Humble Beginnings
Our Story: From a Popcorn Popper to a Coffee Roastery
Every coffee roaster has a story.
Ours began very, very humbly.
Long before Longshot Coffee Roasters existed, we were just two people who happened to love coffee. We were still in the early days of dating, and coffee quickly became part of our routine together.
Jules loved the ritual of waking up, brewing a pot of coffee, adding enough creamer that it barely resembled coffee anymore, and easing into the morning. Trevor, on the other hand, was already chasing the "perfect cup." His kitchen was home to an espresso machine, a grinder, and an endless queue of YouTube videos teaching him everything there was to know about coffee.
One day, curiosity got the best of us.
After a few Google searches, we realized something: you could buy green, unroasted coffee beans online and roast them yourself.
Naturally, we had to try.
A few days later, we picked up a $10 popcorn popper from Goodwill, watched a few more YouTube tutorials, and roasted our very first batch of coffee.
It lasted about five minutes before we set off the fire alarm in Jules's apartment.
We moved the operation to the balcony, where we managed to create an even bigger mess. The beans roasted unevenly, the coffee wasn't exactly drinkable, and chaff covered everything.
It was perfect.
We were hooked.
Learning One Roast at a Time
Like many home roasters, we quickly outgrew the popcorn popper.
Our next setup was... unconventional.
A camping stove and a flour sifter.
We'd stand outside in the Texas heat, swirling green coffee beans over an open flame like a pair of caffeine-fueled cavemen. Looking back, it sounds ridiculous - and honestly, it kind of was - but it worked well enough for us to keep learning.
For the first time, we were drinking coffee we'd roasted ourselves.
Was it amazing?
Absolutely not.
But every batch taught us something new.
Eventually, we upgraded to a hand-powered roaster called the Hive. It still required roasting over an open flame, but it offered a little more control and became an important stepping stone in our journey.
Not long after came our first electric roaster: the SR800.
For the first time, we could watch the coffee change color inside the roasting chamber while maintaining much more consistent temperatures. Suddenly, roasting became less about guessing and more about understanding.
At that point, everything we knew came from YouTube videos, coffee forums, and plenty of trial and error.
Coffee roasting was still just a hobby.
Between work, friends, and the excitement of a new relationship, we'd roast small batches in the evenings and spend weekends hosting informal coffee cuppings in our apartments. We shared every experiment with friends and family, celebrated the occasional great batch, and learned from every disappointing one.
Slowly, our coffee started getting better.
So did our confidence.
When a Hobby Became Something More
After a few years, life started nudging us toward something different.
Trevor was managing Curbside at H-E-B, working long hours and spending too much time sitting in Austin traffic. Jules had recently graduated college and was struggling to find the right career path. While working as a barista had been an incredible experience, neither of us felt like we'd found what we were meant to do.
Coffee roasting remained our creative outlet.
Our evenings were spent experimenting with roast profiles, posting the occasional video online, and sharing coffee with anyone willing to taste it.
Then one day we asked ourselves a simple question:
"What if we actually tried?"
About two years after roasting that first smoky batch on the apartment balcony, we decided to turn our hobby into a business.
Better Day Coffee
Some of you may remember that our original name wasn't Longshot at all.
It was Better Day Coffee.
Our mission was simple: create better days through great coffee.
Trevor transformed the garage into a tiny roastery while Jules focused on building a brand, creating a website, and growing our social media presence.
Then came our first major investment.
The Aillio Bullet.
At the time, it felt like an enormous purchase - equal parts exciting and terrifying - but it completely changed what we were capable of. We could roast larger, more consistent batches while continuing to improve our craft.
Our first customers were exactly who you'd expect.
Friends.
Family.
Neighbors.
Anyone willing to give our coffee a chance.
We sold bags online, launched subscriptions, and slowly began building something that felt real.
Progress wasn't fast, but it was steady.
Becoming Longshot
In early 2024, we made another leap.
We moved to Waco, Jules's hometown.
We were ready for the next chapter - not just personally, but professionally. We were planning a wedding, building a home together, and dreaming bigger than we ever had before.
We also knew it was time for a new name.
We became Longshot Coffee Roasters.
The name represented exactly how we felt.
Starting a coffee roasting company wasn't the safe choice.
It wasn't the easy choice.
It was a long shot.
But we believed in the vision, believed in each other, and believed that if we worked hard enough, we could build something meaningful.
Growing Into the Future
In 2025, we traveled to Hatteras, North Carolina, to pick up our next roaster: the Coffee Crafters Valenta 7.
We drove it all the way back to Texas.
That machine opened the door to wholesale coffee roasting, allowing us to produce more coffee than ever before while maintaining the quality standards we'd spent years developing.
Every bag we roast today carries a little bit of every chapter that came before it - from the popcorn popper that filled an apartment with smoke to the camping stove, the flour sifter, the late-night YouTube videos, and every lesson learned along the way.
Looking back, it's funny how often people ask us when we "started" Longshot.
The truth is, it started years before the name ever existed.
It started with curiosity.
A $10 popcorn popper.
And two people who simply wanted to learn how to roast coffee.
