Meet John Long: Owner & Coffee Roaster

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Long and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
No regrets. I simply didn’t want to be 70 years old asking “why did I never try?”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started roasting 8 years ago on my back porch with an air pop popcorn machine. It was a hobby and I drank several pounds of bad coffee before I dialed in something special. I knew I loved it and my wife enjoyed it. When I knew I was getting somewhere is when we had friends over and others tried the coffee and were blown away that I had roasted it. It hasn’t been easy to get into the craft of roasting coffee because those I have encountered are very protective over their art. So it’s been a good bit of trial and error to learn the process. Along the way the biggest lessons I have learned are that not everyone is going to see the value in what you do or what you offer. There will be those that like others better, or think you’re too expensive, any number of things. So as a small business owner you have to have the emotional intelligence to push through the noise and the hard places. Tiktok has been huge for our business, as I write this we are closing in on 200k followers and that has given my brand a national presence.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Sites: Sundance square, Fort Worth zoo, stockyards, kimball art museum Food: American revelry in burleson, tx. Hurts donuts, woodshed smokehouse

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Avoca Coffee Roasters in Fort Worth. I went there about 8 years ago and had my first cup of coffee that was freshly roasted and was blown away. That started a love affair that slowly bloomed into starting my own business. Also my family for being so supportive. I left a very stable career in the middle of this pandemic to follow my dream and everyone was completely on board.

Website: Www.javajohns.coffee
Instagram: JavaJohnsRoasting
Twitter: JavaJohnsRoast
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=2007001095984140&ref=content_filter
Other: TikTok: @JavaJohnsRoasting

Image Credits
None