It was recently Navy Week in Albuquerque, and we had the pleasure of giving a group of sailors an in-depth tour of our roasting operation here in ABQ. It was great to talk to these fine folks and hear about how our coffee helps brighten their days as they're at sea, serving our country.
If you weren't already aware, we do our best to keep sailors caffeinated on the namesake vessels for our home state, including the Virgina-class submarine USS New Mexico and the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Santa Fe.
In addition to those two submarines, there was another Los Angeles-class submarine named for our home, the USS Albuquerque. Decommissioned in 2017, this submarine is has a storied history with our city (including the promise of a Rolls Royce to the first captain to be able to navigate the sub up the Rio Grande for a port call in ABQ). Now, the city is working with the Navy League to get the sail of the submarine brought to Albuquerque to be included in a monument to the submarine and the men who crewed her.
Damon Runyan from the USS New Mexico Committee arranged the tour of our Roastery for the seamen, and provided this great writeup of their visit in the fall 2022 edition of NM Nautical News:
These photos came from the Marketing Coordinator at New Mexico Piñon Coffee, Ms. Taylor Mills, during the crew visit of the Roastery on 15 September 2022. Pictured are Lt Curtis Olsen (Trey) from Roseville, CA; YNCS Mark Cardenas (Ensign selectee) from Kingwood, TX; ETV1 Jason Cruz from Bronx, NY; EMN2 Jose Casillas from Compton, CA; ETN2 Noah Bolin from Brighton, CO; and MMN1 Dustin Munn (Chief Petty Officer select) from Sioux Falls, SD.
The group was led on the tour by the NM Piñon Coffee Director of Operations Bob Bruce. Thank you to Ms. Betty Berigan for graciously posing with the sailors during her busy workday. Thank you to the President of NM Piñon Coffee, Mr. Matt Bregar. He gave clearance for our group to tour the production facility as the first group to do so since the advent of the COVID-era. The owners of NM Piñon Coffee, Frank and Cindy Bassett, were delighted to provide this tour and I quote Mrs. Bassett, "You know I love my military!" You'll recall that at the big dinner on Monday night at El Pinto how each of these sailors remarked what a difference in their day this coffee made over the standard Navy-issue coffee.
As you can see, the end of the tour came at the huge roaster as the sailors were overwhelmed by the aroma of a huge load of NM Piñon Coffee fresh out the oven!
Story by Damon Runyan
Thanks to Damon Runyan for coordinating this visit as well as much of Navy Week Albuquerque! To read more about Navy Week Albuquerque and find the full NM Nautical News fall dispatch, visit the Navy League of the United States New Mexico Council website.