{"id":38027,"date":"2022-10-06T03:10:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T09:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-crested-butte-couple-just-wanted-better-backpacking-coffee-then-nasa-came-calling\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:41:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:41:53","slug":"a-crested-butte-couple-just-wanted-better-backpacking-coffee-then-nasa-came-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-crested-butte-couple-just-wanted-better-backpacking-coffee-then-nasa-came-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"A Crested Butte couple just wanted better backpacking coffee. Then, NASA came calling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"First
First Ascent coffee roaster owners Sam Higby, left, and Mark Drucker sample specialty coffee beans from small farms in Ethiopia for small-batch roasting in their Crested Butte roastery. (Photo provided by First Ascent)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sticker on the industrial freeze-drying machine at the First Ascent coffee roaster in Crested Butte. It\u2019s from a group promoting the diversity of Colorado\u2019s startup businesses, describing the state\u2019s agriculture to rocket science business breadth with the words \u201cFarm to Spaceship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I never thought of it so literally,\u201d said Mark Drucker, who co-founded First Ascent coffee in 2014 with his wife, Alison, and this week sent 250 servings of his small-farm harvested, instant Dawn Patrol coffee on a NASA rocket heading to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, during a particularly grueling push up the last leg of the Four Pass Loop near Aspen, Mark and Ali were wondering how they shave weight from their overnight packs. The overburdened owners of a specialty coffee roastery blasphemously wondered if they should abandon the French press used for their morning Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of us said \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we had instant coffee right now instead of all this brewing equipment,\u2019\u201d Mark said. \u201cWhat if we could make an instant coffee that actually tastes good?\u201d<\/p>\n

Several years ago, during a particularly grueling push up the last leg of the Four Pass Loop near Aspen, Mark and Ali were wondering how they shave weight from their overnight packs. The overburdened owners of a specialty coffee roastery blasphemously wondered if they should abandon the French press used for their morning Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of us said \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we had instant coffee right now instead of all this brewing equipment,\u2019\u201d Mark said. \u201cWhat if we could make an instant coffee that actually tastes good?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wait. Isn\u2019t that the line with the hidden-camera commercial from decades ago where an instant coffee maker replaced what was obviously a really lousy brewed coffee with a really lousy instant coffee and no one noticed the switch from bad to bad?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. It is a bit clich\u00e9, but that is the way it happens,\u201d Mark said. \u201cEvery time we tell them \u2018You are drinking instant coffee,\u2019 they are like \u2018No way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s coffee drinkers know good coffee. And First Ascent is all about quality coffee. Mark and co-owner, Sam Higby, carefully select fresh coffee beans from small farms in faraway lands. That\u2019s what makes the real difference between First Ascent and the traditional instant coffees, Mark said. They roast, freeze-dry and package in small batches at their factory just south of downtown Crested Butte. They sell their instant coffee in REI and other mountain shops. Outdoor magazines have showered them in accolades, cheering the ability to sip rich Joe while adhering to the light-is-right ethos of backcountry travel.<\/p>\n

\"First
First Ascent coffee roaster owners Sam Higby, left, and Mark Drucker sample specialty coffee beans from small farms in Ethiopia for small-batch roasting in their Crested Butte roastery. (Photo provided by First Ascent)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Earlier this year Mark got an email from procurement at NASA. An astronaut headed to the International Space Station recently returned from a backpacking trip where she drank First Ascent and requested that NASA stock her space-bound larder with Dawn Patrol instant coffee.<\/p>\n

NASA never shared the name of the astronaut, only her gender and launch date. Nicole Aunapu Mann, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and commander of NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-5 mission aboard NASA\u2019s SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California, making her the first Indigenous woman from NASA to go to space. She\u2019s the only American female on the mission headed to the International Space Station, so it\u2019s likely she\u2019s the one who requested First Ascent \u2013 a fitting name for her groundbreaking mission to space.<\/p>\n

Astronauts, from what Mark gathers, are able to piece together meal plans for their monthslong missions to the station. He sent NASA 250 servings \u2013 all packaged in First Ascent 16-serving and individual packets per NASA regulations to ensure they haven\u2019t been tampered with \u2013 that will be repackaged into special pouches with a nozzle for adding hot water and drinking. NASA told Mark they won\u2019t do any marketing for First Ascent \u2013 no mentioning the coffee or anything like that \u2013 but Mark is free to promote his galactic brew anyway he wants.<\/p>\n

That worked wonders for the powdered drink Tang, which apparently masked the chemical taste of spaceship water for space pioneer John Glenn on his first spin around the globe in 1962. The suddenly \u201cSpace Age\u201d orange-flavored drink became an American staple after that, despite its arguable quality. First Ascent has the quality part down. Could it be the next Tang?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be fantastic,\u201d Mark said. \u201cOur ambitions are to continue to grow this company.\u201d<\/p>\n

But never so big that he and Ali and their son might be tempted to leave Crested Butte. Like many innovators in Colorado mountain communities, the goal was never really about getting rich as much as finding a way to stay in their lovely town. The goal for First Ascent is to remain in Gunnison County, Mark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity is really important to us. We want to provide year-round jobs that are not tied to the tourism industry and can help people stay in this valley,\u201d said Mark, who, with Ali, spent 15 years owning and operating Crested Butte\u2019s Majestic Theater, which they were forced to close in 2020 during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Mark and his crew \u2013 there are four employees of First Ascent \u2013 will be watching the blast off at 10 a.m. Wednesday. For him, there\u2019s a full-circle vibe to their coffee ending up in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea came from us thinking how much we wanted great coffee in a difficult place, deep in the wilderness,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a continuation of that. It feels so good to help someone drink delicious coffee in a pretty special place that is hard to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alison Drucker\u2019s instant coffee is headed to the International Space Station at the request of an astronaut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,438,439],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-food","tag-food-drink"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83884,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38027\/revisions\/83884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38027"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}