Michael Satterfield
Founded in Waco, Texas in 2014 Apex Coffee Roasters is different than most coffee companies, inspired by racing and owned by passionate automotive enthusiast, the brand’s familiar Gulf Racing colors are what first stood out, but what really piqued my interest was the story behind the brand and why founder Brett Jameson decided to launch an automotive-themed coffee brand.
For any of us in North America, watching most Formula 1 races live means keeping odd hours to watch your favorite drivers compete at race track around the world. Since Brett needed to stay up, he needed coffee and after determining that the off the shelf coffee wasn’t cutting in he decided to launch his own brand. Never one to partly commit, he hired a staff of coffee fanatics which includes Cody Fergusson one of the few Quality Arabica coffee graders in the state of Texas. The team launched not just a coffee brand, but a state of the art coffee roasting facility, right in the heart of Waco.
Exactly how coffee is roasted is the greatest influence on how it will ultimately taste. Our goal is simply to reveal the coffee’s natural flavors and showcase all the producer’s hard work.
Brett Jameson
In their Waco roasting facility, they use a custom painted Diedrich IR-12 roaster, likely the only Gulf Racing liveried coffee roaster in the world. All of the brand’s coffees are roasted in house, from ethically sourced beans from Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Kenya, and other sources from across the globe. Their most popular blend is called Overseer and features beans from Costa Rica and Colombia, a smooth coffee with flavors of dark cherry, cocoa, and almond. To ensure that every bag meets their strict quality standards, the team hosts weekly cuppings.
The company has recently partnered with Steeped Coffee to offer its popular Oversteer blend in a single-serve bag that only needs hot water, allowing Apex fans to have their favorite coffee on the go. The outer and inner packaging is compostable and made from renewable materials for guilt-free coffee enjoyment.
While Apex is all about coffee, cars are still a major part of the daily life of the team at Apex, from sponsoring local car shows to outings at Circut of the Americas for company team building activities Apex still embraces its automotive roots. In fact, back in the Apex garage, you will find some pretty exciting (but secret) project cars that could only be owned by hardcore car enthusiasts.
Apex Coffee Roasters is available at coffee houses across Texas including Dichotomy Cofee and Sprits in Waco, Baldo’s Ice Cream & Coffee in Dallas and The Fountain Espresso & Brewed in China Springs. You can also shop all of their coffee products online at ApexCoffeeRoasters.com.
