Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - On Folger’s Shoulders: Lessons from the Early Years of a Coffee Giant - September 23, 2020
There are a few different versions floating around about what happened when the Folger brothers arrived in San Francisco in the spring of 1850 (and even about the following 20 years). We assume that James and his brother, Henry, are likely the James and Henry Folger listed in an 1850 San Francisco directory as living at Pacific and Powell, an intersection that still exists. In the directory, James is listed as being a “mason.” James had learned carpentry while helping rebuild his father’s business after a fire on Nantucket, and his first job in California, at age 14, was to help William H. Bovee build a coffee plant, which was named “Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mill,” but had no steam-run anything, despite the name. The roasters were cranked by hand.
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