When walking around the exhibition hangars, one can find a wide variety of products. While some of the items for sale may not interest every AirVenture attendee, one company located in Hangar C has a product that almost everyone needs: coffee.
Warbird Coffee Co., founded by Royal Air Force veterans Adam Berry and Jon Short in November 2020, sells a series of coffee blends that help in the restoration of warbirds. While Adam and Jon run the operation in the U.K., the U.S. operation is run by Jon’s father- and mother-in-law, Holly and Dean Veneman.
“They asked us if we wanted to help on this side of the pond,” Dean said. “I said, ‘Sure, we can help you sell a bag or two on the internet.’”
“A bag or two on the internet” has turned into so much more. Now selling at the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration, Warbird Coffee has five types of coffee, as well as other merchandise. Each blend is named after a different warbird.
“We have five blends, from Tally Ho!, which we have a blend that is for the Spitfire, to our decaf, Look Hurmin No Caffeine,” Dean said. “Then our Night Fright coffee, which we actually have a specific partnership with the C-47 Sky Train called Night Fright. Fifteen percent of the proceeds for our coffee go directly back to that, supporting the restoration of that aircraft.”
The Night Fright coffee blend has even more to its story. This blend followed the recipe used by Americans during World War II.
“Night Fright is a 60 percent Brazilian-born coffee, with a 40 percent Columbian bean. [The founders] are huge history buffs, and they found the exact recipe that [World War II soldiers] drank,” Dean said. “So if you want to know what it feels like to sit around the campfire in World War II… you do that.”
For those ordering their coffee from the U.S. website, their coffee is roasted right here in Wisconsin.
“We really love coffee, and it’s really great coffee,” Dean said. “It’s roasted literally 15 minutes from Oshkosh.”
For those who can’t buy this coffee directly from Booth 3171 at AirVenture, its U.S. website is WarbirdCoffeeCompany.com.