Coffee Knowledge Hub

This is a niche topic but one that gets some industry people fired up - adulterated coffees, experimental processes, transparency, honesty and specialty coffee. In this conversation we tried to stick to one question about whether specialty coffee’s reputation is at risk from ‘undeclared’ additives. We didn’t succeed. For many of us in specialty coffee, the issue is too tied up in our values, identity, personal prefences, and the brands of our businesses.The best document to understand the full picture was released by the SCA and is called Green coffee identity.When Paul, Tibor and I were talking a few weeks ago, Tibor decided he had to raise the question of whether adulterated coffees are a risk for high end specialty coffee. What happens when a roaster buys an experimentally processed coffee, that is supposed to have flavours developed through fermentation, but in fact, they come from the addition of an artificial syrup?We discussed this and went down a few tangents.1. Doctored coffees and trust at the high end2. Andrew’s risks-versus-opportunities framing3. Signature drinks and the “identity crisis” question4. Hyper-specialty’s lineageSome useful references:

Unpacking the Debate Around Coffee Identity:  Insights from Re:co Spotlight, 2025 | 25, Issue 24

SCA Report: What's in my coffee -JULY 2026

Paul Ross on Investment, Rare Coffee & Special Guests

Paul Ross returns to the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast to share what has changed since opening Special Guests Café back in 2024. He talks with Andrew Tolley and Tibor Varady about bringing in investors, navigating the cash-flow realities of buying rare coffee, and expanding carefully while protecting the hospitality, craft, and community that define the business.

They explore what good investment looks like in specialty coffee, why capital needs to come with aligned values and useful expertise, and how Special Guests is building a more curated high-end coffee experience. Paul also reflects on the lessons of the first café, the challenge of scaling a team and a second site, as well as his deifinition of specialty coffee and his personal definition of success.

In this episode

• Why Special Guests chose investment over traditional lending
• The long cash cycle behind sourcing exceptional coffees
• How to grow without losing a business’s philosophy
• Plans for a second café and a resilient team
• The rise of rare, high-end coffee experiences
• Designing service around trust, knowledge, and discovery
• What makes premium coffees commercially sustainable
• Paul’s view of specialty coffee and long-term success

How do you bring customers back to your cafe, week after week, season after season?

With a well curated coffee menu.

George Shutt, head of coffee at Harris + Hoole gives a pragmatic masterclass in drink developmentfor cafe operators.

With tips on creating drinks that are on trend, delicious, on brand and good for business.

Who is this episdoe for? Anyone looking to ignite their menu, learn how to develop drinks, or understand which trends to adopt or ignore.

George Shutt

Harris+Hoole

Additional discussions and insights on the https://coffeeknowledgehub.com

Most cafés don’t have a coffee quality problem—they have a training problem. Kathie Hilberg breaks down what makes barista training effective, when roaster-led education is enough, and when a more advanced approach is needed to grow both people and performance.

Andrew Tolley sits down with Kathie, a seasoned barista, educator, competition judge, and specialty coffee professional with 15 years of industry experience. Together, they explore the real return on investing in training. If you’ve ever wondered whether staff education is worth the cost, how to build confidence behind the bar, or why great coffee can still fall short without the right team, this conversation offers practical answers.

• Why training can improve quality, service speed, and customer confidence
• Where cafés can access training, from roasters and independent educators to online resources and in-house programs
• How to choose the right training format for your business
• What makes a great trainer
• Why foundational barista skills still matter in an age of automation
• How to train employees who don’t drink coffee
• Why clear SOPs and consistent training materials help teams perform better
• How reliability, curiosity, and a willingness to learn can support career growth

Kathie also shares her own career journey—from competing as a barista and Brewers Cup competitor to judging, leading with the BGA and SCA, educating coffee professionals, and moving into specialty tea with Spirit Tea. Her story offers valuable insight for anyone considering their next step in coffee, hospitality, sales, or education.For café owners, trainers, and baristas who want to build stronger teams and better coffee programs, this episode is a practical look at how skills, systems, and people work together.

Where to find Kathie: 

Instagram: @kaffeinehilberg

@Totally dissolved podcast (spotify, apple etc)

Find more insights from this show on the https://community.coffeeknowledgehub.com/

On the surface, this is a niche topic about a single attribute in the sensory evaluation of coffee. In fact the removal of balance from sensory scoresheets underpins much of the updated conception of how coffee professionals can subjectively and objectively evaluate the sensory experience of coffee.
If you're a cupper who is alarmed at the assertion that scoring coffee 80+ to make it specialty is subjective, rethinking balance could open a door to a new understanding. If you're a cupper who is upset that there is no longer an objective overall score for coffee, Peter argues that the subjective experience is a higher order experience, hard to quantify, but is still critical for the sensory evaluation of coffee.
This conversation between Andrew Tolley and Peter Giuliano traces “balance” from its origins as a wine term, which Ted Lingle imported into coffee cupping in the 1980s as part of the *Coffee Cuppers Handbook*. We discuss its quiet removal from the Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) system as a result of feedback from a survey of 1,600 cuppers through to its current, softer echo in World Coffee Championship “taste experience” scoring.
This podcast episode of the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast covers:
-history of balance as an attribute in coffee
- with new and diverse tasting experiences — from traditional specialty coffees to trendy, innovative styles — how we can build standards for different environments
- how we can bring different modalities into the tasting experience to better capture the overall perception of a coffee
- how we can communicate with customers and serve balanced, consistent coffees for different audiences
Peter and Andrew close the episode by diving deeper into practical tips for cafes to deliver a balanced, consistent espresso to their customers. So definitely stick around until the end.
And if you have read this far and just want to know what balance is: It was defined as the interaction of flavour, aftertaste, acidity, and mouthfeel. Where a higher scoring coffee had all the positive impressions that the cupper expected and none of these dominated or detracted from another in a negative way. The cupper would score it 6-10 based on their impression.
Find the link to the podcast episode in our bio or listen to it on your favorite podcast platform.
If you like the Coffee Knowledge Hub Podcast, please make sure to subscribe, comment, follow or leave a review.
LINK

Is the specialty coffee industry going through an identity crisis, or just growing pains. We zoom in and out on the industry at different parts of the value chain to better understand what is happening in the specialty coffee industry.

Rob Stephen has a 30+ year career in coffee. He is co host of the Coffee Memo, CEO of Covoya Specialty NA, an SCA Board Director and past SCAA president amongst many other things.

This conversation was candid and expresses our own views, not organisations we are affiliated with. It will give many coffee professionals something to think about.

Green coffee identity (25 magazine, full report also available)

Watch and chat on the coffeeknowledgehub.com

Darleen Scherer has  zoomed in on what makes businesses stand out from the crowd since her first job in advertising in the 90’s and through her coffee career that started in the early 2000’s. 

In this episode we discuss why you need to differentiate your business, how to identify what you makes you special and how to weave your brand identity throughout your business. 

Darleen Scherer has a career spanning 30 years across advertising, coffee and brand strategy. You can learn more from Darleen through her weekly Linked In newsletter, her website , substack and the coffee knowledge hub. 

Our original conversation with Dale went for over 2 hours and we didn't want to cut any of the good stuff, so here is part 2.

Dale went into his sourcing policy, and decision framework for evaluating which coffees to buy. This is very different to what other competition winners do with their coffee sourcing in their roasting businesses.

We continued to explore the bigger themes of translating what Ithaka is to his customers and how he is developing this.

In reflecting on this episode and part 1 , the tension for Ithaka is also a long standing tension for the specialty coffee industry. How do we welcome coffee lovers into the specialty arena, where diversity of flavours, brewing methods, recipes, and service styles make discovery a closed door that can easily be opened, but still presents a barrier.

This makes Dale's challenges more relevant and personal for anyone who is on the same path.

https://ithaka.coffee/

Watch this on the coffee knowledge hub

We read and reply to all comments across each channel

Being the Wolrd Barista Champion and having 20 years of direct experience in the coffee industry is not a free pass to setting up and building a successful coffee business, but that is also the where the joy is.

Dale Harris established Ithaka coffee in 2025 and he shares his experiences. We spoke for over 2 hours and have cut the recording into 2 parts.

Part 1 shares the vision and describes Ithaka. Dale's embracing the complexity of coffee and wants his customers to come down the rabbit hole with him.

He describes in detail his menu, the pros and cons of using a bean to cup machine and customer perceptions.

This is a candid conversation and anyone who knows Dale will see his authentic self, for those who don't, you will see the depth of thought that goes into developing a business, how to build on existing skill sets and embrace learning and the challenges of filling skills and knowledge gaps to create a successful business.

Also, if you enjoy this podcast - check out Ithaka coffee

You can watch it on Spotify, the Coffee Knowledge Hub, and listen on Apple Podcasts.

Insta

In this 34th episode we're sitting down with someone who we have wanted to sit down with since before we started this podcast.  Peter Dore-Smith, the founder of Kaffeine in London, has built one of the most recognised specialty cafes in the world. 

Over the next hour or so we're going to cover what it actually takes to run a great cafe — not in theory, but in practice. We'll get into the vision and hospitality philosophy that has defined Kaffeine since day one, the brand and marketing work that keeps it in people's minds, and the operational and financial discipline that keeps it viable. These are the essential blocks for building a business that outlasts trends and remains visible while the competitive landscape evolves.

Peter has always been incredibly generous in sharing his knowledge. If you work in or run your own cafe, or you are thinking about starting one, grab a pen and paper because the masterclass is bout to begin. 

https://kaffeine.co.uk/

Instagram kaffeine.london

https://coffeeknowledgehub.com/