Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

Guests: Lee Lizotte and Dana Lizotte
Based: 32122 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
Online: truelovecoffee.co • @truelovecoffeeco

Coffee People is presented by Roastar, Inc.

This is the last episode of season 14. It was the first time I recorded IRL for the Free Coffee Tour. I’ve been putting off editing and publishing it because I was afraid. The FCT trip was a big deal for me. It was a challenge to be working on the road with new equipment and in a new format, unlike the traditional show, which I recorded from the safety and comfort of the closet podcasting studio. I was afraid to fail, to screw up a show, to find out that the IRL version of me wasn’t as capable as the studio version.

But what works for any creative effort changes over time. That’s true of most entrepreneurial efforts, too, including in a coffee shop. In the years it has taken Lee Lizotte to get the doors at True Love Coffee Co. open, a lot has changed. Customer palates, the supply chain, the neighborhood around him, the True Love Coffee Co. business plan, and his team. Say nothing of a global pandemic that shifted the entire hospitality industry like a tsunami-inducing rattle of the tectonic plates.

The True Love Coffee Co., which opened in February of 2025, was a different version than the one initially envisioned, but the most important things are the same. The kindness that the customers receive when they walk in the door, the care the staff gives the coffees, the sweetness found in (some) of the specialty cocktails, and the desire to serve.

Lee and Dana are hospitality-forward. It is evident by the smiles of the repeat customers entering the shop and the ones on the faces of first-timers as they exit under the sign portraying the True Love Coffee Co. mantra: Warm, Sweet, Kind.

During the Free Coffee Tour, I made a few mistakes—many of them technical, but this show and coffee storytelling effort is better for the experience. The stop at True Love Coffee Co. set the tone for the grace I would both experience and offer over several weeks on the road. I try to take that with me even today. Wherever the Coffee People story goes from here, it relaunched with a mug of coffee at True Love Coffee Co. Thanks for the kindness.

COFFEE FOR A CAUSE: LITTLEFOOT ROASTERS (GRANDVILLE, MI)

Thanks for the kindness and space to work, Alex and Rosie!

BUY CON AMOR

GABRIEL BOSCANA GOFUNDME

CHANGES TO THIS NEWSLETTER

This is the last newsletter we’ll be sending from the Substack platform and the last coming as the Roast! West Coast newsletter. We’ll launch Season 15 from our new home on the Ghost platform, which offers us more options for our newsletter and website.

We’ve been leaning into the Coffee People moniker for a while. The new version of the newsletter will be branded as such. We hope it makes it easier for people to find (and share) our coffee content.

The most significant changes will be the overall visual of the website and newsletter. We’ll still be providing the same consistent service. I appreciate your patience, and please offer any feedback or requests you may have!

We also have a new merch shop. We’ve joined with Printful.com to offer swag on-demand. Check it out here: coffeepeople.printful.me.

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc.

CHECK OUT ROASTAR

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

BARATZA GRINDERS

HYDROFLASK BOTTLES

CURRENT COFFEE COLLABS

• Yeah, No…Yeah with Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

• Coffee Sensei with Coffee Cycle Roasting (Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA)

• On The Road Edition with Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)

• Coming soon: Ice Age Trail Boots Edition with The Pinery Coffee Co. (Wausau, WI)

  

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

Guest: Ben Saur, 10 Speed Coffee Bar
Role: Owner
Based: 1412 13th St, Hood River, OR 97031…not the touristed part.
Online: @10speedcoffeebar • saurfarming.com
What they drink: Decaf mocha

Ownership of a cafe can be executed in many different ways. There is the owner-operator (or barista-operator), the absentee owner, the micromanager, the friendly owner, the yeller, and so on. They all have their place in the pantheon of coffee shops we find on the road.

Ben Saur has been several of those in his career. He started at 10 Speed Coffee Bar as a barista and then as the cafe manager. When he bought the cafe, his role changed, but only slightly, because he was already running the business as if he were the owner. Over time, he created space within the parameters of ownership that allowed him to place trusted individuals into the manager roles. It didn’t happen overnight, but it allowed him to step back from the hustle and flow of the coffee bar service to marinate on the bigger picture of how he wanted the cafe to be ingrained in the community.

The 10 Speed Coffee Bar isn’t really on the way. Tourists won’t stumble on it the way they will the shops in downtown or along the waterfront, where the core of the business district sits. The windsurfers throwing themselves upon the mercy of the Anemoi* for consistent winds in the gorge will run into a half dozen coffee purveyors before making it over to 10 Speed. The customers that come through the cafe’s doorways are mostly the same—evolving with the neighborhood—day after day after day.

I first sat in the loft, a warmly lit space upstairs, with a cup of coffee. I was joined by a toddler and their trailing father, who were merely exploring. Back downstairs, the space is simple and worn. I say that as one of the best things about a coffee shop. It is an efficient space with splashes of character, but without relying on gimmicks to draw people in. The customers come for the service provided by the baristas, for the coffee, and for the warmth that exudes in us all when we step into a place where more humans are ready with a smile and a hello than choose to avert their eyes to a device or the floor.

I sat in 10 Speed Coffee Bar for about half a day, not nearly long enough to really do the place justice. Even in the short time I was there, it felt like home away from home. On the tail end of a long time and a lot of miles away from mine, it was a gift I didn’t realize I needed.

Both Ben and 10 Speed Coffee Bar’s online presence is limited. It’s better to just stop by, and say, “Hello.”

*The Greek gods of the four winds. Learn more: https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Anemoi.html

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

• The care for the coffee hasn’t changed at 10 Speed Coffee Bar, but the culture of specialty coffee has slowly permeated even smaller towns. The competition has been catching up.

• I love a simple menu. Don’t make me think too hard. But do the things you do really, really well.

  

• Saur Farms is a horse-drawn market farm in Mt. Hood, Oregon.

We farm on 10 acres under the northern foothills of Mt. Hood. Our goal is to make a living from our land while increasing the health and life of our land and our community. We believe that a healthy community starts with healthy food, and that healthy food starts with healthy soil.

Using our team of Norwegian Fjord draft horses, we cultivate our market garden and manage our forest land. We sell our produce and flowers through our CSA, the Hood River Farmer’s Market, and several local restaurants.

Please come find us at market, or shoot us an email if you’re interested in becoming part of our CSA.

-Ben and Anastasia

• I made a note to include a photo of a phone book in this list. It was harder than expected. I never did find a usable stock photo that visually explained it. The phone book was an annual listing of all the phone numbers listed alphabetically by the number’s owner within a geographical area. The white section at the front was the residential section, and the yellow pages at the back were the businesses. These books were delivered to your home or business, whether you wanted one or not, and sometimes left in piles on the doorstep.

• The connecting thread between Ben’s various efforts is community. Developing and maintaining community is core to his ethos as a human and as a business owner. As an owner, he has become less prone to worrying so much about making everyone happy all the time, especially at the expense of his staff. He prefers to lead by example after years of working hard to develop a reputation for quality, fairness, and consistency. He works hard to find good people. Then his most important job is to reward them for and enable them to do good work in hopes of keeping them.

• Maybe it’s you…just saying.

• Ben wanted to be a rock star. I just want to sing one song on stage one time.

• Ben’s philosophy on being successful in hospitality: You have the social side and the professional craft side. You need to find a way to do both. If you’re better at one than the other, practice the side that you’re less adept at.

  

CHANGES TO THIS NEWSLETTER

This newsletter is currently platformed on Substack. We’re migrating to Ghost, which offers us more options for a newsletter and website. Companies are filled with the ever complex animal that is the human being. There are always going to be differences in perspective. Mine have not been aligning with Substack’s for some time, and we’re finally able to make a change that will also allow us to offer better service to the followers of the Coffee People Podcast.

The most significant changes will be the overall visual of the website and newsletter. We’ll still be providing the same consistent service. I appreciate your patience, and please offer any feedback or requests you may have!

We also have a new merch shop. We’ve joined with Printful.com to offer swag on-demand. Check it out here: coffeepeople.printful.me.

COFFEE OUTSIDE

I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee outside this summer. Stay tuned to our socials for updates. Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc.

CHECK OUT ROASTAR

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Learn more about our:

We meet cool people. We collab on great coffees. FYI: we’re not generally allowed to touch the roasting machines. The experts do that! Current Collabs:

• Coffee Cycle Roasting (Pacific Beach/Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA) NEW!

BUY COFFEE SENSEI

• Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

• Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)* NEW!

SHOP ON THE ROAD COLLAB

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

Guest: Laura Lawson Visconti, Drink Coffee Do Stuff
Role: CoFounder & Art Director
Based: Lake Tahoe and Truckee, CA + Reno, NV
Online: www.drinkcoffeedostuff.com • @drinkcoffee_dostuff • lauralawsonvisconti.com
What they drink: A light roast cortado…until they get jittery.
The interview with Nick Visconti:

I’ve been trying to get Laura onto the podcast for almost two years! I’m glad it worked out that we got to do our chat in person. The cafe where I was sitting was a great reflection of the vision that Laura and her partners at Drink Coffee Do Stuff are putting forth—growing communities. It is a challenge for any business to grow and remain true to its original vision, but DCDS is trying to do just that by committing to taking on opportunities that align with its ethos, not just those that are readily available.

SHOP DCDS COFFEES

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

• By her admission, Laura started as a "Starbucks Matcha girl…" Many specialty coffee drinkers, roasters, cafe owners, and appreciators got their start down the rabbit hole at a Starbucks. Whatever your thoughts are on the current iteration of the company as they try to reclaim their specialty bonafides, the specialty coffee community wouldn't exist without them kicking the world off the instant coffee cliff.

• Laura was one of the first influencers before that became a real thing, much less a real career goal for the youths. She got her coffee start because she was ordering aesthetically beautiful drinks in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010. Instagram launched in 2010, which makes me feel old. Do the kids still Instagram? Either way, she’s a photographer. View her work online here and here.

  

• Laura has a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa, or RP for short. It involves a reduction of the peripheral vision that progresses over time. The vision slowly dissipates into a point, potentially leading to full blindness. It was a major life turning point that started in a dark place and was leading—literally—to a dark place, but so much good has come from addressing the diagnosis. It forced her to think way outside the box about her career and the life she leads with her family.

• I love a good A-frame sign. Street signage creates a real functional impact and value at a very low cost.

• For non-action sports stars (or semi-stars), the term "stoked" means excited or thrilled with an emphasis on the passionate enthusiasm.

• Boundaries! Setting them, keeping them, and being on the same page is challenging in any long-term relationship. Being in a business together creates even more navigable backwaters to get slogged down on. According to Laura, some of the ways they've managed is to focus on what they do best for the business and let their partners do the same, and to create separate work and personal life carveouts in their time.

• BTW: I don't always show up to a show unshowered, but I came right from camp. If you can camp in the Lake Tahoe region, you should, but beware of bears, for real. There was a bear, let's call her Cinnamon,* in our neighbor's campsite at Fallen Leaf Lake Campground just a few weeks ago.

• She claims not to be a coffee person, but without creativity and marketing, no one would know that coffee is an important part of our community. Laura is a Coffee person

*You're not supposed to name the bears, or you might forget they are bears and get attached.

COFFEE OUTSIDE

I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee outside this summer. Stay tuned to our socials for updates. Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

DRINK COFFEE DO STUFF is a specialty coffee company built with the belief that extraordinary coffee leads to an extraordinary life. The mantra began in the Swiss Alps in 2012 during founder Nick Visconti’s pro snowboard days and continues today at our Lake Tahoe headquarters. As specialty coffees grow at elevations similar to that of our roastery, all our coffees are sourced from the mountains and roasted in the mountains. The hallmark of our coffee roasting style is maximizing sweetness and revealing origin characteristic. High altitude roasting at 6,000ft in Lake Tahoe provides us unique advantages to achieve this consistently making all our coffees more sweet, less bitter.
• www.drinkcoffeedostuff.com

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc.

CHECK OUT ROASTAR

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

COLLABORATION COFFEES!

We meet cool people. We collab on great coffees. FYI: we’re not generally allowed to touch the roasting machines. The experts do that! Current Collabs:

• Coffee Cycle Roasting (Pacific Beach/Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA) NEW!

BUY COFFEE SENSEI

• Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

• Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)* NEW!

Our new daily driver. Brew up a cup for your next dawn patrol. Works swell in the mountains or at the coast!

SHOP ON THE ROAD COLLAB

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

Guest: Samir Benouar, Milka Coffee
Based: Sacramento, CA
Online: www.milkacoffee.com • @milkacoffee
The original interview:

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

Has the internet replaced IRL social groups? Discuss.

Just kidding. I know that it has. Sitting in the original Milka cafe, a historic home with plenty of emotional warmth to go around, I’m reminded that in the brief moments between screen-time, the local coffee shop can be that.

I’m on the road and missing the familiar faces from my home shop even if I don’t know their names or stories. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long at a new shop like Milka to feel that bit of connection that makes me think…maybe this isn’t a simulation!

The Founder of Milka Coffee, Samir Benouar, is a repeat guest on the Coffee People podcast. He didn’t disappoint. We had already covered his coffee origin story in the first virtual sit-down, so for our IRL meeting, we were able to focus more on current coffee events, managing a growing business and growing family, and how the current economy is impacting his business. Plus, I got a history lesson on Samir’s lineage as they’ve grown along with the Sacramento community.

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

SHOP MILKA COFFEE

• The relationship between barista and regular creates a comfortable familiarity that uplifts a community. The cafe becomes a hub or a social connecting point for so many people.

• I’m nicer than I let on…

• There is always the pressure to grow. The reality is that growth in one area of life skews the other. When Samir had a child, he had to confront some conflicting emotions that came with supporting both aspects of his life.

• If you’ve been making money just by putting up a shingle. This economic time is going to be rough.

• Robots are not coming for the baristas jobs. I think human interaction is a key component to the coffee shop experience. I went to the Bot Bar. At first it was weird. The robot barista waved at me as I rode up on my bike, and beckoned me inside.
  
  As I looked at the menu, a voice said, “Let me know if I can help you with anything.”
  
  It was not an enthusiastic, robotic voice. It was an employee sitting on the floor behind the robot barista. “I was wondering if there would be any humans working here,” I replied.
  
  “The robot needs a babysitter. Sometimes the arms get stuck,” they said.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Named after our great grandmother Milka Radonich (a former Sacramento small business owner) Milka Coffee Roasters is all about family, friends and the cities we live and play in. For our flagship coffee shop founder and Coffee Roaster Samir Benouar drew inspiration from his years spent reading, writing and working behind espresso machines in New York, San Francisco and his hometown Sacramento. When you chat with Samir or enjoy one of our creations it's clear that our dedication to coffee reaches beyond roasting to the settings and ways in which coffee is made and enjoyed.
• milkacoffee.com

Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc.

CHECK OUT ROASTAR

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

COLLABORATION COFFEES!

We meet cool people. We collab on great coffees. FYI: we’re not generally allowed to touch the roasting machines. The experts do that! Current Collabs:

• Coffee Cycle Roasting (Pacific Beach/Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA) NEW!

BUY COFFEE SENSEI

• Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

• Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)* NEW!

Our new daily driver. Brew up a cup for your next dawn patrol. Works swell in the mountains or at the coast!

SHOP ON THE ROAD COLLAB

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

Guest: Jillian Quint, Deltina Coffee Roasters
Based: Oceano and San Luis Obispo, CA
Online: www.deltinacoffeeroasters.com • @deltinacoffee
What they order: Oat milk cappuccino

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

The second location of Deltina Coffee Roasters has a different vibe from the original roasting facility. It is located across from Cal-Poly, where Jillian attended university (and, dare I say, possibly partied a time or two nearby). It is designed to be the kind of cafe that encourages lollygagging…er…I mean studying.

The ceilings are high and white. There is seating for casual lounging, solo studying, and long tables for groups. Soft pop music wafted over the patrons—loud enough to hear but not so loud you couldn’t pop on a pair of headphones. I arrived early and returned to my car to grab a laptop because it felt like the kind of environment conducive to getting a few pages written.

It is a happy, open space at a time when we need more happy spaces. At least I do. I arrived at the cafe fresh from visiting one of my own. I was camping along the California coast, which always takes a pleasant emotional toll on me. My heart and brain are arguing over the value of gratitude versus melancholy. The heavy waves were as hypnotic as the tall, waving grasses leading off into the woods high up on the hillsides.

If I arrived raw from my brush with nature, Jillian showed up with a refreshing openness and willingness to share. We cover a lot in a short period and then some. We spoke for another hour off-camera. She is thoughtful, well-spoken, and willing to engage even when the conversation veers off the rails.*

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

SHOP DELTINA COFFEES

• Deltina Coffee’s new location is a happy, open space.

• The business was originally named Quintessa before being rebranded as Deltina Coffee Roasters. The name is a nod to one of the original names considered for the Oceano community, culled from a list dating back to 1892. Deltina is a reference where to the river delta formed between Pismo Beach and Oceano. A river delta creates an important ecological triangle where a faster-moving body of water meets a slower-moving one, like the river leading into an ocean or lake. That connecting point often forms a triangular shape mimicking the letter d or delta in the Greek alphabet. The cafe is also a place where two (or more) people meet, although the speeds at which they engage may not be as relevant.

• Building community in a small town offers many challenges. None is greater than having the community begin to trust you. Communing with the businesses nearby was the first start for the Quints to make inroads into both Oceano and SLOE. The second key component was providing a product and service of a caliber that their new customers appreciate.

• I clearly don’t understand how kids and/or parenting work, but I endorse Jillian’s point that adding a business to the family is like adding a child. It requires constant attention and nurturing to create foundational growth. The smart decisions for the business are not always smart decisions for the persons running the business. There is the straightforward profit/loss survival that works in tandem, or in direct opposition, with the emotional needs of the owners, employees, and customers.

• Like it or not, the impacts on hospitality from the COVID-19 pandemic era are still with us. That time impacted how businesses are run and what tools are available to business owners and shifted the collective consumer audience’s decision-making when making buying choices.

  
  I don’t see that going away even if, as a community, we are not requiring masks or arguing about local and national pandemic policy. Many coffee shops, in particular, learned how to do more with less. Customers became much more aware of the supply chain impacts affecting local businesses. Both became more discerning with how and where they were spending their money.

• According to Jillian, trusting your business (and life) partner is the key. It is the fundamental step in having real conversations about the business. Jillian and Jack have different working styles but work at maintaining bigger shared goals. One challenge is retaining awareness that those goals will evolve over time and creating space to make sure they are still on the same page.

• Small businesses evolve. They install new syrup recipes, updating pos system, add to the roasting options, updating designs. There is a continuum of details that get shaped over time. Growth is part of that, but not the only goal. Sometimes, growth is about refining the space and processes that already exist.

• Check out the Roaster’s Choice line of coffees.

*Most of my conversations quickly go off the rails!

IN CASE YOU MISSSED IT

Listen to our interview with Jillian’s husband and Deltina Coffee Roasters CoFounder Jack Quint on Spotify.

Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc. and our friend Nick Schmitt who is YouTube coffee famous.

ROASTAR DESIGN LAB

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

COLLABORATION COFFEES!

We meet cool people. We collab on great coffees. FYI: we’re not generally allowed to touch the roasting machines. The experts do that! Current Collabs:

• Coffee Cycle Roasting (Pacific Beach/Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA) NEW!

BUY COFFEE SENSEI

We finally got all our bikes in a row. Coffee Sensei is a nod to my coffee origin story as the first barista hired at Coffee Cycle Roasting. The conversations between Chris and I on the slow mornings in the first days directly led to Roast! West Coast.

The coffee is a blend of Colombia, Ethiopia, and Sumatra (Indonesia) coffees. Each have a special place in the timeline of our friendship and me falling down the specialty coffee rabbit-hole. There is a special Easter egg on the package as nod to the very first time Chris made me drink Ethiopia coffees. Like many others, it changed my life for the better.

Coffee Sensei is a medium blend crafted from two coffee origins that were featured prominently on the Coffee Cycle menu in its early days—Colombia and Sumatra. The Colombia is a coffee that brings balance to the blend, with tasting notes of milk chocolate and caramel. The Sumatra adds a savory roundness and full body to make the cup truly satisfying. The Ethiopia Natural finishes the blend by contributing a hint of gentle acidity and sweetness.

• Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

• Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)* NEW!

Our new daily driver. Brew up a cup for your next dawn patrol. Works swell in the mountains or at the coast!

SHOP ON THE ROAD COLLAB

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

Guest: Chadwick Harman, Regent Coffee
Based: Los Angeles, CA
Online: www.regentcoffee.com • @regentcoffee
What he orders: A cortado, and occasionally, a spicy latte.

The Coffee People Podcast took off in early June on our first-ever* Free Coffee Tour. We visited coffee shops and roasters along a meandering route from San Diego to Portland, OR, as we traveled to Coffeefest. At each stop, we recorded an episode of Coffee People and (tried) to buy people a cup of coffee. Thank you for watching and enjoying good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

Los Angeles turned out to be an unusual place to try to buy people coffee. I posted up at Regent Coffee for several hours, and almost no one would let me buy them a cup of coffee. At one point, I made a little markerboard sign that said, “Free Coffee for Nice People.”

More than one person looked at it and said, paraphrasing, “I’m not a nice person,” and walked through the door to buy their own coffee. I’d argue that wanting to buy your own coffee and support the local coffee shop makes you a nice person. Right?

Regardless, a bearded man offering to buy you a drink doesn’t go very far on York BLVD! It was the first of many lessons I learned from the tour. I managed to make a few new friends, including a pleasant actor who did let me buy their coffee and a cute dog. Still felt like a win.

Shout out to Regent Coffee Founder and Owner Leon Nie for recommending I chat with Chadwick from the Regent Coffee leadership team. Chadwick is a coffee person and also a creative. He’s a producer, writer, and filmmaker whose skills in people and production management happen to pair very well with coffee roaster operations.

The coffee shop–as a concept–is a messy, loud place. So is this show. With this tour, I’m breaking free from the booth,** getting myself into the mix with the people, and challenging myself with technical skills I’ve long been afraid to take on. Chadwick and I chatted on a bench in front of the shop next to a fairly York Boulevard.

• Chadwick learned to make coffee at a very young age because if the coffee wasn’t made on Christmas morning, he couldn’t open presents. Young Chadwick took matters into his own hands.

• Coffee shops and bars are community hubs. The people who frequent them care about the other people who spend time in those walls. The why doesn’t seem to be as important as the willingness to connect.

• What jobs are available to young people now? Please don’t say Influencer! I didn’t particularly want to be working as a teenager instead of hanging out with my friends or watching movies, but in retrospect, I learned many essential life skills. More than basic chores and handling money, I also learned how to talk to people, read a situation, and manage stressful interactions.

• Trusting is a skill. As a manager, trusting employees is an even bigger challenge, but not trusting them is a reflection of your willingness to trust your own hiring decisions and ability to train. Creating systems and repetition builds trust over time.

• The relationship between baristas and their customers is weirdly intimate. Regent’s customers are bringing baby clothes in for Chadwick’s growing family. He shares bits and pieces of himself with the customers who come through the doors as they do with him. The back and forth creates a bridge of sorts where the line between human and business is blurred.

• Advice for Coffee People: Don’t be a gatekeeper. Chadwick aims to offer people space to enjoy what they enjoy in coffee, and to do so the way they want it. We all have access (in theory) to the equipment and beans that make good coffee. The coffee shop has to be the place where you feel something in a way that can’t be replicated at home.

  

• The barrel-aged coffee was ridiculously good. I say that as someone with a long history of not being an appreciator of flavored coffee. This wasn’t the same as the packs found at the discount markets during the holidays. The intention shines through.

SHOP REGENT'S BA COLLECTION

NOT FROM THE SHOW

• Chadwick has an IMDB page. Very cool.

• He’s made some stuff. Like this film festival short.

• I’ve also dabbled in making shorts. We’re working on one right now with our friends at Field Theory Media and Black Rabbit Service. Slowly working on it anyway. Interested in helping us produce a film that touches on coffee and needs a new title? Check it out here.

  

Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. Some links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

Shout out to our Presenting Sponsor Roastar, Inc. Check out their Design Lab. Create your own custom packaging for your brand, event, or just because it’s fun.

ROASTAR DESIGN LAB

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

COLLABORATION COFFEES!

We meet cool people. We collab on great coffees. FYI: we’re not generally allowed to touch the roasting machines. The experts do that! Current Collabs:

• Relative Coffee Co. (Minneapolis, MN)

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

• Marea Coffee (Solana Beach, CA)* NEW!

Our new daily driver. Brew up a cup for your next dawn patrol. Works swell in the mountains or at the coast!

SHOP ON THE ROAD COLLAB

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts.

Guest: Zach Ray, CEO of Desert Sun Coffee Roasters
Based: Durango, CO
Online: www.desertsuncoffee.com • @desertsuncoffee

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to Coffeefest Portland in June. For the sixth episode of season 14, we had an impromptu chat with Zach Ray. He's the CEO or "Chief Bean" of Desert Sun Coffee Roasters in Durango, CO. We covered his coffee origin story, the coffee co-op model, and why he believes they can make an impact on climate change. Thanks for watching and drinking good coffee. Don't forget to tip your baristas!

Please subscribe to our new-ish YouTube Channels for a first peak at all our episodes.

R!WC ON YOUTUBE

Zach’s enthusiasm hit me like a ton of bricks. He believes—and has believed for a long time that coffee is his stick with which to make an impact socially, economically, and environmentally. Desert Sun Coffee Roasters is a member of Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee importing collective. The 23 members have combined their businesses to create a weightier buying power, eliminate a middle vendor in the coffee chain, and develop direct relationships with the coffee farmer.

I was fairly surprised to learn about the collective and Zach’s longevity in the industry. More than that, I was impressed at how positive he was able to be after more than two decades of chipping away at a challenge so big it would overwhelm most of us mortals.

I understand the co-op's perspective that green sourcing can be improved. Like all industries, there are good and bad actors. I believe there are win-win-win* options for roasters, farmers, and green sourcing. Doing it at scale is a much bigger challenge, and I commend Desert Sun for putting its money where its mouth is.

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

• The Colorado Trail is awesome. It runs 486 miles from Durango to Denver, Colorado. Most of the trail is at elevations above 10,000 ft. https://coloradotrail.org/

• Desert Sun Coffee employs a farm-to-cup model by partnering with 22 other roasters in Cooperative Coffees to increase their ability to purchase green coffee by creating buying power to match a larger business.

• They offer 100% organic coffees from small farms with whom they’ve developed years-long relationships. Zach used the term ESH or Extended Sourcing Horizon, which involves committing to a long-term buying relationship so the farmer can depend on the future sales to the co-op.

• They offer $0.03/lb of coffee into a co-op fund that is reinvested in environmental projects designed to improve the farming communities they are buying from. There are other businesses, including green coffee sources, that have similar programs. See the list of projects funded here: https://desertsuncoffee.com/blogs/news/impact-committee-year-in-review.

• “Cream Scoopers” was a funny new term I learned. Zach used it to refer to green coffee buyers who only take the best micro-lots from a small farm but leave the rest. That makes it difficult for a farm to sell its entire crop. Sounds kinda perverse…

• The co-op members collaborate but don’t always agree. They have to work as a team. The passion of the group keeps them moving forward towards shared and individual goals. Zach believes agroforestry can really make an impact on climate change. I wish I was as confident. I think, to move the needle, large corporate coffee farms would need to adopt similar practices. Small farms have shown it can be done, but someone at the top of the big companies needs to see beyond profit spreadsheets if there is going to be hope for large-scale impact.

Find the Coffee People Podcast & Roast! West Coast on:
Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

The new Peak Reserve line of high-end coffees from Desert Sun is packaged in sharp black and gold gusseted** bags produced by our presenting sponsor, Roastar, Inc. Frankly, the photos don’t really do justice to how much the gold pops when you’re looking at the bag.

Desert Sun Coffee Roasters has developed the Peak Reserve line, a rotating coffee, to be able to focus on extremely high-quality micro or nano lots. There may only be a half-dozen or so bags of each coffee, but in the opinion of Zach and the DSC team, they are the best of the best these small farms have to offer. The current coffee available is a naturally processed Geisha from Finca Maria Bonita in Honduras. It retails for $34.95/10oz.

BUY DSC'S HONDURAS GEISHA PEAK RESERVE

Shout out to Roastar. They enable small coffee businesses like Desert Sun tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

**Our Yeah, No…Yeah Coffee collaboration with Relative Coffee is also packaged in a gusseted bag, and it is super badass.

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or on Apple Podcasts!

Guest: Phil McKnight, Breville Group/Baratza
Based: Seattle, WA
Online: www.baratza.com • @baratza • www.breville.com

SHOP BARATZA ENCORE ESP PRO

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over the course of two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The sixth episode features a short with Phil McKnight at Breville Group, showcasing the new Baratza Encore ESP Pro.

I should note two important things before I go further:

1. I own an Encore, am a bit of a homer for Baratza, and used their grinders extensively in my (brief) career as a barista.

2. I am not sponsored by Baratza, nor (currently) receiving any sort of benefit for saying any nice (or not nice) things about them.

It’s always pleasant when people spend some time with the Coffee People podcast and, by extension, me. I come into contact with a wide range of people in the coffee industry. Most of them are quite lovely. A small percentage…not so much.*

Phil was in the lovely category. Despite being the President of a major industry company, it was clear he was excited and passionate about sharing this new product, particularly about the improved user experience and quality based on feedback from actual customers.

It’s one of the things I love about attending larger coffee events. The creators, producers, users, and vendors are all mingling. A podcaster like myself has the opportunity to chat with the President of a big company. A coffee shop owner from Paducah (why is it always Paducah) gets to rub elbows with farmers who produce the beans they sell. Being on the floor, being willing to step into the chaos and fray, creates a leveling of industry status. We’re all here to push coffee forward.

There has been some rumbling at recent conventions about the outsize role and impact that these events and their stakeholders have in the industry, particularly in relation to uplifting some individuals and not others. I’m not dismissing that, but I also see great value in creating a physical space for all corners of an industry to connect.

SCA Expo 2026, or what will be called the World of Coffee, is in San Diego. It is where I’ve spent the last decade of my life. If you follow us online, you know that this podcast is moving into the Pacific Northwest slowly over the next few months, but I’ll be back to engage, at least one more time, with humans like Phil, whose enthusiasm for coffee inspires and makes me appreciate the connections I’ve had the opportunity to make.

*I’m looking at you, fellow bathroom user who sidled up in the bathroom at the convention center during the recent Portland Coffeefest event to complain to me about tampons being accessible in the building. Were you even using the bathroom? I’m busy here, guy!

ENCORE™ ESP PRO

As a reminder we are not sponsored by Baratza or Breville Group.

From Baratza.com:

Take Control of Your Daily Grind.

Say hello to the Encore ESP Pro — the newest addition to our best-selling Encore™ series, built for coffee lovers who believe the grind really matters. With its stepless grind adjustment system, you’re not stuck choosing between clicks. You’re free to dial in the perfect grind with near-infinite precision—from fine-tuned espresso to breezy pour-over and everything in between.

No limits. No guesswork. Just smooth, intuitive control that transforms your daily grind into a daily craft.

And it doesn’t stop there. The integrated flow-control disk takes consistency up a notch, while Anti-Static Technology keeps your counter cleaner. Add Auto-Stop Grinding for hassle-free single dosing and a 0.1-second precision timer for repeatable perfection—because your coffee routine deserves accuracy as much as artistry.

Encore ESP Pro. Your daily grind just leveled up.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

SPONSORED BY

The Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor is Roastar, Inc. They are a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

One way they help support small businesses is by offering deals on coffee bags. Our Yeah, No…Yeah Coffee collaboration with Relative Coffee is packaged in a gusseted bag, and it is super badass.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Editor’s note: Alvin Kim is no longer with Baratza. He’s taken his talents to South Beach…I mean to the marketing team at the Specialty Coffee Association.

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here!

Guest: Brigid Shaw, Orgullo Coffee
Based: Austin, TX
Online: www.orgullocoffee.com

SHOP ORGULLO COFFEES

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The fifth episode features Brigid Shaw, Co-Founder of Orgullo Coffee in Austin, TX. We chat about the company focus on Honduran coffee, relocating from NYC, traffic in Austin, and how she knew that she and her Co-Founder and Husband Marco could work together on a growing side hustle.

I’ve been thinking a lot about where we come from and where we end up as humans. I’m in the middle of a big move that involves about four months of floating between stable residences (by choice). Somewhere on the Oregon Scenic Byway, I started to relate the Orgullo story of two New Yorkers connecting with the Honduran roots of Co-Founder Marco Fuentes to start a business that they’d then move to Austin, TX to my own. The path is long and windy for us all—if not physically—emotionally!

When I was younger, I assumed I’d end up working and living in the town where I grew up. I couldn’t see beyond the Good Will Hunting dream of having a little house, running the local restaurant, and a couple of kids on the local Little League team with the kids of my friends from town. It was, and is, a good dream. I still feel nostalgic for it sometimes, but my path has led me further and further astray.

I’m typing this at a campground somewhere along the border of Oregon and Washington. A green beetle just landed on my hand, and there is a good chance a Western Scorpion (a real thing!) is crawling somewhere nearby. I’m a full-time podcaster in my 40s, with no kids in Little League, but a lovely wife and dog. It isn’t what I expected. It is different. For me, it is better.

Brigid and Marco started Orgullo as a side hustle. It wasn’t the original dream, but the coffees Marco’s Mom (capital M) kept sharing with them from her home country inspired them to look for more local options in Brooklyn. When they couldn’t find them, they started Orgullo to fill that niche.

Our guest this week, Brigid, is a born-and-raised New Yorker. It’s hard to imagine she grew up dreaming of a life in Texas, but as the coffee business grew and her life and Marco’s intertwined, things changed. Things are, I assume, better than imagined because she is following her coffee dream.

Sidenote: Orgullo means “pride” in Spanish.

*My wife inspired me to think beyond what I thought capable. It has been 22 years since we started dating, and this month marks 19 years since our wedding. If we hadn’t met in that Old Navy…This podcast probably doesn’t exist!

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

The Orgullo Coffee packaging is produced by the Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor Roastar, Inc. They are a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

One way they help support small businesses is by offering deals on coffee bags. Our Yeah, No…Yeah Coffee collaboration with Relative Coffee is packaged in a gusseted bag, and it is super badass.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or Apple Podcasts!

Guest: Brandon Ivan Pena, 787 Coffee
Based: New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and Texas
Online: www.787coffee.com

SHOP 787 COFFEES

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The fourth episode features the passionate Brandon Ivan Pena, Co-Founder and CEO of 787 Coffee. 787 Coffee is a farm in Puerto Rico, cafes and carts in New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Puerto Rico, and an effort to create unique caffeinated humans.

Meeting with Brandon is a bit like getting caught in a summer storm on your bicycle. The immediate rush of passion and enthusiasm is unexpected but welcome. The ferocity with which he speaks of his passion for the people behind 787, particularly the community in Puerto Rico,, envelops you and makes you want to care about them, too. As the conversation mellows and the storm subsides, you're left a bit exhausted as the exhilaration wears away.

I'm reminded of the Kurt Vonnegut comment from one of his later books, A Man Without A Country. He says, "And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

His business model is unique in the coffee industry. Most coffee brands work within one link of the coffee supply chain. 787's goal was to own the entire chain, including farm, processing, and distribution—both from the farm and to the customer directly.

Early in the business, Hurricane Maria (2017) upended all of Brandon and his business partner's plans. The farm was destroyed. The backup plan was non-existent. The momentum lost. He was depressed and rudderless. The plan for his future, for 787's future, was no more.

It was the people behind the company who picked him up. Instead of focusing on the losses, they asked, "When are we getting back to work?" It's a simple yet not-so-simple question to confront. Brandon had potentially lost his business, but the people of Puerto Rico had lost so much more. The options were nill, other than to clean up and retool.

The experience made 787 lean and nimble. They pared down the excess and focused on the core of their business moving forward—providing coffee for people. They expanded their sourcing efforts and streamlined away the bells and whistles of branding. The singular focus allowed them to withstand the initial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. They were prepared for the extreme when others were merely trying to survive.

The paring down ultimately has led them to expansion. They have 25 cafe locations in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and Texas. They offer coffee experiences, including education workshops and weekends at the coffee farm. Personal acclaim and attention have been heaped on Brandon as he continues to claw for attention to Puerto Rico's coffee history, culture, and coffee bean.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

THE 787 COFFEE PACKAGE

The 787 Coffee packaging is produced by the Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor Roastar, Inc. They were recently featured on the SCA Design blog, and even though he didn’t say it to me when we were chatting about the packaging, I learned later, that Brandon also designed the bags.

We wanted to capture more than just coffee—we wanted to capture a story. A story of resilience, community, and the beautiful journey from seed to sip. This bag was born from countless hours of dedication, creativity, and heart. Brandon, our founder, poured himself into every detail, designing it day in and day out. It wasn’t about rushing a design—it was about illustrating every moment, every human, and every part of our coffee’s journey with intention. Every brushstroke represents a moment. The human on the left side of the bag isn’t just an illustration; it’s a tribute to our farmers, our baristas, and the loyal humans who stand with us, sip after sip. The right side honors our roots in Puerto Rico—the land that has shaped us and tested us through hurricanes, COVID, and inflation. And on the back, our tagline "Let's Do This!" isn’t just a phrase, it’s a call to action, born from the resilience that pushed us through every challenge. This bag was designed to feel personal, because it is. It’s about more than packaging—it’s about telling the story of survival, loyalty, and community. A reminder that coffee isn’t just coffee. It’s hard work. It’s art. It’s family. It’s home.

• Copy from the SCA Design Blog provided by 787 Coffeee

Roastar is a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

FREE COFFEE TOUR STOPS

Join me for a coffee this week at:

• Drink Coffee, Do Stuff in South Lake Tahoe. Sunday, June 8th at 9:00 AM. 3894 Pioneer Trail, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

• 10 Speed Coffee Bar in Hood River, OR. Wednesday, June 11, at 9:00 AM. 1412 13th St, Hood River, OR 97031.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

I’ve officially moved out of the podcasting closet in Carlsbad, CA. I was more emotional about it than I expected. I spent a good portion of the pandemic learning how to podcast (debatably) and recorded 100s of episodes of the Coffee People and Coffee Smarter podcast.

If you’re wondering where this show is going, for the end of this season and the entire 15th, we’ll be recording IRL from the road. We started at SCA, are continuing this week on the Free Coffee Tour, and culminating at Coffeefest in Portland. At the event, we’ll be moderating the Going Green: Panel Discussion on Sustainability in the Coffee Industry. It is a broad topic, but the panelists and I will be trying to break down a few key points. I hope to see you there. You can get tickets to attend here: https://www.coffeefest.com/portland/attend.

This fall, I’ll be settling with my wife and pup in Oregon. It’s a move that has been a long time coming. We’ll be there exploring for at least a year in an effort to see if it is the right place for a long-term home. If you’ve got coffee, camping, or beer recommendations for western Oregon, please share.

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here!

Guest: Elizabeth Heller
Based: Woodbury, CT
Online: https://paperfrog.coffee/

SHOP PAPER FROG COFFEE

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The third episode features Elizabeth Heller, Co-Founder of Paper Frog Coffee in Connecticut. We discuss her motivation to start a coffee company after a burgeoning career in music therapy, her discovery of a passion for art, and the effort required to pursue sustainable small business options. Also, we meet Clyde, the frog.

Elizabeth wasn’t originally on our list of interviewees for the event, but the Paper Frog Coffee booth was across from Roastar’s. I wandered over early on the first morning to see if they had any coffee brewed to get me moving before my official duties during the Expo. They didn’t, but the enthusiasm and general joy exuded from the booth won me over fairly quick. I invited Elizabeth over for a chat during a break in the action.

The biggest surprise during our conversation was that the booth was Paper Frog Coffee’s official worldwide launch. Talk about going big to introduce yourself to the world.

Beyond the conversation, Elizabeth and I swapped bags of coffee, and she gifted me with Clyde the Frog. Clyde has been a faithful travel companion over the past month, keeping me company on the long drive home. He even made the journey up to Yosemite with us for the holiday weekend. Clyde likes all trees, but he loves the big Sequoias the best.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

The Paper Frog Cofffee packaging was recently featured on the SCA design blog, and is produced by the Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor Roastar, Inc. They are a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

Paper Frog’s design is well-rounded, especially for how new the brand is. There are flagship bags, limited-edition bags, and round tubes. Each features illustrations from CoFounder Elizabeth Heller. The whimsical designs are often inspired by films or characters from literature with a twist from the mainstream.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Don’t forget the Free Coffee Tour is kicking off next week. Meet us at our first stop in San Juan Capistrano, CA. We’ll be buying coffee at True Love Coffee Co. thanks to our friends at Hacea Coffee Source on Tuesday, June 2nd, at 9:00 AM.

True Love Coffee Co.
32122 Camino Capistrano,
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or check it out on Apple Podcasts!

Guest: Kenzel Fallen
Based: Houston, TX
Online: https://threekeyscoffee.com/

SHOP THREE KEYS COFFEE

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The second episode features Kenzel Fallen. We chat about starting a business with a partner, the multi-sensory experience found in a Three Keys Coffee cafe, and their Jazz Flavor Color Wheel.

I’m a big fan of the idea that coffee is—to use a term from Three Keys—multisensory. I keep a personal playlist for drinking coffee, and drop a new one every month for followers of the podcast. By marrying the sound with the taste, scent, and touch experiences, my coffee goes from a nice morning coffee to a true ritual that helps me frame the day.

With SCA in the Three Keys Coffee community (Houston), Kenzel was really busy. I really appreciated the time we got to chat. What inspired me the most was how actively they are courting growth in a variety of arenas without (showing) fear.

There has been a notable uncertainty around the industry due to climate change, economic instability due to changing consumer habits, and political confusion (tariffs, anyone?), but Kenzel and Tio Fallen are pushing forward towards growth in the retail and wholesale space in real life and online. They don’t seem to be hesitating to answer the door when opportunity knocks.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

The Three Keys Coffee packaging is produced by the Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor Roastar, Inc. They are a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

You can learn a lot from a coffee package beyond the standard weights, roast profile, and flavor notes. The Three Keys Coffee bag goes beyond to express their affinity for pairing jazz with coffee by providing a unique set of notes related to sound, a QR-code to the playlist associated with this coffee, and the stripe around the bag ties the design concept to traditional Japanese album cover art concepts.

You might also note that Three Keys was 2024 Roaster of the Year finalist, and that the coffee is Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified. We interviewed Kirstin Hill from the Smithsonian about the program way back in July of 2023.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: FIRST STOP IS AT TRUE LOVE COFFEE CO.

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or here for Apple Podcasts.

Guest(s): Luigi Di Ruocco and John Di Ruocco, CoOwners at Mr. Espresso
Based: Oakland, CA
Online: mrespresso.com • www.thecaffeoak.com
What they drink: John is a drip coffee kinda guy. Luigi goes for an espresso and/or a cup of drip if he is at another coffee business to see how they prepare their coffee, or a house specialty if something stands out on the menu.

SHOP MR ESPRESSO

From Mr. Espresso:

Luigi and John Di Ruocco are the driving forces behind Mr. Espresso, a pioneering coffee company rooted in a rich family history. Their father, Carlo Di Ruocco, brought the craft of wood-roasting coffee from Salerno, Italy, to Northern California, establishing Mr. Espresso as a staple in the region’s earliest farm-to-table establishments. This legacy of exceptional espresso, intertwined with their family's dedication and passion, is what Luigi and John continue to honor and advance.

This interview was originally slated for Season 13 of the podcast. We delayed the recording after the passing of the family patriarch and founder of Mr. Espresso, Carlo Di Ruocco. He had an outsized impact on coffee, in particular in the Bay-area, his legacy continues with the family and team who are continuing to share the Mr. Espresso mission with the coffee community and beyond.

To learn more about Carlo, check out this interview he did with Sprudge in April of 2015. We Interview Mr. Espresso Himself, Carlo Di Ruocco.

NOTES FROM THE PODCAST:

• Luigi, John, and Laura are the siblings tasked with running Mr. Espresso. Their father and Mr. Espresso-himself, Carlos, never really retired.

• The youngest, Luigi, didn't plan to join the business, but after a stint in corporate finance, he realized he preferred the connection of a smaller business. Mr. Espresso was the opportunity right there in front of him.

• John, the oldest, was drafted into the business from the beginning, at about age 10. He left for college and graduated with a degree in architecture, but timing is everything. The market for architecture wasn't there post-college, and he rejoined Mr. Espresso to work his way up.

• A family business doesn't always run like a regular business, but the family of co-workers do, at least try, to keep personal and work separate. They recognize that they all have a particular set of skills and bring different things to the business that are essential for success.

• The business grew out of a wholesale relationship with clients. At first, Mr. Espresso was providing coffee equipment to restaurants and wholesale clients. They moved into roasting coffee to serve clients seeking out a consistent, quality product for their businesses.

• The brick-and-mortar concept bounced around the business for a long time before they finally decided to sign a lease for a spot in early 2020, but Covid-19 delayed the opening of the doors of an Italian-style espresso bar called The Caffè by Mr. Espresso. The Di Ruocco's Italian heritage is part of the business. With the cafe, they aim to be respectful of Italy's coffee culture and traditions, while also exploring new coffee concepts that meet the desires of the Oakland consumer. It can be a challenge, but it is also part of the fun of the cafe experience.

• Being part of a long-running company means adapting as customer preferences change, but being true to their roots by providing a style of roasted coffee has also created long-term loyalty. Specialty coffee is a fairly big tent. Not every style will fit the Mr. Espresso brand. They pick and choose which trends to follow, while maintaining classic flavor profiles that their customers have grown used to.

• They still use a wood-fire roaster, a more common style a century ago. The Di Ruocco's use oak wood. They say the wood roaster provides a more moisture-rich roasting process than a gas or electric burner. The fire box temperature is more than 1000 degrees, providing a very clear heat, but without adding smoke or flavor to the coffee itself.

  

• If you're looking to create a family business structure, the brothers recommend developing a hierarchy. Which may occur naturally, by age, and/or parents inviting kids into a business. They warn that there will be a lot of opinions, and sometimes you'll be right, but other times you'll be wrong or on the losing side of a decision. Just because you are an owner, it doesn't mean you'll get everything you ever want.

• They take running the business day by day.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

There is a new Simply Good Coffee Brewer out that I’ve been testing. The thermal pot version of the machine has an updated coffee with an insulated coffee pot. So far, I’d still recommend the original glass brewer. The lid on the new pot is hard to wrangle and isn’t terribly intuitive. Using the pot without the lid makes for a messy pour.

To credit SGC, they reached out to me (and all the customers) to say the lid wasn’t up to snuff, even before the package reached me. The message informed us that a newly designed lid was being processed. I checked in again last week for an update. They are working on manufacturing a new pot lid that is more intuitive and stable and will be an upgrade on the current iteration. Once it is ready, it will be sent out to all the purchasers at no charge.

There was no mention of delay or issue in our emails due to concerns about tariffs or an uncertain manufacturing landscape. I’ve always strongly recommended the original SGC brewer (reviewed at the link above) and still do. If I were buying a machine this week, I’d stick with the original over the thermal brewer, for now.

Personally, I prefer the glass pot and have no concerns about its lid. I did break it recently, which is the downside to glass. Click the link below to learn more about the brewers on the Simply Good Coffee website.

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: Prefer the audio only or want to watch the podcast on Spotify? Click here! Or Apple Podcasts!

Guest: Charley Phung, Chloé Cà Phê
Based: Sacramento, CA
Online: https://chloe-caphe.com • @chloe.caphe

SHOP CHLOE CA PHE COFFEES

The Coffee People Podcast traveled to the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, TX, to interview coffee pros at the Roastar, Inc. booth on the convention floor. Over two days, we recorded six episodes of Season 14. The first episode features Charley Phung, Co-Founder of Chloé Cà Phê in Sacramento, CA. We discuss how he's honoring family connections to the City's Vietnamese coffee culture, their small business roots, and why spending time with their daughter inspired such a great leap into coffee.

This was the first IRL interview I was doing at the Roastar booth, with some new equipment, including microphones, a gimbal, a tripod, and a phone. Charley made it easy. What stood out to me was his passion for sharing Vietnamese coffee and his commitment to creating family space in his work in coffee hospitality.

I’m looking forward to visiting their shop during a break in the Free Coffee Tour next month. Charley mentions their affinity for Porsche, and that there are cars in the shop. I didn’t realize what he meant by that until I checked out the @chloe.caphe Instagram after our chat.

Find the Coffee People Podcast and Roast! West Coast on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

The Chloé Cà Phê packaging is produced by the Coffee People Podcast's presenting sponsor Roastar, Inc. They are a premier coffee packaging company utilizing digital printing. Roastar enables small-to-gigantic coffee businesses tell a big story. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4gIsHff.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: COFFEE DRINKIN’ MUSIC

OTHER BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: This is part 3/4. Click here to check out part 1. Click here to check out part 2. Click here to check out part 3.

It's hard to recap an intense week of coffee exploration in a few hundred or even a thousand words, but I will try. First, what is Expo?* The Specialty Coffee Association puts on an annual event bringing together coffee roasters, vendors, farmers, tech companies, and more for a convention. The event includes a very large vendor floor, competitions for coffee skills, educational seminars, presentations, and networking events. There is also a very healthy party scene that takes place after Expo hours. This year's Expo occurred at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

*It was recently announced that next year, the event will be rebranded as World Of Coffee! The exclamation point is theirs.

BACK ON THE ROAD: DAY 4

Editor’s note: It took me a minute to get to this post, mostly because I’m recovering the routine of my life from several weeks on the road.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling calm and confident in my decision not to return for the third day of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo convention. I’ve completed my obligations. I’ve met bunches on bunches of new people. I’ve drunk a ton of coffee—some that were Zowie! and some that were forgettable. Once again, I’ve spent less time than I’d have liked on the competition side of the floor and too much being distracted by the shiny new things.

It isn’t easy not to return. I did come all this way, after all, but I know that on the other side of the drive west is my lovely wife and batshit-crazy pup, both of whom I miss terribly. Could I meet one more person? Could I get a few more samples of tea? Could I reinforce my visage to a potential listener or watcher of my show? Probably.

But, I like leaving on a high note, and the happy hour the night before was definitely that. I saw my friends from Roastar, ran into everyone’s favorite coffee person, Pablo Lara, got to see regenerative coffee expert Nicole Diefenbach again, met some of coffee’s historically important women, slapped hands with Joe Bettinger, and even got some business gossip about a coffee business back home. All of that happened with a very well-made margarita in my hand, compliments of InterAmerican and InterAmerican/Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG). That’s a high if there ever was one.

So, westward, ho.

SAN ANTONIO, TX

On the map you can head north through Austin, TX or south through San Antonio, TX and the difference in distance and (hopefully) time is negligible. I went south, favoring something new. I hit downtown mid-morning and pulled into a quarter-accepting meter around the corner from Vela Coffee Co. I ordered an espresso to stay and a drip coffee in my mug to go.

The next 15 minutes exemplify why I love coffee shops. I give the baristas Tip Your Barista pins. Micayla (sp?) asks me what I’m doing in town. We chat about the convention. She advises me on where to go and what to do downtown since I’m just passing through. Three other co-workers pop into our chat to offer recommendations or clarifications. All of them tell me they believe Vela is up there as a great San Antonio coffee shop, but willingly recommend other local shops they believe are doing coffee right. A few fireman on their way in hold the door, and a chorus of Good Luck! Nice to meet you! Hope to see you again! comments follow me out.

Coffee shops offer up the best of humanity. The worst, sometimes, too, but even the worst of us seem to be better when they’re getting a cup of coffee in a place that feels like home.

I wander down to the Alamo. It’s a nice tourist trap, err, recreation of the mission known as The Alamo. It was a battle site where—if I’m understanding this correctly—the Mexican army responded to the theft of the land by attacking a smaller group of Texan soldiers. The smaller group of Texans lost the battle after a two-week-long siege, and their story was told on the Texan/American side of the border to inspire both anger and nationalistic pride in the battle against Mexico for the land that is now part of America.

It seems important to note that this battle was a decade before the beginning of the Mexican-American War over the American annexation of Texas, and occurred because Texas was splintering away from Mexico, in an effort to be their own republic, not necessarily part of the United States. Sidenote: I just learned that Billy Bob Thornton played Davy Crockett in the 2004 film The Alamo.

This is a long-winded way of saying it was worth the wander because there is an incredible tree in the courtyard outside the church building, and walking out the main entrance will lead you right down to the San Antonio Riverwalk.

The Riverwalk is down below the city itself, shaded naturally by trees and buildings, and lined on both sides with shops and restaurants and enclaves for live music. The path along the River Walk runs several miles and is quite pleasant as the heat and humidity start rising with the sun. It is busy with what seems to be tourists to San Antonio out-and-about enjoying brunch and boat rides up the river.

A few miles away, I reconnect with a more local version of the Riverwalk in the Pearl District. The Pearl is a redeveloped brewery property that is a self-contained neighborhood where the roads are blocked to cars, markets and cafes are interspersed with condo buildings, and it all surrounds an oversized green lawn. There is an artist/farmers market lining the streets, and the grounds are packed. A DJ is spinning sets on one side of the lawn, and a few buskers are tucked away in corners. Residents and visitors are sipping cocktails and pints while their kids play in a water feature. It feels like the best of a car-free neighborhood.

I stopped at Local Coffee, but the line was so long that I decided to move on. I take the path along the river back to the car, enjoying the landscaped greenery and the sound of the birds. I’m trying to make it far into West Texas before dinner, and the forecast calls for thunderstorms.

DAY 5: WEST TEXAS

The weather never turns on me, but it is cooler and windier here. I have to park the car behind a building because the winds are strong enough to blow gravel across the roadway.

There is only one coffee shop in the small town I’ve found myself in, and it isn’t open on Mondays. I dig around in my box of convention goodies to find some single-serving pourover packs given to me by Kayla at Pourta. They are filled with coffee from Greater Goods Coffee Co. based in Austin, TX.

A few grizzled construction workers drinking coffees from the vending machine watch intently as I set up my mug and instant pourover, collect hot water from the coffee maker, and pour it over the grounds. I wonder if they are thinking I’m crazy, pretentious, or both. No matter. I decided to make two because the road is long and the sun is hot. I’ll note for the record. I was really impressed with this coffee as a single-serving pourover.

I hit the road for Arizona and pass through El Paso fairly early in the day. Did you know that El Paso has B.Y.O.B. strip clubs? I did not, but the billboards outside places with names like Chicas Locas informed anyone passing by to bring their own beers.

CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT

It’s an hour out of the way, but what’s an hour over the course of 6,000 miles? I reroute south of the highway only to find that 10 of the last fifteen miles are on washboard gravel roads that bounce and jounce me all over the dang place through a fairly desolate landscape.

When I arrived, the ranger let me know there was a perfectly lovely paved road through town that no one uses because the map apps see the dirt path as being shorter by about a minute.

Regardless, Chiricahua is worth the effort. I’m just here for a short walk and a picnic lunch, but you could spend days here hiking and camping. There are several varying landscapes to explore–hoodoos nestled into the forests, the trails along dried river beds, and the rocky mountainside leading you to views of the valley floor. It’s windy, and the Rangers warn that the rattlesnakes are waking up. I grab a hiking stick from the car and double-check where I’m stepping.

TUCSON

I’m staying at a renovated motel with a design pulled directly from trending Instagram posts. It’s cute, and they have a nice bar with an automated computer screen and a commercial coffee machine. Unfortunately, the coffee being served is decidedly subpar. The prices are decidedly not. I don’t know that I’ve ever used decidedly in a sentence before. Three times feels like enough.

I borrow a bicycle at the front desk and cruise along a bike path until I find a container park with shops, a brewery, and a Decibel Coffee Co. It’s a fun little spot. Back in the room, I drag a desk chair outside and watch the sunset over a mountain. Excuse me, I watch it set over ‘A’ Mountain. That’s the name. The single quotation marks are part of the name.

DAY 6: THE ROAD HOME

In the morning, I head toward Presta Coffee in the Iron Horse neighborhood. I ran into a bunch of Prestonians (?) at the convention wearing the Coffee People Are Sexy stickers Roastar made up for me.* I wanted to drop some for the baristas who couldn’t make the show. I get turned around trying to follow the GPS. Are you sure I should be turning down this road with the train tracks? What if a train is coming? How do I know if the underpass is flooded if I can’t see it? AHHH!

I pull over to reset the map. I’m outside of Exo Roast Co., another spot I had thought about visiting. Life is funny that way. I walk in and immediately fall in love with the space. The exposed brick, the well-worn Probat machine, the barista who clearly cares about the coffee but doesn’t seem to give two shits about an excitable new customer. I ordered a batch and a single-origin espresso, which I thought was from Ethiopia, but it tastes like Central America.

Presta Coffee is just around the corner. I enjoy a series of murals on my way, and try not to let my pants fall down when I enter. It is the end of a long trip on the road, and I’ve lost my belt somewhere in the chaos of the car. This shot is definitely an Ethiopia Guji with fruit notes galore. It is round and bulbous in the mouth, and I sit on the front porch watching police cars go around the roundabout in what feels like a very leisurely parade.

The air is crisp and the coffee lovely. It’s my last day on the road. Behind me, the convention center had already been empty for a day, and the remnants of the convention floor had been tossed in a dumpster for a long time. It will be days, weeks, or maybe months until I realize the full slate of takeaways that have come from the weekend in Houston. Until then, I’ve only got six hours drive to the Pacific, and then a dozen pounds of coffee and tea samples to work through while reconnecting with the names on the stack of business cards in my backpack.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: This is part 3/4. Click here to check out part 1. Click here to check out part 2.

It's hard to recap an intense week of coffee exploration in a few hundred or even a thousand words, but I will try. First, what is Expo?* The Specialty Coffee Association puts on an annual event bringing together coffee roasters, vendors, farmers, tech companies, and more for a convention. The event includes a very large vendor floor, competitions for coffee skills, educational seminars, presentations, and networking events. There is also a very healthy party scene that takes place after Expo hours. This year's Expo occurred at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

*It was recently announced that next year, the event will be rebranded as World Of Coffee! The exclamation point is theirs.

HOUSTON: DAY 3

The drive-in.

I wake up refreshed. I know where I'm going. I get there early. No morning work traffic. I'm at Expo well before even the security guards are set up. Life is good.

Pregame

The building is open. A technician is dialing in an automated commercial machine in the lobby. His name is Ryan, which is a great name, and the coffee I chose at random is from Olympia Coffee. It's pretty good, and I brew a few extra cups to bribe the security guards if needed. I don't, though. They know me now. I leave my gear in the press room and look for a more appealing environment to catch up on my notes and plan my day.

In the front of the convention is the Executive Business Lounge. According to the sign, it is where important business meetings are held. There is a velvet rope, but no one around. I take a seat in one of the comfortable white chairs. It isn't long before I'm joined by the room's host, Jen.

We bond over the well-documented crazy that is the catering business. I used to work catering at various hotels during my halcyon days of hospitality. She lets me stay and even invites me to return later in the morning. As I walked out to get back to the floor for the morning interviews, I ran into past Coffee People guest Miranda Caldwell, who is part of the team managing all the important business meetings.

The interviews

Editor's note: Each of these shorts will be part of an entire Coffee People episode in the near future.

Nick Schmitt from Roastar curated a great guest list. We planned two interviews each day at the Roastar booth. Day two featured Brandon Ivan Pena, a coffee farmer, cafe owner, and entrepreneur from New York. His company, 787 Coffee farms in Puerto Rico, suffered great losses during Hurricane Maria. It was a reset for Brandon and his coffee family.

Our second guest was Orgullo Coffee Roasters Co-founder Brigid Shaw. She and her husband Marco have been working to turn their coffee side hustle into a full-time career. At Orgullo, they focus on Honduran coffees.

Finally, it was time to sit with Coffee People’s potential (I hope!) Executive Producer Nick Schmitt to thank him for setting up all the interviews, and record an episode of Nick and Ryan Drink Coffee. We moved into the Executive Business Lounge because this was clearly a very important business meeting.

OTHER THOUGHTS FROM DAY 3

When all of my commitments for interviews are done, I decide to walk the convention floor row by row. I’m looking for new concepts, future podcast guests, and old friends. There are about 30 rows to peruse in total, and it takes about 45 minutes to make it through the first five.

I run into past guests Pablo Lara and Chris (Scooby) Dennis near the competition tables. Kayla at PourTa fills my bag with samples for the road, and I have to make a few trips back to the press room to drop off coffee samples later.

I’ve still only made it a third of the way through the floor when I get a text from Carole at Talking Crow Roasters. She and her husband Eric were Coffee People podcast guests several seasons ago, but we’ve run into each other at each of the past SCA Expos. I skip the middle section to give her a hug at the Roastar booth.

It is late afternoon when I finally get into the Roaster Village. Roaster Village consists of about a dozen four-sided booths with different roasters brewing and pouring coffee on all sides. It is a great way to get uber-caffeinated and/or really explore different styles and regions of coffee side-by-side. For many, it is a highlight of the event and a place to sample coffees from some great roasters from all over the world.

It is here I feel the exhaustion starting to set in. My eyes start blurring, and that jumpy feeling that comes after 48 hours at Expo hits me hard. A woman waves at me from behind a table in Roaster Village. I instinctively offered her a barista towel from my swag bag and asked if the coffee was decaf. My processing has slowed way down, and it takes me another few moments to realize the person I’m talking to is none other than Stacey Lynden from Swiss Water Decaf, a past Coffee People guest and someone I KNOW IN REAL LIFE!

I’m mortified, but she is ever the bastion of grace and lets me off the hook. We acknowledge the wear and tear the convention can take on a person who is working the aisles. It is then that I say what has been running through my mind for the past hour. I think I’m going to skip the last day of the event.

The lights flicker, and the end of the day is announced for five minutes. I wander past the glassy-eyed for the door.

Post-show

I find a third wind! I throw on my best Houston-style button-down and make my way around the corner to The Rustic for the InterAmerican/Neumann Kaffee Gruppe happy hour hosted by none other than our friend Pablo Lara. There are nachos and margaritas. The Roastar team has already changed into casual clothes. It is a happy, happy hour. I make the loops once, twice, and a third time before heading for the door well before the open bar ends. I’m committed to more events, but with age comes wisdom…or at least the realization that nothing productive will come from a few more free cocktails. The goodwill I’m feeling is at an all-time high.

We’ll be back with more on Houston Day 4/Back On The Road tomorrow.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Editor’s note: This is part 2/2. Click here to check out part 1.

It's hard to recap an intense week of coffee exploration in a few hundred or even a thousand words, but I will try. First, what is Expo?* The Specialty Coffee Association puts on an annual event bringing together coffee roasters, vendors, farmers, tech companies, and more for a convention. The event includes a very large vendor floor, competitions for coffee skills, educational seminars, presentations, and networking events. There is also a very healthy party scene that takes place after Expo hours. This year's Expo occurred at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

*It was recently announced that next year, the event will be rebranded as World Of Coffee! The exclamation point is theirs.

HOUSTON: DAY 2

The drive-in.

The convention floor opens at 10:00 AM, but I'm headed downtown by about 7:30AM to beat traffic (I didn't) and give myself time to emotionally prepare for a long day of human interaction. Also, I want to try to beat some heat while carrying my gear in. It's already 80 degrees, and I only brought three shirts this morning.

At big events, I just pay whatever it takes to park right next to the venue. I cruise to the parking ramp across from the George R. Brown Convention Center and pull up to the ticket booth. What's that noise?

The rooftop box on my midsize SUV is scraping the hanging warning post that lets me know there is a 7' height limitation. How is this possible in Texas? Every other person is driving a truck the size of a small house? I back up into the street. The early morning is my friend, and it isn't a chaotic mess, but now I'm looking for another place to park. I turn a corner. Another parking ramp. The warning sign says 6'9"!

I turn another corner and see a parking lot. No ramp, just a lot, but it is the wrong way down a one way to get there, or what looks like a trip back onto the highway. I take a deep breath and summon my inner Austin, TX driver. I hit the gas and Zowie! I'm in a lot behind the convention center. I pay the mythical QR code. I think I do. I hope my car will be here at the end of the day.

Pregame

The building is open. I get the first cup of coffee out of an automated machine from the Metric company. I wander into the press room just off the convention floor to walk myself through my equipment one last time. Mic's are charged. Bluetooth is connecting. The tripod is stable. All is good until I make the mistake of leaving the press room in search of another cup of coffee.

The crowd has increased, and the head of security stops me from going back to the press room. But I'm press, and that is the press room, I say, and show him the paper badge they gave me with a green dot on it. No press until 10:00! He repeats it several times until I ask him to gather all my gear and bring it to me. Instead, he escorted me to the room and made me promise not to leave until 10:00. I swear my fingers weren't crossed.

The interviews

Editor's note: Each of these shorts will be part of an entire Coffee People episode in the near future.

Nick Schmitt from Roastar curated a great guest list. We planned two interviews each day at the Roastar booth. Day one featured Charley Phung who Co-founded Chloé Cà Phê + Roastery with his wife Crystal. Charley's passion for Vietnamese coffee and the scene surrounding it was evident in our conversation from the jump. You don't have to look further than the coffee bag to see what inspires Charley and Crystal.

Our second guest was Kenzel Fallen who along with her partner Tio Fallen Co-founded Three Keys Coffee in Houston, TX. The jazz-inspired roastery was founded in 2019 with the intent that it act as a multi-sensory experience-based shop.

Across from the Roastar booth the quirky design and enthusiasm emitting from the Paper Frog Coffee booth was infectious. We snagged Co-founder Elizabeth Heller for a quick chat, which is going to turn into an entire episode of Coffee People in the near future. We went right of the rails, and my life changed forever the moment Clyde hopped into it.

Clyde kept me company all the way home.

PARTING THOUGHTS FROM DAY 2

I found a note in my journal that feels reflective of the first official day of the Expo.

I’m back in full-on convention mode where one connection leads to the next which leads to the…you get it.

Post-show

The car is still there! I leave it for a few more minutes to snag a beer at Rodeo Goat courtesy of Roast Magazine. I meet a few new friends, but when the karaoke begins and the conversation turns to politics I call it a night.

We’ll be back with more on Houston Day 3 tomorrow.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Share

Click here to read part 2.

It’s hard to recap an intense week of coffee exploration in a few hundred or even a thousand words, but I’m going to try. First, what is Expo?* The Specialty Coffee Association puts on an annual event bringing together coffee roasters, vendors, farmers, tech companies, and more for a convention. The event includes a very large vendor floor, competitions for coffee skills, educational seminars, presentations, and networking events. There is also a very healthy party scene that takes place after Expo hours. This year’s Expo took place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

*It was recently announced that next year the event will be rebranded as World Of Coffee! The exclamation point is theirs.

DENVER, CO

Sunday is all about coffee.

• Torpedo Coffee: After a lovely week in the mountains with my better half, we’re on the way to the airport. Torpedo is on the way. They serve Corvus Coffee, and the art on the wall looks familiar because we have the same artist on our walls at home! The drip comes in a really big mug, and the owner, Katy, is behind the bar even early in the morning.

• Honey Hill: A really cool cafe and ice cream parlor that is a great space for groups. The food smells fantastic, but the drip feels a bit of an afterthought. I sit on the patio even though the temps are only in the 40s. In Colorado, that feels alright.

  

• Dandy Lion Coffee Co.: Plants, lots of plants, and baristas who give a hoot about the coffee they are making? Sign me up. It’s on the edge of a neighborhood and next to a weirdly busy for-the-hour liquor store, but it couldn’t have been a better experience. I’m drinking a Huckleberry roasted batch brew and so blissed out on the greenery that I don’t even notice the very chill DJ controlling the music.

My trip to Expo began Monday morning in Denver with a cup of coffee downtown at Little OWL Coffee in the Populus Hotel lobby. I was joined by Charles Carpenter from Tekwani Design. We met at the Expo event in Portland, OR in 2023. A lot of my job in the coffee media space involves cultivating relationships.

There are a lot of cool coffee people. I consider myself lucky that some of those work relationships have turned into honest to goodness friendships. Many of whom I’ll mention in this column! I don’t think I’m speaking out of school to say that Charles is one of those people. Beyond being a design and branding firm with a focus on coffee, the people of Tekwani also use their platform to uplift the coffee off community.

I stopped by a few coffee shops in my never ending quest to explore the industry, and came away with one major question? What’s up with the oversized mugs for drip coffees? Every shop gave me a Friends-esque soup bowl. Is it just Denver? Is this happening everywhere?

Jumbo mug aside, Denver in the spring is selling me hard. I enjoyed the mix of old and new architecture, the blooming trees, and excellent hospitality experiences.

The day continued with glass of wine with coffee sourcess Nicole Diefenbach. The former Coffee People podcast guest has had a lot of recent career changes, and her experience developing regenerative coffee programming has made her in demand in the industry. We caught up with a plan to meet up in Houston.

The day culminated with a few of the days golden hours on the highway and a hotel room in Pueblo, CO. There was a puppy adoption center next door. I think I was luckily it was after hours because I was already missing my canine sidekick pretty hard. The separation anxiety I’m feeling on day one without my wife is a good test for the upcoming Free Coffee Tour, but I can’t say I was feeling happy about it in the moment.

FORT WORTH, TX

What does 11 hours on the road do to a person? I don’t know, I’m asking. I blacked out and somehow the day was gone and a pint of pilsner was in my hand.

The next morning I woke up cautiously joyful to see the sun after a weather report that was less that stellar. My 1st steps out the hotel lobby teach me three things:

1. I’m old enough that a twinge in my back gives me pause. Today could go either way.

2. The humidity in Texas is not playing.

3. Fort Worth was a rough-and-tumble town with a penchant for celebrating the lawless cowboy.

My first stop is at Pax & Beneficia for a shot of espresso, which is excellent. I take a photo with JFK, wander past a large cowboy hat statue in Sundance Square, and numerous historical plaques acknowledging the criminal past and proliferation of brothels that once occupied this space. I loop around the water gardens and stumble into The Hogan Alley. The vibe is Q-tip, cowboys, and chill. It’s a spot for coffee, beer, and wine. I love it. Michelle, Nina, and Lou offered up more than a bit of character making the shot of espresso even better. Time to get back on the road.

INTERMISSION: WACO MAMMOTH NATIONAL MONUMENT

National Monuments are cool. They don’t quite have the same status as the National Parks, but they are often just as interesting and often much less trafficked. The Waco Mammoth location is an active archeological dig on a farm outside of Waco, TX where they discovered an entire nursery herd of Colombian mammoth bones. Additionally, male mammoths, dire wolves, and camel bones were found at the site but from different points on the timelines. https://www.nps.gov/waco/index.htm

Have you heard of Buc-ee’s? Every single Texan I’ve met has asked if I’ve been to a Buc-ee’s yet. Today stopped at one. As best as I can tell, it is a gas station + grocery + fudge shop + Kohl’s department store that costs a bit more than the gas stations on the other side of the road? I’m lost on what is inspiring the devotion here. Please ‘At’ me in the comments. I don’t get it.

AUSTIN, TX

Austin is my new number one worst city to drive in as an outsider who doesn’t know where they are going ever—and I’ve lived in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles! The driving is fast, intense, and seemingly without regard for the rule of law. Beyond that, what a fantastic city for parks. Texas, generally, seems to understand the value of the public park and the need for shady places. That may have something to do with the 64,000% humidity and 90+ degree temperature I’m experiencing in April.

It is an easy walk to Easy Tiger for my morning coffee (see what I did there?). It wasn’t where I planned to start the day, but I need some time to catch up with my journaling. It is my youngest brother’s birthday. I call to sing happy birthday to his voicemail and follow it up with a dozen texts about the NBA playoffs. The stop at Easy Tiger gives me time to miss his presence and make a plan for the day.

Today’s coffee stops: the quick version.

• Flat Track Coffee: It’s in the hip neighborhood on 5th downtown. Even with a few warnings I’m shocked by the size of the homeless population and the grittiness I drive through off the highway. The cafe is half cafe and half bike shop, and it definitely feels like everyone in the room knows how cool it is. I can sense it like when my knees swells before a rain.

• Figure 8 Coffee Purveyors: I saw the sign “Coffee Purveyors” from the car and just felt compelled to u-turn around. I’m not disappointed. The small rectangular roaster (also a wine and beer seller) is the best type of casual yet caring. Sometimes vibes area all you need, but the coffee is good, too. I sit at the bar and end up chatting about design and business with an off-duty barista. When I leave, I overhear their friend say, “It’s always the drifters…” I’ve never felt more seen.

• El Tigre Coffee: A small cafe built into a vintage Spartan RV? Sign me up. I sit in the original kitchenette and sip an espresso appreciating the ingenuity of the hospitality industry when it comes to designing unique spaces. I wonder why the people of Austin have such an affinity for tigers? At small print and magazine shop next door I get my dog fix and a warning from an L.A. transplant that the driving in Houston is way more intense than Austin. Uh-oh.

INTERMISSION: KREISCHE BREWERY STATE HISTORIC SITES

I was looking for a stop to stretch my legs. A quick map search led me to a listing for a walk along a historic path to a brewery. A-ha! I thought. A walk and beer? Sounds good to me.

It was a bit of a drive out of the way and as I passed through the residential neighborhoods, I started to wonder if I was in the right place. I was, and I learned a lesson about reading descriptions on the internet.

The Kreische Brewery was built in 1860 on Monument Hill outside La Grange, TX. The site features a monument to soldiers who died in the Dawson Massacre of September 1842, as well as something called the “black-bean incident.” At one point the brewery was the third largest in the state of Texas, but—unfortunately for me—it closed in 1884. So…no beer here.

HOUSTON: DAY 1

I had planned on this Expo kick-off event and then that one. There are parties all over town on Thursday night, but instead I spend the afternoon (and most of the evening) reworking some packaging designs for the up-coming Collaboration Series of coffees we’re working on with Coffee Cycle Roasting and Marea Coffee.

HOUSTON: DAY 2

We’ll pick up the thread here tomorrow! Stay tuned for video clips from our interviews and an introduction to Season 14 of the Coffee People Podcast.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Nick Schmitt is the Specialty Coffee Ambassador at Roastar, Inc. We regularly catch up for a cup of coffee, so we decided to start recording our chats. Check back each month as we catch up on what’s new.

CHECK OUT THE ROASTAR DESIGN LAB

NOTES FROM THE SHOW

• Check out Firedancer Coffee Educators at: www.firedancereducators.com.

• The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) EXPO is rebranding for 2025 as the World of Coffee. https://www.coffeeexpo.org/world-of-coffee-san-diego-2026

• If you want to drive in Southern California, you need to be aware of traffic patterns. A 15-minute drive could easily be an hour at the wrong time of day. Taking a trip between San Diego and Los Angeles? I suggest the train, but if you’re driving, add an extra just in case hour. There is a stretch of The 5 where there is no on, no off, and nowhere to go if there is an accident or slow down.

• BTW: My wife and I are moving out of SoCal. It’s been in the works for a while. The eleven years we’ve been here is the longest we’ve ever settled down. We’re hitting the road in June for the Free Coffee Tour and then an adventure. We don’t know the final destination, only that our lease ends in May.
  

• June Gloom is famous enough in SoCal to have its own Wiki page. May Gray has (anecdotally) been getting grayer and cooler each year!

• The Coffee Chronicles on @roastar via Instagram.

• I’ll be at Roastar’s SCA EXPO booth #919 on Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th, at 10:00, recording live interviews with some awesome guests for Season 14 of Coffee People. If you’re in Houston, don’t hesitate to hit me up for a cup of coffee or stop by the booth.

• What is the relationship between a customer and their local coffee shop or barista?

• Can you be a regular if you only go somewhere once a year? I stop at Kiln Coffee in Grand Junction at least once a year. It is a regular stop. We appreciate the consistency of the experience and the lovely downtown of Grand Junction. I feel like a regular when I’m there, even though it is a single annual visit. What turns someone from a customer to a regular? Thoughts?

• The Phoenix coffee shops I stopped by were Songbird Coffee & Teahouse, Xanadu (which had some major changes the week after I was there), aftermarket in Belhaus, and Caffio Espresso Bar in the Pueblo plant nursery.

• Don’t get jaded!

• We’re on Bluesky.

• So is coffee writer Fion Pooler. His The Pourover blog is excellent.

• With cold brew, especially cans, check the best-by dates. Be cautious with an older coffee. I assumed drinking an old can mean it might not taste good, not that I could get botulism!

• What loyalty do you owe a coffee shop that you feel partial toward if the quality of the product drops, but the service doesn’t? Would you say something? Let us know in the comments.

A FEW TIPS FOR SCA EXPO

• Hydrate! Drink water. It is easy to get a coffee buzz and then hit up an EXPO afterparty. Not drinking water makes for a difficult day two.

• Bring a backup shirt. It gets hot in Texas. In my case, I’ll likely spill coffee on myself!

• Take a break to explore coffee outside the convention. When will you get back to Houston?

• Wear comfy shoes. Bring more than one pair to switch out day-to-day.

• If you’re there for business, have a plan. The convention floor can be overwhelming. Download the SCA app and check out the map. Hit up the essential stops for your business first. Then, enjoy the remaining time exploring.

• If you’re there for fun, have fun!

• Bonus tip: If you see a bearded podcast host wandering around with a big backpack or shoulder sack, say hello. That bag is filled with goodies he doesn’t want to haul back home.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER

Guests: Drew and Cat Jeglinski, Co-Founders Little Joy Coffee Bar and Wine Shop
Based: Del Mar, CA
Online: www.littlejoydelmar.com • @littlejoydelmar
What they drink:
Cat: Cortado in the morning, white Rosé in the afternoon, and dark reds after dark. Drew: Espresso and for wine he looks to Cat to ask “What should we get?”
Listen/Watch on: Spotify • YouTube

The sun was just beginning to make its slow descent toward the Pacific when I arrived at Little Joy. Sunsets are never guaranteed during Marine Layer season, but luck was with me for this show’s first on-location interview. I was using a different recording set-up, new mics, and operating in a space I didn’t control or understand.

I was nervous. More so than I hoped to was apparent to Drew and Cat. The technical side of this business isn’t my first focus. I dragged those skills along, but after 13 seasons of mostly interviewing guests virtually, I was confronted with a wave of nerves to have the guests right there!

Thankfully, the Founders behind Little Joy were charming and coherent. As a podcast host, that is one of the nicest compliments I can give! They welcomed me into their space, which is, in fact, little, but in the best way. The coffee shop is on the street side. From the sidewalk, you walk down into and through what feels like a vintage conversation pit from ’70s era architecture to the entrance, which is wide open. There is enough room for a person and a medium-sized dog to order and a table of coffee and merch.

Around the corner is the wine shop. A few shelves of curated wines grace the wall, and there is room for casual seating and conversation, a wine cooler for the chilled wines, and a picture window directing your gaze to the sea. It’s quite a lovely vibe. That my visit coincided with the setting sun was merely a happy accident.

Cat and Drew Jeglinski exemplify the small business owner. The work is long. The work is hard. The work is…

The work is its own reward. As long as opening the doors brings them joy, even little moments of joy, they’ll keep bringing together the neighbors and visitors who find themselves in Del Mar, CA.

INTERMISSION: SEASON 14

This show is all about learning. I learned a lot in our first on-location episode, and I can’t thank Drew and Cat enough for being so kind as to be my guinea pigs. I’ll take a lot of this with me into Season 14, which will be nearly entirely filmed on-location. We’re currently taking the long way to SCA Expo* and will be recording several episodes at the convention, and then the remainder of the season will be filmed during our Free Coffee Tour. Check it out.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE POD

• Things I learned about shooting on-location

  • The actual video image on the camera is tighter than what I can see on the display! I was very nervous to lead an in-person interview.

  • I need to move my mic away from my beard.

  • Don’t set up by the refrigerator.

  • Sunsets are nice. It’s one reason we kept this episode in full color!

• Négrette is a type of grape grown in the southwest of France that makes a heckuva red wine.

• Little Joy is named after a band which is named after a bar and is an exemplification of an espresso in a demitasse glass. Coffee is a little joy.

• The hand drawn branding is a reflection of the DIY small business ethos. They were assisted by the people they know in coffee. Shout out to Sarah for the logo! The ship in a bottle is a nod to the family history.

• Little Joy started as a Drew’s purchased a coffee cart from his boss at Zumbar Steve Rayle. The brick-and-mortar location is across the street from the original cart.

• There are a lot of challenges that operating coffee cart presents. Just being outside can be brutal, even in San Diego County! Drew used a lot of sunscreen in the five years he had the cart. There is daily stocking, DIY maintenance and the labor is manual. Even passing traffic is a stressor, but the space allowed Little Joy to stay small and nimble and get to know their customer’s needs before expanding inside.

• Being open every day creates consistency for the customers, but it was a trial and error effort to learn when the customer demand was consistent for craft coffee outside.

• Little Joy is coffee. It is wine. But they are two separate operations. Above all it is an opportunity to connect the members of the community and share some education about two products they love.

• Orange wine is a real thing. I thought it was branding on a bottle with a bit of coloring, but no!

• Social media isn’t core to the brand. “We do it because we have to, right?”

• "The Women's Wine Alliance empowers women wine professionals in San Diego through education, mentorship, tastings, and scholarships- education focused women’s empowerment” https://womenswinealliance.com/

• Color studies over time have shown a reduction in the colors being used. This article on Arch Daily describes the study and attempts to explain why.

  READ THE ARTICLE

• As a team they are charming and coherent, two prized character traits from this podcast host. Drew is infinitely quotable.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WE ARE ON YOUTUBE NOW

I’m not sure how you could have missed it. The podcast at the top is a YouTube video. Thanks for subscribing. It really will help.

Find us on: Bluesky • Instagram • Facebook • Youtube

BRANDS WE USE & HAVE PARTNERED WITH*

Roastar has been crushing it for small businesses. With the current market chaos, they are a brand that understands what it means to be small and focused on the day to day of running your business. They help ensure your packaging looks fantastic, even if the costs are being cut elsewhere. Use code: R!WC for 5% off when you’re ready to order.

Please use these links. You’ll be getting a great gear AND supporting Roast! West Coast. The links below enable us to generate some affiliate revenue. As always, we don’t partner with brands we don’t use, coffee we don’t drink, or strongly recommend.

SHOP YEAH, NO...YEAH COFFEE

CHECK OUT THE SIMPLY GOOD BREWER