RoR #29 : A Coffee Roaster’s Career Journey, Leigh Wentzle, Cedar Coffee

As a roaster your career can go through many different unique phases, all of which will tech you different things about the craft, the business, leadership, and even entrepreneurship. Not least among the things you learn is how to use bo...

452: Championing the Customer Experience in Coffee w/ 3x SA Barista Champion, Winston Douglas Thomas of Cedar Coffee

The world of professional specialty coffee can be both inspiring and intimidating with many customers and new baristas feeling lost in the mix of rules, methods, and information. How can we create a great experience for guests and staff ...

451: Business Growth, Integrity, and Coffee Farmer Equity w/ Martin Mayorga of Mayorga Coffee

When Martin Mayorga first entered the coffee industry it was not as someone whose singular passion was the product, but the people and communities behind it that were unseen and more often that not, un rewarded for their work. Born in G...

450: A Conversation About Mobile Apps and Hospitality w/ Joe Capone of Espressly

Hospitality is a pursuit that relies on our ability to not only offer our guests excellence in quality, consistency, and interaction, but it also relies on us being able to select tools for delivery of our service that line up with our v...

RoR #28 : Ease and Accessibility in Sample Roasting w/ Andrew Stordy, Inventor/Founder of IKAWA

Sample roasting empowers people with the knowledge of possibility locked in the coffee. Bringing sample roasting that provides for more continuity and better communication to more professionals in the value chain, especially at origin, i...

449: Convenience and Automation in Coffee w/ Tim Cox of Franke Coffee Systems

The coffee market is much bigger than just specialty coffee. In fact specialty makes up just a fraction of coffee consumed globally. The advent of convenience coffee service is growing lock step with innovations in automation and that ha...

448: Founder Friday! Part 2 “Switching Gears” | w/ Doug Zell of Intelligentsia and The Meteor!

In this second part of our 2 part Founder Friday we switch gears with Doug Zell, founder of the iconic coffee company Intelligentsia Coffee. In the years that followed the acquisition of Intelligentsia, Doug entered into a new era of cre...

448: Founder Friday! Part 1 “Switching Gears” | w/ Doug Zell of Intelligentsia and The Meteor!

The landscape of specialty coffee has been influenced by many people and companies over the last few decades. The foundations of the standards and methods we use now, at one time, were merely ideas waiting for someone to put them into ac...

447: Understanding the Business of Coffee w/ Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood

The world of coffee trade and commerce is complex to say the least. The difference between a business that succeeds and one that flounders is largely based on how well we know the business of coffee and how we move wisely within it as we...

446: Building a People-First Coffee Tech Culture w/ Jason “Double J” Johnson, Black Rabbit Service Co.

As the tools we use to craft coffee multiply, so too does the need for companies to keep the machines running well. Service techs are an essential segment of the industry and in an industry based on hospitality and service, it is importa...

445: Evolution of the Machine-Barista Relationship w/ Ryan Willbur of Synesso Coffee Systems

The magic baristas can render from coffee relies on not just their skill and the incredible efforts from producers and roasters, but also on the quality of the equipment they have to work with. Over the past couple decades the quality an...

444: Founder Friday! w/ Julia Peixoto Peters of Peixoto Coffee, Arizona

Between the moment a farmer hands over their crop, to the moment a barista hands a customer a cup of that same coffee, there is a complex system that will either bring hope and equity to those most vulnerable, or reinforce the hopelessne...

443: Want Impactful Messaging? Keep it Simple! w/ Author Ben Guttmann

Why do we overcomplicate things? Certainly details matter with SOPs , recipes, etc…but communication to our customers and staff can often be more confusing than helpful in delivering the impact and purpose we intend. The coffee shop is a...

441: How to Achieve Operational Excellence w/ Laila Ghambari

A coffee shop cannot survive without having excellent operational systems and tools that bring together and make consistent all the craft, values, and magic we want from a cafe experience Just like the work of a barista, 75% of what we d...

440 : What Should Scare You About Coffee

Working in coffee, you come across a lot of unexpected career pitfalls. Things that you may not have expected that can lurk just around the corner and lead us off track in our careers and our businesses. That should scare us. At least it...

Founder Friday! Youth, Foster Care, and Human Connections Through Coffee | w/ Miah Sommer of Astute Coffee in Omaha, NE

  More than 23k youth age out of the foster care system each year. Many of these young people, because of the trauma and  instability, end up at higher risk of addiction, homelessness, financial instability and worse. One man whose own ...

438 : How to be the CEOwner w/ Erin Young of Red Buffalo Cafe

Opening a running a successful cafe is no easy task. I requires passion as well as attention to the details around systems, relationships, and being able to grow yourself as a leader in that environment. Today we are going to be explorin...

437 : The New Age of the Barista: Mindsets + Habits for Success

What does it take to be successful as a barista or even just a coffee professional today? I believe the main differentiator for cafes is the experience and the main differentiator for baristas is how they approach their role. This will d...

436: Stop Burn Out! and Make Work Effortless w/ Greg McKeown | Best Selling Author “Effortless”

How many times have we heard that we are supposed to give work our all? Give 100% or even 110%? And then we wonder how it is that professional baristas, managers, and owners burn out on a regular basis. I’d say it is high time we look at...

435 : Encore! It’s OK to be the Boss, w/ Bruce Tulgan

Fully stepping into your authority is an act of service. Your position as a leader is meant to serve those you lead. But if you do not think it is ok to be the boss, you will simply be a bad an ineffective boss vs one that takes a strong...

434 : Founder Friday | Leo Ferreira | Puzzle Coffee Shop, Tanzania!

Tanzania is well known the world over for growing and exporting wonderful and iconic coffees. Mostly every coffee professional has enjoyed a Tanzania Peaberry coffee. Yet, much like most coffee farming countries, Tanzanias internal consu...

RoR #26 : How to Approach Roasting Fine Robusta w/ Cleia Junqueira | Consultant + Q-Robusta Grader

  Fine robusta has been the hot topic of conversation in the specialty industry these last few years and for good reason. What was once relegated to the sidelines has been showing up on offering sheets and coffee menus of some of the wor...

433: Winning Staff and Customer Loyalty

How do I find loyal staff and win loyal customers? This question and many like it has been asked thousands of times as we deal with incredible amounts of turn over in our shops. We have tried tricks, incentives, benefits of all kinds but...

432 : How to Win in Specialty Retail Coffee

It is a new era is specialty retail coffee. Great coffee can be found very easily in most major cities and people are making better coffee at home than they ever have. Add to this the ubiquity of RTD (Ready to Drink) coffee and a wide va...

431: An Exercise in Listening to Coffee w/ Alexander Roach of Boycott Coffee + The Alphabet Book of Coffee

As professionals, our communication about coffee is only as good as our ability to truly tune in to the message that emerges from the many different voices that give shape to the story of coffee. In the noisy world innovating ways to con...

430 : Embracing “Unreasonable Hospitality” w/ Will Guidara | Thank You NYC + The Welcome Conference

Coffee is all about human connection. That we get to create both the beverage and the experience people have when enjoying it is at once a great responsibility, a joy, and an opportunity to change lives through our hospitality in each in...

RoR #25 : Training Up the Next Generation of Roasters w/ Steve Lee of Pocket Knife Consulting + Linea Caffe

Effectively training up an apprentice roaster is key not only to your succession, the growth of your business, and the consistency of your quality, -but providing a great learning environment and approach to education and coaching will p...

SPECIAL! Part 2 | Coffee Fest Anaheim 2023 w/ Steve Chang of Copa Vida Cafe and Jon Ferguson of Coffee Tech Central

    Welcome to Part 2 of the Coffee Fest live on the show floor interviews from Anaheim, CA 2023! This time we are starting off with an interview with Steve Chang, Founder of Copa Vida Cafe! Currently the owner of Copa Vida Café (10 loc...

SPECIAL! Part 1| Coffee Fest Anaheim 2023 w/ Kenneth Davids and Madeleine Longoria Garcia

  Welcome to Part 1 of the Coffee Fest live on the show floor interviews from Anaheim, CA 2023! It was a pleasure to kick things of with coffee legend and returning guest, Kenneth Davids! Kenneth has been involved with coffee since the e...

429 : Believing You CAN Run a Great Shop w/ Michael Ryan of Threadbare Coffee Consulting

In the face of necessary reality checks and the inherent ups and downs of starting and running a coffee shop, there must always exist the foundational idea that “You can do this” and “It is possible”. That belief in possibility is what d...

428 : Founder Friday | Maxwell Mooney’s Final Chapter at Narrative Coffee and New Beginnings

Early on in the podcast (2019) I had Maxwell on to tell the story of Narrative and then 3 more times since then to discuss deeper topics related to running a great shop, dealing with challenges, and tools to success. I have known him for...

427 : Encore Episode: What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap

While culture is a needed focus, today it has become the hottest buzz word that can mean almost anything. What is most useful these days as we rightly focus on culture is a lens through which to view it that brings clarity and helps guid...

426: Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Having an engaged staff that are motivated and inspired to not just get through the shift, but to truly invest into the cafe and help improve things is a dream shared by many owners. This culture where each individual team member takes o...

425 : Some Thoughts on Supporting Your Manager

Managers hold the key to the success of the shop. They are tasked with taking all the people, place, and processes and making them work well together day to day. When a manager is correctly supported by the owner then they are able to do...

424: Developing Menu and Hospitality Guides

When it comes to our training and resourcing of staff we often have a desire for people to “get it” and to be detail oriented, but fail to give them much to “get” or to orient them to the details. This results in inconsistency and frustr...

423 : Founder Friday! w/ Danny and Michelle Quiroz of Reserva Coffee Roasters | McAllen, TX

I am so excited to present this Founder Friday with two people who are doing amazing things in coffee! I met them in the first year of their business in 2018 as clients and they have done a great job of growing their business with excell...

ROR #24 : Perspectives on Roasting for Espresso w/ Jaroslav Tuček of Doubleshot, Czech Republic

Roasting for espresso is a tricky business. Not only are there multiple variables that inherently complicate the extraction process but there is also a wide variety of opinion is and preferences for what the final flavor experience shoul...

422: Coffee Truck Success w/ Vincent LaVolpa of Green Joe Coffee School

One of the best options for getting started in coffee without as much risk is a coffee truck. Especially emphasized post-pandemic, mobile concepts like coffee trucks have grow exponentially and with it the need for reliable information o...

421: Encore Episode: Simple, Powerful, Hospitality w/ Philip Paul Turner

One of the most important aspects of our business is how we welcome people into our space. Early on in the KTTS podcast I sat down with someone who I still consider to be one of the best examples of showing genuine hospitality in a way t...

420: Design Meaningful Roles in the Cafe

  You see it all the time, a barista is promoted to a role such as trainer, manager, cafe lead etc, but they quickly find that there is very little preparation that has gone into this role. They are either simply not doing much, but now ...

418: Founder Friday! w/ John and Luigi Di Ruocco of Mr. Espresso, Oakland, CA

It’s Founder Friday! Leaving a legacy and making an impact on the industry is something we all want for our businesses. Few companies get to the place where they can say they have not only achieved this but done so it a way that stays tr...

ROR #23 : How to Close the Industry-Consumer Flavor Gap w/ Phil Beattie, Dillanos Coffee Roasters

As an industry, our flavor preferences turn into what we market, which turn communicates a message about quality and what people should care about when it comes to “the best” coffees. Too often we are content to let the our message be in...

416 : People-First Principles for Growing Your Shop w/ Mike McFall of Biggby Coffee

Growing you coffee shop is about more than just adding locations. Growth has to do with developing internal resilience, culture, and practices that are life giving to those who work in the business and to you as the owner. Ultimately the...

415: The Best Lessons On How to Listen w/ Listening Expert, Oscar Trimboli

Learning how to listen is the cornerstone of effective and transformative communication. In the hustle and fast paced daily activities of the coffee shop, it is easy to forget about listening and truly understanding what is being said be...

414: Secret Ingredients for a Successful Coffee Shop

  The barrier of entry for getting a coffee shop open is lower than ever. Many have the idea that if they can get the shop open, then they have succeeded. But the test is not only about whether you can open a shop, or even if you can kee...

413 : Coffee Education and Training at Origin w/ Fabiola Solano of Soy Barista

In order to train people in coffee and barista skills you have to not only be a student of your subject, but also a student of your students and their unique context. In recent years we have seen an incredible explosion of coffee eductio...

RoR # 22 : Master Insights on Roaster Maintenance and Care w/ Doug Graf, Vintage Coffee

Setting up and maintaining a roaster for functionality, safety, and quality output is perhaps the biggest challenge of roasting. There are many variables and trades that go into it and it is easy to skip some steps, be less than detailed...

412 : Founder Friday! w/ Lem Butler and Kyle Ramage of Black and White Coffee Roasters

It’s Founder Friday! Partnerships in coffee bars can be tricky things. You really have to make sure you have complimentary character traits as well as a unified s12et of values to help guide you through the ups and downs of business in a...

411 : Excellence, Approachable Coffee, and Always Learning w/ Kenneth Thomas of Umble Coffee and Coffee 101 Podcast

Opportunities for specialty coffee still abound in certain areas of the American South. With those opportunities comes challenges of communicating coffee in a way that both meets people where they are, and helps open them up to new exper...

410 : A Conversation w/ 2023 U.S. Barista Champion, Isaiah Sheese of Archetype Coffee

Tenacity, humility, and curiosity. Whether you are working as a barista, competing, opening your own shop and roastery, these are character traits that are essential for success. Today we are talking with someone whose long career in cof...

408: Coffee Tools, Music, and Serving the Community w/ Anita Tam of Slow Pour Supply Co.

The world of coffee is saturated with suppliers of tools and equipment. Most are seeking the transaction and chasing the opportunity the current market has afforded them. Precious few  suppliers are truly passionate about their customer...

RoR # 21 : Data, Community, and the Art of Roasting w/ U.S. Roasters Champion Andrew Coe of Elevator Coffee

On this Rate of Rise episode I am thrilled to get to have a conversation with the new U.S. roasting Champion, Andrew Coe of Elevator Coffee in Portland, OR Andrew Coe is the owner and roaster at Elevator Coffee in Portland, OR, founded i...

406 : Five Ways to Immediately Improve Your Coffee Quality

Out of all the reasons that may be contributing to customers either loving or avoiding your shop, the quality of your drink beverages actually ranks pretty high. The trouble is, we all tend to assume that we have pretty much achieved a l...

405: Beyond the Schedule w/ Wil Brawley of Schedulefly

Technology and tools are meant to serve people, not the other way around. As we multiply apps, software, snd services in the name of optimization and ease, it can become harder to truly connect as we begin relying on these innovations to...

404 : Education, Home Brewing, and Launching a Roastery w/ Kyle Rowsell, September Coffee

Creating in depth, engaging, and ultimately helpful educational content is no easy task. Today the number of options we have for gear, techniques, and the coffee itself are daunting to say the least. It is this vast field of options that...

RoR #20 : Challenging the Status Quo w/ David Lalonde of Rabbit Hole Roasters, Montreal, Quebec

When you think about success in roasting coffee, you will more than likely be concerned first and foremost with quality. While quality is critical, it is not the only factor. And success itself is more than a measure of your businesses p...

401 : Founder Friday! w/ Jack Benchakul of Endorffiene in Los Angeles

Creating a moment of delight and excellence is what we all want to do when we set up our shops and make coffee for others. We also want to be delighted ourselves with the things we create and feel a sense of pride in each and every drink...

400 : The Values of Speed and Service w/ Jaime Denney of Scooter’s Coffee

  The market place of coffee has seen rapid expansion of drive thrus and concepts focused on quick service. There is no doubt that customers appreciate speed when it comes to their coffee, better than speed though is speed plus service. ...

399: Encore Episode! How to Change Things in the Cafe

From the first day you open the doors to your coffee shop one thing confronts you as a constant. Change. In order to run a healthy business we have to embrace changing things in the cafe in order to provide for the needs of the people an...

398: The 5 Biggest Mistakes Coffee Shops Make

Coffee shops can have everything going for them on paper, but it is what is practiced in the day to day that determines whether you are successful. The truth is, mistakes happen. They are  unavoidable. Certain mistakes, though, have a g...

RoR #19 : A Vision of Sustainable Roasting w/ Arlo Holschuh of Bellwether Roasters

Sustainability can become more of a reality if we determine to use the tools at our disposal wisely. Perhaps even more so if the tools we use to roast evolve to better address the many concerns we have in the coffee industry. That is wha...

397: Diversity and The Color of Coffee w/ Keith Hawkins, The Color of Coffee Collective

Creating opportunities for a wide group of people to experience coffee seems like a goal we have for just for consumers. As good of a goal as that is, it is equally and maybe even more important that this goal be applied to the people wh...

396 : Founder Friday: Before + After Edition! w/ Jonathan Pascual of the Newly Opened Opo Coffee.  

  Welcome to another before and after edition of Founder Friday! Occasionally we sit down with an entrepreneur who is in the process of opening their shop to talk about what they are planning, hoping for, and doing right now. Then we co...

395: Connecting Roasters and Producers w/ Henry Wilson of Perfect Daily Grind and The Producer Roaster Forum!

Specialty coffee has its fair share of challenges across the supply chain. Solutions for those challenges are only as good as how they were created, namely, whether they were created collaboratively and with deference to those most impac...

394 : Happy Coffee People w/ Wendelien van Bunnik

Why so serious? Coffee is a beverage that inspires a wide range of emotions but within the specialty industry in organizations, competitions, and businesses it has somehow moved away from one of the main emotions that draws so many to it...

393 : The Tyranny of Taste w/ Kosta Kallivrousis

Specialty coffee has been defined by a difference in quality and taste for a very long time. It is the central value that creates the markets that we currently operate in. The problem with this though is that taste as a value is, in the ...

392 : Cafe Management and the Importance of Team w/ Justin Duenne of Quills Coffee

The journey of a barista often will lead to management. That particular role of leadership in the cafe comes with a host of changes that call on people to not only care for the quality and operations of the cafe, but the people themselve...

381 : Founder Friday! w/ Megan Wilson of Spuds Coffee in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

. It is Founder Friday and boy is this a wonderful conversation with a wonderful person. You simply cannot underestimate the importance of what an owner brings to a cafe and business. You as a leader have the opportunity to bring meaning...

390 : 7 Ways to be Consciously Competitive

Being competitive in business is often thought of in the same vein as being aggressive, leading with fear, and creating an us vs them scenario that is antithetical to community. The reality is that while we need to be competitive in orde...

389: How to Approach Modern Coffee Processing w/ Christopher Feran

A lot has changed in coffee over the last couple decades. As roasters and baristas, our understanding of the current landscape of coffee processing, its impact on flavor, and the possibilities it contains will greatly determine our succe...

388 : Insurance and Risk Mitigation w/ Brennan Pothetes of Butter Insurance

Running a coffee shop means you take on a fair degree of risk. This is why having and understanding of insurance that is appropriate for your shop is critical. On top of that you need to make sure the insurance you do have is optimized a...

387 : Innovation and Building a Better Coffee Business w/ Miranda Caldwell

As the 2023 begins it is a great time to take inventory of our cafes and roasteries and really look at what we have done and where we can not only improve, but what needs to change. How can we keep up with the changing industry while sti...

386 : A Look Back at the Lessons of 2022

What a great year this has been! So many amazing people have graced KTTS with their presence, perspectives, and wisdom. It really is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to high value content that can transform your coffee business a...

385 : Founder Friday! w/ Arick Davis and Sarah Laman of Last Mile Cafe, Grand Rapids, MI

On this last Founder Friday of the year I am quite happy to feature a coffee shop founder story that is firmly rooted in service to the community. First as a pop up at farmers markets and now with a brand new brick and mortar, today we a...

384 : How to Run a Successful Coffee Cart w/ Sarah Naylor of Daybreak Coffee Cart

There has been a resurgence of mobile coffee carts recently. A cart offers the owner flexibility, agility, and a less risky entry into the world of coffee retail. That said, there are many elements that need to be in place for you to be ...

383 : How to Train a Manager

  It is easy to assume that if you have found the right person for the manager role then they will not need very much investment or guidance from you to get the hang of things. After all, they are amazing and you trust their “can do” att...

RoR #17 : Evolving Our Approach to Cupping w/ Charlie Habegger of Royal Coffee

  Cupping is as close to a sacred act as we get in the world of coffee evaluation. It is a ubiquitous ritual that comes with its own language, implements, and is considered by many to be THE way that we can determine what a coffee has to...

382 : Hospitality, Innovation, and the Birth of a Brewer w/ Etkin Design Co-founders, Michael Butterworth and Özgür Jerdan.

Innovation in the coffee industry is no longer just about large companies tweaking their standard equipment, but it is becoming democratized through small companies bringing their ideas to market through networking, research, and good ol...

381 : Changing our Perspective on Tea w/ Annie Xiang of Volition Tea

  How we perceive something impacts the decisions we make when buying or selling it. That in turn shapes consumers perceptions and then the market. Tea has long been a part of the coffeehouse, but has suffered from a severe lack of atten...

380 : Founder Friday! w/ Cary and Cindy Arsaga of Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters

How do you measure the impact of you business? We talk about metrics mostly related to finances and judge success accordingly. But the deeper and more fulfilling impact a coffee shop can have is based in relationship. You may ask yoursel...

379 : Encore Episode! How to Deliver Difficult Feedback w/ Tom Henschel : Plus Bonus Content

Communicating hard things is hard! The good news is that is does not have to be ineffective or worse yet, turn into something problematic or toxic. There are ways to deliver necessary feedback to employees (or anyone for that matter) tha...

378: 5 Areas to Develop in Managers

It is easy to assume that a managers main role is only to take on basic administrative tasks. At least this is the way I would argue most shop treat the role of manager. It is too often a “set and forget” scenario that inevitably leads t...

377 : Coffee, Mindfulness, and the Art of Observation w/ Rob Sykes

Photography and coffee seem to just go together. There is something about creating moments and capturing moments that is a common drive where we can see the beauty in the mundane and get a whole new appreciation for our work and world. T...

376: Career, Coffee Quality, and Advancing the Industry w/ Mat North, of Raw Material

Some interviews we have on the show touch on so many deep, important, and impactful subjects that it is hard to stop the conversation. This was one of those. I wanted to talk about our guests’ career and then see where it led us and inde...

375 : Founder Friday! w/ Roland Horne of WatchHouse

I am so happy to share with you this Founder Friday episode that takes a hard look at what is possible when you want to offer excellence at scale in a cafe setting. I am joined by the founder of the iconic and standard setting company, W...

374: Opening a Coffee Shop: Fantasy vs Reality (w/ bonus commentary)”

Should you open a coffee shop? How hard could it be anyway? Thousands of people around the globe have a dream to open a cafe. Once open however that dream can quickly become a nightmare. I am thrilled to have been able to collaborate wit...

RoR #16 : Ideal Resting Times for Roasted Coffee w/ Joey Stazzone of Cafe Kreyol

  How long should you let your coffee age after roast? Is freshest always best? How can we ensure our customers get the coffee at its peak? These are some of the questions that we explore around the topic of ideal resting times for roast...

373 : The Owner’s Role: 5 Behaviors for Effectiveness

The coffee shop is made up various tasks and roles that all work together to create something magical. Wen those roles are not clear or followed through on then the we lose the magic and gain frustration. No role in the cafe is as import...

372 : Milk Steaming Master Class: Science + Craft w/ Morten Munchow and Emilee Bryant!

Every day on bars across the globe baristas are using milk to create amazing drinks. For almost as long as coffee has been served in coffee shops, milk has been a staple ingredient. Yet, in spite of its ubiquity in coffee culture, we ten...

370: Founder Friday! w/ Tony Dreyfuss of Metropolis Coffee Company, Chicago, Illinois

I am excited to present to you another great interview with an inspirational founder! This time we get to hear the story of the founding an development of a business that has long been a pillar of specialty coffee in the U.S.. We are tal...

369: Encore Episode! How to be a Cash Register Hero

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway – first impressions matter a lot! When a customer enters your business the person that sets the tone for them is usually the barista working the cash register. With this fact in mind you’d...

368 : Walking the Line Between Leadership and Friendship

We have a problem. There are plenty of people in leadership positions but many of them are afraid to step into their role and opt instead to try to avoid the difficulty by being friends with everyone. I’ll bet you know a manager or owner...

367 : Designing Your Coffee Shop for Community w/ Dr. Lisa Waxman

It goes without saying that most of us want our shops to be a place that attracts and fosters community. The question though is how exactly to we intentionally build our spaces to accomplish that. If we are honest, probably not as much t...

366: A Conversation w/ Chris Baca of Cat and Cloud Coffee

We all want leadership and cafe culture that inspires. Through  personal and professional development we can learn how to create an environments where our values and core beliefs are lived out in real time. In spite of the inevitable ch...

365 : Spilling the Beans on Global Coffee Culture w/ Lani Kingston

Coffee is more than just a drink. It is an expression of cultural values and a vehicle through which we experience many different facets of this rich life. No matter where you are from, it is easy to think only of the our own way of enjo...

364 Founder Friday w/ Sarah Alakeel of Hjeen Coffee in Saudi Arabia

I am so excited for this month’s Founder Friday! Today we are talking with someone who has not only taken a passion and turned it into a thriving business that serves her community and culture with excellence, but has done so in the face...

363 : Setting Boundaries in the Coffee Shop w/ Tom Henschel

Working in a coffee bar means working in close quarters with your fellow baristas, managers, and owners. In this daily work we will eventually begin to feel the tension and start to wonder about how we can set boundaries for ourselves so...

RoR #15 : Managing LTL Freight and the Nuances of green Shipping w/ Evan Gilman of Royal Coffee

How our coffee gets to us after purchase can sometimes be a confusing thing. These days, with global supply chain issues abounding, the need to understand, track, and finesse all aspects of logistics is at an all time high. One of the ma...

361: Managing Roastery Relationships and Logistics w/ Corey Turner of Andytown Coffee Roasters

From the perspective of the cafe, the world of the roastery seems to be shrouded in mystery. Indeed, as we have said on the show before, roasting is practically its own business with its own ecosystem of relationships and systems. Todays...

360: Encore Episode! Hosting Consumer Coffee Classes: 7 Tips for Success

In the shop we serve people the product of our own training and understanding. We also sell them ideas of what coffee can be and our customers will frequently be frustrated at the gap of quality between the shop and their kitchen. This i...

359 : Founder Friday! w/ Nigel Price of Drip Coffee Makers NYC

It’s Founder Friday once again and I am thrilled to shine a light on someone who has built their business on a heart for people, relationships, and an offering of accessible quality coffees. Today we are talking with the founder of Drip ...

358 : Changing Coffee Through Proportional Pricing w/ Andy and Nanelle Newbom of Torque Coffee

The system works exactly the way it was designed to work…and it needs to be broken. This is the goal of a new model of coffee trade introduced by Andy and Nanelle Newbom through their company Torque Coffee. Andy and Nanelle Newbom are li...

SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 2 w/ Marissa Childers, Jess Gulino, and Tony Dreyfuss

Welcome to part two of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and importan...

SPECIAL: Coffee Fest Live! Chicago 2022 Part 1 w/ Luke Waite, Kris Christian, and Perfect Cube

Welcome to part on of a live series of interviews conducted on the show floor of Coffee Fest Chicago in June of 2022! In these interviews I sit down with stellar presenters and lecturers to dig deep into a range of relevant and important...

357 : A Conversation w/ Michael Tan of JWC Roastery in Malaysia

Communicating, educating, and training boils down to how well you can connect with people to walk with them through information and transformation. If you want to be effective in these areas you need a whole lot of genuine passion and a ...

356 : 5 Barriers to Progress in Your Coffee Shop

Many shops make sense on paper but in practice there is something missing. There are lot’s of unseen barriers to progress and success in your shop that get in the way of the best plans no matter how you rearrange the staff, equipment, ho...

355: Baristas! 6 Essential Qualities to Get Yourself Hired

What are some of the qualities that potential employers most value in a barista and why are they important? Today you and I will chat about the answers and how they make a significant difference in how you are perceived and how you find ...

354 : Management Master Class w/ Ryan Fisher of Erewhon Market, L.A.

Operations management is a distinct from cafe management. At a certain point in your coffee business’ growth it become necessary to have someone whose job it is to manage managers and oversee the operations of the retail shops. This is...

353 : Encore Episode! Founder Friday w/ Kathy Turiano of Joe Bean Roasters

It’s time to go back to an amazing episode of Founder Friday that teaches us about the power of taking risks and listening to what your heart is saying about your business. Back on episode 43 we interviewed Kathy Turiano of the multiple ...

352: Music, Culture, and Coffee w/ Hip Hop Artist, Propaganda

As long as it has been around, coffee has always attracted creative and artistic people. Whether it is the coffee shop serving as community gathering spots or just the coffee itself inspiring expression, coffee fuels art, music, culture,...

351 : Pro Tips for Using Spreadsheets w/ Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee

In order to have a profitable and consistent coffee shop you need to track and keep your data in order. Whether is labor, expenses, or COGs- spreadsheets are an essential tools to help you build a stable business. On today’s episode we s...

350 : The Physics of Filter Coffee w/ Jonathan Gagné

Brewing a great cup of coffee is what we all strive to do daily. Over the years, our own understanding of how to do this well has grown as the body of literature and content regarding brewing science has increased. Most recently one such...

349 : Talking About 21st Century Coffee w/ Kenneth Davids

How specialty coffee has evolved, been understood, and enjoyed has changed greatly over the past 50 years. Today get to talk someone whose career has not developed in parallel with the coffee industry but has been instrumental in advanci...

348: Founder Friday! w/ Benito Burmudez of Cafe Unido, Panama City, Panama!

It’s Founder Friday! We are traveling to Panama to learn about one of the greatest cafes and roasters, Cafe Unido through a wonderful conversation with its founder, Benito Burmudez. Inspired by the idea that Panama has some to of the wor...

347 : Brewing Coffee and a Career w/ U.S. Brewer’s Cup Champion, Elika Liftee

Brewing a great cup of coffee is like crafting a career in coffee, it take intentionality, consistency, and a humility that keeps in mind the end goal of all your efforts. These are some of the qualities that make today’s guest, Elika Li...

346: Connecting People Through Coffee w/ Celeste Wong of The Girl in the Cafe

We take for granted the kinds of interactions and connections we make in the course of our daily professional barista lives. An incredible variety of people with unique and interesting stories and perspectives pass through our doors dail...

345: A Conversation w/ 2022 U.S. Cup Tasters Champion, Julien Langevin

Accurately tasting coffee can be a daunting task. Add to that the pressure of competition or just the daily work of the bar, and being focused, confident, and at ease while dialing in or making flavor determinations seems all but impossi...

344 : From Fine Dining, to Coffee w/ Nicolas Simon of El Condor Coffee Roasters

Our industry is one focused on creating memorable experiences for guests of our shops. Being detail oriented is part of our hospitality to people because we know that when all those little things come together, they deliver a real impact...

343 : Founder Friday! “Curated Edition” | Hospitality + Meeting People Where They Are

Welcome to this special edition of the Founder Friday series! We have an incredible collection of interviews from some of the world’s best coffee shop operators and entrepreneurs. Within each interview are gems of wisdom that help us mov...

342 : A Conversation w/ 2022 U.S. Barista Champion, Morgan Eckroth!

Morgan Eckroth is the new U.S. Barista Champion! Part of the point behind competition is setting the stage for conversation around ideas ranging from social issues to the hands on craft of coffee. In both these areas there are far reachi...

RoR #14: How to Roast New Processing Methods w/ Mike Ebert

As new processing methods become more popular and prominent, roasters must pivot and adjust how they approach them in order to get the best possible result. Processes like honey and pulped natural present unique challenges for even the m...

341: How to Think About Success

How do you think about success and your coffee shop? For many people it boils down to financial metrics only which, in the long run, may not bring the kind of fulfillment the we seek when we first set out to begin in coffee. In fact with...

340 : Encore Episode of “10 Reasons to Love the Customer”!

It is the 5 year anniversary of episode #19 titled “10 Reasons to Love the Customer”! Coffee professionals tend to pit themselves against the customer as and us vs them battle. The original episode in 2017 was inspired by a magazine arti...

339 : What Good Barista Training Produces

What does you baristas training produce? For many shops barista training is a loose and rushed experience that falls short in equipping staff with what is needed to succeed. It also creates stress in leadership who desperately want to se...

RoR #13 : The NORM ROAST Protocol w/ Dave Baxter

How do we test the energy efficiency, emissions, and impact of or roasting machines?. We all want to be responsible with our environmental impact but all we have to go on for data is supplied by marketing from the manufacturer.  Wouldn’...

338: A Conversation w/ Martell Mason of The Sepia Coffee Project, Detroit, Michigan

In order to have clarity on how to operate effectively in coffee we need to view it thought a global lens. The tapestry of people and cultures that make up our industry are rarely represented and even less often do they benefit from coff...

337: Founder Friday w/ Diana Martinez of Cafe Calle, Los Angeles

Diana Martinez is one of those people that I am thrilled to see find success in coffee. She had a dream to open a coffee shop and consistently pursued knowledge and experience right out of the gate by working at a roastery and coffee sho...

336: A Cafe Leadership Masterclass w/ Selina Viguera of Blue Bottle Coffee

    It’s not very often you come across someone who has spent decades as a true example of what it is to be an exemplary manager, leader, and professional. When you do find them you better be prepared to absorb their wisdom and let it he...

335: A Better Business Model for Coffee Farmers w/ Thaleon Tremain of Pachamama Coffee

  Most of us would say we represent farmers with our work. Few of can say we literally work for farmers. Increasingly we see the need for business models that don’t just give financial reward to farms but that shift the power balance to ...

334 : How to Approach Deescalation w/ Melissa Tucker of Mind Over Matters and Pathways to Peace

Working in customer a customer facing environment like a coffee shop means that we get to serve and experience all different types of people in the course fo the day. While so many of our interaction are within the expected range of emot...

333: Bridging the Professional and Home Barista Gap w/ Lance Hedrick of Onyx Coffee Lab

We are living in a time where the average consumer is both spoiled for choice and simultaneously vexed at the sheer number of options available for great coffee and brewing equipment. What used to be a need for more and better green and ...

332: Founder Friday! w/ Iman Kusumaputra & Putri Yulandari of Kopikalyan, Jakarta, Indonesia

  On this Founder Friday we go to Jakarta, Indonesia to explore the story of Kopikalyan! This ground breaking roaster retailer sources,  roasts, and serves exclusively Indonesian Coffees. Innovation, Hospitality, and relationships ar...

331 : The 7 Deadly Sins of my Career

We all make mistakes. It’s part of the learning and growth process for everyone. As you go in your career you will find that there are certain types of mistakes that are worse than others in that they have a greater negative impact on yo...

RoR #12 : Inside Coffee Packaging w/ Ever Meister

Your coffee packaging holds more than just coffee. It holds an incredible amount of potential for communication of values, impact on the supply chain, and how coffee itself is percieved and succeeds in the global market. Packaging might ...

330 : Establishing Systems in Your Coffee Shop

Good intentions are nice and all, but how do you make sure that you can actually deliver on your ideals for quality, service, and beyond? The answer is systems. Unfortunately many shops are organizationally flying by the seat of their pa...

329 : How to Teach Company Values to Your Staff

It’s pretty easy to write our a set of company values. But how do you teach them in such a way that your staff own them and live by them? Now THAT is not easy. If you want to teach your staff the company values so that you are confident ...

328 : Relationships and Resiliency w/ Xavier Alexander of Metric Coffee

Navigating our way through the coffee industry can be a daunting task. Especially if you want to make a difference. As you go you are confronted with many challenges that threaten your stability and test both your resolve and faith in th...

327: Founder Friday! w/ Phuong Tran of Lava Java

Today we get to talk with a pillar and foundational member of the specialty coffee community, Phuong Tran of Lava Java For 20 years now Phuong Tran has been the owner/operator of the famed coffee shop, Lava Java in Ridgefield Washington....

RoR #11 : Exploring Scent w/ Sandra Elisa Loofbourow

The smell of coffee is one of the great joys in this life. As professionals we take this important sensory aspect of coffee and build tools and protocols around it so we can fully and accurately assess a coffee’s quality and ultimately s...

326 : A Conversation w/ Alan Jarrar of 50%Arabica and Jokes Aside Coffee!

  Everyone’s favorite coffee culture commentator and meme lord, Alan Jarrar is in the house! If you are like me and follow the account “50%Arabica” on Instagram, you know full well that there is more to the funny content than what you se...

325 : How to Manage Your Trainers

When you have a trainer on staff there are specific responsibilities you have as a leader that will determine their success and how happy you are with their performance. Often we can set someone in a position and let them loose with litt...

324 : Encore Episode! Organizing the Community w/ Espresso State of Mind Founders, Javier Alvarez and Joseph Gonzalez

Community exists all around us. When we start a coffee shop we see the blossoming of community in our customer base, baristas bonding with one another, and then across the industry people of similar interests who are desirous to learn, g...

323 : Reflecting on 5 Years of Keys to the Shop w/ my Wife Lynnsy Deferio

Welp, KTTS is now 5 years old! In this time KTTS has aired 560 episodes and is closing in on 2 million downloads around the world and it simply feels surreal. I have been so blessed by the guests on this show, you the audience, and most ...

RoR #10 : What Your Broker Wishes You Knew w/ Scott Merle of La Minita Coffee

Relationships are what the coffee industry is built on. The quality of those relationships determines the strength of the supply chain and the success of all involved. One of the most important relationships that is not talked about very...

322 : A Conversation w/ LaNisa Williams of Barista Life L.A.

Creating a path forward and up in the coffee industry sometimes requires we take matters into our own hands and build the opportunities for ourself and others that we don’t see. This is exactly what today’s guest, LaNisa Williams did wit...

321 : Marketing and Moral Injury w/ Josh Tarlo of Kiss the Hippo

How we market our values to potential employees and the consumer is often at odds with what we actually do. In a past episode we called this the “Values – Action Gap”. Question is, what is the result of this gap on the people who sig...

320 Founder Friday! w/ Francesco Sanapo of Ditta Artigianale, Florence, Italy

It’s Founder Friday! Today we are going to be exploring the story of a ground breaking and standard setting Italian coffee roaster and cafe. Our guest on this last Founder Friday of 2021 is the founder of Caffe Artigianale, Francesco Sa...

319 : A Conversation w/ World Barista Champion, Diego Campos of Colombia!

This year the World Barista Championship was held in Milan, Italy. The winner of that competition accomplished not only a historic win as the first world champion to hail from Colombia, but accomplished a life long dream born from a long...

318 : Why Your Shop is Key to the Success of Coffee

The pressure and business of the daily work can easily blind us to the impact that we have on the greater reality of the “Industry”. We often think of the industry as existing outside our own shops but the reality is that our we are the ...

317 : Encore Episode: Death by Comparison

What happens when we allow ourselves to get caught up in comparing ourselves and our businesses to those around us? The simple answer is that we stifle growth and kill off the joy of what we have and who we are doing it all for. Way back...

315 : Growing and Connecting w/ Stephen Zinnerman of The Coffee Enthusiast!

Back in 2018 at a Coffee Fest in Baltimore I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Stephen Zinnerman, owner and founder of (along with his wife Natasha) The Coffee Enthusiast: A Brewing Company (TCE). Back when we first met on the...

RoR #9 Inside the Roaster’s Tool Kit w/ Kat Melheim of Black and White Coffee and The Coffee People Zine

Where do we even start when choosing tools for our roastery? There are an incredible number of options from basic and inexpensive -to complex and costly. In the most recent issue of Roast Magazine, today’s guest, Kat Melheim gives us an ...

314 : The 6 Essential Qualities of Coffee Shop Leaders

Do you feel like you need to be good at everything in order to be a good leader? That is a pretty common thought but the fact is that this way approach to leadership stifles both you and those you lead. Instead we should focus on what qu...

313 : Coffee Education and Training w/ Michael Phillips of Blue Bottle Coffee

Training and education is an ongoing process. Not just for those we are training but also for ourselves as trainers and educators. If we adopt the same type of “always learning” mentality we want to see in other, then the way we understa...

312 : How to Choose the Right Machine for Your Shop w/ Chad little of La Marzocco

Making a decision on an espresso machine can come with a lot of stress and uncertainty. With so many different options, configurations, styles, and promises made by manufactures it is hard to know that you will be happy with what you end...

311 : Why Your Coffee Shop Needs Open Book Management w/ Larry Chase

Have you ever wondered how you can get your staff energized and highly invested in the success of your business? This is one of the struggles that a lot of coffee shop owners have. Turns out the best solution for this challenge is to gi...

310 : Founder Friday w/ Jelynn Malone and Beverly Magtanong of Mostra Coffee

  This Founder Friday is such unique success story!  What started as a dream between two best friends (one an actor, the other a classical opera singer) has now been a 7 year coffee journey that is easily the most important and rewardi...

308 : A Conversation w/ Italian Brewers Cup Champion, Alessandro Galtieri

Italian coffee has shaped how the world understands coffee and cafe culture. These days there is a movement to take the traditional Italian way of of getting a coffee and elevate the quality and the experience making it a truly specialty...

ROR #8 How Post-Harvest Processing Impacts Flavor w/ Siva Subramanian and Byron Holcomb of Olam Food Ingredients

How coffee is processed after harvest has an incredible impact on the final quality in the cup. Today we have the luxury of choosing form  a wide variety of processing techniques. Whether you are a roaster or a farmer, understanding wha...

307 : 10 Simple ways to Level Up your Coffee Shop

Our coffee shops are the sum total of many different small and large things. When business gets going it can be easy for some of the simpler and more nuanced elements of running a coffee bar to fall by the wayside. The impact these have ...

306 : A Conversation w/ 2004 U.S. Barista Champion, Bronwen Serna!

Today we get to chat with 2004 U.S. Barista Champion and legend, Bronwen Serna! Bronwen has been a practicing Coffee Professional since 2000, a Professional Barista, Roaster, and Barista Trainer, a Certified Instructor and Assessor wit...

305 : Founder Friday! w/ Andrew Sinclair of MadLab Coffee, Los Angeles, CA

Boy do we have a Founder Friday for you! Today we get to talk with the founder of MadLab Coffee in L.A., Andrew Sinclair. Andrew has been in coffee for over a decade going from an enthusiast to barista, head barista, manager, then owner ...

Sustainability Series #4 : Consumer

Consumers. What we assume to be the end of the value chain in coffee, may in fact be the the beginning. In reality, as we will learn today, coffee is more a circle than a straight line, and in many ways it begins and ends with the consum...

Sustainability Series #3 : The Cafe

As we have explored all that has gone into the product of coffee and the many ways that sustainability can be achieved in farming, Importing, and Roasting. Now we come to the place where coffee’s potentially is ultimately on display. The...

Sustainability Series #2 : Importing & Roasting

Sustainability is a collaborative effort that relies on solid networks, relationships, and communication. This is mainly the responsibility of importers and roasters whose job it is to provide connection, accurate representation, and to ...

Sustainability Series #1 : The Farm

Welcome to the Sustainability Series from Biocaf and Keys to the Shop! To kick off this series we will be exploring sustainability where all the potential of a coffee and the foundation of our industry is concentrated. The farm. How we d...

304 : Inside the Coffee Data Trends Breakout Report w/ Katie Von Der Lieth of the SCA

How do we gauge the markets our coffee shops serve? On top of being engaged in our own local ecosystems we must also pay attention to large scale trends as they influence the perception and habits of our customers. The SCA and NCA have r...

303 : Create Authentic Partnerships w/ Marc Gessler of Cat & Cloud Coffee

Ideally, the nature of your relationship with your wholesale customers is less like a transaction and more like a partnership. How do we approach caring for those who have decided to serve our coffee in a way that is true to our values, ...

302 : Data’s Roll in the Success of your Shop w/ Mark Calhoun and Jim Strarcev of Perfect Cube

There is a lot of information available to us through our POS systems that show us the numbers behind the business. Owners and managers read these numbers to get a sense of not only how the business is doing, but also to get an idea of w...

301 : Hiring and Training for Excellence

These are the two most important and intensive processes in the cafe yet they often are the most rush and poorly thought through. The preparations we make and the actions we take when hiring and training staff will and does create a ripp...

300 : Founder Friday! w/ Jeremy Lyman, Co-Founder of Birch Coffee NYC

New York City is undoubtedly one of the coffee capitals of the world. With a seemingly endless number of options to choose from, it is hard to stand out and create something that makes people notice and even hard to keep their attention ...

299 : 5 Rules for a Successful Coffee shop

What makes a successful coffee bar? This whole show is dedicated to exploring the depths of the question and yet there are a few fundamental elements that, if practiced, will greatly help your coffee bar succeed. Were are not going to be...

298 : A Trophy, or Atrophy?

Winning coffee awards and competitions is pretty cool. There are many benefits to pursuing accolades for your coffee shop through such as marketing opportunities, sharpening skills, energizing staff, and networking. The question we have ...

297 : Making Coffee Education Fun w/ Suneal Pabari of Leaderboard Coffee

A big issue with coffee education is accessibility. Much of the practical information that leads customers and coffee professionals alike to understanding, buying, and brewing great coffee is either locked away in our roasteries and cafe...

296: Holistic Barista Training w/ David Castillo of Go Get Em Tiger , Los Angeles

Training staff to become productive, competent, and confident members of the team is a massive challenge all coffee shops face. In spite of our best efforts we often end up with baristas who have completed training but are still not read...

295 : Founder Friday! w/ Justin Shepherd of Spencers Coffee, Bowling Green, KY

It’s Founder Friday! I am very pleased to be presenting a conversation with someone who I have wanted to have on a Founder Friday for quite a while. Not just because he has been quite successful, but because in the course of achieving th...

294 : At Origin Roasting Revolution w/ Luis Fernando, founder of Amor Perfecto!