Our Story
Ad Astra Roasters is a US Marine veteran and family-owned business located in Hillsdale, Michigan.
Ad Astra Roasters is based in Hillsdale, Michigan where its founders Patrick and Kristi met at Hillsdale College. They married, Patrick joined the Marine Corps, and years later they finally moved home and brought their coffee company with them.
Ad Astra per Aspera - to the stars through adversity.
We love specialty coffee and for years had roasted it for ourselves with a variety of roasters: some commercial, some homemade; some fluid bed roasters, some drum roasters. Eventually we started roasting for a larger audience and Ad Astra Roasters was born. Our goal is to create extraordinary quality in the cup, value for our producers and customers, and strong local communities.
Currently we roast on a 3kg Mill City Roaster and provide hand crafted specialty coffee to shops, connoisseurs, and coffee lovers throughout the country.
Meet The Team
Patrick
Owner / CEO
Patrick enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2007 and served on active duty for over 9 years, followed by a stint in the reserves. He is a husband, father, entrepreneur, school founder, published poet, fitness enthusiast, and coffee roaster. Get some.
Kristi
Owner
Kristi graduated from Hillsdale College in 2007 with degrees in History and French. She is a wife, mother, entrepreneur, homemaker, French teacher, property manager, and fitness enthusiast. She actually has read all those books. Seriously... ​
Morgan
Manager
Morgan graduated from Hillsdale College in 2021 with a degree in English literature. His three free-range chickens occasionally cause traffic jams in town. Please do not call the roastery with chicken-related complaints.
Caitlin
Social Media & Marketing
Caitlin is a sophomore at Hillsdale College who originally hails from Kansas, the Ad Astra state.
Meet the Hardware
Big Red, the roaster.
Equal parts Willy Wonka, machine shop, and hearth: Big Red is 800lbs of metal, gears, wires, and fans. From Mill City Roasters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through Chicago, to Hillsdale, Michigan, this is an all-American work horse that under our roasters' attentive hands works magic with the coffee bean.