Chadwick Harman of Regent Coffee Joins Us For A Cup Of Roasted Bean Juice.
Season 14, Episode 7 • The Free Coffee Tour 2025.
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.
Using specialty grade, single-origin coffee beans that pair perfectly with whiskey aromas. We use our own American oak barrels and whiskey to precisely control the seasoning and aging of the beans. This ensures the ideal strength of the whiskey tone, adding a subtle, long-lasting note that enhances, without overpowering, the coffee profile.
Try our barrel-aged cold brew for a unique experience.
• regentcoffee.com
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.
How far can a cup of coffee take two people?
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.
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)
• 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!
