From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

As I considered the 20th anniversary of Roast, I found myself digging up issue No. 1. As any self-critical perfectionist, the first things that drew my focus were the things that could be (and have been) improved—the thinness of the issue, the details of the layout, and other odds and ends that only a parent is likely to notice. After spending some time reading through the first issue, however, I started to have a growing feeling of pride in the foundation that was laid and that persevered over the years. In particular, the following line from my very first publisher’s column could easily have appeared in the magazine today: “The ability to understand and manage quality, business and ethical responsibilities in an evolving and ever-competitive market will differentiate successful roasters from those who will not survive.” Not to brag, but that’s quite prophetic.

As anything that has been around for two decades, there have been a number of accomplishments: 121 issues to date, sent to dozens of countries around the world; publications such as The Book of Roast that have become industry standards; our longstanding partnership with Daily Coffee News; sold-out Roast Summit events; recognition of 38 Roasters of the Year. These are the visible markers of success. The less visible markers (but no less important) are the many friends I’ve made through the years, and the inevitable loss of a few of those along the way who I miss dearly but remember fondly.

Anniversaries are helpful in looking back at the habits that resulted in success, but they are also important as we rededicate ourselves to delivering a better future. We are not done—there are new roasting technologies, new approaches to sourcing, and new growing and processing techniques to cover. There are new markets and new ways to bring products to those markets, and there are new people with different backgrounds, goals and perspectives who need to both learn about the industry and tell their own stories so that others can learn from them.

Beyond the beginnings of a technical resource, that first issue mentions the importance of relationships multiple times. Relationships between roasters and growers, and relationships between roasters and retailers and consumers. It is relationships that enable success, and I can’t look back at the success of Roast without recognizing the relationships that have made this magazine and this publishing company successful. To the staff that has worked tirelessly and never missed a publication deadline—Claire  Harriman, Lily Kubota, Jeremy Leff, Beth Winburne, Emily Puro, Nick Brown and Howie Bryman—I love you to pieces and thank you for being part of this journey. To the advertisers (including 10 who advertised in our first issue and are still advertising today) who believe our mission intersects with their own. My final and most important recognition is to you, the loyal, engaging and at times wonderfully challenging readers who drive Roast to continue to improve. Here’s to earning many more anniversaries.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

I saw a great cartoon not long ago. It pictured a long line of people in front of a kiosk that had a sign that read, “People who want things to be better.” Next to that was another kiosk with no one standing in front of it and a sign that read, “People willing to do the work to make things better.” If I were to redraw that cartoon, I would add our two Roaster of the Year winners in front of the second kiosk. They are doing the work.

What does it mean to do the work to make things better? For our Micro Roaster of the Year—Bridge City Coffee based in Greenville, South Carolina, and Waco, Texas—doing the work means equipping their employees with not just the hard technical skills of roasting, preparing and serving coffee, but also the soft skills of managing their own work and supporting their individual needs. They are one of the finest examples I’ve ever come across of a company acting on its mission to build employees through not just training, but a full system of support. The payoff for Bridge City? An extremely high employee retention rate across all facets of the operation. The payoff for “making things better for us all” is even greater. By focusing on hiring people who have experienced barriers to employment, Bridge City is providing the most powerful motivation of all—hope. It is far more costly for society to bring people back who have fallen through the cracks than it is to prevent them from falling through the cracks in the first place.

Our Macro Roaster of the Year is Verve Coffee Roasters, based out of Santa Cruz, California, with operations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, Japan. For Verve, doing the work means decades of building not only direct trade relationships, but also relationships between farmers from different origins. A unique coffee plant nursery program provides opportunities to expand the size and number of farms in different origins. The payoff for Verve? Better quality and higher quantities of great coffee available to the company’s roasteries and cafes. The payoff for all? A model that can be applied to mitigate supply issues that will continue due to climate change and coffee economics.

I hope you read the profiles of our Roaster of the Year winners and take the time to fully appreciate the hard work it takes to make things better. The work is challenging, and the financial benefits aren’t always direct, but the payoff is immense.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

My typical approach to my publisher’s column is find an interesting topic, develop it into a theme and flesh out the details. This column, not so much. Here, I’m going to throw a series of haphazard thoughts out and invent some sort of theme that assembles the random blocks into a coherent structure. Wish me well as I bounce ideas off the constellation of satellites that make up the coffee universe.

First up, celebrities have figured out coffee is a pretty cool business. Perusing Daily Coffee News can seem more like flipping through People magazine in the waiting room. Singers (Snoop Dogg, Leona Lewis, Jason Mraz), actors (Millie Bobby Brown, Tom Hanks, Hugh Jackman) and of course, our favorite NBA star Jimmy Butler are all in coffee in one form or another. Even Barbie has a “You Can be Anything Coffee Shop” with 20-plus accessories. If I missed name dropping a celeb in coffee, tell them to reach out to me!

Next up, artificial intelligence (AI) will impact our business. Nobody can predict how or even when AI will pop up in the coffee industry. The implications of the technology are so new, in fact, that nobody can really agree whether to capitalize artificial intelligence in a sentence if it’s not abbreviated. Sometimes revolutionary technology sneaks up and becomes useful in everyday business, other times it arrives in a bright flash. How will AI-sourced roast profiles integrated with machines impact the traditional roles of the coffee roaster? Will you interact solely with AI-driven machines when ordering at a drive-through?

Finally, where will the impacts of climate change most affect each of our lives? Will it be through changing consumer tastes? With 31 straight days over 110 degrees F in Phoenix, Arizona, there had to be an impact on hot versus iced coffee sales. Will it be through catastrophic weather events that close our facilities? Most certainly it will impact the supply of green coffee. Can we adapt fast enough to reverse or even mitigate these effects?

If you haven’t figured out my theme at this point, you are not alone. Perhaps there is a thread between the topics or a pattern that I can’t quite discern. Perhaps I should ask ChatGPT to write me a column in the voice of Snoop Dogg on how a coffee magazine publisher should prepare her business for supply chain disruptions caused by rising sea levels?

Nah, that’s the easy way out and besides, I’ve still got plenty to say about the world of coffee. I think I will keep my pencil sharp for a few more years.

Warmest wishes,

Connie

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From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

As a hostess, I can’t help but feel responsibility, and hence nervousness, about having friends, family or say 13,000-plus industry people visiting my hometown. All of this happened recently with the Specialty Coffee Expo in Roast’s hometown of Portland, Oregon.

As many have heard, with some fearmongering and some truth, Portland has struggled in recent years with multiple simultaneous crises. Rising housing costs, addiction, mental health issues and homelessness were all amplified by the covid-19 pandemic, political divisiveness and social protest. The evidence of these crises (and the efforts to address them) were not hidden from attendees, but they also did not detract from the Expo experience. There was an excitement and energy around the event, as well as the parties outside the event, with takeaways that many of us had not experienced in years.

The numbers reflected this excitement, with pre-pandemic levels restored—the last time attendance at Expo exceeded 13,000 attendees and 500 exhibitors was in 2019. However, the real power is in what those thousands of people do after the event, as they are a small percentage of the total coffee industry and consumer population. We have learned more than we ever wanted to know about the transmission of viruses in the past couple of years, and there are useful parallels in how ideas go viral. If Expo-type events are going to make a marked difference in our industry, we must embrace what makes ideas go viral. Imagine the impact of each of these 13,000 attendees keeping the excitement (likelihood of infection) alive for a number of months (duration of contagiousness) with as many people as possible (contact rate).

I am proud of my team. The effort they put into not only one of our best issues ever, but also prepping for the Expo and producing a really fun guide to Portland, The Inside, was exemplary. I am also proud of my city and my industry. Neither is perfect, but they are better than they were two to three years ago—and that alone is news worth spreading.

Warmest wishes,

Connie

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From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

There is a mostly constructive tension happening in our industry between quantification and variability. On one side are groups who are doing excellent work to better define standards and language that we use to communicate how coffee tastes in various stages of its seed-to-cup cycle. On the other side are the multitudes of variables that make coffee a terrifically unpredictable product.

Defining sweetness in a cup, for example, seems like a straightforward measure that would have a set standard. However (and slightly tongue in cheek), as shown from studies described in this month’s Technically Speaking column, “Sweetness in Coffee,” it is very possible that a coffee presented in a round, red cup, sitting on a smooth plate next to a bowl of berries and cooled to 80 degrees will be perceived as sweeter than the same coffee served piping hot, presented in a square mug on a rough surfaced, hexagonal plate. The point is not necessarily to eliminate every variable, but to acknowledge that standards, grades and processes must be used wisely, understanding the inherent challenges in quantifying such a complex set of variables.

Even with the many variables at play in quantifying a coffee’s flavor attributes and how it is perceived, strides are being made in improving what I consider two of the most important aspects of cupping: agreed upon language that can be used as guardrails to assess quality, and cupping standards that provide more consistency across different cuppers when evaluating coffees.

How standards are defined is critical to our industry. Contracts can have clauses tied to standards, producers are dependent on accurate feedback to continue to improve quality, and roasters need to be able to capture, communicate and then replicate the tastes that their customers want. All of these needs, either in harmony or in opposition, will continue to drive the need to improve how we describe and quantify coffee.

Warmest wishes,

Connie

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From the Publisher

The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a chance to step away from the computer, turn off the coffee world and take in the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Through the many compelling plot lines and excellent script, a particular line that was likely lost in the mix for many stood out to me: “Don’t ask how. First ask why.” This was in reference to an outsider asking how a piece of advanced technology worked. The response was perfect—it’s better to understand why the technology exists in the first place than to worry about how it was brought to life.

In this issue, we are presenting a series of articles about green coffee processing. The historic perspective on advancements in coffee processing is presented in “Waves of Coffee Processing” by Luz Stella Artajo Medina. In this column, processing advancements are divided into historical waves. Like progress in almost every other area today, each wave is coming faster as time advances due to leaps forward in technology. The real-world results of changes in processing can be seen in the variety and quality of the Mexican coffees reviewed in this issue’s Coffee Review tasting report (“Mexico Coffee: Processing Innovation, Cooperatives and the Tradition of Collaboration” by Kim Westerman).

If you are like me, the article that you might find yourself spending the most time reading, re-reading and discussing with your peers will be “Additive Fermentation: ‘Infused’ Coffee is Gaining Popularity—and Sparking Industry Debate” by Chris Kornman. This is a complicated topic that seems to stir passionate opinions. It has me re-thinking what it means to be transparent in processing, transparent to consumers, and what the boundaries are for auctions and competitions in the coffee industry.

It is unlikely governmental regulations will be able to keep up with these changes in processing, so it will be up to our industry to guide the way. I have no doubt that co-fermentation in coffee processing will be used to creatively expand what is possible in bringing out flavors in specialty coffee. I also have no doubt that others will try to use these processing techniques to alter defects in lower-quality coffee in hopes of passing those coffees off as higher quality. I encourage everyone to keep an open mind when reading the article, and to be composed and thoughtful with criticisms and opinions. I believe an excellent starting point when considering co-fermentation might be to first ask why—is the goal a new world of possible flavors or a new world of tricks to obscure transparency?—then seek to understand how advanced technologies bring out these results.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

SINCE 2004, THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER EDITION of Roast has always contained our annual Roaster of the Year announcement. From day one, we really wanted this award to be about recognition more than competition. The list is endless when it comes to how many companies deserve this award. For readers not familiar with the competition, there are two components: written and sensory.

First, all entries are judged based on written submissions related to various elements of how roasters conduct their businesses. There are eight general categories, ranging from commitment to the industry to sustainable practices to education. It is by design that more detailed criteria are not given. We want to give as much range as possible for innovative people to open our eyes to all possible meaning and application under the broad categories.

Multiple judges evaluate the written submissions. Three finalists are chosen for Micro Roaster of the Year (less than 100,00 pounds per year) and three finalists are chosen for Macro Roaster of the Year (greater than 100,00 pounds per year). At this point, each of the finalists has been judged to be an exemplar of roasting companies in the industry.

Second, all the finalists submit three roasted coffee samples. Professional coffee cuppers blindly judge the roasts using Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) standards for aroma, color, defects, bean size and flavor profile.

Finally, winners are selected based on the highest combined scores for business practices and roasted coffee cupping scores. It is not an easy competition to win, and each year’s winners are rightfully proud of their accomplishment.

For this year, I am happy to announce our Micro Roaster of the Year is Rabbit Hole Roasters from Montreal, Canada. Rabbit Hole not only executes its vision but is also constantly questioning assumptions about its own responsible and sustainable business practices.

I am equally happy to announce our Macro Roaster of the Year is Cafe Kreyol from Manassas, Virginia. Perhaps following a theme for this year, Cafe Kreyol has developed and operates by its own unique vision for a sustainable business, while also reminding us there are many paths to success in our industry.

I hope these exemplary roasters inspire you to continue your journey in defining what success means, and perhaps provide motivation to execute on that vision every day.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

"I BET YOU CAN'T TELL ME what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel.” This line from the movie “Good Will Hunting” is one of my all-time favorites. In a single line, it not only straight jabs the overly cocky main character, but it also completely brings the audience into the movie by reminding them that experiences count as knowledge as much or more than Mensa-level book smarts. Nobody can be a master coffee roaster by only reading a book about coffee roasting—it must be experienced.

This is why I am so happy about the return of in-person coffee events, and why we are incredibly excited to bring back our own Roast Summit as an in-person event at the Coffee Fest tradeshow in Seattle on Sept. 29. I must extend a big thank you to Coffee Fest, a long-time pillar of the industry, for partnering with Roast to make this a reality. And of course, a sincere thank you to our sponsors and speakers as this event would not happen if not for their support.

Building relationships, both with the presenters and fellow attendees, creates an experience that cannot be fully captured online. Question-and-answer sessions, pre- and post-lecture conversations, and being able to attach “a face to a name” for follow-up emails are powerful reinforcements to the quality of knowledge being shared.

Additionally, there is real power in gathering people for a common purpose. Just being able to look around a room and know you are part of a community, that there are others who are curious and passionate about the same things, is inspiring. The feeling of community and inspiration that people take back to their shops and roasteries can only be derived from personal experience.

Here’s a sneak peek at the session topics and speakers:

• Yimara Martinez Agudelo | Post-Harvest Processing Program Manager, Coffee Quality Institute
  Session: Impacts of Drying Temperatures & Bean Moisture on Seed Quality & Shelf Life

• Nicki Amouri | Roastmaster, Caffè Amouri
  Session: Exploring the Roasting Curve—Part 2

• Rob Hoos | Author and Educator, Iteration.Coffee
  Session: Sample Roasting—A Philosophical & Pragmatic Approach

• Stacey Lynden | Cupping Lab Manager, Swiss Water Decaf
  Session: Approaches to Roasting Decaf Coffee

• Joey Stazzone | President, Cafe Kreyol
  Session: Post-Roast Resting Times and the Sensory Impact

If you are ever lucky enough to visit the Sistine Chapel, I’m sure it might seem like the entire world is stuffed into the space, but of course, only a small slice of humanity will ever come to know what it smells like. Books, movies and lectures are incredibly important to be able to describe the experience to a much larger audience. I continue to believe remote learning platforms that have been developed over the past couple of years are critical to the democratization of knowledge. We will also continue to offer the digital versions of Roast Summit that reach more than 2,500 people, but at the same time, I am really looking forward to seeing all of the smiling faces at numerous future coffee events.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

THE ONLINE REVOLUTION HAS NOT ONLY expanded ways for businesses to find their customers, but also for customers to find their businesses. This allows for a huge variety of business concepts to be successful. Want to find coffee from Nicaragua and sell it to Nicaraguan people in the United States? That’s now possible. Want to specialize in wood-roasted coffee? You will find people who want wood-roasted coffee. Not every concept will become a successful business, but every concept will get its chance to connect. How your concept gets attention (connects) and consistently keeps that connection (sticks) is the fundamental job of branding.

As our article on coffee branding in this month’s issue points out: The scope of coffee brands is expanding and becoming less uniform, which mirrors the expanding variety of business concepts being tested. I find this tremendously exciting as it reflects the incredible creativity and passion of the people in our industry. This requires that businesses are able to define their mission, and to communicate that mission clearly and consistently. “Brand,” in the largest sense, is woven into everything that your business shows—inside and out. If your mission is an unending pursuit of coffee quality, then not only does your packaging need to echo that, but your internal training materials, your cafe design, and your interactions with customers need to echo that as well.

As businesses expand, there is always temptation—either by conscious decision or slow erosion—to expand or muddle the core mission. The drive to capture more market share, fend off a competitor, or take on special projects are business realities. Successful companies consciously use these things to enhance their core mission, or they don’t do them. It won’t matter if a new packaging concept is the coolest you’ve ever seen if it doesn’t support your company’s purpose; in the long run, it won’t help your company thrive. Be conscious in your decision-making, be purposeful in your approach, and be consistent about how your mission is reflected in your brand.

Warm regards,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

A PRECURSOR TO TRUE, non-manufactured optimism is hope, and I believe it is hope that is driving people’s plans and convincing them that now is the time to transform their dreams into actions. There is optimism in the U.S. domestic coffee industry, and in many other burgeoning markets around the world. There is a feeling that the incredible energy and passion that has been fermenting for two years is ready to erupt into new businesses, expanding product lines and growing operations.

Recently, Roast opened and awarded a small business grant with the intent to make an impact by helping a company create opportunities for employees, innovate with technology, commit to equity and diversity in the coffee industry, and develop sustainable practices. I was impressed at the quality of the submissions, and if there was a single thread across the applicants, it was expansion. People are ready with ideas, energy and passion.

Companies and their leaders are prepared with renewed plans and more nimble processes. The past two years have made companies better at dealing with uncertainty. Developing the agility to adjust plans as circumstances change, but keeping to a consistent end goal, has become the foundation of successful businesses.

To read about the grant winner, turn to page 20.

A lot can happen in the four weeks between writing a column and delivering a printed magazine to readers. Geopolitical storm clouds are threatening other geographies more directly than the U.S., and there is a certain sadness in writing a column about optimism at a time when so many are suffering. Hope can be fleeting when survival is a daily struggle, but hope is what helps us envision a brighter future and get through hard times.

Please give what you can to help ease the suffering of refugees in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, and from all conflicts, and continue to draw strength from the knowledge that small actions by many people are making a difference in the world. Flowers grow both in carefully cultivated fields and in cracks in city asphalt.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

‘STANDARD’ IS ONE OF THOSE WORDS that changes meaning based on the context it is used. When used in one way, it represents a consistent way of measuring something, and when used in another way, it represents a goal to be attained. The difference is nuanced; it is a word (among many others) that I’m sure is frustrating to people learning the English language.

In this issue, we have an article introducing the NORM ROAST open standard that is being put forth for coffee roasting machines. It is a fascinating read that demonstrates how our industry continues to evolve and find ways to add consistency to how we discuss technical concepts. Embarking on the path to developing this standard is an important step in codifying how machines are measured (the first meaning of the word).

Quite often the consistency of measurement is the first step that needs to be taken to create a set of standards that align with the second meaning of the word—a goal to be attained. We encounter these types of standards every day in many products; they are necessary to bring confidence when making purchasing decisions. These standards are often communicated as certifications, ensuring products meet minimum standards.

As roasting machine manufacturers start measuring and reporting energy and emissions information in a repeatable process, it will be interesting to see if the results of these measurements lead to a set of minimum standards or certifications. We all know some standards that are helpful (ULA for electronics safety) and some that are questionable (California Prop 65 warnings on seemingly everything). Whether or not coffee roasting machine minimum standards and certifications is a path that is helpful will require input and agreement from both those designing the machines and those purchasing the machines. I encourage you to be active in this conversation.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

WHEN I CONSIDER THE STATE of our business, two opposing thoughts are often battling for space. First, there are so many coffee roasters today. Second, there is still so much opportunity for new and existing coffee roasters. As with most things in life, each view is informed and influenced by my unique history and the pieces of my history that are at the forefront of my mind on that day.

When considering the number of coffee roasters operating today, the initial thought is informed by a baseline set over a decade ago. At one time, it seemed like a thousand or two thousand roasters would be a lot and perhaps the market was approaching saturation. It’s only natural to think that today’s numbers (thousands of roasters) represent a peak when comparing to the historical numbers.

However, I firmly believe that we are in an exciting and expanding time for coffee roasters. Roasters are constantly developing and refining technical expertise, joining with growers to increase quality, and creating new flavor profiles. As we stand on the foundations of those who have worked hard to bring the market to where it is today, there is still much more to explore.

While reviewing the two articles in this issue that discuss scent (“Exploring Scent: The Science, History and Purpose Behind Le Nez du Café”) and aroma (“Reflecting on the Art Behind the Science of Coffee Aroma”), it became clear that there is not only an infinite combination of compounds delivering flavors and aromas to the cup, but there is also an infinite combination of memories and experiences that consumers bring to the cup as well. Not only do our individual experiences with coffee reflect the qualities of the beverage itself, but they also draw on strong aroma-memory connections, with new connections constantly being formed as we move through life.

All of this means that the nature of individual tastes—and hence the markets to appeal to those tastes—are always evolving, thus bringing opportunities for new and existing roasting businesses alike.

Covering how roasting businesses are leading the way to new markets, as well as adapting to their customers’ evolving tastes, is one of the most exciting parts of our work. I hope you find the articles thought-provoking and are inspired to look at coffee roasting in a slightly new way.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

FOR THE 18TH TIME, WE FEATURE our Roaster of the Year winners in this issue. That means that there were Roasters of the Year before there were iPhones, Facebook and Teslas. When the first Roaster of the Year award was announced, “Friends” was still on TV, Tobey Maguire was still Spiderman and Christian Bale was still Batman.

The inspiration that I receive from reviewing the written applications for this competition each year is indescribable. Each application that crosses my desk gives me a nugget of knowledge that makes me think differently about how I approach my business and the best applications inspire me to dream bigger and dream better.

Before I get to writing about this year’s winners, I want to take a moment to review the Roaster of the Year judging process. The contest contains two divisions—one for micro roasters (roasting under 100,000 pounds per year) and one for macro roasters (roasting over 100,000 pounds per year). The submission process includes a written application with eight questions covering the company’s mission, commitment to sustainable practices, employee practices, educational practices, commitment to and involvement in the industry, innovations in roasting, innovations in marketing and best business practices. Some applications are submitted as a one-page document, while others are 50 pages long describing every aspect of their business. From the written applicants, we choose six finalists—three in the micro category and three in the macro category. The important point is that before we even judge the coffees, each business selected as a finalist is inspirational and worthy of recognition.

All the finalists are high-quality companies, so it’s the coffees they submit for judging that separate the winners. Each company submits three different one-pound roasted coffee samples. Coffees are blindly judged by a professional coffee cupper on aroma, color, imperfections, bean size and flavor profile using Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) standards. Winners are selected based on the highest cupping scores combined with the application scores—the best companies with the best coffees. It’s not an easy contest to win.

Although the criteria are set, each judge is unique. What do I look for as a judge? A consistent vision that serves as a foundation and informs the current success while looking to the future. None of the winners are stagnant; they are constantly striving to do all things better.

Our Micro Roaster of the Year winner is Little Waves Coffee Roasters. When Little Waves submitted an application for last year’s competition, earning a spot as a finalist, I knew it would be one to watch. The owners’ passion and love for coffee, for each other, and for their employees jumped off the written application. The concept of ‘unlock goals’ is wonderful and I hope you enjoy reading about their success.

Our Macro Roaster of the Year winner is Huckleberry Roasters. A business with a terrific personality, and another great example of a company made better through a partnership, Huckleberry is a relatively young company that bootstrapped themselves from humble beginnings to one of the world’s best coffee roasters.

Little Waves competed for the top spot in the micro category alongside two remarkable companies, Big Island Coffee Roasters and Rabbit Hole Roasters. Huckleberry was up against Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee and Mr. Espresso in the macro category. All six finalists for this year’s competition delivered incredible applications and coffee that showcased the amazing work they are doing.

Roaster of the Year is truly one of my favorite things we do at Roast. I run a better business because of those who take the considerable time and effort to submit applications. If you have applied in the past, thank you! If you are considering it for next year’s competition, I encourage you to do so.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

IN THIS ISSUE OF ROAST, you will find our 2021 Roasting Business and Salary survey. Although it is our fourth time conducting the survey, it is our first since 2016 (the first survey was conducted in 2008). It provides quantitative results, giving a view into our collective industry, as well as qualitative results to add a personal voice that is critical to contextualizing the data.

I hope you find the categories and responses thought provoking, rather than simply a collection of results. As we all know, statistics can be dangerous animals; one can invent multitudes of universes based on the same data and, with pretzel twists of logic, can justify their existence quite easily. For instance, by simply skimming through and selectively combining the largest buckets from the survey charts, it could (unreasonably) be concluded that the roasting business is dominated by wholesale roasters, with a single inexperienced owner/roaster working on one machine, raking in over $1 million in business each year while attending trade shows and cupping most of the time. To quote a favorite movie, ‘Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.’

It’s human nature to view the data through a lens that reinforces preexisting prejudices. This is where both the quantitative results and comparisons to previous surveys provide critical context to aid in finding trends in the statistics, providing insights that enable us to evolve and adjust course in our own businesses.

With the aforementioned risks in mind, here are a couple of thoughts on the results for consideration. Some of the results are surprisingly stable given the time and changes that have occurred in the world between this survey and the previous one. Our industry still reflects people who are passionate about what they do (or at least generally satisfied), despite the reality that many feel underpaid for their level of responsibility. Given the increase in the percent of businesses doing more than $1 million per year, perhaps consolidation is having an effect? Lastly, could comparing annual revenue to the number of employees or the number of roasting machines to floor space possibly tell the story that roasters are more efficient than in the past? Or maybe you are all just working more?

I am curious to hear how the results align to your experiences and what thoughts and trends you pull out of the survey. For the next survey (and the next and the next), I hope the numbers continue to reflect our passion for the job.

With regard,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

I’D LIKE TO DEDICATE this column to the theory of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers. Now that I have your attention, I will attempt to explain how the engineering is simply an extension of human behavior.

A PID controller uses set values, such as water temperature measured in a brewer, and fancy math to continuously calculate and adjust the amount of power being used to heat the water and maintain the desired brewing temperature. This technology is so omnipresent in our lives today that we typically don’t even realize when it is being employed. Continuous adaptability runs the cruise control in your car, tankless hot water heaters for your house, fan speed and direction in your drones and countless other systems in our everyday lives. The controllers are terrific at maintaining a set value, so the real challenge is telling the system what that value should be, especially in a system that undergoes rapid changes.

What in the world does this have to do with your favorite coffee trade journal, you ask? The Roast team has always made it our goal to follow the ‘set values’ we started with over seventeen years ago. We are dedicated to covering the art, science and business of coffee from a technical perspective. Our print editions have adapted as needed over the years, based on input from our readers, editorial board and expert writers, in order to maintain relevance around those values. Our business is a human-driven control system.

Our ‘system’ has undergone rapid changes in the past sixteen months, but I am encouraged by how quickly we have been able to adapt and find new ways to engage with our community. As face-to-face events were cancelled or postponed, our digital content has grown to extend our values to a broader audience. Through online events such as Roast Summit and the Coffee Roasting Forum, a new series of audio articles and our ongoing coverage of industry happenings through Daily Coffee News, we have been able to reach coffee professionals around the world who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to participate or learn from these resources. We also added to our growing list of published books, with the recent release of Cheap Coffee: Behind the Curtain of the Global Coffee Tradeby Karl Wienhold, available in both print and digital formats.

While it seems that the only constant is change, I am proud of the people who do the ‘fancy math’ at Roast and ensure our business stays on course regardless of external circumstances. Given that change is constant, I am sad to announce that Kelly Stewart, our technical editor who has been working with Roast for over 10 years in some editorial capacity, is moving on. We will miss her dearly and greatly appreciate everything she has done for Roast.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

SPRING IS A FANTASTIC TIME to hike in the Pacific Northwest. Before the mountain trails clear of snow, the hikes are limited to the lowland fields, waterfalls and rivers. These hikes epitomize the classic saying, “It’s the journey, not so much the destination.” Along the way, I tend to observe often-overlooked things, like how an entire ecosystem can be contained on a single fallen log. Mosses, ferns, fungi, insects and countless other creatures form a world that has always been there, doing important natural work, largely unnoticed.

At the end of February, Roast hosted the second Roast Summit. It was our first-ever virtual event, due to covid-19 restrictions. Like the fallen log, it took an entire ecosystem working together to make this event successful.

We had a fantastic lineup of speakers. Monica Terveer and Yimara Martinez Agudelo spoke on water activity in green coffee, Candice Madison spoke on the chemistry of coffee, Rob Hoos spoke on airflow in roasting, and Anne Cooper spoke about being a more decisive roaster. If you missed the live event, you can catch all of these presentations on our website at roastmagazine.com/roastsummit.

Going about their important work, largely unnoticed (which is a good thing at an event), the team behind the scenes did a fantastic job producing this virtual gathering. Thank you to Roast Editor Lily Kubota, Business Development Director Claire Harriman and Art Director Jeremy Leff—you are the heart, soul and brains of Roast (I’ll let you decide who is which).

Roast Summit would be more like Roast Flatlands if it wasn’t for the large (2,500 registered attendees) and participatory audience. I’ll be the first to say that I was skeptical of an online event. I thrive on the personal interaction that I have with the coffee community and initially couldn’t imagine what hosting an online event would feel like. To my surprise, interacting with the presenters and the audience (through the chat) gave the impression that we were together.

In order to reach as wide an audience as possible, we made the event free for attendees. Like the often-overlooked fallen logs on a riverside trail, the need for affordable and free educational platforms was always there but rarely noticed by event organizers on their way to grander destinations. Free and affordable events should have been happening pre-pandemic, and now the need is so clear—there is no turning back. However, we all know that “free” is not really “free,” and the final and truly critical piece of the ecosystem that makes this all work is the support of our sponsors. Thank you to all of our sponsors! Quality events like Roast Summit have hard costs, attendees get real value and sponsors get tangible exposure and business. This is an ecosystem that works, and I look forward to continuing these types of events in the future.

With regard,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

IT’S A DEFINING HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC that we tend to put things into mental buckets. Perhaps we advanced to be this way so we could make everyday decisions without using too much brain space (Tide Ultra or generic, checkout lane two or four, wintergreen or spearmint, paper or plastic?). Droves of books on product marketing are devoted to taking advantage of this concept—sometimes to the benefit of the consumer, sometimes to trick the consumer.

How is the term “specialty coffee” defined, who defines it, and how will the definition evolve? I hope the second installment of Spencer Turer’s article “Evolving the Concept of Specialty Coffee” (page 68) generates deep personal thought and vigorous in-company conversations. Through our sourcing, industry and consumer connections, each of us has a role and a responsibility to thoughtfully engage in the definition of “specialty.”

Today, the typical specialty coffee consumer starts out much like you and me, standing in front of the beer case at the grocery. If the store is anything like my grocery, the shopper faces hundreds of choices. If I am looking for quality, the first level of elimination involves price. For the most part, you can pay high-end prices for low quality but not low-end prices for high quality. Price is an obvious first filter, but then what? Clearly, previous experience with the brand is a separating factor. In coffee or beer, is the next factor a local connection? Is it “craft” marketing? Are we even able to put our reasons into words? Most people, I feel, would struggle.

To all these categories, coffee adds the tie to the producing community. It’s important for us in the industry to know where the coffee comes from, and origin is a factor for some consumers. It is also the most loosely defined and the ripest characteristic for abuse in defining “specialty coffee.” Certifications, traceability, direct and relationship all mean something to those of us who work in the industry, but how do they define specialty to the consumer? For that matter, what place to do they have in defining specialty in the industry? These are difficult but important questions.

How coffee is characterized and defined has certainly evolved positively over my decades in the business. Search the website of any well-respected specialty coffee roaster, and you will find a common thread: freshness. Specialty coffee, through the work and consistency of the people in the business, has imprinted the importance of freshness on the consumer to the point where it is not only a differentiator between commercial-grade and specialty coffee, but also between packaging types and markings, such as “roasted on” dates. I am proud that our industry has taken the lead in delineating these characteristics, but our work is far from finished. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I do and that it inspires you to help move us all forward.

With regard,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

“IF A MAN WILL BEGIN WITH certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” Sir Francis Bacon wrote this bizarrely prophetic sentence 500 years ago, and I find myself contemplating it at the dawn of this new year.

It would be remarkable if my column could inform you with certainty about the upcoming changes in our industry as the world crawls out from under the barrel of the Covid steamroller. However, the good sir and father of the scientific method would remind me that it is far better to start with skepticism, then observe and deduce conclusions over time. With that process in mind, here are a few of the questions I will be eager to examine this year:

• On in-home coffee consumption: Will the incredible growth in home grinding, brewing and consumption continue once retail shops reopen? Or will high-end espresso machines and burr grinders join the Peloton and the Sprinter camping van for sale on the curb as people crave “third space” social interaction? Will online sales of roasted coffee beans continue to increase as other options return?

• On consumer tastes: Has home consumption permanently changed how consumers appreciate coffee? Will the office coffee market ever recover? I have the same question about restaurant coffee sales.

• On the business of roasting: Will the coffee supply chain suffer more significant disruptions due to a variety of factors (Covid spread in producing countries, climate change, pests and rust, and other unknown sources)? Will roasters be able to quickly pivot between online home sales, wholesale and retail as the world struggles forward in a “two steps up and one step back” dance? Will there be a return to in-person marketing and events, or will budgets be permanently altered to reaching consumers online?

I am a naturally optimistic person, and even with the ongoing struggles in our industry, I see positive forces moving us forward in the new year. I believe that pent-up personal and business capital will gather momentum through the year. I believe that there are scores of talented people who have either been sidelined or are on hold, treading water, but are ready to develop new products and projects. The breakdown of traditional ways of doing business will provide fertile soil for the sprouting of new ideas.

I look forward to this new year with cautious excitement and a questioning spirit, and hope you do, as well.

With regard,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

IN CREATING AND TWEAKING our criteria for our annual Roaster of the Year award, we seek to reveal the best roasting companies in our industry. Our questions invite applicants to share many facets of their business practices, including their contribution to the industry, sustainability, roasting practices, and commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity. As always, this year’s finalists shone across all categories—and, of course, because we send the finalists’ samples to independent judges for blind cuppings, their coffee must be as stellar as their business practices.

I can’t be sure if this year’s applicants were any different from past years, or if this challenging year has me thinking more about the human element of our business, but one area that stood out this year was our finalists’ commitment to their employees. In tangible ways, each company treats its employees from a “heart-driven” perspective (thank you, Little Waves Coffee Roasters, for one of my new favorite terms).

In addition to a commitment to paying their employees living wages and providing health insurance for full-time employees, our finalists supplied numerous examples of employee empowerment. Tony’s Coffee offers an open-book management practice with profit sharing tied to transparent financial goals. Thread Coffee Roasters, an employee cooperative, fixes wage ratios between the highest- and lowest-paid employees; and Little Waves Coffee Roasters presents a transparent wage structure. These businesses offer strong incentives for employees to invest in the company’s success.

Although these practices look great on an award application, what’s the real payoff for these companies? First, it takes an astonishing amount of resources to find, hire and train new employees. Multiple surveys show that companies invest thousands of dollars for each new employee, not including the time lost in the process. Practices that retain and promote employees internally save money. Second, as we have seen during the pandemic, cross-trained employees can be quickly redirected from retail to production and back to retail. This enables companies to bounce back faster than the competition as business picks up. Additionally, employee-centered policies encourage employee input and a focus on the greater good of the community (aptly named Greater Goods Coffee Company is a prime example of this outlook). When employees feel heard and valued, it has a direct impact on team unity and morale.

Take inspiration from, adapt and use the examples from our winners, who are outlined in this issue. You will discover how capable employees, when given responsibility and accountability, will reward themselves and the business with sustainable and resilient growth.

Once again, congratulations to all our applicants, finalists and winners.

• Macro winner: Tony’s Coffee

• Micro winner: Greater Goods Coffee Company

• Runners-up: Barrie House Coffee Roasters (Macro), Colectivo Coffee (Macro), Little Waves Coffee Roasters (Micro), Thread Coffee Roasters (Micro)

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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The founder and publisher of Roast magazine, Connie Blumhardt has spent 25 years in magazine publishing and has worked in the coffee industry for the last 20 years. Connie brings the same passion and commitment to this industry journal that is present within the roasting community.

With each issue, Connie brings insight and inspiration to the pages of Roast with this column.

“EVERY FIGHTER HAS A PLAN UNTIL they get hit in the mouth.” This statement pretty much captures our collective year. It’s appropriate that the source of that quote is Mike Tyson, who had 44 knockouts in his 58 heavyweight fights, since it feels like we just got clocked with a big Mike Tyson haymaker in 2020. Everyone feels the effects; it’s how we react to the adversity that will define the next year and beyond. Some will be flattened on the mat, others will plow ahead with plans unchanged, and some will throw the entire plan out and just flail away. Perhaps the most successful will take a standing eight count, stabilize, clear their heads and adjust the plan. Resilience, balance and nimbleness will replace strict adherence to a set plan.

Resilience is almost a given for any business that has come this far into the pandemic. Managing the short-term emergencies in the first half of the year favored those who were prepared (cash reserves, diversified revenue streams) and, frankly, somewhat lucky (no recent risky expansions or large debt). Getting off the mat and transitioning beyond life support is coming at us all fast, which will offer opportunities for companies that are both balanced and nimble.
Balance comes from having core strength, meaning consistent business values and competencies. Business values, such as providing quality products and services—and caring for the health of employees, customers and the supply chain—are not subject to market whims. Values make up the foundation that allows businesses to adjust quickly to new opportunities without straying too far from the things that made them successful in the first place.

Customer habits have changed quickly, as have employee and production systems and supply chain processes, and a significant share of those changes will be long lasting. Yet I don’t foresee that overall coffee consumption will radically change over the next couple of years. Coffee is still an affordable luxury (or necessity) and is rebounding faster than many other nonessential, bigger ticket markets. Clearly, online ordering, delivery and home preparation are opportunities, and I expect cafes will be among the first businesses to figure out how to safely accommodate customers in person.

There are a couple of keys to setting up a nimble business that can recognize and benefit from new opportunities. First, all businesses are training businesses—ever more so now. There will be new processes for existing employees and an influx of new employees, as well. The better employees are enabled, the better they will understand and embrace new opportunities.

Second, constant interaction with employees, customers and suppliers will enable businesses to more quickly identify and react to trends and issues. This needs to be a conscious and practiced activity, as it is all too easy for physical distance to turn into isolation.

Finally, credibility will be more important then ever. Customers, employees and suppliers will reward companies they trust. In an environment with so much uncertainty, trust developed through reliable service, reliable delivery and reliable business practices will provide the relationships that are nimble (and resilient) enough to identify and take advantage of market changes ahead of the competition.

I truly believe the next year will be positive, with doors opening literally and figuratively. The best companies will be steady, clear-headed and ready to take advantage.

Warmest Wishes,

Connie

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