Lost Coast Roast
By Nora Mounce
Six short months into launching Lost Coast Roast, Humboldt County’s own fair-
trade, shade-grown, and organic cold-brew coffee company, the Miller cousins have
already expanded their operations into a sleek and expansive facility on G Street in
Arcata. Popping by on a sunny morning in January, the guys are buzzing with the
excitement and vision that’s fueling their entrepreneurial baby – and of course,
literally buzzing on the slightly sweet, organic, highly caffeinated 10.5oz bottles of
cold-brew coffee that decorate every surface of their office. Lost Coast Roast’s
signature red, green and gold label featuring a flying quetzal has become quickly
recognizable throughout Humboldt, as the stubby bottles of liquid hype are
increasingly available at retailers throughout Arcata and Eureka. The Miller’s goal is
to saturate the local market before pushing their product in the Bay Area, SoCal and
Oregon. If anyone has the requisite passion and fortitude to sustain such a project,
it’s the Miller cousins.
Meet Dusty, Jonny, Luke and Dylan - technically they are two pairs of brothers,
though apart from some red hair, they hardly know the difference. The Miller family
moved to Westhaven in 1990 and built their own cabin on 15 acres, the childhood
home to all four Miller boys who grew up together as one inseparable lot. After
finishing high school, brothers Dusty and Jonny both served overseas in Iraq, Dusty
coming home as a Green Beret. Dylan played football at College of the Redwoods,
while Luke studied Political Science at Chico State and earned a Masters degree at
HSU. By 2015, all four cousins were back home in Humboldt and the timing was
right to throw themselves into Lost Coast Roast. Like any successful business start-
up, they were inspired by the void of a comparable product. The fact that Lost Coast
Roast’s coffee represents the holy trinity of fair-trade, shade-grown and organic is
not only unique to cold-brew coffee in Humboldt, but as far as the Millers know,
across the country.
To understand how this is possible, here’s a quick lesson in Sustainable Coffee 101.
While most consumers understand that organic indicates pesticide-free growing,
fair-trade and shade-grown are two crucial designations that speak volumes about
the ethics of a coffee purveyor. As coffee is primarily grown in the low and middle-
income nations of the southern hemisphere, farm laborers are often exploited by the
whim of the global market. Buying coffee exclusively from fair-trade growers, as the
Millers do, guarantees the coffee farmers are getting a just price. The Millers
currently purchase beans from Nicaragua, which are then roasted locally by another
Humboldt Made member and Lost Coast Roast’s neighbor, Kinetic Koffee. Not
forgetting the third and arguably most important certification, a commitment to
buying shade-grown beans protects the natural habitat of native birds that depend
on the rainforest canopy for their survival. Lost Coast Roast believes in their
mission so fervently as they understand that the staggering majority of coffee
consumed in the United States comes from non-organic farms that decimate the
rainforest canopy in order to optimize production. And yes, that is exactly why the
beautiful quetzal graces every bottle of fair-trade, organic and shade-grown Lost
If you prefer to keep politics out of your morning java, there are many other reasons
to notice what’s brewing at Lost Coast Roast. While admittedly, cold-brew coffee can
be a tough sell to Humboldtians waking to chilly, grey skies, cold-brew has surged in
popularity recently as many coffee drinkers have discovered the digestive
friendliness of the cold-brew process that yields a high-octane, yet markedly low-
acid java. The Millers want consumers to understand that though their 10.5oz
bottles retail from $3.50-4, you’ll be downing more caffeine than a double espresso
in the form of organic/fair-trade/shade-grown coffee, organic milk from Humboldt
Creamery and organic sugar. And for the cow averse among us, a hemp milk cold-
brew will be available by this summer. Sounds about right, doesn’t it?
Find the colorful bottles of Lost Coast Roast at Wildberries, Eureka Natural Foods,
The North Coast Co-op, Murphy’s, Rays and Los Bagels, with more retail locations
added every month. Lost Coast Roast currently bottles Original and Vanilla Dulce
with Mocha and Black on deck – so however you take your coffee, you can keep it
organic, fair-trade, shade-grown, and very Humboldt Made.