SideQuest Espresso's journey began when Erik, our founder, first regularly consumed coffee after joining the Army National Guard in 2018. Well, if you consider freeze-dried coffee packets in MREs "coffee". Years later, Erik fell in love with the craft of brewing specialty coffee. Pour-overs, espresso, French press -- the rabbit hole was deep. Soon, he was roasting his own coffee beans out of an electric drum roaster in his friend's garage. To this day, Erik's not sure how he convinced his friend (shoutout Byron) to allow him to take over 1/4 of his garage space. --- Erik continued to roast and roast throughout 2024 until he achieved a great cup of joe. To fund his addiction, he and his wife Lulu founded Side Quest Espresso soon after.