Background

Custom House Coffee was established in 2001 by Robert Mastin. Bob’s goal from the beginning was to serve the best, freshest coffee possible in a pleasant, friendly environment. He began his research by roasting coffee beans at home on a small home roaster. He was so impressed with the superior flavor of fresh-roasted beans that he decided at the outset to incorporate a roasting operation in his new store.

Bob got his formal roastmaster training from Steve Diedrich, the owner and founder of Diedrich Manufacturing, where Custom House Coffee’s state-of-the-art roasters were manufactured. Bob continues to serve as chief roastmaster, roasting several varietals of beans nearly every day on our two roasters.

Before coffee, Bob was a naval officer, Viet Nam veteran, publisher, author, and general contractor. He holds a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy and an M.S. (Accounting) from the University of Rhode Island. Bob and his wife, Liz, are high school sweethearts and have been married for 35 years. Both are active in the local community, and Bob is on the board of directors for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, a real community resource with the largest area food pantry, a much-needed breakfast program, and award-winning educational programs for children of all ages.

Philosophy and Company Mission

Custom House Coffee’s main mission is to give our customers the absolute best experience possible in every respect, second to none. That means the best tasting coffee and foods delivered with friendly, helpful service. We are totally customer focused, and that includes both retail and wholesale customers.

And we really mean when we say the best tasting coffee. We do everything possible to make our coffee the absolute best in every possible way. Everything we do furthers this goal, from selecting the best high-grown arabica beans, to roasting daily in small batches to keep them fresh, to following our exacting brewing standards .

Another important goal is to be intimately involved in the local community. We support dozens of local and regional charities, schools, food pantries and other deserving organizations. The entire staff is committed to making our community a better place to live.

We also try to support the growers and workers who produce the wonderful coffees that we sell by paying fair prices for their coffee.