Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters

Project Summary

Cleaning up the community

Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters was born in Virginia in 2007 and is now located in Historic Yorktown Village with the Chesapeake Bay as their backdrop. It is lovingly cultivated by the owners, Celeste and Jo Gucanac. They roast exceptional quality, socially responsible coffees, both source certified organic and conventional, Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance certified. Celeste and Jo, along with their three children, focus on living in a way that gives back to life around them. They embraced their love for American History by relocating, renovating, maintaining, and opening to the public the Cole Digges House circa 1720 in Yorktown National Historical Battlefield Park. They lead by example with their support of Chesapeake Bay initiatives, and by giving a portion of profits to efforts that directly impact Bay restoration.

Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters walk the walk; their employees get their hands dirty, donating time and energy to local trash clean-ups, keeping trash out of our waterways. In fact, this initiative is so important to them that they close their shop so that all staff can participate in local clean-ups. They maintain rain barrels at their home; this helps reduce stormwater runoff and saves water on their own property. The Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters team plans to diversify the groups they partner with on their environmental projects and plant native plants, purchased from a local business, throughout their community.

In January 2019, during the federal government partial shutdown, the Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters team noticed a growing amount of trash around the Cole Digges House in Yorktown National Historical Battlefield Park (where their shop is located). Staff sponsored a clean up effort on January 19, 2019 with over 40 volunteers; they cleaned up all the trash on the Colonial Parkway from Yorktown to Jamestown! They filled 9 pick up trucks with trash; that’s 23 miles of effort!

Map of the January 2019 clean-up route along the Colonial Parkway, from Yorktown to Jamestown

In their shop, clients who bring their own container receive a discount (an estimated 1200 customers in 2018!); saving disposable packaging from the landfill. In addition, the shop uses washable mugs and cups made out of recycled materials, and encourages customers to bring their reusable mugs when coming for a take-out coffee. They keep harmful chemicals out of our waterways by using only environmentally-friendly products for maintaining and cleaning their facilities and have plans to create and post educational signs, including on the back label of all their coffee bags, to educate their customers about the importance of protecting the Chesapeake Bay and our local ecosystems. Their coffee roaster is equipped with an afterburner that helps reduce their impact on the environment and their coffee is sold in bags made of recycled materials.

Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters also recycles everything possible, including their burlap coffee sacks that held their green beans. They are very innovative and make dog beds out of recycled water bottle polyfill and the burlap coffee sacks. They then donate those beds to local animal shelters!

Click here to download the Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters’ January 2019 Gold B4B Member Press Release

The new coffee house in the Cole Digges House circa 1720 in Yorktown National Historical Battlefield Park