Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions

There's so much happening in the coffee industry. This episode is our *almost* unfiltered take on a few trends we see in coffee and breaking down what we think about them. No offense is intended and we hope you can enjoy the banter.

We're obsessed with coffee. Recently we realized it's now taking over our travel itineraries and has become a huge part of how we plan for trips. How has coffee changed that over the years? What do we predict might be coming in the future for coffee and travel? We talk about all of that in episode 107 of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions Podcast.

Ansley Randall is a graphic designer and mural artist based out of Florida. She's played a huge part here at Mirror Coffee Roasters by designing our new coffee bags which were released earlier this year. In this episode, we talk about her journey from barista to graphic designer and a few helpful tips on how coffee businesses can work with graphic designers to grow.

Comandante is known for their superior hand coffee grinders that have been seen being used on the competition stage including this year at the 2023 Brewers Cup Championships at SCA. Comandante has led their own brewing competitions for years now and this year they came to Vancouver, BC. We knew we wanted to participate, but we had no idea we'd be winning the 2023 Canadian Comandante Championsh...

Coffee competitions are a big part of specialty coffee. It gives those working in coffee an opportunity to showcase their passion for the craft. In this episode, we sit down with Keziah who competed this year as a US barista competitor. She talks about why she competed, her advice to others considering it, and some of her biggest takeaways from being a competitor.

Kyle Rowsell started as a YouTuber and content creator which has led him to launching his coffee roasting company called September Coffee. Kyle Rowsell opens up about starting a kickstarter, running the coffee business with his wife Natasha, and some of the challenges they have faced over the last few months. This conversation is vulnerable, encouraging, and gives you an inside look at the details...

Tanner Colson started by creating coffee content on TikTok a few years back without much expectation of going viral. Little did he know that this was just the beginning to viral TikToks, a following of over 1 million, and doing what he loves for work. We discuss what it's like to go viral and how to use your following to add value and positivity to the world.

Sourcing and roasting coffee are two very important aspects of a roasting company. Once you've sourced a really delicious coffee, how do you transfer that into a production roast? In this episode, we share our process from cupping sample roasts to carrying it over into a production roast we're satisfied with.

Our coffee podcast just hit 100 episodes. What initially felt like a side project of our roasting company now has become one of our favorite parts of our whole operation. On episode 100, we reflect back on our favorite moments on the podcast, how impactful this community of listeners has become, and dreaming big about the future of the podcast.

What sets a coffee roasting company apart from others? As home baristas, we've noticed that everyone claims to roast the best specialty coffee. Given how subjective coffee flavor is, is that enough to be different and stand out? In this podcast episode, we break down a few ways we think coffee roasters can stand out and provide more value to coffee drinkers and home baristas.

This week, we blindly cupped over 60 coffees and 14 coffee roasters all at once. There were many delicious coffees on the table which was very fun to taste and experience the many flavor profiles they had to offer. Apart from enjoying all these coffees, this was a big learning experience. Every roaster and every coffee had a piece of data and information that we could learn from. In this coffee po...

This is another Q&A podcast episode with really incredible questions ranging from taking risks as a coffee roasting business, the influence of AI on the coffee industry, and how coffee has impacted our family dynamics. The coffee questions as well as the more personal questions really made us think deeply about these topics and challenged us. We had so many really great questions and we're...

One of the challenges of having a coffee roasting business is green coffee buying. How you buy green coffee will define the quality level of your finished product. In today's podcast, we dive into how we balance green coffee inventory with coffee harvest seasons from origin to origin. Although there's a lot of nuance to this conversation, we did our best to cover the topic and share how we...

We just came back from our first coffee origin trip as a coffee roasting company. We spent the week traveling, visiting farms, connecting with our producing partners, and learning more about what it takes to turn coffee cherries into coffee beans. This was an extraordinary experience and it has so much to do with the core of what Mirror stands for. Although it's hard to put words to the whole expe...

There's a lot of things that go into running a success coffee roasting operation, but we feel like there's one standout concept that is an absolute essential part to roasting delicious coffee. When we first started to crack down on systems around our roasting operation, a lot of things began to improve. It was a game changer. Tune in to this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions podcast t...

What does one of the most expensive cup of coffees taste like? What should you expect a coffee scored at 96 to offer? Is this even necessary or beneficial to coffees at these price points sold and brewed?  We answer these questions and more in this episode as we talk about our experience trying Proud Mary's Panama geisha natural called the Black Jaguar. This was by far one of the most memorab...

On this coffee podcast episode, we have Andrew Pernicano from Flair Espresso! This was such an enjoyable conversation as we dived into the story behind Flair Espresso, how they come up with new coffee gear for home baristas, and what it's like making coffee with the Flair 58 espresso maker. Andrew shares about what he's noticing amongst home baristas and coffee enthusiasts, and what they're workin...

Coffee is one of our biggest passions we're pursuing and see ourselves continuing to go after it for the next decade. The craft behind coffee is both challenging and rewarding at the same time. That being said, do we ever get bored of coffee? In this podcast episode, we talk about the boring, monotonous parts of coffee that are often not talked about.

The coffee experience at home or in a cafe is far more than just coffee flavor. It's a collective of aesthetics, visuals, aromas, sounds, and more. For over a year now, we've been planning and working on creating a unique experience for those who want to enjoy our coffees. From the website to the packaging, this is a creative expression of both of us, and we can't wait to share this with you.

How you roast coffee is a huge determiner of what your coffee will taste like. Although there are plenty of other variables at work that can arguably impact taste more than roasting, how a roaster approaches the process defines the outcome. What can get tricky is the subjective preferences that play a huge role in the roasting approach we create. In this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessi...

Running a coffee business as taught us a lot about each other as well as ourselves. That includes our strengths but also our weaknesses, insecurities, pain points, and things we wish we wouldn't have to confront. On this podcast episode, we dive into the intimidating moments of having to face these uncomfortable parts, but also how we use them to leverage unstoppable growth. This is not just for b...

On this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions podcast, we wrap up 2022 with one last episode talking about the what we predict will happen in the coffee industry in 2023. The coffee industry is growing and changing fairly quickly and as we observe some of the growing trends we've seen, there's a few things that we believe will only become more common in the upcoming year. On the other han...

How do you roast a coffee you have little information about, limited quantity of, and it needs to be done within a short timeline? A few weeks ago we were approached by our good friends and partners in coffee about doing a very limited run roast of a special coffee for them.  Our roasting knowledge and skill was put to the test and in this episode we talk through some of the ideas we wrestled...

Exceptional coffees should be celebrated. After all, the work it takes to grow, produce, process, roast, and brew is all for the sake of a delicious cup of coffee. In today's episode, we reflect on the amazing coffees we wish everyone had the opportunity to taste. These are coffees that inspired us to pursue excellence. These are some of our favorite coffees of the year along with a few roasters w...

Starting a business with family has both negative and positive connotation behind it. There bad stories we hear about business and money destroying relationships in families are very real, but it's not all bad. Although it comes with its unique set of difficulties, there are a handful of benefits worth mentioning.  In this episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions podcast, we talk about...