The Quest for Perfect Coffee with TopTime

TopTime Coffee started after Nolan Hall experienced the world of craft coffee joints thanks to his Georgia Tech roommate. Hall was hooked on more than the caffeine. He jumped into the deep end, learning every part of the process to make great tasting coffee and deciding he wanted to roast his own.

Commercial coffee roasters can be expensive for a college student and any at-home roasters lacked the precision Nolan desired. After a few attempts submitting mobile app ideas to CREATE-X's Idea 2 Prototype program, Nolan pitched the idea for the perfect at-home coffee roaster that would be both affordable and meet his quality standards.

Together with Travis Sadler, Mika Munch, and Alan Grusy, the team went through CREATE-X Startup Launch and ended up exploring new business models. They produced retail and wholesale coffee, as well as opening multiple pop-up coffee locations with a mobile barista cart. The cart has everything you need to be a full-service coffee shop, and importantly manages the large electrical draw coming from the machines built into it.

Fast forward to a year laterand now the TopTime crew has entered into another partnership, opening up their own roastery and cafe named Docent Coffee. Located on Edgewood Avenue, Docent combines the great tasting coffee TopTime always had, with local artists featured prominently on their retail bag offerings.

Nolan mentions that he could probably be making a lot more money like some of his friends and former classmates getting jobs at Fortune 500 companies, "But, my success or my failure falls on my shoulders, which is a burden, but also really rewarding in the end."

Check out our full video interview with Nolan Hall and Mika Munch of TopTime for more details.