A Cafe That Fosters Direct Relationships With Farms So They Can Offer The Highest Quality Coffee With A Guarantee Of Ethical Sourcing & Sustainability – CoffeeTalk

Aethereal Coffee, a local roastery in Palmer, Alaska, offers an organic, fair-trade coffee option for those who want to enjoy a clean cup of sustainable coffee. The husband and wife team, Troy McGlashan and Molly Kincaid, started Authereal Coffee in 2018 with a vision for how coffee from around the world should be sourced, roasted, and enjoyed. McGlashan wanted to offer high quality coffee with a clear conscience, as he began to understand the hard work that goes into growing and producing coffee cherries in far-away places.

To better understand the process of their coffee, McGlashan and Kincaid traveled to two of the farms they source their coffee from on the steep mountainsides in Nicaragua and Guatemala earlier this year. They wanted to see the origins of their coffee and visit with the farmers to determine if they really were treated fairly and conducted safe agricultural practices. Fair-trade ensures that farmers and cherry harvesters are paid a fair wage for their time and efforts and doing so safely and ethically.

McGlashan and Kincaid married in 2022 and started working on the business together. They operate the espresso machine at their events and control the social media and marketing for the company. McGlashan roasts the coffee in the commercial kitchen that they lease from the Colony Inn and brews and sells it at the markets they attend.

The coffee roasting process is roughly 14 minutes from start to finish. McGlashan weighs each batch, approximately 2.5 pounds or raw coffee beans, before dumping them into his fluid bed roaster. He negotiates his temperatures and roasting speeds while listening for the series of two “cracks” or popping sounds that the coffee beans make as they release steam and carbon dioxide. A light chaff is omitted off of the beans and is vacuumed up through a vent as the beans continue to roast. Once the coffee has reached a desired amount of doneness, McGlashan moves the roasted beans to cool for two or three minutes before emptying them into a compostable bag for sale or use at one of the many locations that serve their coffee in Alaska.

In an attempt to become even more sustainable in his business, McGlashan sells his coffee in compostable bags to fight wastefulness and return soil health back into the Earth. He believes that we are supposed to be stewards of this Earth and treat it right.

During his busiest times, McGlashan roasts 200-300 pounds of coffee per week, resulting in over 100 batches. In 2024, McGlashan ordered nearly 8000 pounds of beans to be delivered to Alaska for roasting. McGlashan and Kincaid acknowledge the expensive cost of shipping coffee to Alaska and look for ways to order larger quantities at a time while balancing sales estimates and demand throughout the year.

Authereal Coffee, a coffee roaster based in Alaska, has won several international awards from the Golden Bean Americas, including multiple silver and bronze medals. The company also offers an espresso and cold brew blend, highlighting the unique characteristics of each country. McGlashan and Kincaid, who are from Alaska, competed in the Golden Bean World Series competition in Antigua, Guatemala, where they were able to qualify for the competition. This experience validated their coffee roasting skills and helped put Alaska on the map.

Alaska is home to a community of coffee roasters, with several based in the Mat-Su Valley. McGlashan and Kincaid aim to build more relationships with other roasters in the future by hosting local coffee roaster competitions and expanding them at the Alaska State Fair. They are excited to offer new coffee options this year, such as geisha coffee, brix breaker, and carbonic maceration coffee beans.

Authereal Coffee plans to eventually move into a kitchen to roast and serve coffee to their customers. They host a booth every week during the summer at the Matanuska Community Farmers Market and sample two different coffees each time. They also attend various events, such as the Spring Vintage Market at the State Fairgrounds, the Scottish Highland Games, Colony Days, Colony Christmas, Salmon Fest, and the State Fair. They also sell coffee on their website.

Turkey Red in Palmer serves Authereal Coffee and sells their coffee beans. Coffee can be purchased at Bush’s Bunches Produce Stand, Cold Moon Collective, Kai’s Coffee and Bakery, and Bruin Den. Skeetawk serves Authereal Coffee in their yurt during the winter season.

McGlashan and Kincaid enjoy sponsoring local events like the Recycle Revival at Skeetawk, as a way to give back to the community that has welcomed them since the beginning. Their return clientele and growing word-of-mouth popularity keep them growing and innovating in the coffee they roast.

Troy and Kincaid express their appreciation for the community’s support and the return clientele that has helped them grow and innovate in the coffee they roast.

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