All Jack'd Up
Alex (along with his parents) is the roaster & co-owner of Spring-Heel'd Jack - a coffee company centered around scary stuff.
After graduating from The Ohio State University 2 years ago with degrees in Food Science & Technology and Human Nutrition, Alex also finished up his Master's in Business Administration this past spring. He was a health inspector for Licking County for a little bit before deciding that he really needed to give this coffee thing a shot.
“I got into roasting coffee because my parents had been doing it for years for themselves,” explains Alex. Adding that his food science and nutrition classes piqued his interest towards the science of coffee roasting, & what roasting techniques make coffee taste good. “I kind of just took the hobby & ran with it,” he says.
Part of what makes Spring Heel’d Jack Coffee unique is their dedication to all that scary stuff; especially after Alex realized it was one thing that everyone in the family was into. “We've always loved horror movies, Halloween, the macabre,” he says. Sharing that his parents used to own a bookstore focused on mystery & horror books.
Alex also explains that he has a lot of love for the horror community online (since they really started through The Last Podcast on the Left fandom, & Henry Zebrowski giving them a big shout-out a few times). “I want to show that appreciation through everything I do,” he says.
“But the other unique thing about our company is that we sell by the pound, & we sell at a discount because this company has one true employee. And we aren't trying to gouge our customers, who have been amazing to us,” adds Alex.
Alex’s food science inclinations enabled him to end up blending their single-source coffees because he didn't want to be like every other coffee selling one-origin coffees. Saying, ‘I wanted to create blends that I thought were unique, & then name them after scary shit.”
Spring Heel’d Jack’s most popular products are their blends. The current & most popular being the “Black Phillip” (their first blend & house blend), “Re-Animator,” & “Old Scratch.” The latter two blends are essentially the “Black Phillip” mixed with an Ethiopian Harar bean & a Tanzanian Peaberry, respectively.
Alex also says that - locally - people really like the cold brew that he makes, but unfortunately it can't ship that out … yet.
This fall, their The Lantern Jack's Pumpkin Spice coffee started as a collaboration with the Cryptocurium & The Order of the Thinned Veil. Alex explains how he met Jason (owner) on Etsy.
“Jason makes these awesome scary figurines & plaques & stuff,” begins Alex. Continuing with how Jason proposed a pumpkin spice coffee to package with an orange figurine for his monthly Halloween-themed subscription service — the aforementioned Order of the Thinned Veil (which is a collaboration between Jason & Sam Heimer, the artist who did Spring Heel’d Jack’s logo).
“I had always thought flavored coffees were lame & I’ve never done one before, so this was a unique challenge for me.,” shares Alex. He wanted to make something that was good, but not overpowering.
So, Alex took a single-source Colombian Huila Supremo, roasted it nice & dark (so that the coffee flavor could shine through), & then blended it with an all-natural pumpkin spice flavor oil.
Overall, Alex says he wants the takeaway from Spring Heel’d Jack to be, “that we’re your friends who sell damn good coffee.”
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Get your caffeine fix from Spring Heel’d Jack by visiting them online (click here). Plus follow them on Facebook & Instagram: @springheeldjackcoffee.
You can check out more from The CRYPTOCURIUM online (click here), peruse the Etsy store (click here), & learn more about The Order of the Thinned Veil (click here).
Check out more from Sam Heimer online (click here) & shop his Etsy store (here).
