Alexander Zachary Brown was born (and lived most of his life) in Athens, GA. He spent his summers at the beach learning to swim and surf and anything else that is possible to do in the water. His great-grandmother introduced him to coffee at age 6 when she would fill up a cup on a saucer and add milk until the mixture overflowed into the saucer. Little Alex would drink the milk from the saucer because it was significantly cooler than the cup. This was his first introduction to coffee. He began working as a barista in 1999 and fell in love with the coffee industry. He took a break in 2004 to teach a surf camp in San Diego, but other than that has been involved in coffee in some capacity. He went to college to study art, but dropped out one year shy of completion. He then decided the best expression of his artistic ability is in food—as it involves all the senses—and studied Culinary Arts. After graduating in 2008, he began working with Counter Culture Coffee.
