The Coffee Fresh 10 with Squirrelly Joe!

Hey, what's up guys the special Saturday morning dead men walking starts now exploring theology doctrine and all of the fascinating subjects in between Broadcasting from an undisclosed location

Deadman walking starts Hey, what's going on guys?

Saturday morning. I'm here in Michigan. It's about 1130. We're doing a quick live stream with Joe Morris from squirrelly

Joe's I'm worried. I'm waiting for Michigan football to start here in a little bit, which I'm excited about but we're not talking football today

It's a beautiful almost fall day here in Michigan probably about 67 degrees sunny gorgeous

We're here with Joe Morris to talk about coffee. How you doing Joe? Pretty good. How are you? Pretty good.

So we do this thing on our podcast called the fresh 10 Which is 10 fresh questions that we kind of rapid -fire at you to get to know you a little bit more

You're obviously the owner of squirrelly Joe's coffee the best darn coffee around We want to ask you 10 questions about coffee to get to know you a little bit more and to make it coffee centric

Look at we're both reformed guys. We are coffee drinkers Hopefully you're a black coffee drinker.

Now if you're putting a double double in a nice premium coffee, we're gonna have words Okay, I think there's something in the

Westminster about that, but you want no judgment today. We're a judgment -free zone So we won't but um, would you like to would you like to do it stick around and do a fresh 10?

Let's do it All right. Here we go. Fresh 10 with Joe Morris from squirrelly Joe Yes, we make everyone sit through that intro even if you don't like it

You should see it when like guys like Doug Wilson and Tom asked We'll have to sit through it and they look at me like what did I get myself into on this podcast?

But with Joe, I think we I think we're good. All right, here we go question number one So this is and we're gonna kind of cheat a little bit on this fresh 10 because it's a special fresh 10

This is a two -part Well, maybe not a two -part. How do you make your coffee?

Are you like a French press guy electric pour over like you're a coffee guy. I want to know from the best

How are you making your coffee in the morning or evening or whatever you're doing up? So I'd say it depends

So in the morning, so I go to work I'm at work by 6 a .m So typically we'll do just we've got a mocha master, which is just a really nice drip machine

Okay, so that's what we'll do pour over every now and then but that takes a lot of time and we have seven kids so anybody with You know bunch of kids knows that sometimes you don't get to play with your gadgets as much as you'd like But then at work,

I've got I've got a cheap drip machine that I use if I want to make a big pot of coffee and I'm short on time but Yeah, so pretty much the drip machine for the most part just because I'm usually short on time.

So yeah, do you find that's a Kind of makes the best coffee for you.

The most flavorful full -bodied kind of like that the one at home the mocha master That's a great machine.

The one that I have at my office at work is just a cheap Walmart. It's awful so I wish

I could buy a mocha master and take it to work, but Yeah, I don't want to sound like a coffee snob but I can definitely tell the difference when

I run it through just a regular coffee electric coffee maker versus Even a

French press when I you know Boil the water and even let it sit let it kind of steep for like three to five minutes

And it really gets rich in there And it's not too bad with the French press

I mean, we're already boiling a lot of water to for teas. I'm we're a big tea family as well. We alternate You know, but yeah, that's cool.

Yeah the drip machine Press to have you ever messed with one of those? It's like a single. No, I haven't Yeah, so it's it's it's kind of like think

French press, but it just makes a single cup of coffee It's pretty nice because it's plastic and small and you can take it wherever you you know, wherever you go

It's good for camping things like that But I do make one of those from time to time in my office Makes a little bit better cup than my drip machine for sure

Okay, I'm pulling up a bag right here for a little product placement I haven't got into this one yet the wisdom which is odd because Proverbs is my favorite book

And I do like a Guatemala bean, so I'm really excited to bust into this one. I've been real big on the integrity

Which we should tell people a little shameless self -promotion here We'll link it up But right now squirrely

Joe's Joe Morris has offered a free bag of coffee for all our listeners anyone watching the live stream

You just got to cover shipping. We'll put that link in there below, but Let's go to question number two because I alluded to this and now don't shy away from question number two just because I Fired over the bow there, but how do you take your coffee?

Be honest? Are we straight black? Are we doing a little stevia a little sugar you putting honey in there syrup creamer?

What are you doing? straight black The only time my wife and I put anything in our coffee is if we do like an ice latte or something like that in the afternoon

Other than that, so, you know 10 -15 years ago. We used to just dump

Creamer, you know the flavored creamer and stuff in our coffee. Yeah, I was back We were drink soldiers and we didn't know any better.

So but since we found good premium coffee now, we just drink black You know,

I'm the exact same way if I'm in the mood for a latte I will call it a latte, but I'm usually like a heavy whip

I'm doing a real strong brew some heavy whip almost like Americano if it's espresso

I'm probably doing a third of heavy whip with a real strong espresso and make it lighter But usually if I do cream it's gonna be it's gonna be like heavy whip.

I can't do half and half I definitely can't do like a non -dairy creamer It's got to be that nice thick, you know what

I mean? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I like anything that just Really sticks out flavor wise.

I'm a scotch guy. I'm a Maduro cigar guy It's like everything needs to be sharp, you know, really really hit right here for me, but this isn't about me

Let's go to question number three How do you store your coffee because this is controversial among some of my friends

I've got some guys that go. Hey, you got to put it in the freezer. You got to put it in the fridge No, just keep it closed.

Is there any right way or how do you store your coffee once you've opened it? So sunlight and oxygen are the two killers, okay

So just like you see in our bags, you know, there's no there's no window you know, it's it's completely

You know dark inside so that sunlight doesn't get in and it has the ziplock at the top So it's completely sealed that way no oxygen gets in and then

Another thing too that I actually get a lot of questions on that I didn't realize was not common knowledge, but the valve the one -way valve that's on most coffee bags

Yeah, let's carbon dioxide out and does not let oxygen in and I get asked all the time

What's this little tab on the back of the bag? So yeah, it's to let so the beans give off carbon dioxide after they're roasted

So that one -way valve lets that Gas out and then it doesn't let oxygen in to make the beans go stale

So as long as you you know, if you open the bag Make your coffee, you know seal it part of the way push all the air out of it and then seal it all the way

It's gonna last a lot longer So and then again to beans over ground coffee you if you are gonna get into coffee

You got to go beans and they because they last beans. Yeah, yeah all being yeah, which I'm looking at the squirrelly

Joe back here on the wisdom bag. And yeah, we both have that I don't know if you can see it on the camera, but we both have the The valve and I love the fact that they're ziplock, you know that you have the ziplock top

There's nothing worse than not having a clip around or you know Some of them will give you a little piece of flimsy tape that wears out in like two times

And you're like trying to retape it. Ah So zip it up Keep the oxygen out.

I love it All right question number four in the fresh 10 with Joe Morris from squirrelly Joe's coffee What is the most interesting conversation you've ever had over a cup of coffee is there one that sticks out

So, I don't know if there's any one conversation So years ago I used to own a

CrossFit gym and I would take clients out for coffee just to kind of Get to know him a little bit better ask him some questions

You know how to improve the business and that sort of thing and I and I used to have a lot of good conversations with people you know because it's people you only see in the gym and When you get them outside of that gym setting and they're relaxed and a little bit more comfortable

You really get to know people on a deeper level So, I don't know if there's any one conversation that sticks out, but I used to really enjoy taking my clients out for coffee.

So Okay, I like it question number five. When is your favorite time of the day for a cup of coffee?

I know some nighttime coffee drinkers. They're crazy folks. No, I can't do it. I'll be up all night

So I think my coffee cutoff is like 2 p .m. That's about the okay about two

And then a lot of times I'll have I'll have that latte that ice latte in the afternoon But that first cup of coffee in the morning, that's the best.

I mean, you know sure sit down at the desk It's nice and hot take that first sip and everything's everything's gonna be okay after you have that first sip

Yeah, you know what I've been doing with the compassion is I'll I'll make like a 64 ounce batch of coffee

I'll probably French press two French presses put it in a in a nice glass pitcher

Well, I don't know. What is it called a craft? I think throw it in the fridge for a day and then man in the summer

I got instant cold coffee and that's when cold coffee too I'll sometimes do a little heavy whip with it too just to get like a you know, cold latte going

But the problem with that with a cold coffee in the summer I'll find myself starting a you know a little fire in the yard go grab a coffee at 7 o 'clock and then at 2 a .m

I'm going why did I do that? Why did I start my coffee drinking at 8 p .m.

At night? All right question number six What person would you most like to meet in history that was associated with coffee?

So this is kind of particular to you most of the time we ask people Who would you most like to meet in history

I'm saying if they had some Some association with coffee and you're in the coffee industry.

Is there a name out there where you go? I just like to meet him and you know, talk to him because of the our connection in coffee

So, I don't know the I don't know the person's name But so the story goes for the discovery of coffee was that a goat herder in Ethiopia Is they figured out the effect of coffee beans because their goats were eating the coffee cherries

And you know getting all wired on the coffee and then they discovered it So I think it'd be interesting to to know what exactly those goats were doing

So, I don't know if you've ever been around goats, but they don't need caffeine to act a fool Pretty interesting to hear some of those stories, but I don't know

I don't know if the history of coffee is as well documented as church history

So Specific names of people that I've come across No, I like it.

Yeah, so that's it's a good answer though going back to the to the origins question number seven

In your opinion what country makes the most delicious coffee bean or is there specific country?

Are they all good depending on how they're roasted? What are you thinking? so coffee's Very preference, you know, it's it's a personal preference.

So I like Brazilian coffee I really like the chocolatiness the nuttiness that comes with Brazilian coffees

I Think all regions have their different kind of flair So, you know like the our

Costa Rican coffee's got a really nice sweetness to it and then you know, the

African coffees are very fruity very You know, they've got a little bit tea flavors to them

So but if I had to pick one, I'd say Brazil that's that's the one that You know We run out of coffee in the house and I run out to the the roasting room to grab some coffee real quick I always go for the

Brazilian you always go for that. Yeah. Yeah. No, I like that What was crazy is in my mid -twenties up until then

I was a Folgers or maybe a you know pre -ground Dunkin Donuts or just kind of whatever the

Parents grew me up on which the 80s and early 90s were wild man We were all about price cutting and cheap

It was the it was the decades of like margarine and instant coffee and it's like you look back and you go

How are we putting that stuff in our body? But then I went on a mission trip for two weeks down to Nicaragua and he passed the host pastor

He was a pastor, but his you know What he earned a living off of in the you know, the average person down there lives on 50 cents

American daily He had a coffee bean or a coffee farm I guess you need farmed coffee and he sent us back with like 30 or 40 pounds of full bean and I got back and it was the first time ever ground

A bean and I drank the coffee and I went what is this? Yeah, this is it would like blew my mind

I go wait, wait a minute coffee can taste this good And so I've always had an affinity for Nicaragua because he really you don't

I mean he he got me young You know what I mean got me hooked young Oh, I find myself in the Nicaraguan cigar the

Nicaraguan coffee per preference, but Brazil I'm right there with you I you give me a Brazilian bean and I'm like, yeah,

I'll drink that any day of the week I mean, it's I'm the same way nutty chocolatey good stuff. Okay question number eight

I think we're on and this is this is what I'm gonna be interested in as a business owner myself What is your favorite and least favorite part about owning a coffee business?

So give me something that you just absolutely love and something you go Yeah, I could do without that or I wish there wasn't so much of that.

Sure. So the My favorite thing is probably dealing with people You know, we go to a lot of conferences.

I'm on the phone with a lot of different people and That's just I'm a people person. I could just sit around and talk all day long to anybody about anything

So that's probably my favorite part is getting to deal with different people I'd say the the least favorite part is the oh

Just the monotony of doing the same thing over and over, you know, we roast coffee. We package coffee.

We ship coffee and then we just Do that go to sleep and then do it again in the morning so, you know,

I Kind of scatterbrained, you know I am probably the the typical entrepreneur where it's hard to stay focused on one thing for a long period of time

I like to jump all over the place and do different things But I do enjoy so it's funny because I I enjoy the

Can you know the process improvement of how do we make things more efficient? How do we bring costs down things like that?

So that part of the operations I really enjoy It's just the the monotony of roasting packaging shipping over.

I can say that That's all that's you know, that's why that's why I hired my 17 year old son so he could do

Yeah, and a good experience for him too and for those you guys just jumping on we appreciate the hundred or so on X and the many likes and views we're getting on Facebook right now

We're with Joe Morris owner of squirrely Joe's coffee And of course, we're gonna link up for you guys If you're a dead man walking listener, you can get a free bag of coffee

All you gotta do is cover shipping and we'll give you that link at the end We're just here going through our fresh 10 and we're on question 9 right now

Where does the name squirrely Joe come from? I would really like to know this personally and we've got a couple hundred people out there watching that I'm sure want to know as well if they don't know

So there's there's a bit of controversy in my household where this name came from. So what I like to tell people is

My name is Joe and then my wife says I'm a little bit squirrely So, you know squirrely Joe's but so the the squirrel on the bag the town that we live in all the

Illinois It's the home of the white squirrel. That's kind of our towns claim to fame People actually travel from all over the country just to come here to see the white squirrels

So I think there's only like five five or six places in the entire United States that have white squirrels

And I really yours are a specific type of white squirrel. They're an albino So people come from all over the place to see the white squirrel

So we really wanted to you know, stay true to the to the hometown You know mascot kind of thing and and are you know the other businesses we own we've used the white squirrel before so we kind Of wanted to stick with that and then you know,

Joe cup of Joe. There's lots of different, you know It's a really it's a versatile name and it's just kind of silly

So and there's a lot we can do with squirrely because squirrely can mean whatever you want it to mean Sure, if you see something wild in my marketing that's because we're a little squirrely so right so the controversy is is a

Squirrely Joe you or because of the squirrel and in the place where it's founded. Is that kind of the it's a little bit so my wife wouldn't would

She she thinks that I've got a big head with with the name because it's you know all about me

My business right so she's a little self -deprecating though squirrely, you know So she's just trying to keep me from getting too big of a head.

So, okay. Well good wives do that, right? That's right. Yeah, I have one of those two All right question number 10 moving right along last question of the fresh 10.

Why is squirrely Joe's coffee so good now? That is an opinion question, but I've had The coffee it's very unique in flavor.

I think better than most coffees. Maybe all coffees that I've tasted Where do you get that flavor from why is it so good why it's so different, you know, let's just make it a two -parter

How did you stumble upon something like that? I drink a lot of coffee in my life and Never quite the unique taste that I've gotten in the few brands that I've had a few lines that I've had from squirrely

Joe So where'd that come from? So first off it's fresh. I mean, you know, like we've got orders going out today that I just roasted this morning

So that's really the the biggest thing is the freshness But as far as the the coffees that we've chosen to go with so we are

We like good coffee. We like premium coffee We like trying all different types of coffee, but anybody who's ever encountered anybody in the coffee industry, it's very snobby it's very

I Don't you know, I don't want to be too hard on people but it's it's a pretty snobby, you know

Cast of characters. So what our goal was was to how do we?

encourage and educate part of the market on premium coffee

That's not you know Like if you look we've got our tasting notes on there

But we don't go into a lot of the the nerdy coffee stuff that most coffee companies do and we really did that on purpose

We really just want people to Understand that there's different types of coffee different types of flavor profiles.

So like our two light roasts We have one that's got more of a nutty flavor to it

We've got one that's got a little bit of a sweeter flavor to it So we can kind of guide people into you know, do you like the nutty or do you like the sweet?

Well, if you like the sweet, you know, let's go with the Costa Rican. So we tried to choose coffees that it wouldn't

It wouldn't overpower People who aren't used to specialty coffee because there's a lot of coffees out there where if the average coffee drinker had them they would be

Kind of overwhelmed with some of the flavors that are going on and the roasters do that on purpose and you know

Those guys are are deep in the weeds on trying to capture those specific flavors that they're going for But the average drinker doesn't doesn't really like that stuff so we were trying to choose coffees for the average coffee drinker and You know and then try with our messaging in a way that you know, hey coffee is approachable

Yeah, because I think a lot of people are intimidated by coffee. So we're trying with our marketing with our packaging

It's all about the average drinker like hey stop drinking Folgers because it sucks, you know

Yeah, we we do think ours is the best But we would rather people drink specialty coffee versus Folgers So we're just trying to make ours more approachable and less intimidating than a lot of coffee companies do so Yeah, and what

I found interesting was the flavor combinations above the ziplock there That first interested me when

I saw the bags when I was at the why Calvinism conference shout out Jeffrey rice And those guys make sure you come see us in February when we host the war conference in Tullahoma, Tennessee You know, like I'm looking at wisdom and it's milk chocolate brown spice and pecan

So you don't get super into all the flavor profiles But you're kind of giving an idea of where this is gonna go and on past bags like the compassion and the integrity

I've Tasted I've tasted those I mean you're pretty accurate and I'm not saying I'm any kind of expert or anything like that But as a young kid,

I would make these weird comparisons when I would eat food and taste stuff and I go Oh, it tastes like pencil shavings.

That tastes like burnt grass that you might parents ago Right and then you grow up and you go

Oh, there's like a whole industry where people describe stuff like that, but that's just how it's hitting me you know and I'm but I'm drinking a rye like I get tree bark like the tree bark on a walnut tree when

I Smell it really close and it's a little moldy or maybe a peat scotch, right? So there is stuff to where if you really taste something that has rich flavor like that You can get those hints you do a very good job of just kind of letting the drinker go

Hey, this is the vein in its end and then you explore it and we're kind of giving you the idea where it's at What stood out to me is like I've never seen those three together before in my life a milk chocolate a brown spice and a

Pecan you go. How's that gonna work? It does somehow though. Yeah, it works. So a Couple bonus questions here.

I know it's only supposed to be a fresh 10 But as you can see, I'm I love coffee and I love talking about it. So it's my show. So we're gonna go longer

Where do you get those? Where do you get those ideas to combine those? Is it trial and error or is it?

Hey, we think this is gonna work and send it to market So those tasting notes, that's the natural flavor of the coffee.

So we don't add anything Okay, that's another another question. We get quite a bit.

So yeah, it's a hundred percent coffee. It's a single origin So it's one bean from one farm but those

Flavor those tasting notes at the top. Those are the natural flavors of the coffee so that's why we put those on the bag a lot of roasters put those on the bag is because What we want is when people drink the coffee

Try and taste those notes because that those are the ones that really stand out in the in the tasting process

So those are the ones that it's fun to kind of see can I taste the brown spice in there Can I taste the pecans in there?

Yeah, so that's just the natural flavor of the coffee. We don't add anything to it. Yeah. Yep. Want to clarify that?

Okay, that was 10 questions But I got one bonus question for you because I forgot to put it on the list And I just need to know what historical figure dead or alive

Would you like to sit down with and have a cup of coffee with? Oh, man, I kind of should have known this question was coming

Yeah, I'll tell you what for now let's keep it Outside of any any character mentioned in the

Bible because a lot of my guys that are believers. Oh Paul Jesus, right? Enoch Moses, let's keep it outside So let's it can be a

Christian or believer non -believer, but in history dead or alive outside of mentioned in the Bible Who would you sit down with and go?

I'd like to share a 45 -minute cup of coffee with him. I'd say probably John Knox Yeah, he was a while knew there was a reason we liked each other

Joe You know and I'm Scots Irish and and you know, that's where My people come from so I think it'd be interesting to sit down with him and just you know soak in that personality

Yeah next month I have Oh What's his last name Doug? He's an expert on John Knox We're doing a two -part biography on just breaking down his life his political stuff his his theology

And it's gonna be a good two -part episode. So watch out for that, too If you're watching on livestream right now, that should be out in a couple weeks But that was it that was fresh time with Joe Morris from squirrely

Joe's J got anything for us before we take off in this special Saturday morning livestream almost

Saturday afternoon here What do you got for the people watching? I just tell them go check out the link at that free bag a

Man of few words, but very direct. I like it Joe. Thanks for joining us here on the live stream talking fresh 10 talking coffee

Appreciate you brother and guys for you listening on both places whether you're watching on Facebook YouTube or X We're gonna put a link there

Go get your free bag of coffee check out squirrely Joe's be a return customer support this brother in the Lord We don't want to give our money to pagans

We want to give our money to brothers that are building things for the glory of God and Joe Morris and squirrely Joe's coffee He's definitely doing that.