A Cup Of Joe With An Apostate
By Syran Warner
“I think I also always loved the smell as a kid. Like, if someone's mom from school would have it. It was such a rare smell.”
One of the many rules in the Mormon faith dictates that coffee is off limits. In 1833, Joseph Smith received a revelation from God, and one of the things God was upset about was “hot drinks,” specifically those that are caffeinated. That’s how the prophecy has been interpreted, at least. After that, tea and coffee were out, magical underwear were in, and the policies haven’t evolved much since.
“It doesn't actually say in any of the documentation that coffee is prohibited. It was the translation of “hot drink” equals coffee. You can drink herbal tea, but you can't drink iced non-herbal tea. None of it makes sense.”
Melissa Anders was aware of this restriction from on high when she delightedly drank her Starbucks while skipping Mormon seminary in high school. The beverage was an offence to God, sure, but it tasted good and made the world a little clearer.
Imagine a teenager sneaking in a Frappuccino and chasing it with a mint to disguise their breath, and you have something like the origin story for Apostate Coffee, the world’s leading boutique supplier of coffee specifically designed with the ex-Mormon community in mind.
“I started it because I love coffee and I want to be a part of the community. I think the community is honestly the biggest part. And the fact that it's so taboo when it really doesn't need to be.”
Melissa Anders, left, with her partner Tanya.
Melissa took on Apostate with her “never-Mo” partner Tanya as something of a Covid project. It was a time when tribes were distinguishing themselves online and more former LDS members were connecting virtually. That there’s a market for Apostate in the first place reflects the modern, interwoven world it was born into.
“I found a brother and sister team in Salt Lake. My team was all ex-Mormon. They did the graphic design and helped us with the labels. We wrote all the copy. I found a web designer, an ex-Mormon, in Vegas. I found a social media person, randomly enough, here in New York, who's ex-Mormon.”
The aesthetic of Apostate is both contemporary and classic, something you could swap with the product design of a purely secular boutique brand if you didn’t pay attention the snarky text on the package. It’s free trade coffee with an esoteric purpose. Apostate is a venture formed from the ashes of religious abuse that claps back at the absurdity of the arbitrary rules you find in cults. Yes, it’s also just a good cup of coffee. That’s the point- it’s just coffee.
There are many other “ex-Mo” entrepreneurs. Melissa mentions a candle company that gives its products names you’d have to be an apostate to truly appreciate, and there are even distilleries crafting very-against-the-rules libations these days. A cursory glance makes it seem as though all these companies appeal to their consumers with branding that speaks to the ridiculous nature of the many prohibitions from the church. At Apostate’s the mission reads, “We invite others to come to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the importance of coffee and how it can bless us and strengthen and nourish our bodies.” It’s ostensibly something current Mormons would find sacrilegious, and it gets the point across enough for outsiders. This sensibility is all over the text on Apostate’s website. The most popular roast incorporates a riff on Joseph Smith’s “modesty” with sleekly hilarious design. One of the bundles sold is called “Eternal Companions” and the team that put Apostate together are in on the joke.
Closing out 2022, Melissa has seen an uptick in business with demand sometimes outweighing her roasted-by-order production limits. In the future she anticipates catching up on the scale for all the bean thirsty ex-Mormons out there. She’d even like to branch out and take on Apostate as full-time career. Melissa envisions opening a brick-and-mortar coffee shop in the future, perhaps in Utah, where, naturally, the largest contingent of “ex-Mo’s” are found.
Apostate is a reprisal of the Mormon experience created by folks with skin in the game. That it’s catching on reflects the power of communities to proliferate and become self-sustaining in the modern world. Of course, it’s also a world of connectivity that allows for things like Mormonism to proliferate, but the tide is turning, and more and more people may just relax and smell the coffee.
