It all started with 20 pounds of green beans and a popcorn popper. 

In June of 2020, Hendrik was looking for a new hobby to ease the boredom of the Covid lockdowns. After some research, he bought a popcorn popper and began roasting in their garage. While the rest of the country was perfecting their sourdough bread starter kits, Heather and Hendrik were discovering how flavorful coffee can be with freshly roasted beans. Hendrik began roasting for family and friends and finding ways to improve his roasting technique. He upgraded to an electric drum roaster with automatic temperature profiles and built an off-grid solar electric system to power it. This setup allowed the ability to dial in roast profiles for different coffee regions, increase batch sizes, and do this all using clean energy.

Heather and Hendrik came to a realization after building this solar-powered roasting setup. Coffee roasting doesn’t need to be done the old way using inefficient gas powered roasters. Electric roasters can provide a delicious, consistent roast while also reducing energy consumption. Realizing this coffee should be shared with a larger audience, Heather created a website and online store, and Chonkey Donkey Adventure Coffee was born. 

Our mission is to provide adventurers - whether that is traveling around the world or trying a new coffee blend before work! - with high quality, low carbon coffee. Head to our online store to try some of our latest coffees!