Interview with the Maker: Eldritch Coffee

Artisan:  Jamie MacRae, Eldritch Coffee

1. What is your name and how did you decide on your business name?

Hi everyone, my name is Jamie MacRae and I picked Eldritch Coffee as our business name out of a strong love of classical horror literature. “Eldritch” is a word heavily popularized by the author H.P. Lovecraft in the early 20th century and it’s stuck around in popular culture ever since. It represents a sense of unknowable cosmic horror, but also an irresistible mysteriousness that sucks you in even if you know it’s probably not good for you. Sounds a little like coffee, no?

2. What inspired you to create your product?

  A love of coffee, mostly. Over the past several years I’ve journeyed deeper and deeper down the coffee rabbit hole and love every second of it. Of course, I wanted to share that love with other people.

3. Which of your products most inspires other people?

  The Salem Roast has been a big hit for us. People crave the strong flavor of dark roast coffee to wake them up in the morning, so they gravitate toward that. Plus most folks know what the Salem Witch Trials were, so the name has some resonance.

4. How do you find time to balance your craft with other areas of your life?

  Truth be told, roasting coffee is something I like doing with my free time anyway so it’s no trouble at all. finding the balance between work, hobbies, and life. When you truly enjoy doing something, you look forward to doing it after work rather than it feeling like a chore.

5. Name one tool or product that is most helpful to you as a small business owner.

Quickbooks is a must! Most small business owners don’t have to learn too much about the very advanced functions of the program, but even the basic cash flow recording functions make my tax process a lot simpler.

6. Where do you see your business going in 2020?

Slow and steady growth. I’d like to see more people enjoying Eldritch Coffee, so I want to get the business out there as much as I can to build a steady customer base. The good thing about making and selling coffee is that many sales become repeat customers. I’m also planning an overhaul of my website to make it more stylish and streamlined.

7. What is something you hope to get out of the Marketspace platform this year? 

Exposure! Everybody who tries my coffee likes it, so it’s just a matter of giving new people as many opportunities to try it as I can. I appreciate that Marketspace can feature me on many different platforms, such as in-person markets, social media, and this blog!

8. Anything new we can do for or offer you?

I’d love help improving my social media presence. Truth be told, I’m not great at constantly uploading to platforms like Instagram or Facebook; I’m the type who posts once in a while when I feel like something is worth saying. That may work for personal pages, but does not mesh with commercial algorithms.

Thank you Jamie. We are both big coffee drinkers ourselves, so we appreciate your craft immensely! It was great seeing you grind your whole coffee beans at The Marketspace at Westfield last December. We were so happy to watch you sell out of a few styles of roasts while you were with us. The best part is that everyone passing by your table was able to try a freshly made sample of coffee.