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Jonathan and I meet in the courtyard of his Arlington apartment building one recent Friday afternoon for some homemade iced coffee and a wonderful chat about Jonathan’s Chutzpah Coffee Co., why the Jewish New Year resonates for him, pickup basketball culture, how engineering led to a coffee obsession, and a lot more!
Samuel: First off – what brought you to the DMV?
Jonathan: I definitely did not expect to come to the DMV. I’m from Long Island originally, and went to Pitt for my undergrad in mechanical engineering and a one year Master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon in product management. I thought I’d be in Pittsburgh for a while, but one of the companies I was potentially going to work for went under, and while I was scrambling for a new job opportunity, I applied to Capital One. I loved working for startups, but realized I wanted something more stable.
Samuel: Now that you’ve been here for a year, what are you finding in the DMV that you really love?
Jonathan: I’ve been so busy with the transition that it only feels like a few months. But, I think the food culture is definitely good – I love exploring all the Michelin star restaurants, and anywhere new I can try. I play basketball a lot. My office actually has a basketball court, which is great, and there’s a great basketball culture there. You can meet people from across the company so easily.
Samuel: What has your Jewish community looked like as you begin this process of exploring?
Jonathan: I’ve kind of just gone to a lot of things. I go to Chabad DC the most – I like their Friday Night Live events. I like Gather’s events, too. I was at the last Happy Hour at Capital Jewish Museum.
I just go wherever I can fit it into my schedule. Jewish community is very important to me, so whenever I see something and I’m free, I go. I love meeting new people, so the more the merrier.
Samuel: Why is Jewish community specifically important to you?
Jonathan: There’s a lot of overlap! When I meet another Jewish person, there’s a similar foundation of shared experiences, so you can build a friendship. Maybe we went to the same [summer] camp, or are hurting about something similar. We might have the same struggles, or share things about the holidays, or just a lot of commonality, and that makes it easy to build a network.
Samuel: Speaking of holidays, the High Holidays are coming up! What’s resonating for you this year?
Jonathan: I always like the Jewish New Year…with the regular New Year, I always say I’m going to make a resolution, and I don’t do it. I feel like I accomplish more after the Jewish New Year. I always have momentum. Also, it’s when the Jewish community comes together – everyone celebrates Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so it’s a good opportunity to meet people and share that commonality. Plus, the food’s great. I love brisket and honey cakes. The High Holidays are probably my favorite food holiday.
Samuel: Why do you think the Jewish New Year holds all that momentum for you?
Jonathan: I like the symbolism of the holiday; everything is a circle. You can look back on the last year and see how far you’ve come. I want to do better at that myself, showing gratitude for what I’ve done so far. Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah definitely help with that. I can look back on the year and say: Yeah, I did do a lot. I got close to my fitness goals, I launched a coffee company, I got promoted at work. There are all these little things that, when they happen, I feel like they were just what I was supposed to do. The High Holidays offer time to step back and realize: Oh, this is actually something good, and I should be proud of myself for it. I’ve always been a destination person. I’m trying to be more of a journey person.
Samuel: Tell me about your coffee company!
Jonathan: Since I started in engineering, I’ve been a coffee person. My love for coffee really blossomed because, at one of the startups I worked at, they had their own Chemex setup. With a Chemex, you really get the most out of the coffee – all the notes, the flavors, everything out of the bean. We were a bunch of engineers, so we’d play around with everything: the temperatures, water ratios. We treated it like a lab experiment.
After 10/7, I was thinking about how to support Jewish community and Jewish brands, and looked for coffee companies, and…there were none! I had all this exposure to startups and starting stuff, so I began doing a lot of research, and things began coming together in April 2024. There are a bunch of ways to sell coffee. You could dropship someone else’s, you could work with a company to make your own blend, you could do private label, you could do modified private label, you could roast it yourself…there are so many different options.
We don’t have the time to roast it ourselves, but we also didn’t want to dropship because we wanted to have some control over the product. We wanted a roasting partner that could have Kosher capability, because even though coffee itself is always Kosher, there’s a lot of things that have to be checked. I worked with my old Chabad rabbi from Pitt’s campus, and he gave me some guidance and insight – like that, for ground coffee, there are extra steps because you have to make sure no bugs get into the beans when you grind it [Editor’s note: One would hope this is true for non-Kosher coffee, too, but…].
Eventually, we found a partner in Washington state that we liked, and suddenly I was like: This is becoming a reality! Two friends joined on, including one I actually met at a Gather Hanukkah event in December. He’d jokingly said to let him know if I ever had any startup ideas, and then a few months later, there we were.
Samuel: What’s something you’ve learned as this project has unfolded?
Jonathan: When you start something, you’re like: This is going to go great! It is going to be fun and easy! But there’s always so much to learn. Like, tax laws. I wouldn’t say it has been a struggle – we’re learning how to do it all – but it is a grind.
Samuel: A few quick ones to close. What’s something about the area that you don’t think gets enough shine?
Jonathan: The walkability is a hidden gem. I love to walk from [Arlington] to Georgetown. You can get outside and stop at the bakeries on the way through Courthouse and Rosslyn.
Samuel: You’re hosting Shabbat dinner and can invite any three people. Who are you bringing?
Jonathan: Two easy ones: Adam Sandler and Larry David. You need to get some funny people in there – I love their shows and movies. And then the third person I’d invite would be Sandy Koufax. I love baseball [Editor’s note: Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on winning the NL East], and Koufax is actually like my third cousin once removed – my grandpa’s mom’s sister was married to Koufax’s cousin once removed. Peak Jewish geography, right?
I actually invited Ike Davis to my bar mitzvah. He didn’t come, but he signed a photo and wrote “Mazel Tov” on it. It was cool that he did that.
Samuel: Incredible. Last one. Finish the sentence: When Jews of the DMV gather…
Jonathan: They should drink Chutzpah Coffee!
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