S4:EP18
Guest: Tyler Whitehead, Ignite Coffee Company
From: Oceanside, California
Instagram: @ignitecoffeecompany
Website: https://ignitecoffeecompany.com/
This week’s guest on the R!WC podcast, Tyler Whitehead, has been going through the start-up roller coaster. Listen to the show to hear his emotional reaction to the potential for his brick-and-mortar coffee roastery lease to fall apart.
Tyler mentioned he got into coffee late. He didn’t start drinking coffee until he was in college. I’m going to counter by saying I didn’t start until I was 30 and now I host this podcast and write this newsletter all about coffee and the people that make the industry go.
I might have started earlier if my college coffee shop was Mostra Coffee Company, the 2020 Micro Coffee Roaster of the Year (and one of this podcast’s Industry Partners)!
Once he set his sights on coffee, Tyler still needed to learn how to roast. He turned to YouTube. Every up-and-coming generation has benefited from the collective education created by the successes and failures and lessons learned by the previous ones.
With YouTube and online class opportunities, today’s entrepreneurs can teach themselves just about anything…if they are motivated enough. With his goal to be 1% better every day, Tyler will need to stay motivated.
His goal as a person, a coffee roaster, and entrepreneur is to try and be 1% better every day. It is an admirable trait but is much more difficult to achieve than you might think. When you’re working and striving towards something, especially in business, there are often long plateaus, even times where you take a step backward, and being able to manage those moments both mentally and emotionally to continue working with intentionality is often an indicator of success.
Tyler has some built-in foundational support in the form of his family, who first were examples, then teachers, colleagues, and supporters of his coffee company. He’s added to that foundation by being active in his hometown community of Oceanside and his church.
It wasn’t part of the original plan, but soon his brick-and-mortar location will be open. By staying flexible, he has been able to make the most of opportunities as they come, and who knows what will come next?
FROM THE SHOW
Tyler learned a lot from the Mill City Coffee Roasters YouTube Channel. If you’re looking to get into roasting, they offer a free Roaster School video course. Check out the first episode:
COFFEE NEWS
READ: The growing of coffee and coffee production has a direct impact on the land and ecology of a community. An experiment in Costa Rica is showing how spreading coffee pulp–the waste product left over from coffee processing–can help regenerate deforested land covered with invasive grasses. Read the article in National Geographic
READ: Coffee makes us poop. It is a not-so-provocative phrase if you’ve ever had a cup of coffee. Now there is some evidence to prove it, albeit from small studies. CNN’s Kristin Rogers pulled together some data and interviewed the medical experts. Read the article on CNN.com
R!WC INDUSTRY PARTNERS
Camp Coffee Company (Oceanside, CA) has new vegan pastries from Split Bakehouse for April—Peach Bellini Danish, Confetti muffin with vanilla bean funfetti streusel, Ube streusel and cream cheese glaze, and Carrot cake scone with cinnamon streusel and cream cheese glaze. They have new extended hours so you have more opportunities to pop in.
Steady State Roasting has a new YouTube Channel. Check out their first video:
Coffee Cycle Roasting is hosting their annual HippyCrit bicycle ride. This ride is geared towards cyclists and involves multiple hill climbs up Mount Soledad in La Jolla before ending at Deft Brewing in Bay Park for a beer. Only 10 tickets left.
Click these R!WC Industry Partners links. Drink their coffees and whiskeys. Visit their cafes. Support local coffee shops. You won’t be disappointed.
Zumbar Coffee & Tea • First Light Coffee Whiskey • Leap Coffee • Steady State Roasting • CAFÉ LaTERRE • Mostra Coffee • Cape Horn Coffee Importers • Marea Coffee • Coffee Cycle • Camp Coffee Company • Ignite Coffee Company
LISTEN ON THESE PLATFORMS
APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • ANCHOR.FM • GOOGLE PODCASTS • AMAZON MUSIC • THE COAST NEWS • TUNEIN RADIO • I HEART RADIO • POCKETCASTS • BREAKER • RADIO PUBLIC • OVERCAST • YOUTUBE • STITCHER
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Roast! - Tyler Whitehead, Ignite Coffee Company