, get you know, just get into some markets, build build relationships with different, you know, my my vendors and my my store managers and so forth, and and see how the numbers go. And, you know, I’d adjust, you know, some pricing and things accordingly. And that really that benefited me because the one thing I didn’t really realize is that and this may seem obvious when I say it out loud, but it takes time. It it it took a lot more time than I initially anticipated. So, for instance, you know, when you get a new product onto the shelf, you know, somebody has to take that that lead the faith to try it.

Scott Cowan [00:25:47]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:25:48]:

And then now they have to try it and like it, but then come back and buy it again. And then you have to build enough repeat customers that come back often enough that they’ll actually will turn the product frequently enough to be viable on the shelf and for me to hang out of the shelf space that the managers give me in the 1st place. So that takes a year, if not longer.

Scott Cowan [00:26:13]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:26:13]:

So I had to not only develop these new relationships and get the product in there, but I had to let it sort of match rate and and and let it and let it kind of, you know, grow organically and become a viable product. So if I had come running out of the gate and and had my initial expectations, I would have been disappointed. But now that, you know, it’s been I’ve I’ve had it there for a few years now, 2 or 3 years.

Scott Cowan [00:26:44]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:26:44]:

I’m starting to see the fruit of that.

Scott Cowan [00:26:47]:

Let’s I wanna talk about the coffee, the process that you went through to what was the first what was your first coffee? What was it, you you currently have 4 varieties. What was the first one?

Chris Baldwin [00:27:07]:

Well, I knew right away that I wanted to have at least 4 SKUs.

Scott Cowan [00:27:12]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:27:15]:

That seemed to be a manageable amount. It gave me the option to offer 4 different varieties to kinda cover my basis. I knew that I wanted to have, you know, a fairly narrow interpretation of the northwest sort of coffee style. You know, I I knew I wanted to have, you know, a good, strong, aggressive, bittersweet, you know, French roast. And then I I knew also wanted to have, you know, a a really nicely balanced medium roast, you know, where it wasn’t so bitter. And I wanted to have a few things in between. So once I got my business plan in order and, the one thing that that I don’t do is I am not I’m not the roaster. I’m not an expert roaster.

Chris Baldwin [00:28:06]:

So the first thing I did was go out and find an expert roaster. And I had relationships in the community and people I could talk to. So, I I ended up hiring somebody local, to do my roasting. And together, you know, based on tapping into their experience, you know, we worked out these 4 different varieties.

Scott Cowan [00:28:29]:

You know,

Chris Baldwin [00:28:29]:

I kinda explained to them what I’m looking for. They had suggestions. I had suggestions. You know, and together, we kind of, you know, worked out, you know, these these four varieties.

Scott Cowan [00:28:40]:

Does your wife drink coffee?

Chris Baldwin [00:28:44]:

Oh, yes. Okay. So I want I want you to go back utilitarian coffee maker. Okay. Go ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:28:51]:

I want you to go back to when you brought home the first prototype and you said, here, I want you to try this. So she hasn’t, you know, I’m imagining this scenario happened. She hadn’t tried the prototype yet. Right? You’re working through it. You know, you’re you’re you’re fine tuning the the the the ratio of, you know, things and roast time and all of that. So you finally bring something home, and you say, I want you to try this. What’d she say?

Chris Baldwin [00:29:23]:

Oh, she was all in. K. Yeah. She she knows a good coffee when she drinks it.

Scott Cowan [00:29:32]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:29:32]:

And and this was this was definitely a good coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:29:36]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:29:36]:

So, you know, we had we we did debate a little bit between a couple different choices and so forth. But but at the end of the day, that was the easiest part by far.

Scott Cowan [00:29:47]:

Okay. How long did the process take for you to to dial in these these, the 4 4 SKUs?

Chris Baldwin [00:29:59]:

Just a matter of a few months.

Scott Cowan [00:30:01]:

Okay. So

Chris Baldwin [00:30:03]:

I was kinda doing this in tandem while I was, you know, getting my ducks in order as far as, like, you know, banking and, building a website and becoming an LLC and and all those fun details.

Scott Cowan [00:30:15]:

All of fun things. I’m gonna put you on the spot.

Chris Baldwin [00:30:18]:

You know, I look at I look at I kinda let me use this analogy if I can. You know, when I think of what I was going for is, you know, if you think if you’re a beer drinker, are you?

Scott Cowan [00:30:33]:

I I yeah. I mean, not I’m not an aficionado, but, you know, I enjoy beer.

Chris Baldwin [00:30:38]:

So if if you like a good northwest IPA, for instance

Scott Cowan [00:30:42]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:30:43]:

You know, to me, that was sort of analogous to what I was going for. A nice, well rounded, you know, hoppy you know, hop hops and beer is just like the bittersweet characteristics in coffee. It’s it’s required. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:30:59]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:30:59]:

It’s what makes beer, and it’s what makes coffee. Right? Sure. But just like an IPA, I wanted a good, well rounded IPA. I I didn’t necessarily want a, you know, double hopped cask Right. Grapefruit infused, you know, whatever IPA. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:31:21]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:31:22]:

That’s that’s fine for some people, and that’s fine for me sometimes too. But Sure. That’s not sort of that baseline of what I’m going for. So, yes, I have my French, which definitely has those more aggressive, bittersweet notes to it. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:31:39]:

Yes.

Chris Baldwin [00:31:40]:

But as I go down the line in my 4 varieties, you know, I’m I’m slowly tampering down that bitterness. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:31:49]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:31:49]:

To the point where my my medium roast, which is my fairy lime blues, what what it’s it’s a blend of Central American beans and Indonesian beans.

Scott Cowan [00:32:03]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:32:03]:

Now they’re both roasted to a Vienna roast. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:32:07]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:32:08]:

But when you blend the 2 together, it just makes it a little more complex. And the Indonesian bean is a little more earthy

Scott Cowan [00:32:19]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:32:21]:

And doesn’t have those, you know, high, bittersweet notes like Central American. So it it to me, it creates a really nice, full bodied, flavorful cup of coffee, but almost no bitterness. And then and then you take my medium dark roast, which is my salish orca. You know, here, you know, once again, I’m I’m doing a a blend. This time, the same bean, but one of it half of it’s roasted to a Vienna roast and half of it’s roasted to an Italian roast. Right? And then blend it together. And once again, I think it makes a more complex cup, but it’s it takes that it’s not as much of those bittersweet notes. Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:33:07]:

Right? But it still has that it’s you know? And then we get to my deception dark, which you mentioned early on in this one. And you know what? I got it. I I feel you. I it’s probably one of my favorites too out of the group, just just for my personal taste. Because it’s it’s an Italian roast, but once again, I introduce some Indonesian. So I have the Central American roasted Italian, then I have the Indonesian roasted Italian. And it’s just enough to take off that bittersweet edge. Right? It still has that really full body dark characteristic.

Scott Cowan [00:33:45]:

So I was gonna ask you an impossible question. So I I decided to spare you for that one. So I’m gonna ask you a very specific question. Have you been drinking coffee today?

Chris Baldwin [00:33:55]:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:33:57]:

What what’s in your cup today?

Chris Baldwin [00:34:04]:

I I right now, I’m drinking, I’m drinking Ferry Line Blues.

Scott Cowan [00:34:10]:

Okay. I was gonna ask you what your favorite was out of all, but that’s unfair. So you’re drinking Ferry Line Blues today. And how do you prepare your coffee? How is this how is this cup of coffee prepared?

Chris Baldwin [00:34:23]:

I’m old school. I just like a drip.

Scott Cowan [00:34:25]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:34:26]:

It’s something, you know, I can make a nice pot of coffee or 2 and then and drink it throughout the day. Mhmm. I do pour over sometimes, and I have a little old fashioned espresso, you know, stovetop espresso machine. Right. Machine that

Scott Cowan [00:34:40]:

Yeah. The my Turkish things, the local hot.

Chris Baldwin [00:34:44]:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And, and I I to be honest with you, I only use it when the power goes out.

Scott Cowan [00:34:53]:

I don’t have a backup for power. That’s a I have to okay. All right. That’s my takeaway for this episode is I gotta make sure I can have coffee when the power’s out. Alright. So you’re a drip coffee guy. I, so literally at the time we started this deception dark from an AeroPress. So I I make it, using my AeroPress maker.

Scott Cowan [00:35:20]:

So one cup of coffee at a time, kind of a hybrid espresso French press machine, if you will, plunger. If I have the if I have the grind dialed in right, the island sunset and the deception darker, like brilliant through the the arrow press, just absolutely brilliant. The Orca and the fairy line blues are not quite brilliant. They’re like whatever slightly lesser adjective. I do like my coffee is darker. So the medium roast, but they hold up. That’s the thing they hold up for me. I like a.

Scott Cowan [00:35:58]:

Okay. So you, do you live in West Seattle? Do you remember back in the day, a place called Webster’s cafe?

Chris Baldwin [00:36:04]:

I don’t.

Scott Cowan [00:36:06]:

So Webster’s Cafe had 2 locations on California. And I remember going in there and I would grab breakfast and had this thing, you know, Montana potatoes, which were, you know, diced potatoes with egg and sausage and feta cheese and all this stuff, and I would drink coffee. And I believe they were serving Seattle’s best coffee at that time in the old diner mug thing and all that. And I just I have this memory buried deep, you know, that that was a delicious cup of coffee. And I think your deception dark is as close to that memory as I’m gonna find. It just it checks some old hidden 35 year old memory. So thank you for that.

Chris Baldwin [00:36:56]:

Yeah. Ironically, the roaster that I work with Mhmm. Has lineage back to Seattle’s Best Coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:37:08]:

Okay. There we go. So I gotta tell you, do you know this? I gotta tell you my quick story about you here, about your coffee. My wife got me a gift pack for Christmas couple years ago, but she doesn’t know what to get me. You know, coffee is like coffee is like the that’s the you could get me a cup of well, no. Don’t give me folders, but you could get me coffee and I’m thrilled to have coffee. Right? And so I get this pack of your coffee and I’m like, what what’s this? You know, I’ve never I hadn’t heard of it. And she goes, oh, this is, you know, Darlene’s husband’s coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:37:43]:

You should check it out. Okay. Cool. And I, you know, I don’t remember which of the the 3 bags I popped up and, first, and I was like, wow, this is really good. She goes, no, you’re just saying that. I go, no, I’m really not just saying that. I really like this coffee. And so it just was like, you have, and I’ve told you this off camera, I’m not saying this to flatter you.

Scott Cowan [00:38:11]:

And, I genuinely think the coffees that you are presenting, to the market are amazing. All, all former eminently drinkable coffees. The the the island sunset and the deception dark, if you like darker roaster, just they’re outstanding. So it took you 6 months to get the book the dialed in. Good good good job. I thank you very much. The check’s in the mail. I’ll be I’ll be sending for more coffee soon.

Scott Cowan [00:38:42]:

You know? So I wanted one of the things, you know, you talk about the intersection, you know, of of island life and and brand and coffee. And I think one of the things that I noticed when I opened that the gift pack was the presentation of the bag, the label, the artwork, the it doesn’t look like your typical local brand, the typical small local brand. It has a presence to it. And when we talked on the phone before, you know, I told you that, and you had mentioned that, you know, things might be changing. I don’t know if I should say that live or not, but anyway, what, when you were designing these labels, can you kind of walk me through the design, how you built the brand from a a a design standpoint? What were you thinking?

Chris Baldwin [00:39:43]:

I was thinking touch points to, Island Lifestyle.

Scott Cowan [00:39:50]:

K.

Chris Baldwin [00:39:51]:

And then trying to attach sort of a a flavor profile to those touch points. You know, when I think of, like, fairyland blues, for instance, of course, you know, I we could talk all afternoon about the ferry system in Washington state. And, you know, I mean, if the ferry is a good thing, it’s a bad thing. It’s it’s it’s it’s it’s fun. It’s I enjoy it because whenever I take the boat, you know, there’s something about, the the gentle rockingness and the and the vibration of the engine and so forth. I I can take the best 20 minute nap. It just it just puts me out. And that’s and that’s better than sitting in a ferry.

Chris Baldwin [00:40:46]:

I mean, sorry. Sitting in a in a the traffic on the IFi. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:40:50]:

Absolutely.

Chris Baldwin [00:40:52]:

But but this system is just screwy, and it’s just got all kinds of problems. And so there’s definitely a lot of, frustration with the ferry system. So that’s why, you know, the fairy light blues. And that and that so that coffee is, you know, to me, my mellow out coffee. You know? Yeah. So, quick story about the ferry system. So part of when I was back in the day when I was in in Seattle, and and, you know, I was really hip on being in the art scene, and and, one of the things that I had was an art car back in the day. Actually, I had a couple of them.

Chris Baldwin [00:41:41]:

I got one sitting outside of my shop right now. Do you know what an art car is?

Scott Cowan [00:41:47]:

I’m gonna allow you to explain your interpretation of 1. I I I have seen a couple pictures of an art car that you I don’t know what it was, a Ford Explorer. So I don’t know if you still have the, that or if that was a while ago. And then I have another person that I know has an art car and you’re both different. So I’m, a I I wanna hear your explanation and definition of art car.

Chris Baldwin [00:42:15]:

It’s a pretty loosey goosey definition. I think it’s anybody that that uses their vehicle as a canvas.

Scott Cowan [00:42:23]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:42:24]:

Whether it be you glue on a whole bunch of toys or you paint it or, you know, do some sort of you know, I I I think it goes beyond what I would think of a classic car or a classic van Dutch van Dutch pinstriping or things like that. Right? It’s more of a individual artistic expression. And, boy, do they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Right. And that’s that’s the fun of it. You take you do your car. You do it, you know, how it fits your own sort of artistic aesthetic. Right? And then you I used to go to these art car shows, and meet up with other art cars.

Chris Baldwin [00:43:08]:

And, and it’s a kick. It’s a fun. You meet all these individual crazy individuals and so forth. And, and the big show of the year would be at the Fremont Fair. They always had this big art car show, and, it would attract people from all over the country to come and bring their cars. And it’d be a big long weekend event. Yeah. That was that was a hoot.

Chris Baldwin [00:43:27]:

That was a lot of fun. Okay. So my my particular art car, well, the second one that I did, was it is an old Ford Explorer, and I I painted it from on every surface. And I kinda did this, sort of the day of the dead theme, but I also had sort of an environmental theme attached to it and sort of celebrating the end of, you know I mean, that car used to be called, you know, the, you know, gas guzzler SUV back in the day.

Scott Cowan [00:43:57]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:43:58]:

I was sort of vilified. So I was trying to turn that around a little bit and make this environmental theme. Part of my environmental theme was I had all these, I got all these, gas accoutrements, you know, gas handles and gas cans and things like that, and I built the this collage on top of the on top of the rig. And and part of that collage was I took a whole bunch of old gas cans. I found, you know, old antiques and so forth. And and I I knew I had to take the ferry. Right? Obviously. And the ferry doesn’t allow gas cans on the ferry.

Chris Baldwin [00:44:34]:

Right? So I knew that going into it. So I thought, okay. I’m gonna make it painfully obvious. So I literally cut the bottom off of these gas cans, cut the face off of on some of them, drill holes in them, and made sort of like this collage of old gas can parts. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:44:53]:

Right.

Chris Baldwin [00:44:53]:

And that was really cool. Right? And it fit with my my design and what I was trying to say and so forth. So I started going to these events, and I started taking the ferry system. And it it just just blew their mind. They couldn’t get their head around it. Right? And every single time I came up to the toll booth and so forth, they looked me over. And sometimes they let me on, and sometimes, you know, I don’t know about this, and then do an inspection. And I come out, and I’d explain what I got on my car and so forth.

Chris Baldwin [00:45:19]:

And, you know, and then they they would let me on. But it was becoming increasingly more of an issue. I so on one particular day, I pull up to the ferry. They let me on, and then the captain of the boat comes down and knocks on my window. I roll down the window, and he’s looking me up and down and sideways. And he’s like, oh, I don’t know about this. And so I I gave him my shmuel. I go, no, man.

Chris Baldwin [00:45:51]:

Look. It’s obviously, these aren’t he goes, you know, I can’t allow gas cans on my boat. I go, they’re not gas cans. It’s artwork. I mean, look at it. They’re they’re there’s no way these are functioning gas cans. And the captain turns to me and he goes, well, because these gas cans are cut up, they’re no longer coast guard approved. And I can’t have any un coast guard approved gas cans on my boat, so get off my boat.

Chris Baldwin [00:46:21]:

So I literally back off back off the ferry and park in a time out area, and the ferry left without me. And I’m, like, complaining to the the crew. I go, look. I take this ferry all the time. Come on. Give me a break. What’s going on here? And I said, well, yeah. We’ll just wait and see what the next because there’s 2 boats that run back and forth on the Clinton, muckletele run.

Chris Baldwin [00:46:44]:

And so I waited for the second boat to come up, and they already called ahead and basically said, you know, oh, we have this problem, you know, da da da. Will you come off the boat and check it out? So the first mate comes off the boat, and he comes up to me. And immediately he sees me, he just starts laughing. And he goes, ow, it’s no big deal. The captain’s a stick in the mud, da da da da. So he lets me on the boat. So then long story short, I I’m coming back home that very same day, and I pull up to the toll booth again to get on the boat to go back home. And the woman at the toll booth looks me over, and she goes, oh my god.

Chris Baldwin [00:47:21]:

You pictures of your car had been in our system all day long. Apparently, I was on some sort of, ferry boat do not ride list. You know? And so another round of negotiation. I get on the boat. So then then I just gave up. I I redid my collage with some different material. Anyways, that’s just one of many fairy stories that I can tell.

Scott Cowan [00:47:53]:

I yeah. The yeah. The fair

Chris Baldwin [00:47:55]:

blues. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:48:01]:

Mhmm. What?

Chris Baldwin [00:48:05]:

So my next variety is the Salish Orca blend. Yeah. And just a quick quick background on that one. You know, I knew right up front as part of my, you know, corporate brand presentation, you know, I wanted to have a little bit of a give give back to the community. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:48:22]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:48:22]:

So I I had this idea. You know, I wanna do something with orca whales. So I reached out to this local organization called Orca Network, and they’re a nonprofit, here in Freeland. And they do all kinds of things to raise awareness about whales. They have, whale watchers, and they do whale counts, and they do, public outreach and education and legislation and so forth for whales in their habitats. And I said, you know, hey. You know, I’d really like to develop a label, you know, where, I can give you, you know, a 10% kickback on every bag of coffee that I sell. And they’re they’re they like that idea and so forth, but I wanted just to be, you know, really authentic.

Chris Baldwin [00:49:08]:

So, I worked with one of their photographers, and, we went through different photographs and so forth. And I just I didn’t wanna use a stock photo, you know. So I I I found this one photo that she took. It was actually taken right off Whidbey Island, and it shows these 3 whales, and there’s actually they each had names and so forth, and there’s that she knew the history of all 3 whales and all this kind of stuff. I actually have that information on my website. But, anyway so I I just wanted to use something that was, you know, super authentic, you know, worked with the community, and then have a community kickback. So that’s that’s been a a popular brand for for mine as well.

Scott Cowan [00:49:49]:

So I have to ask you. I’m on the website. I’m looking at the photograph that’s zoomed in, and you have not that you named the whales, but l 88, l 117, and l 54. From this photograph, how on earth do they are they able to identify those whales or did they identify them somewhere else? And it might like, in this particular shot, how do you know who’s who?

Chris Baldwin [00:50:20]:

Well, I you know, all I know is that, all the whales are carefully and meticulously cataloged.

Scott Cowan [00:50:27]:

Yes, sir.

Chris Baldwin [00:50:27]:

And they’re and they’re all identifiable by their different, different traits that they have on their flukes. Mhmm. I mean, I’m sorry. On the dorsal fin. Right. Every whale’s dorsal fin is a little bit different, and those who watch the whales and study know this. So

Scott Cowan [00:50:43]:

Yeah. No. And then all the the shot that’s the header for the the Orca, network pages, that’s a cool shot. That’s a very cool shot. Yeah. So I think it’s But

Chris Baldwin [00:50:55]:

anyways, it’s important to me to have, yeah, a local a local connection like that. And I I really hope that as I grow, I can be, you know, do a lot more for them and donate a lot more money.

Scott Cowan [00:51:09]:

Putting you on the spot with a with a question about the future that you’re unprepared for, but I’ll ask and you can decline. What’s your what’s what’s the likelihood of a decaf?

Chris Baldwin [00:51:24]:

I get this question all the time. The it’s I would like to include a decaf, and I probably will include a decaf. But I imagine it’s a couple years out.

Scott Cowan [00:51:41]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [00:51:42]:

Decaf, I have to be able to move enough of it to keep it fresh. And and right now, it’s I don’t think the fact that it’s more expensive is that big of a deal. I can, you know, I I can make I can make it a couple bucks more, and those who want decaf want decaf. But I have to be able to move enough of it to keep the product fresh on the shelf.

Scott Cowan [00:52:03]:

K. And That’s reasonable.

Chris Baldwin [00:52:04]:

I just don’t think I’d be able to move enough of it at this stage.

Scott Cowan [00:52:09]:

K.

Chris Baldwin [00:52:09]:

When if I get into enough stores and so forth, then I’m I’m gonna consider. Another thing I’m another thing I’m playing with is that, my daughter and son-in-law live in Kona. So, and they got to to know a couple growers, coffee growers out in Kona. So my next visit, I’m gonna have some conversations with some growers out there and, maybe offer Kona Coffee as a a special one off every year.

Scott Cowan [00:52:42]:

And That’d be fun. I’m I’m giving you a hard time here, but, you know, then you can write the the vacation off as a business expense because you were talking Oh. Talk to. Absolutely. So so you may so a Kona, a seasonal Kona may be something that’s in the future. That’s kinda cool. I think that and it ties into the island. It ties into island time.

Scott Cowan [00:53:09]:

It’s a different set of islands, but it ties into island. The whole thing, the thing. Do you have any, do you have any, do I put you on the spot, but do you have any plans for a, another variety of 5th, a 5th queue, not not necessarily a specialty. Do you think you’re gonna add another full time addition? Is that something you’ve considered or are you really content with the 4 skews now?

Chris Baldwin [00:53:42]:

So I’m so, yes, I probably will at some point. But right now with the 4 SKUs, it’s it’s really about, being easy to get on the shelf.

Scott Cowan [00:53:55]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [00:53:55]:

And with those 4 4 varieties, it it’s it gives a nice range, for the customer, but it’s also not overwhelming to my shelf presence in the in stores. So I I don’t I want it to be easy for my my new clients and my new stores to get into. I think after after I have more time and more growth, I’ll have more sway and say. So I might be able to expand expand to some degree. But right now, I’m I’m pretty content in just keeping it this way. It keeps it simple, keeps it clean, and, store managers like it. So

Scott Cowan [00:54:33]:

So at this time, we’re recording this in September of 2024. How many how many retail locations are you currently do you have shelf space?

Chris Baldwin [00:54:44]:

So this summer, I actually doubled my footprint.

Scott Cowan [00:54:48]:

Wow.

Chris Baldwin [00:54:49]:

I’m starting I’m working with a distributor up in Skagit County, and I’m working with another small distributor down in Seattle area. They’re servicing mostly private stores. This isn’t really the the Kroger world or anything like that that I’m into yet. I’m not sure if I wanna be. I like being in more smaller privately owned boutique kinda stores. Mhmm. So I’m in I’m in a I’m in about 40 stores right now. Wow.

Chris Baldwin [00:55:22]:

But like I said early in this conversation,

Scott Cowan [00:55:25]:

it it

Chris Baldwin [00:55:25]:

does take time. So those because I just recently kinda doubled my footprint. It’s gonna take an a year and a half for those those new stores to really get up and rolling. But I’m hoping by this time next year, they will be. I’m not hoping. They will be. And, and and my volume will my volume will will double.

Scott Cowan [00:55:50]:

I saw on social media. I follow you. I follow the Allentime Coffee page on Facebook, and you did a test, a taste test in West Seattle Thriftway. And this is while it was this what August, July? It was a little while ago. Do you find that when you do a store tasting that, that sales go up, but they ing, do they continually stay up from that? I mean, I’m going to guess that you’re going to get a bump in, you know, if you’re, if you’re taste testing coffee on a Saturday, you’re going to sell a few more bags because people go, oh, this is good. I like this. But do you notice, is this a good way for you to show the public the coffee?

Chris Baldwin [00:56:36]:

Oh, well, absolutely. And yes, you’ll get a bump at that particular store and that’s cool. Mhmm. But for me, it’s more about, building brand awareness and and getting your brand out there. Actually, I did 2 taste testings. I did 1 in the spring and then 1 in the summer there.

Scott Cowan [00:56:55]:

K.

Chris Baldwin [00:56:55]:

And it’s super interesting, the difference between the first tasting and the second tasting. Because the second tasting, was the very first time I had people actually coming up to me and saying, oh, I know you, or, oh, I’ve had your coffee before. Right? That that’s never happened till just this summer. And I’m like, okay. The the brand is starting to kinda sink in. I’m kinda and I’m starting to run into people that that that get it, and they’re starting to buy it. So that’s that’s the exciting part.

Scott Cowan [00:57:26]:

That’s awesome. Yeah. Do you have anything lined up, any more store tastings for wintertime? Do you envision doing that? I

Chris Baldwin [00:57:39]:

I I only have one thing lined up in in this particular moment, and that’s gonna be in November. Okay. Back to West Seattle again. Mhmm. West Seattle is, I think, gonna be a a good market for me. I think it has the right sort of, fluency and, you know, being kind of close to the islands and so forth. I think it just really resonates out there. So that’s I’m really keen on building that up.

Scott Cowan [00:58:06]:

Nice. Nice. And I I I’m just gonna applaud you on the the whether you’re debating whether nothing against Kroger, but that was the name you threw out there. But Kroger or, you know, Costco or, you know, these big companies can they can give you a big jolt, if you will, of but I don’t know that it’s if it’s a if it’s a a flash in the pan, they are a long long I think what you’re doing is more congruent with a a small purposeful brand than, getting on you know, getting a Kroger buyer to sign off and put you in 65 Fred Myers and QFCs across the northwest. Might sound good at first, but then, you know, keeping those keeping that footage is hard.

Chris Baldwin [00:59:02]:

Yeah. I agree. I I think that, I don’t think that’s congruent with the brand. Yeah. You know, I I think the one sort of ace in the hole that I have with the brand is that, you know, of course, I made it you know, I’m on Whidbey Island. I made it, you know, island, lifestyle centric, and it works here, obviously. But I also think it kinda works anywhere in the Greater Seattle Basin, the Greater North, you know, this side of the state, you know, where people do see the islands. They have that connection with the islands.

Chris Baldwin [00:59:41]:

They have that connection with other islands. I’m just starting to penetrate, out into the San Juan Islands, for instance.

Scott Cowan [00:59:48]:

Okay. And so

Chris Baldwin [00:59:48]:

I think the brand works there just as well as it it does here. So I I I agree with you, you know, keeping it to the, you know, the people that are coffee coffee enthusiasts.

Scott Cowan [01:00:00]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:00:00]:

They’re gonna like it, for the coffee. And I think they’re gonna appreciate, you know, sort of like like I said earlier, that emotional connection with all things Ireland.

Scott Cowan [01:00:10]:

Yeah. I agree with you. I wanna respect your time, so we’re gonna kinda begin to wrap this one up. So I got some I got some stock questions I ask everybody. So I’m gonna give you the 2 that I already warned you about. And with you, is this gonna be a weird one for the first time? So I’m gonna, you know, my, my go to question is, Hey, I’m getting to Whitby. Where’s a great place to get coffee? So I’m talking to a guy who owns a coffee company on Whitby Island, but where’s where’s a great place to get coffee on Whitby Island when you’re out and about.

Chris Baldwin [01:00:46]:

Oh, the timing is just terrible. A couple of my go to’s have closed.

Scott Cowan [01:00:53]:

Oh, no.

Chris Baldwin [01:00:56]:

Yeah. I I always I always have meetings in coffee shops.

Scott Cowan [01:01:02]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:03]:

And, you know, my my real go to was, in in Langley, Useless Bay Coffee because I was blanking. Useless Bay Coffee. Great guy. Great roaster.

Scott Cowan [01:01:18]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:19]:

Great coffee house. And so but, yeah, they didn’t make it through the pandemic.

Scott Cowan [01:01:23]:

Oh, okay.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:27]:

And and, you know, the cool thing about at least south would be is that we have no chain stores here.

Scott Cowan [01:01:33]:

Mhmm. Right.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:34]:

So we have no Starbucks. We have no McDonald’s. We have no Safeway.

Scott Cowan [01:01:38]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:41]:

And the coffee shops have been kinda coming and going.

Scott Cowan [01:01:43]:

I Okay.

Chris Baldwin [01:01:44]:

I don’t have a good Alright. Alright. Don’t have a good go to.

Scott Cowan [01:01:47]:

I’ll let you slide. I’ll let you slide. But the next one, I can’t let you slide on. So so I’m gonna get to the south end of the island. Where’s a great place for lunch?

Chris Baldwin [01:01:56]:

There’s some great places, in in Langley. Saltwater is a terrific little place. K. I like it there a lot. Once again, there’s a lot of upheaval during the during the pandemic. I I would I would actually point you to one of my all time favorites. And that’s actually a little bit of a drive up the island up in Coupeville. And it’s a little place called Toby’s Tavern.

Chris Baldwin [01:02:27]:

And it is it’s just one of my absolute go to’s. What you wanna do is is you wanna, get a pound of mussels, a craft beer, and garlic bread, and you can’t go wrong.

Scott Cowan [01:02:40]:

Sounds awesome, actually. That sounds amazing. Alright. Alright. Alright.

Chris Baldwin [01:02:45]:

Because you get you get the fresh fresh mussels right there at Penn Cove. Just absolutely delicious. I I don’t know if you’re a seafood guy, but

Scott Cowan [01:02:52]:

I am. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know

Chris Baldwin [01:02:54]:

that’s We will you come up you come up, we’ll go to Toby’s. How about that?

Scott Cowan [01:03:00]:

Alright. So when you’re not doing coffee, you’re not doing design. I know you’re a busy guy, but what do you guys what do you guys like to do for fun and relaxation?

Chris Baldwin [01:03:13]:

Oh, boy. You know, being on the island, you know, going to the beach, we know a couple of few people that, you know, have beach parties frequently. That’s a lot of fun. You know, I actually, you know, as a bunch of locals that I like to play cards with, that’s a lot of fun. Okay. But, really, it’s it’s it’s having kids and and now grandkids. So that that that takes up a lot of our our time too.

Scott Cowan [01:03:47]:

Takes a lot of time.

Chris Baldwin [01:03:47]:

Which is really enjoyable.

Scott Cowan [01:03:49]:

Variation of my question to you is is there any good live music places on the island? Does Whidbey have a good music scene?

Chris Baldwin [01:03:57]:

They do. They have a variety of wineries and and breweries that have a a rotating music scene. Mhmm. And there’s a bunch of of local bands.

Scott Cowan [01:04:11]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [01:04:12]:

Yeah. We we go see we go see them fairly often.

Scott Cowan [01:04:15]:

Okay. That’s that’s the one thing about I I kinda miss over here in Wenatchee. It’s just we have wineries and cideries, and they have live music during the summer and outdoors, which is nice until it’s a 120 degrees outside, and then you don’t wanna be outside. But, you know, it’s it’s nice. But it doesn’t have, it’s like, okay, so this weekend, we’re gonna go to Conway kind of in your neck of the woods, but on the land, down to the island and see a friend of ours play at the Conway Muse. So we’re gonna drive over from Wenatchee, you know, stay overnight. It makes it complicated. You know, it makes it complicated.

Scott Cowan [01:04:56]:

We we don’t have the I miss that. Let’s just say I miss that. So now as we wrap this up, I got 2 last questions for you. One of them is my get out of jail free card. With regards to you and Island Time Coffee, what didn’t we talk about that we should have?

Chris Baldwin [01:05:16]:

Well, what didn’t we talk about that we should’ve? I think the one thing that I I’d like to interject is just that, you know, as a designer, I’ve worked with a variety of entrepreneurs and small businesses my entire career, and I’ve always watched people, you know, take that leap of faith and launch this or do this kind of project or even just a nonprofit or something of that nature. And I’ve always been so impressed with entrepreneurs. Just really interesting, great people, great projects. And when my time kinda came along where, like I said, I saw a hole in this market even though it’s a super crowded space and hard to break into, I thought, you know what? It’s my turn. You know? How about I wanna take a shot at it. You know? And, yes, I I enjoy the coffee. I enjoy the relationships I built. I enjoy, even the manual labor part of, you know, having a coffee company and begging coffee and doing distribution and all that kind of stuff, because it’s my own business.

Scott Cowan [01:06:28]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:06:29]:

And at the end of the day, almost regardless of what it is, that’s what I’m the most proud of. I I just it gets me up in the morning. Right. I I I like getting up and thinking about what I gotta do today and and the learning curve and and just and seeing, you know, incremental success and and and then just hearing, like, you today, you know, the the flattering words you had to say about the coffee and so forth. It’s just like, man, that’s that’s the best part.

Scott Cowan [01:07:00]:

Yeah. Well You have a great product. I mean, you’ve got great coffee, and and so it’s easy to say it when the product is good. So that’s the thing. I think that my takeaway from this was what you said about the summer’s tasting in the West Seattle Thrift Way. And people came back and said, I know you and I drink your coffee. That’s that had to if that was me, I’d be grinning from ear to ear. Like I’d be so proud of myself and my product that the consumer has lots of choices, remembers me, and it’s coming back to me.

Scott Cowan [01:07:37]:

That’s success.

Chris Baldwin [01:07:40]:

Yeah. Yeah. No. That was that was a great Yeah. That was a great moment in the company. That’s for sure. You know, and it took it takes 2 or 3 years

Scott Cowan [01:07:49]:

Oh, yeah.

Chris Baldwin [01:07:50]:

To get there. And I didn’t know when that was gonna happen or when that was gonna come, but it’s it’s it’s catching on. It’s working. Okay. You know, ideally, if I have a product that sells itself or at least gets you to try it. Right?

Scott Cowan [01:08:05]:

Mhmm.

Chris Baldwin [01:08:06]:

Gets you intrigued and interested in it, because once you try it, I know I got you hooked.

Scott Cowan [01:08:11]:

Mhmm. Alright. Where can people find out more about Island Time Coffee?

Chris Baldwin [01:08:18]:

So, please visit island time coffee co dot com. That’s my online store. I’m in most I’m in almost every store on Whidbey Island. I’m on Camino Island at the IGA. I’m in a variety of stores in the San Juans, and, I’m in a variety of thriftways down through, King County. So, I’m at the Ballenger Thrift Way. I’m at the West Seattle Thrift Way. I’m down in Olympia.

Chris Baldwin [01:08:52]:

There’s 2 Thrift Ways down there.

Scott Cowan [01:08:54]:

Oh, you’re in Stadium

Chris Baldwin [01:08:55]:

Thrift Way.

Scott Cowan [01:08:56]:

You’re in Bayview in Olympia? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And you’re in Stadium Thriftway? Good. Yeah.

Chris Baldwin [01:09:03]:

Yeah. Yeah. Just got in there. Nice. So, yeah, please, go buy a bag of coffee. Try it out.

Scott Cowan [01:09:12]:

Alright. Alright. So here’s that question I warned you about. You ready? You have to answer this question setting setting the table. You have to answer it, and you have to give me your reason why. There’s no excuse here. You can’t back out. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:09:23]:

Cake or pie, and why?

Chris Baldwin [01:09:31]:

Pie all day.

Scott Cowan [01:09:33]:

Okay.

Chris Baldwin [01:09:36]:

Why? I I like fruit pies. I like cherry pie.

Scott Cowan [01:09:40]:

Okay. Alright.

Chris Baldwin [01:09:41]:

That’s fine.

Scott Cowan [01:09:42]:

There’s no wrong answer here. It’s just some some people are like, I can’t decide, and other people are like, it must be cake. Pie is wrong, and, you know, it’s just kind of funny to listen to people’s people’s opinion. So why so you

Chris Baldwin [01:09:54]:

like I got one even better. I have a nice piece of pie with some, deception dark or, or or French rust.

Scott Cowan [01:10:03]:

Yeah. No. That’s a that’s a very solid, solid combo, isn’t it? So, well, Chris, I appreciate you sitting down with me today. I genuinely am grateful that my wife got me your coffee for Christmas to start this, this coffee journey for me. I drink a lot of coffee. I try to drink coffees that are roasted in this, in Washington state as much as I can. And yours is inspired me to try something with explore Washington state, which I can’t really, I can’t reveal for this episode. So people have to tune in later.

Scott Cowan [01:10:37]:

But it’s. I genuinely think you are, I don’t want to say the best coffee that seems, you know, I, you are, but you are island time coffee, and I’m gonna go with the French the French roast. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna I’m gonna plant my flag, and I’m gonna say that the island sunset is mine. Go to coffee. So thank you.

Chris Baldwin [01:11:10]:

Right on.

Scott Cowan [01:11:10]:

Coffee?

Chris Baldwin [01:11:11]:

I I super appreciate your time, and I super appreciate your kind words

Scott Cowan [01:11:15]:

Alright.

Chris Baldwin [01:11:16]:

And your support.