👨‍🚀 What is Lost Astronaut?

Lost Astronaut LLC is a small private-label coffee brand that prides itself on connecting great people through otherworldly coffee. Lost Astronaut sells coffee through its website, hosts an active community on Discord, and has starbases throughout Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. Lost Astronaut donates 70% of revenue made from its signature mug sales at the end of each month to a featured charity related to mental health or suicide prevention for at-risk youth.

 

👪 Who are the Nauts?

The Nauts are a team of Ambassadors who love Lost Astronaut Coffee and rep the Lost brand on social media, on live streams, and in their daily lives. Our Nauts stay connected across social media and share what inspires them over a mug of Lost coffee. The Nauts receive exclusive deals and notifications on new coffee and merch, and each have their own discounts to share with their families, friends, and followers. 

 

☕ What is coffee?

Despite their name, coffee "beans" are actually seeds of the coffee plant, which makes coffee a fruit. This fruit is one of the chief exports of the world, second only to oil, and an estimated 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year, with over half of American adults drinking a cup of coffee each day. Coffee seeds are grown on coffee farms, harvested, processed, shipped, roasted, and packaged as whole bean or ground, to then be brewed by people worldwide. 

 

💫 What is specialty coffee?

Specialty coffee is not your typical store-bought bag of beans. Specialty Coffee refers to coffee that is grown at specific altitudes and harvested at its peak, then deliberately processed to yield coffee that is graded at top quality by certified tasters. Unlike most common grocery store brands that require giant harvests and massive yields, specialty coffee is often grown in smaller batches, yielding higher quality products often in seasonal batches.

 

🎨 What are the different kinds of coffee?

Coffee beans typically come in two varieties: arabica and robusta. Generally speaking, robusta beans are capable of being grown in large batches at low elevations and are often featured in instant coffees and espresso. Arabica beans grow best at higher elevations and are more temperamental to grow. Arabica beans tend to taste sweeter, fresh, or fruity, while robusta beans are often more bitter or mealy. All of Lost Astronaut's coffee beans are arabica.

 

🌎 Where can coffee grow and why does this matter?

Coffee grows in subtropical climates. Lost Astronaut's coffees are either single-origin roasts or blends from: Ethiopia, El Salvador, Sumatra, Tanzania, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Burundi, and Colombia. Our coffee is all grown at high elevations, which puts stress on the coffee as it respirates. This induces lactic acid, the same chemical that causes our muscles to grow, which helps to grow the coffee bean. This produces a creamy or nutty note and improves the overall flavor profile of the brew. Like wine, coffee grown in different regions of the world uses different varietals, or variations of the coffee cherry, along with specific growing climates, to yield radically different flavors, ranging from an often floral and fruity taste in our Ethiopian roast to an earthier, chocolatey taste in our Sumatran. Coffee can be easy to dismiss the first time as "too bitter", but with thousands of varietals and origins, coffee is as diverse as tea and can appeal to even the most discerning of taste buds.

 

⚙️ How is coffee processed?

All of our coffee (with the exception of our Costa Rican coffee) is advertised as washed, which refers to how the coffee is processed. Washed means the cherry is removed from the bean prior to drying so the natural flavors of the bean can shine through. This tends to produce a clear and radiant taste in the brew. An alternative processing method is known as natural processing, in which the cherry and bean dry together before the bean is developed, allowing various enzymes to interact during the drying process. Lost Astronaut coffees have a distinct and undeniable clarity in every brew thanks to the washing process. Our Costa Rican coffee is the exception, which is semi-washed due to regulations on water usage for washing coffee in Costa Rica. Our Costa Rican beans are semi-washed in a demuciladora which removes the pulp and mucilage together.

 

♨️ What are the different kinds of roasts?

Each of Lost Astronaut’s coffees are roasted for a certain length of time, which is referred to as their "roast level". The most common types of roast levels are light, medium, and dark, with specific names for each stage. Light roasts contain more acidity and more caffeine, and floral and fruit notes are often more perceptible and present at this stage. Darker roasts often have a taste of smokiness or sweetness from the longer roasting process and have reduced levels of caffeine. If you prefer "blonde" roasts, go lighter, and if you prefer "French" or "Italian" roasts, go darker. Our "Espresso Roast" is a medium-dark blend, and our "Half-Calf" is also a medium-dark roast while our "Decaf Roast" is a medium.

 

🚚 How does Lost Astronaut get its beans?

Lost Astronaut is a private-label online coffee retailer that sources its specialty coffee from a New York-based roaster. Our roaster has partnerships with the farmers who grow our beans and the exporters who deliver them to the States, where they are roasted in small batches and shipped to your doorstep. 

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🚀 How do I get started with Lost Astronaut?

The Lost Astronaut universe is expanding every day! If you're interested in joining the Lost community and repping our otherworldly coffee as a Naut, head on over to our Brand Ambassador page and scoop your Lost Starter Kit, with everything you need to try your first Lost Coffee and to get connected with the Nauts today.