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 for skillful baristas behind bar. Although there are similarities between the two, they are also different in more than one way.

In this episode, we break down some of the similarities and differences of being a home barista vs working in the industry as a professional. We also talk about how to find the place that fits you best between the two!

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 personal experiences with some of this gear.

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.

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 episode of the Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions, we break down the words we use to describe what we're tasting in coffee and how you can too.

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 we do lean towards single origin coffees, this podcast highlights both sides from an objective stance.

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 these visits that much sweeter.

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!