It wasn’t a dream from his youth to become a coffee connoisseur. Instead, a detour in hospitality on Nolan’s path to becoming an artist showed him that the feeling of creating something special for someone was a feeling he loved and wanted to pursue. That something was a perfect cup of coffee. The someone was a woman he ultimately never met, but watching her reaction to the coffee from afar was enough to light his path into the coffee industry.
As Nolan learned more about coffee, how it’s grown, and how the industry works, he was further inspired to rise in his craft and have a positive impact on the farmers/growers. Today, he is doing that in building relationships with growers and through his ownership and role of CEO and Founder at Proud Mary Coffee. Nolan and his wife Shari opened the first Proud Mary cafe (brunch restaurant) and coffee roastery in Melbourne, Australia in 2009. And, after igniting the global “Aussie Cafe” movement, they have since opened locations in Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas, serving carefully sourced and thoughtfully brewed coffees alongside incredible breakfast and lunch.
