As the coffee industry grows and research increases, we begin to realize the ideas we used to believe about filter coffee brewing isn't true. In this episode, we address some of these myths we used to believe about brewing filter coffee. In our last episode, 173, we talk about myths about espresso brewing so if you haven't listened to that episode,…

As the coffee industry continues to grow, science and research is proving more and more beliefs to be wrong. Although these three myths have turned out to be wrong, we still hear them being talked about in coffee forums, mentioned in cafes, and even encouraged in barista training. In this episode we cover three common myths that we should be leavin…

This past month we saw the c-market price reach highs that haven't been seen in 50 years. The coffee industry has long been an advocate for paying producers and farmers more to make a more sustainable supply chain. This is a huge win for producing origins. On the other hand, with inflation, wages, and increased green costs, cafe guests are experien…

The season of giving gifts is upon us so we decided to help you with ideas with our top picks of what you can get coffee enthusiasts for Christmas. We have a wide spectrum of gifts on this list, from accessories to grinders and machines. These ideas also work great year round for birthdays and other events.…

One of the most important parts to pulling the perfect shot of espresso is puck prep. It can make or break your shot of espresso, make dialing in challenging if not done well, and can't be skipped over. In this episode, we talk about how to crush your puck prep and some of the tools we use to help us do that. Pick up Coffee Here: https://bit.ly/36g…

The way you design your coffee bar layout in your cafe can make or break how efficient your coffee shop runs. This impacts so many things including how your team feels working in the space, how quickly they can serve your guests, and the maximum potential of your retail space. Having an intentionally layout for your cafe is essential and that's wha…

We're in Chicago this week, visiting Soloway Coffee. It's a thriving, popular coffee shop that is bringing a unique experience to it's guests. This experience, their offering, and more make this a special place that has created a buzz in the area. Sergei walks us through what their doing well that is helping them win.…

Our coffee roasting business got tax audited and we're right in the middle of the process. Being our first time, this is a big learning experience and has brought up a few things that we realized we need to pay closer attention to. We cover what we've learned and some things you can do right now to make things easier in the future. Pick up Coffee H…

There are many perks of having a built out home coffee bar setup outside of the convenience of not needing to go to a coffee shop and spend money. In this episode we talk through some of the essentials of building out a home coffee bar setup, what we would recommend focusing on, and some tips for those just getting into brewing at home.…

We're answering and troubleshooting the most common coffee brewing issues we hear about and also personally run into. We talk about coffee resting, clogging in pour over brews, the impact of grinders on your cup, and more. In this coffee podcast episode, you'll find practical tips on how to adjust your brew to get the results you're chasing.…

Having good gear is essential, but oftentimes that takes the main stage and we don't know how to use our gear to get the most out of our coffee. In this episode, we cover some helpful tips you can implement to make your coffee taste better, improve your recipes, and potentially help troubleshoot some brewing issues.…

Coffee bean selection has never been so diverse. Diverse in roast color, varietals, origins, and flavor profiles. People's preferences have also never been so scattered across the board. We talk about some of our recent interactions with people, the rising trend towards ultra-light roasts, and why gear actually does matter and impact what coffees p…

We had a spontaneous guest join us, Alex Sciarrotta owner of Narrative coffee, as we talked about underrated and overrated parts of coffee. We touched up on coffee varietals, coffee competitions such as Cup of Excellence, and even got into Sergei's iconic outfits behind bar. We had a lot of fun recording this episode and diving into these topics to…

Coffee roasting companies that don't have a storefront, like us, oftentimes don't get the local, face to face interaction that can be very helpful for business growth. Even though launching a storefront for your coffee roastery might not be in the plans, there are other ways to have those interactions with guests that can be very financially benefi…

Oftentimes, coffee business owners are stuck with always needing more time, overworking, and feeling like you're not getting much back. Time is one of your most valuable resources so we have to learn to manage it well and make sure it's getting the most done while helping you achieve your goals.This episode covers how we're maximizing efficiency in…

Mark just got back from competing in the U.S. Aeropress Championship in Arkansas at Onyx Coffee Lab and got 3rd place. This episode breaks down his recipe, preparation, and the mistake that cost him first place.

Texes A&M launches the first acedemic coffee certificate. This is a huge overall step for the growth of the specialty coffee industry, however, what role will it play in the coffee industry? Will we see the industry favor those who do have the certificate? We break these questions down and more in this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions…

Coffee competition isn't perfect. We competed in our first aeropress competition and loved it! It was a great experience overall, but there were a few things that were challenging. As much as we wish competition was a flawless system of evaluation of who's the most skilled, it oftentimes isn't that. This is a debrief of our experience competing in …

Most of us, if not all, have experienced burnout whether that's within the coffee industry or not. We know what those exhausted, long days feel like when you've lost your passion and drive to do the work let alone do anything. It sucks. With this episode we wanted to break down what burnout is, what might be causing it, and how we can do to avoid f…

At face value, coffee shops are there to serve you a drink, pastries, and occasionally offer a full food menu. From what we've noticed, that is really only the beginning and oftentimes just a sliver of why people even show up to coffee shops. Here's how coffee shops impact communities, cities, and the vital role they play in society.…

We want to help set you up for your next interview at your favorite coffee shop. Although it could feel like experience behind bar is prioritized, but we think there are other ways you can increase the chances of getting hired at a cafe. We talk about being a regular, building meaningful friendships, and a few ways to prep for your interview. There…

We've all been there where we go to a cafe only to receive a beverage we did not like or wasn't brewed right. Although few things can be done at this point, is giving feedback the right thing to do? Would anything change if you did give feedback? As a barista, it may be uncomfortable to receive feedback, however, it's far from the end of the world.…

Over the last few years we've seen the home coffee shop trend on social media explode. Home baristas are hosting coffee shop experiences in their home for their community. These experiences are very impactful for local communities as well as the broader coffee industry. In this episode, we unpack why they're so important.Shop Our Coffee: https://bi…

The most important part of running a coffee shop business are the people you serve and the people you work with. You can get away with having bad coffee, but you can't get away with serving people poorly or not having a good team around you. In this episode, we talk all about investing specifically into your team behind the coffee bar which has the…

The last episode in our Level Up series is focused on leveling up your palate. Because taste is at the core of coffee, developing your palate is probably the most important thing you could do as a coffee enthusiast or professional. It can drastically change how you experience coffee and might even be the thing that you're missing from enjoying coff…

We're continuing our series on Leveling Up in coffee and this episode is for management and cafe owners specifically. We cover have 1 on 1s with your team, why it's important to spend time behind bar, and how to surround yourself with the right people to supercharge your growth. Being a manager or owner of a coffee business is challenging, but if y…

This episode is all about leveling up as a coffee roaster, and it's packed with very practical steps you can take. We go from broad roast curves to in depth, nerdy green coffee storage solutions. Whether you're just getting started or you've been roasting for years, we think this is packed with valuable information we wish we had years ago.…

We continue our podcast series on how to level up in coffee. In this episode, we're diving into what that looks like for baristas. We cover things like going above and beyond in your job, paying close attention to what happens behind the bar, why might need to leave your current job, and so much more. This episode gets very practical for baristas a…

We're starting a podcast series on how to level up in coffee. This series is all about what we can do as those working in the coffee industry to get better at our craft. We're hoping this series is filled with practical steps that you can start making immediately in your coffee journey. This episode is an introduction and general overview of how we…

A little less than 50% of businesses fail in their first five years. As we approach 5 years as a business, we're reevaluating where we're at, whether or not we want to keep doing this, and what it will take to keep going for the next five years. In this episode, we give a few pointers for reevaluating your coffee businesses and how to decide when t…

Taboo coffee orders. The drinks you get on a rare occasion that you don't want to be caught secretly really enjoying. In all seriousness though, does it have to be that way? Do syrups in drinks have to be looked upon? In this episode we take about some of our taboo coffee orders and the role specialty beverages play in coffee shops!…

There's been a lot of buzz around co-fermented coffees lately. With new regulations allowing these coffees to be used in competition, it's becoming increasingly controversial as the industry opens its doors to this processing method. Despite progress in this direction, it's not coming without a lot of push back. In this episode, we talk about what …

It's SCA Expo season! Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it, but we did hear all the talk about the latest coffee gear released this year. We have thoughts. In this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions, we cover some of the releases that stood out to us at SCA Expo 2024.

Most coffee shops offer pastries with their beverages, and it's becoming popular to have a breakfast food menu as well. Is having a food menu necessary? In this episode, we talk about some of the great experiences we've had at coffee shops as well as what are some of the businesses pros and cons of serving a food menu.…

Narrative Coffee, here in WA, models excellence very well. Everything from their coffee program to their food menu is refined for a very pleasant experience. Alex Scariotta, the new owner of Narrative Coffee, shares more about what it they're doing at Narrative, his personal story of growth in coffee, and how important it is to build an exceptional…

Starting a coffee shop or a coffee roastery are both challenging and a risk. After having started a roasting company and helped owners start cafes, we've noticed some of the differences between these two coffee businesses. In this episode, we take apart the pros and cons of starting both a coffee shop and a roasting company.…

This past week, decaf coffee got the spotlight and it happened to be at the US Brewers Cup Championship. The 2024 USBrC winner, Weihong Zhang, wins first place competing with a decaf coffee. This is a huge turning point to see decaf crush at a competition and it wasn't even a Gesha! In this podcast episode, we talk about decaf, where we see this go…

A special episode with Jimmy The Barista where we talk about what his journey has been like creating content around coffee, how he started in coffee, and his mindset in growing as a creator. Listen until the end because there are so many insightful pieces of information for creatives, coffee shop owners, and roasters. Subscribe to Jimmy: https://ww…

As a coffee roaster, offering wholesale to coffee shops is core to our business model. For us, however, it's not just about getting more coffee out the door. Coffee roasters and coffee shops should be working together to help each other thrive and succeed. In this episode, we talk about how we set coffee shops up for success when they partner with …

As coffee roasters, we understand that we can only roast a coffee to the potential of the green coffee itself. In many cases, we're doing our best to try to maximize the potential of each coffee and minimize the loss it may go through in the roasting process. That being said, starting with quality, fresh green is plays a vital role to roasting good…

Coffee competition has always intrigued us, and these last few months have been very busy because of that. Sergei just came back from competing in both cup tasters and brewers cup, and in this episode we talk about his prep, routine, and what it takes to compete on the national level.

Something we hear and are asked often is how we brew coffee based on origin. The same goes for our roasting approach as well. In this episode we talk about how different origins impact the brewing and roasting process and if it's even as important as we think it is.

When brewing pour over coffee, for the most part you're left with either a flat bottom or cone shape brewer. Both of the major categories come with their own nuances, flavor profiles, and recipes. In this podcast episode, we dive into our experiences with brewers like the Orea, V60, and Stagg brewer as well as how we approach brewing with them.…

Recently, we've heard of several well known coffee brands sell either a big chunk or all of their business to other big brands. Oftentimes people call this selling out and paint in negative light, but is that always the case? In this episode, we share our thoughts and look at past acquisition to get a better idea of what this could mean.…

We've all been there. You order a coffee at a coffee shop and the barista asks you to answer a few simple questions on the screen. Tipping your barista is normal, and we believe it should happen, however, with the increase in tipping amounts and inflation, has it gone too far? What are tips in hospitality for? We answer these questions in episode 1…

We've been running our coffee roasting business for 4 years now, and we're still learning old and new things in the process. As 2023 comes to an end, we're reflecting back on two big things that we're walking away with that being owners of Mirror Coffee Roasters taught us.

This year flew by fast, and very quickly did we pocket another year as a coffee roasting company. It's been an incredible year of relationships, connection, incredible coffee, and competition. In this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions podcast, we look back at the year and reminisce on our favorite moments of the year.…

The holidays are always bringing people together and there's a good chance coffee will make its way amongst conversation and gatherings. This is a great opportunity to expose people to tasty coffee and hopefully give them the eye opening experience many of us have had about coffee. In this episode, we share a few tips on how to get your friends and…

Filter roasts and espresso roasts have been around for a while in coffee, however, are they absolutely necessary? Can't you just have one roast for both brew methods? In this episode, we touch up on the pros and cons of different roasts for different brew methods and why for now we've chosen an omni roast approach.…

Coffee roasting, water chemistry, and coffee flavor notes are all linked together and are a bit more complicated than we'd like. Both coffee roasting and water chemistry create a flavor experience unique to the combination, however, when one is off, things usually are thrown off.