When I asked Alexarc Mastema to describe himself he simply said, “I’m just that coffee guy around town,” as if he’d never owned two businesses or been a United States Barista Championship judge infamously known as “Bend Over Intensity” for putting his face right down on the counter next to the cup while judging. When I met him, though, he’d yet to become any of those things and was working as a parking lot security guard for a historic theater in Denver.
We moved to the PNW together and each pursued our dreams. I wrote novels and he, together with partner Teri Bryant, started The Black Drop, where every 30-something millennial who grew up in this town made at least one core high school memory.
Eventually, Mastema and Bryant sold the shop to their employees and shifted focus to roasting coffee only. Back in the day I remember being very impressed with Mastema’s dream and vision, but I’m embarrassed to admit that in 32 years I never asked him why he’d chosen to devote his life to coffee. So, I sat down with him at Kulshan Brewing in Sunnyland to finally find out.
So, for the sake of the people in this town who have never had your coffee, what sets you apart from the rest?
We started our roasting operation in 2005 so we were one of the earlier ones, and at the time the other roasters were focusing on dark and medium roasts, so we decided to focus on light roasts which is my preferred style. Since that time the principles of third wave coffee have picked up in mainstream America, but as far as Whatcom County, we were catching the early wave.
We’ve also recently started to produce single serving coffee in sustainable packaging. Basically, a tea bag that contains coffee—as an alternative to pods, which generate a lot of waste.
But seriously, why coffee though?
At the beginning I just didn’t want to work for anyone else. My dad was an entrepreneur, so I thought, “It’s gotta be easy owning a business, right?”
At my first roasting job I found out that I was a supertaster and that I was good at coffee. I was probably good at other things, but like how water is lazy, I was also lazy and just kept going with the first thing I was successful at. Path of least resistance. Plus being a roaster felt like I was being invited into a secret society.
Then later with the coffee shop, I wanted to make a space where people could chase that golden moment of youth transferring into adulthood that we’d had in coffee shops around 1990.
Surely, you’re not saying you’ve lived your whole life by going with the lazy ol’ flow?
Oh, but I have.
(As if to prove his lazy prowess to me, he pauses to phone the bar—that is seven feet away—to request another beer.)
At first, you follow the flow but then you have all the momentum of years of experience built up behind you— so the flow becomes a flash flood that propels you along.
Well, then, has this entrepreneurial life been worth it for you?
Yes, being in business is like having a sexy nightmare. If you aren’t terrified in one way or another you aren’t going to make it. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and that’s exciting.
Maniac Coffee Roasting supplies whole bean coffee to restaurants throughout Whatcom County as well as to retail outlets such as the Community Food Co-op. Online ordering and home delivery is available via maniaccoffeeroasting.com
