Coffee and Aviation – Two of My Favorite Pursuits
Story and photos by Ken Kula
While waiting for an early morning press conference by Textron Aviation to begin at the EAA’s AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, I was offered a cup of fresh brewed coffee from the “Ground Rush” coffee bar in the hospitality chalet. Coffee and air shows are favorite pastimes of mine, enjoying a cup of black, bracing coffee while roaming a ramp full of airplanes is an ideal situation for me. Thank goodness for autofocus on my Nikon cameras… one item in each hand and my stroll is complete. In this case, I was after photos of the new Beechcraft Denali turboprop, but my coffee experience led me to ask a few questions about its’ creators.
After a little while, I got the whole story… Hangar 22 Coffee Roasters had teamed up with Textron Aviation for memorable refreshments during AirVenture. “Taking Specialty Coffee to New Heights” is Hangar 22’s theme, and its mission since 2020 is …”striving to provide specialty coffee to aviation communities and coffee lovers worldwide”. Owner Thomas had roasted coffee for five years in a hangar in Collingwood Regional Airport, Ontario (CNY3) before starting his business in 2020. He’s a corporate pilot too!
He and his wife were serving up a mellow cup of coffee, but there’s a number of different taste intensities with intriguing names like: “On the Step”, “Unlimited Attitude” and “Cleared Direct Decaf”. Their packaging artwork is different for each blend too. You can see their whole collection of roasts at: www.Hangar22coffee.com
This got me thinking about other “aviation and coffee” experiences; the pairing is surprisingly common.
A few years ago my college roommate Bill McMillan sent me a surprise package… a pound of Blue Angels coffee. De Luna Coffee roasts coffee beans in Pensacola, Florida and had obtained a U. S. Navy license in 2017 to market the roasted coffee under the Blue Angels banner, whether they’re whole beans or ground. The original idea was to market the coffee at Navy bases and museums, but the coffee has been made available to the public via the company’s web site. The smart looking sealed bag that the coffee is shipped in has some eye-catching artwork of some of the Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets on the front of it, I got my bag soon after the line was introduced.
Fast forward to 2023, and I decided to order another bag from De Luna. I went to their web site at www.Delunacoffee.com and saw that they’ve added another Blue Angels-themed blend, Fat Albert Light/Medium Roast blend. Fat Albert is the nickname of the team’s C-130 transport/logistics aircraft and appropriate “’Bert” artwork adorns those packages.
Another coffee and aviation moment came to me while enjoying the 2022 Joint Base Andrews air show in Camp Springs Maryland. While looking at the unit patches, t-shirts and other squadron memorabilia at the D. C. Air National Guard’s tent, to my surprise I noticed a bag of coffee beans for sale.
As the official history of the 10 X 10 Coffee Company’s brand states, it “began in the Heritage room of the District of Columbia Air National Guard’s 121 Fighter Squadron. Since then, we have fueled fighter ops at home station and in multiple deployed locations. So, grind a pot and drink like a Viper pilot.” I couldn’t pass up an offer like that either. See what they are all about at: www.10x10coffee.com For every package of “Wingman’s Roast” coffee sold, the company sends a portion of the proceeds it receives to the Check-6 Foundation too.
So there are a trio of “coffee and aviation” experiences that I’ve had. While doing a bit of research on the Internet, I found more than a dozen coffee companies with web sites that combined the beans with aviation. In no particular order (and not one company has asked for this publicity) here are just a few company names:
Legendary Aviation Coffee Company, Palmdale CA
Lost Aviator Coffee Company, Guelph Ontario
Aerobrew Coffee Company Williamson, GA
Pilot Fuel Coffee – Rocky Mountain Roasters, Greeley, CO
Aviatori Coffee House Springfield, IL
The Warbird Coffee Company, U. K.
The Flying Coffee Company, U. K.
Flight Coffee, Wellington New Zealand
Do you hold the same combination of passions in high esteem? If so, good luck with your own search for aviation-themed coffee around the world!
