The Coffee Think Tank Podcast

In this episode of Coffee Think Tank, Luke Waite—founder of Pomelo Coffee Consulting and former operations and sales leader at Metric Coffee and Passion House—talks about what it actually takes to run a profitable coffee roastery in 2026. Luke spent years on the inside of some of Chicago's most respected specialty roasters before launching Pomelo, where he helps roasters get a handle on their peop...

When you think about where specialty coffee belongs, a bank probably isn't the first place that comes to mind. But what if the best coffee in your city happened to be served inside a Capital One branch? That's the audacious vision of Verve Coffee, the Santa Cruz-based coffee roaster that was started in 2007 and now has over a dozen cafe locations across California and Japan. Harris Nash, t...

With quality coffee more widely available than ever, roasters can no longer rely solely on their beans’ excellence to drive growth. As Raina Roberts, Business Development Director at Partners Coffee in Brooklyn, NY, puts it, “When everyone’s special, no one’s special.” Raina oversees 250+ wholesale accounts and has guided Partners’ expansion beyond the Northeast. She’s seen how grocery buyers now...

In this episode of Coffee Think Tank , Bailey Manson, Director of Innovation at Intelligentsia Coffee, shares the story of the Illumination Bar in Pasadena—a bold experiment that replaced traditional espresso machines with freeze‑dried instant coffee for all espresso‑based drinks. Launched during the pandemic in 2020, this radical service model lasted until January 2025 before evolving again. We d...

Artificial intelligence tools are transforming how businesses operate. But in an industry built on human connection and craft, coffee business owners must balance taking advantage of new tools with preserving the soul of their business. That's why I wanted to talk with Melissa Villanueva, someone I consider to be a sharp operator with a keen eye for how to use AI effectively. Over the past decade,...

Coffee sourcing is undergoing a quiet, tech-enabled revolution, and there are few people better equipped to talk about than Kat Melheim. Through her roles at Black & White, her time on a Hawaiian coffee farm, and now at Algrano, Kat has been part of a shift toward greater transparency and accessibility, especially in the roasting and green buying realms. The digitization of coffee sourcing isn...

We’re in a change or die moment across the industry, and even more established companies are having to rethink everything to make sure the numbers all add up. The rising c-market price, in particular, is throwing everyone for a loop, but there are other pressures that are forcing leaders to stay on their toes. I asked Anne Djerai, CEO of Metropolis Coffee, to come on the podcast and talk about wha...

Everyone wants recurring, predictable revenue, and the pull of reliable income has been strong enough to turn nearly everything into a subscription program: toothpaste in glass bottles, delivered meal kits, toys for dogs, and of course—coffee beans, or coffee pods, or frozen coffee pods. There are many kinds of coffee subscriptions. But subscription models for coffee shops—like actually visiting a...