I remember first meeting Brad Ewing of Three Ships Coffee, it was at the Old Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach, VA. I try to stop by the market when it's in season and under Terrapin's tent was a guest vendor selling cold brew coffee. I'll admit I had no idea what cold brew coffee was all about. I'm like most people, I have an electric pot at home that I program to brew on a timer. That way our coffee is ready when we get out of bed for work in the morning. I assumed cold brew was a little more involved than that.

After talking to Brad for a bit what I picked up was this: He wanted to do something new in the area and I really liked his coffee.

It's been well over a year now (longer?) and Three Ships Coffee is well known in the area. They have a mobile Slow Bar that prepares their home roasted bean on-site. They're also carried and served in select shops in the area. I discussed with Brad the direction Three Ships Coffee was headed while attending Buy Fresh Buy Local's Farm to Fork the other week. They have outgrown the home roasting operation and will be moving to the Oceanfront in a space that will provide room for people to sip and relax while being immersed in the delicious aroma of hand roasted coffee. They also want to have their mobile operation covering more the Hampton Roads area so there should be an announcement on how that work soon.

To learn more about how Brad and Amy jumped into the coffee scene read Brad's story:

"I am not very good about little blurbs. They are typically long like this ...I have always been into beverages and my first coffee was what my grandma called a "Cowboy Coffee". It was likely 90% milk 10% Maxwell house, but I felt like I was an adult for a minute. In my time out west the local coffee shops in small beach towns like San Clemente and Encinitas were always the centers of the community where you always run into someone you know. The other thing is that Amy and I got into the tradition in our travels to always try the local cuisine. That to us is food, beer, wine, and coffee. I originally wanted to start a woodworking business, but that required too much time. Two things happened that got me real into coffee.

1. Amy asked me to stop drinking beer and whiskey when she was pregnant. Coffee became my pacifier.

2. I bought a growler of coffee at a downtown pop-up food market in NYC to keep me awake on the way home and the rest is history.