Meet Big Guns Coffee: The First Hydroponic Coffee Farm in the U.S.
April 11, 2025 New fruit growers are often advised to look for a niche because it’s difficult finding a place in the market, and you have to differentiate yourself from the pack. T. Shane Johnson and his daughter Charli appear to have succeeded.
“Just Google ‘hydroponic coffee farm,’” he says, “and when the page comes up, pretty much all you see is us.”
“Us” is Big Guns Coffee of Tryon, N.C., the only hydroponic coffee farm in the country, but Johnson doesn’t believe it will be the last. He envisions franchising the business, offering people – especially veterans – a chance at a unique business opportunity. Coffee is ordinarily grown only in tropical climates, especially Columbia and West Africa, the only U.S. production coming from Hawaii.
Sounds logical, but the way the Johnsons came up with the idea – together, Dad emphasizes, certainly wasn’t. Four years ago, Johnson, who then owned a mortgage company, “Booyah,” decided love and family were more important than money.
He asked Charli about her dreams, and she shocked him by saying “Dad, I want to start a business.” He said OK, and 20 minutes later, she came back with a name for her business: “Big Guns Coffee.” It was partly in honor to her Dad, who had once set a world record for most pushups in a 12-hour period.
“She said it would be weird if it was called it ‘Big Muscles Coffee,’” Johnson says, chuckling at the memory. “I thought, ‘I’m going to jump on this;’ my daughter inspired me.”
T. Shane Johnson says his daughter, Charli, was the inspiration for Big Guns Coffee. In 2021, he decided to exit the rat race, focusing on what was most important in life. Besides setting Guiness Book records for feats such as most pushups in a 12-hour period, he ran across the country four times from 2016-2019 to benefit homeless vets, inspired by Charli’s love. “My daughter was part of all that because I didn’t like the fact the father’s role is diminishing in this country.” | Photo: Big Guns Coffee
In Their Blood
Johnson grew up on a Florida orange grove, though he had no desire to become a farmer. Still, he says of he and his daughter, “Farming is part of our DNA.”
After serving in the Marine Corps, Johnson went into banking. He says he was extremely successful – until the 2008 recession hit, that is, when both his career and personal life melted.
“I went from building a $300 million business to becoming homeless for two years, living in the woods of North Carolina,” he says. “I spent a lot of time around a Dunkin’ Donuts because they had free Wi-Fi.”
Fortunately, he had kept his “business clothes,” and managed to pull himself out of homelessness, getting back in the mortgage business. Though that day when he asked Charli about her dreams, his career took a detour.
“I shut down Booyah Mortgage and went right into coffee,” he recalls.
T. Shane Johnson’s business plan includes selling Big Guns Coffee retail and through their website. | Photo: Big Guns Coffee
Veterans Wanted
Johnson, who has only 30% of the usage of his right arm as a result of serving in the Marine Corps, wanted a greater call then just growing and selling coffee. He decided their main focus should be on franchising, where wounded veterans and agricultural entrepreneurs could add any number of features, such as including an adjacent café, boosting agritourism.
As the only indoor hydroponic coffee farm in the U.S., the company began working with Appalachian State University to train future farmers in sustainable, high-tech coffee production. Students could learn the challenges of growing coffee in the U.S., how they could build a new domestic coffee supply chain, and why hydroponics could be the future of sustainable farming.
T. Shane Johnson says many consumers want to see how and where their food/beverages are grown. Coffee beans, referred to as “cherries” before roasting, are a colorful fruit, and letting consumers get an up-close look, whether from farm tours or an adjacent restaurant, is a real benefit. | Photo: Big Guns Coffee
Big Guns Coffee isn’t just about trying to produce great coffee — they’re trying to build a sustainable pathway for veterans and young farmers to enter the coffee industry, Johnson says. They are developing a long-term initiative to train veterans and farmers to establish their own coffee farms, creating local jobs and building a domestic coffee supply chain, reducing the need for international imports.
“We don’t have to rely on the world’s coffee,” Johnson says, “this is a massive paradigm shift in farming.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on GrowingProduce.com, our sister brand.