What is Day & Night

What Is Day & Night Coffee?

Day & Night Coffee is a veteran-owned, service-connected disabled veteran business built on discipline, curiosity, service, and an uncompromising respect for the people behind every cup.

Founded by U.S. Air Force veteran and Master Roaster Ron Henderson, Day & Night began as a small-batch coffee company and has evolved into something larger: a coffee education and experience company that roasts exceptional coffee. Through participation in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, Day & Night has refined its mission, strengthened its business model, and developed a clear objective—to help organizations, businesses, and communities build a deeper relationship with the coffee they consume every day.

We source and highlight coffees grown on farms across nine coffee-producing countries within three major regions of the world. Every origin carries its own terrain, climate, traditions, processing methods, and human story. Our job is not to bury those differences beneath flavoring, marketing gimmicks, or unnecessary complexity. Our job is to roast each coffee in a way that allows its identity—and the work of the farmer—to be experienced in the cup.

Day & Night aims to become the roaster that teaches your local barista what coffee truly is.

Through guided cupping sessions, coffee education programs, organizational experiences, and hands-on tastings, we introduce people to the complete journey of coffee—from seed and soil to processing, roasting, brewing, and service. These experiences are designed to help participants identify their preferences, understand why coffees taste different, and appreciate the people and processes responsible for producing them.

We serve both traditional and nontraditional coffee experiences. Some cups may be familiar and comforting. Others may challenge what you thought coffee was supposed to taste like. Either way, the goal is the same: to leave you with more than caffeine. We want you to leave with knowledge, a story, and a meaningful connection to the farmers who grew what is in your cup.

Our single-origin coffees are deliberately sourced, carefully selected, and roasted by hand in small batches. When we create a blend, it is engineered with intention to accomplish a specific flavor profile and mission—not improvised to dispose of leftover inventory.

Day & Night proudly supports the farmers whose labor helps fuel the missions we carry out in our own lives. Whether you are starting before sunrise, working beyond midnight, building a business, serving your community, or simply gathering around a table, coffee is often present for the journey.

Those farmers make that possible.

We exist to honor their work, educate the people drinking their coffee, and bring the two closer together—one experience and one cup at a time.

Whatever your mission, Day & Night is here to help fuel it—any day or night.

Our Humanitarian and Environmental Impact Mission

Ron Henderson is a U.S. Air Force veteran, entrepreneur, writer, and the founder and Master Roaster of Day & Night Coffee.

During his five years of military service, Ron began his career in the Tactical Air Control Party pipeline before transitioning into Civil Engineering following an injury. His service took him across the United States and overseas to Kuwait and Qatar, where he worked alongside coalition forces, maintained critical HVAC systems, operated heavy equipment, and supported the repair of damaged runways and essential infrastructure.

Those experiences shaped the values that now guide Day & Night Coffee: discipline, resilience, service, adaptability, and respect for the people responsible for completing the mission.

After leaving the military, Ron earned a degree in economics from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and continued developing Day & Night through UTC’s Veterans Entrepreneurship Program. The program helped him refine the company from a traditional small-batch roasting business into a coffee education and experience company focused on helping organizations, businesses, and communities better understand what is in their cup.

Ron’s passion for coffee goes beyond roasting. He is committed to studying the origins, farming practices, processing methods, cultures, and people behind each coffee he sources. His goal is to make coffee education approachable, engaging, and useful—whether he is leading a professional cupping session, introducing someone to their first single-origin coffee, or teaching a barista how geography, processing, and roasting shape flavor.

When he is not roasting coffee or developing new experiences for Day & Night, Ron writes on Substack about economics, public policy, geopolitics, energy, faith, culture, and other topics that shape the world around us. His writing reflects the same curiosity that drives his work in coffee: a desire to understand where things come from, how systems function, and how people are affected by the decisions made within them.

Through Day & Night, Ron aims to create a stronger connection between coffee farmers and the people who rely on their work every day. He believes coffee should offer more than caffeine. It should carry a story, create a conversation, and help people recognize the human effort behind one of the world’s most familiar products.

His mission is simple: honor the farmers, educate the drinker, and roast coffee worthy of both.

Whatever the mission, Ron believes a better cup—and a better understanding of it—can help fuel the way forward, any day or night.

At Day & Night Coffee, responsibility does not end when the coffee leaves the farm—or when the final cup is poured.

Every coffee we roast begins with the labor, knowledge, and perseverance of farmers who face unpredictable weather, rising production costs, volatile markets, and growing environmental pressures. Without their work, there is no roast, no café, and no morning ritual. Supporting them is not charity. It is a responsibility to the people who make the entire coffee industry possible.

As a veteran-owned, service-connected business, Day & Night believes in completing the mission while taking care of the people who make that mission achievable. Our long-term goal is to build a coalition of growers, importers, roasters, businesses, and community partners committed to strengthening the relationship between coffee producers and the people who ultimately enjoy their work.

We aim to support sourcing practices that value quality, transparency, and fair compensation while helping customers better understand where their coffee comes from and why responsible purchasing matters. Farmers should not be treated as an invisible line item at the bottom of a supply chain while everyone above them collects a larger share. That system has been running on empty for far too long.

Our commitment also extends to the environmental impact of our own operations.

Day & Night is working toward a more circular model that reduces waste, extends the usefulness of materials, and finds new purposes for coffee-related byproducts. This includes limiting unnecessary packaging, prioritizing reusable and recyclable containers, exploring productive uses for green coffee and roasted coffee byproducts, and making deliberate decisions throughout sourcing, roasting, fulfillment, and product development.

As our operations grow, we plan to introduce a return and recycling program for eligible tins, jars, and containers. Customers and organizational partners will be encouraged to return, reuse, or properly recycle packaging so that fewer materials end up in landfills after serving only a single purpose.

We also intend to work with businesses that share these values. Through education, partnerships, and collaborative programs, Day & Night hopes to encourage organizations to examine not only the coffee they purchase, but also the people, resources, and environmental impact connected to it.

We know meaningful change will not happen overnight. It will require accountability, strong partnerships, measurable progress, and the discipline to follow through long after the marketing campaign ends.

Our mission is straightforward:

Honor the farmers. Respect the resources. Reduce the waste. Strengthen the entire coffee community.

Because sustainability should never be decoration on a label. It should be reflected in how a business operates—any day or night.

Who Runs This Operation

Return Your Tin. Keep the Mission Moving.

Day & Night Coffee is working to reduce unnecessary packaging waste by giving our coffee tins a longer life.

Customers may return eligible Day & Night coffee tins and receive a discount toward their next purchase. Returned tins may be cleaned, reused, recycled, or repurposed depending on their condition and local requirements.

Eligible Returns

We currently accept:

Empty Day & Night Coffee tins
Tins with the original lid
Tins that are reasonably clean and free from excessive damage
Tins from any eligible Day & Night coffee size

Please remove any remaining coffee grounds before returning your tin. Labels do not need to be removed unless otherwise requested.

Return Reward

For each eligible tin returned, customers will receive 10% off your next purchase toward a future Day & Night Coffee purchase.

The discount may be provided as:

A set dollar amount per returned tin
A percentage off the next order
A combined reward for returning multiple tins

Discounts cannot be exchanged for cash and may be subject to purchase minimums or redemption limits.

How to Return Your Tin

Eligible tins may be returned:

At participating Day & Night events or cupping sessions
During an eligible local pickup or delivery
At designated return locations as they become available

Shipping empty tins back individually may not be economical, so mail-in returns will only be accepted when specifically arranged or offered through a future return program.

Why It Matters

A coffee tin should not complete its mission after a single use.

By returning eligible packaging, customers help Day & Night reduce waste, extend the life of useful materials, and build a more responsible coffee operation—one tin and one cup at a time.

Return the tin. Receive a reward. Help us waste less.