Big Bully Roasters

Big Bully Roasters is a small, friends and family owned coffee company. We roast our fair trade beans from sustainable micro-lot farms in small batches. We believe that the only good bully, is a bully breed.

Who are we? How did we get here? Why Bullies?

Existential crises notwithstanding, why not? But in all seriousness, the five of us are long term, read as lifetime, friends who didn’t come together “to start a business,” rather, we became a family and together started this business. Sounds like the same thing? It isn’t. We weren’t looking to just find a project to do, and we weren’t looking for people with whom to do it. We already were close—we do everything together—from Ultramarathons, to Ironman teammates, to grad school, to our love for adventure running and being out of doors (which required copious amounts of coffee)!

Palita was really the initial expert with coffee. She was the driving force behind trying to find the perfect cup of coffee. Walter and Richard were the scientific duo who took on the challenge of learning how to make that happen. And Kristin and Jose (Hoser) were happy taste-testers who gave brutally honest feedback and helped track down beans and materials. We began roasting on a small Whirly Pop hand-crank popcorn popper experimenting with beans and temperatures and eventually moved to an open air battery powered fire roaster. That did it. We dialed the right beans and the right roast and there it was. We had created the perfect cup of coffee!

But it wasn’t long before we were unable to keep up with our own demand between the five of us, much less keep up with our friends and family that started making requests. So during the 2020 Sonoma County Fires, when we were evacuated and sheltered together, we decided that if we were able to get through the pandemic, the fire season and the general ickiness of the time, that we could get through pretty much anything. So right then and there we decided to throw our hat in the ring and start our own roasting business. And just 4 short months later, we had established our business, purchased a gorgeous B.C. Roaster and rolled out test batch after test batch after test batch after…. you get the idea. And here we are! Now Richard and Walter are still running the daily operations and spearheading all roasting. Palita is still the resident expert keeping us going in the right direction. Hoser is the logistics person and Kristin is the company’s chief counsel and financial manager. Together we have a solid team and together we hope to bring a little joy to our community—one cup at a time.

Oh, I almost forgot! Why Bullies?

Between us, we have adopted or rescued dozens of dogs. Bullies are special to us. They are funny and quirky. They are affectionate and affable. So again, why not! We love our dogs like family! We know the name can be problematic, but we want to reclaim the term for our beloved Bully breeds! So as always, we hope you will be kind, pet dogs, and drink good quality coffee!