BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Firefighter Dan Felt still has some of the gear Chief Daniel "Skip" Bergbauer used at Red White & Blue Fire District in Breckenridge.
"This is his jacket, this is the car he used to drive," said Felt. "We’re hanging on to his equipment, but we miss the guy."
Fire Chief Bergbauer spent 25 years working as a firefighter at Red, White, and Blue. He died unexpectedly in July.
Next to firefighting and his family, Skip loved roasting coffee.
So much so, when Skip died, fellow firefighters found 3,000 pounds of coffee beans in his house.
"We walked into his garage and the coffee was packed into bags piled halfway up to the ceiling," said Felt.
Those beans are now at Cuppa Joe/Breckenridge Coffee Roasters where Andrew Iwashko has been roasting them into three blends Skip would have loved.
"Get into Skip's head," said Iwashko. "Kind of figure out sample roasts to find out which coffees we think would be good to roast in his honor."
Now, "Skip's Blend" is being sold in Breckenridge and online and the money raised from all those coffee beams Skip left behind is being sent right back to his family into a fund for his daughters to use for college.
"We did see that as an opportunity," said Felt. "That maybe we can give back to the family the way Skip has given back to the fire department family."
Skip's Blend comes in medium roast and dark roast varieties. The coffee serves to help Skip's family and carry on Skip's coffee-roasting legacy.
"We wanted to make sure we honored his coffee legacy and pay respect for all he’s done for this community," said Iwashko.
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