A Coffee Podcast by Roastful - Conversations with people in the coffee industry

Follow Zack @roastfulcoffee www.roastful.com   Follow Ray @melodripco www.melodrip.co   SEY Coffee: www.seycoffee.com Hyunah Coffee Club: www.hyunah.coffee Follow Pepe Jijon: @fincasoledadintag Follow Jose Jijon: @coffee_with_jose , @fincas_del_putushio Follow Zack @roastfulcoffee www.roastful.com Follow Ray @melodripco www.melodrip.co

A wide-ranging, candid conversation with 2026 U.S. Brewers Cup champion, Esther Kim from Kumquat, covering everything from frustrating café experiences to the cutting edge of coffee brewing. The discussion dives deep into how water chemistry, grind size, and pour structure shape extraction—plus a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to win at the highest level. Along the way: industry ho...

Zack Stamey and Ray Murakawa sit down with Jiyoon of Bean & Bean Coffee to talk about taking over a multi-location family café business, modernizing it for today’s specialty scene, and launching Picolot as a “rapid release” canvas for tiny, ultra-interesting lots. Along the way they unpack Bean & Bean’s sloth rebrand (and its farm-ecosystem meaning), how Jiyoon thinks about pricing + margins for l...

In this episode, we sit down with Harry (aka Kimoi Coffee Harry) of Moonwake Coffee to dive deep into modern specialty coffee—from hyper-dialed pour-over brewing and grinder burr theory to green buying, roast development, and water chemistry. Harry shares his journey from passionate home enthusiast to shaping Moonwake’s brewing program and green sourcing, including how ultra-high-end gear ended up...

Fused Visions creator Mehrdad joins Zack Stamey (Roastful) and Ray Murakawa (Melodrip) for a wide-ranging, unscripted conversation about coffee innovation, product design, and why collaboration matters more than hype. They dig into what makers get wrong (and right), the copycat problem, and how tools like slow-feeding and “dose by volume” can make espresso more consistent with less waste. Plus: ra...

Zack and Ray sit down with AJ Kim of Kumquat Coffee to talk about the green side of home roasting. They dig into how Kumquat, Loquat, and Fondry grew into an ecosystem for serious home brewers and roasters, and why AJ started a curated green-coffee shop for small batches. Along the way, AJ shares what he’s learned visiting producers around the world and why understanding farms, pricing, and climat...

Zack and Ray kick things off breaking down the global matcha shortage and debating whether Tokyo is the best coffee city in the world. Then they sit down with Masa of Weekenders Coffee (Kyoto) to talk about Japan’s evolving café culture, light-roast philosophy, and Weekenders’ new 20th-anniversary collaboration box. In this episode: Is Tokyo the best coffee city in the world? What makes Japanese c...

Home roasting is exploding—and it’s no longer just for pros. Ray and Zack dive into the rise of the home-roasting movement with guest Robert Asami, a hobbyist roaster from the Bay Area. They unpack ultra-light roasts, the new tech driving the scene (Roest, Nucleus Link, Kaffelogic), and the growing culture of experimentation, education, and gear obsession. Links: Roest Nucleus Link Roaster Kaffelo...

Lance from Sey Coffee joins us to talk: co-ferments, “rock-star” producers, trends, the real work of sourcing, doing the reps (cupping daily), why clean 87–90pt washed lots are miracles, pricing/value (cost-per-cup), curation and seasonality, and how roasters can truly stand out in 2025. Links  Sey Coffee Timestamps  00:00 - Introduction; 00:15 - Get It Off Your Chest: Missing feature from scales;...

Perfect Daily Grind article: “Is Brewing by the Cup Still Worth It?” Spro-overs / Coffee Shots - YouTube Video by Lance Hedrick Follow Pepe Jijon: @fincasoledadintag Follow Jose Jijon: @coffee_with_jose , @fincas_del_putushio Follow Zack @roastfulcoffee www.roastful.com Follow Ray @melodripco www.melodrip.co