Coffee by the sea. Taste by design.
We roast with a wine-trained palate and an engineer's discipline ~ led by Gareth Conway
About Us
We're a small, coastal roastery guided by precision, patience, and curiosity. We treat roast development like tide and time: measured, respectful, repeatable. We are salty roasters ~ craft-first, sea-inspired, and obsessed with taste.
Sensory rigor drives our roasting today: precise heat application, disciplined cupping, and blends that are purposeful ~ not accidental.
About Gareth
Gareth met the Pacific young ~ sailing a home-built boat from Seattle to Alaska at 12 ~ and never let go. UCSD (Muir). NAUI and SSI scuba certified. Live-aboard years in San Pedro. Diving the Channel Islands, sailing and diving from Alaska to the Sea of Cortez.
Taste is his instrument. Before Conway's Coffee, he helped build Conway Family Wines and Deep Sea Tasting Room - Santa Barbara (2007–2020), training his palate on acidity, balance, and structure. That same discipline guides precise heat application, rigorous cupping, and purposeful blends.
Credentials, briefly:
- UC San Diego ~ B.A. Quantitative Economics & Decision Sciences.
- Minors in Engineering Mechanics and Chemistry.
- Built first home roaster over 20 years ago; since then: 1M+ lbs roasted with 10+ years roasting and consulting, signature blends, constant refinement.
Our Coffee
We source seasonally from importers, brokers, fincas, and small farmers we trust. We sample, roast, cup, iterate, then lock profiles. Every batch is small-lot, roasted by us, shipped fresh. The aim is simple: repeatable excellence ~ clarity, sweetness, balance.
Why We Stay Small
- Ubiquity flattens flavor. Scale often chases sameness.
- Ownership matters. Conglomerates optimize logistics, not nuance.
- Formats kill freshness. Pods/capsules/pre-ground add cost and waste while stripping aroma and complexity. We choose fresh, whole bean, intentional roasting ~ because that's how coffee actually tastes great.
Conway's Blue Fund
A portion of every sale supports ocean research, conservation, beach cleanups, and marine education. It's our way of giving back to the deep blue that shaped us.
Conway's Blue Fund: small, quiet, salty impact — one cup at a time.
Who We Roast For
We're salty roasters ~ craft-first, sea-inspired, and obsessed with taste. Our trident nods to Poseidon: the ocean demands respect and curiosity; so does great coffee. We roast for baristas, cafés, early risers, and anyone who wants a cup with character, not committee flavor.