Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions

Coffee roasting is an art, craft, skill, and mystery. Well to a certain extent it's a mystery. We've listened to countless podcasts, read books, attended roasting classes, and many great resources of information will not agree on a handful of roasting approaches. Although we've learned a lot from many educators, some things you won't quite fully grasp until you charge a batch of green coffee into...

Grab a cup of coffee and sit down with us as we talk about whatever comes to mind. Of course coffee had to be part of the discussion. We touch base on drip coffee, how it has grown over the last several years, and how Scott Rao’s UFO Spray Head helps brewing drip coffee on commercial machines.

When will you start a coffee shop? We get that question all the time. As we approach two years of running our coffee roasting company, we reflect back on why we started a roasting company specifically in the first place. Although owning a cafe sounds a bit more exciting than a roasting company, we had intentional reasons for what we did.   In this podcast episode of the Coffee Roaster Wa...

We all have goals and dreams we hope to accomplish. In a time of instant gratification, it's very easy to be distracted from what you're out to achieve especially when it's a long term goal. Staying focused in the midst of distractions and, in our case, competition is a challenge but absolutely essential.  In this Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions podcast episode, we think out loud about some o...

The current climate of the coffee industry is going to affect us all in one way or another. Because coffee is a global industry, it adds layers and layers of complications. In this podcast episode, we break down what is happening and some of the changes we as coffee drinkers and business owners in the industry will experience.

Over the last several years, there's been a surge of interest in the home barista niche. Whether that's having a home pour over bar or a single group head espresso machine with some of the best grinders in the world, more and more people are getting into brewing top notch coffee at home. On the other hand, we continue to see more coffee roasting companies and cafes open which is growing the demand...

Do we need more coffee gear? What about more pour over brewers? Over the last several years, we've noticed a huge increase in coffee equipment hitting the market. From innovative espresso machines to home coffee grinders to pour over brewers of every shape and size, but is it all necessary? In this Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions episode, we break this coffee gear conversation down and share our p...

What does coffee taste like? Today we're talking about flavor notes on coffee bags. Are they helpful? Do you buy coffee based on the notes labeled? Maybe you have no idea what coffee flavor notes on a bag mean? Today we dive into flavor notes, how we come up with them, and why we even have them on coffee bags. This discussion is a sequel to our previous episode where we break down how we describe...

What does your coffee taste like? Is it bold, smooth, burnt, light, or maybe it just tastes like coffee. Describing what our coffee tastes like can get really complicated really fast.  It's been said that there are over 850 aroma and flavor compounds found in coffee, and that's scientifically proven. How we discern that in our coffee tastings or cuppings can get a little crazy. In this episod...

Coffee blends have been a debated topic over the last decade in the specialty coffee community. Although there isn’t anything horrible about coffee blends, which we touch up on some of the positive aspects to them, they’re definitely not perfect. To a certain extent, it goes beyond just a preference. In this Coffee Roaster Warm Up Session, we dissect some of the arguable points for both. Although...

In this episode, Sergei talks to his good friend Taylor about what it has been like for him living and now working in Indonesia for the last seven years. This podcast is packed! They talk about robusta, arabica, helping the people of Indonesia, and how he's after impacting the future of Indonesian coffee.

Sergei returned from his trip to Florida, and he had the opportunity to hit all of his favorite coffee shops in Florida. Sergei gives us a run down of some of his favorite cafes he was able to visit and share his experiences. Both of our recent trips out of town has sparked a lot of thought about the specialty coffee experience in cafes. Today we touch up on what we think can be improved to make t...

Mark just got back from San Francisco and of course he had to hit the best coffee shops in the area. San Francisco has a rich coffee culture that is such a pleasure to discover as someone visiting the city. We also talk about Sergei's trip to Florida and what we think is the most important part of the coffee shop experience.

Buying coffee can either be very simple or unnecessarily overwhelming with the amount of options there are. There are new roasting companies popping up all the time yet there are so many well established ones we've grown familiar with. In this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions Podcast, we dive into some of the nuances we face when purchasing coffee from roasting companies.

Running a coffee roasting business alone has many moving parts, but grasping coffee roasting itself is just as difficult if not more intricate. There's still so much to learn and explore in this craft, but we wanted to give some guidance to beginner coffee roasters. Here we break down a couple coffee roasting basics, and a couple resources we recommend for starting your journey!

Working in coffee as a barista or roaster is sometimes over romanticized. If you're looking from the outside in, things appear to be much different than they really are. That being said, some people are thriving working in those positions. With the current labor shortage going on in the country, in this episode wanted to talk about why that may be happening, what we can learn from the past year, a...

Fishing season started a couple weeks ago here in the Pacific Northwest. It's been years since we've enjoyed a good fishing season. As small business owners and running a coffee roasting company, it is far too easy to get in the nonstop cycle of working, getting things done, and keeping up with new trends in the industry. Over the last few weeks, we've jumped back into fishing. In this episode we...

If we haven't said this enough, roasting coffee is a very complex process. Taking a coffee from a green color to a brown color is fairly easy, but there's so much more happening there. Each roaster has their unique approach to roasting and style which results in a huge variety of unique options for us to enjoy. In this episode, we break down just one of the parts of roasting which is color. From l...

Is pour over coffee really better than french press coffee? Although that's been an industry standard for the last decade, we argue why french press coffee ( immersion brewing ) is in some ways a better way to make coffee at home than pour overs ( percolation brewing ). We also venture into talking about the aeropress and the newest brewer on the market, the Tricolate brewer. Based out of Bellingh...

It was Fall of 2019 that things got really serious about starting a coffee roasting company, however, it was in the talks long before that. For years before our launch, we have been discussing how we can impact the coffee industry, especially at origin, and our dream of starting a coffee company. It finally fell into place. In this episode of Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions, we talk about the orig...

Specialty coffee is growing rapidly and taking over the coffee industry slowly but surely. Delicious coffee is accessible now more than it ever has. We're not just talking about the light roast trend because there's so much more that is happening, and we couldn't be more excited about it! Based in Bellingham, WA Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirrorcoffeeroasters/

This last week, we were setup for an incredible opportunity that almost felt like a dream. It was everything we talked about when we entertained the idea of starting a coffee bar. As tough conversations went on and on, at the last minute we realized this wasn't the right decision to make. Sometimes saying no is the right thing to do even when it's hard. Based in Bellingham, WA Find us on Instagram...

Over the past year, we have dove into the world of social media and even more specifically, the coffee content of social media. It's been such a pleasure to be able to find other coffee enthusiast, get to know them, and be inspired creatively by the art they've made. The coffee community on these social media platforms are absolutely incredible! That being said, it's not always perfect, and we cov...

Years ago, coffee wasn’t a thing for us. At least not the way it is right now, however, through several travel and cultural experiences, that has changed significantly. In this coffee podcast episode, we dive into some of the most memorable experiences we’ve had in foreign countries that has transformed how we see coffee. Based out of Bellingham, Washington Find us on Instagram: https://www.instag...

The other week, we were asked on Instagram, "How do you get into specialty coffee as a beginner?" In addition to that, we found ourselves discussing what is specialty coffee to start with! We absolutely loved this question because at one point we were exposed to specialty coffee, got into it, and then eventually it changed our lives completely. In this coffee roaster warm up session, we discuss ou...