The Matchbook Coffee Podcast

The Matchbook Coffee Podcast

By Ashley RodriguezEducationArtsFood
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The Matchbook Coffee Podcast episodes

  • October 2021 — Gabe Boscana [EP28]

    Gabe Boscana is the owner of Máquina Coffee and talks risk, green buying, and how to start your own small roasting business. Gabe is a returning Matchbook roaster—so you know this release is going to be special. 

    33 min
  • September 2021 — Argus Keppel [EP27]
    Argus Keppel is a roaster working for Caffe Vita in the Pacific Northwest, and I think he might be one of our most enthusiastic roasters we've worked with to date here at Matchbook. We were pointed in his direction by Julia Lancer, a two-time Matchbook roaster. If we were handing out superlatives at MCP, Julia would win "hardest worker," and Argus would probably come in second only to them.    Argus threw himself head first into his release, harkening memories of childhood. He wanted his coffee to taste like the milk leftover in your bowl after eating cereal, so he literally cupped coffees with not just one, but four different bowls of cereal milk to guide his decision making. Argus is someone you want to be around to remind you to stay curious and excited—he loves roasting so much, and his energy is like a matchbook (get it?!?!) sparking joy and enthusiasm anywhere he shares his passion. Here's Argus. 
    34 min
  • August 2021 — Christina Chin [EP26]

    This month’s release is meant to challenge your perceptions of what you know about roasting, education, and making tasty coffee. 

    We’re thrilled to work with Christina Chin, owner of Favor Coffee, this month here at Matchbook. She’s roasting coffee for you folks in August, and she’s generating a bit of mystery for you...

    32 min
  • July 2021 — Mikey Rinaldo [EP25]

    his interview is almost like a stop on a long journey. We’re not done yet—we still have coffee to roast, to send, to drink, but this is just a quick pit stop along the way. 

    Mikey Rinaldo is the Matchbook featured roaster for the month of July. They own a small roasting company out of Chicago called New Math, which highlights specialty Asian coffees. Mikey found coffee during grad school, and pursued their passion through brewing at home and eventually roasting, ordering coffee from places like Sweet Marias, and fiddling around in their kitchen. 

    Eventually, Mikey wanted to explore more—specifically, they wanted to learn more about specialty coffees coming from Asia, which don’t get as much shine in the specialty coffee industry. Perhaps your view on coffees from Asia has been formed by a singular tasting, or maybe you've just heard things about coffees from the region.

    Mikey is here to dispel preconceptions and find the potential in coffees from the region. Because that’s what specialty coffee is all about, right? It’s not necessarily about sourcing the most pristine coffees but finding ways to highlight their inherent potential and honor the hard work that goes into growing coffee.

    35 min
  • June 2021 — J.R. Harris [EP24]
    J.R. Harris is the Matchbook roaster for the month of June, and they've taken an approach to Matchbook that is totally unique. When we present the Matchbook model to roasters, they usually focus their energy on sourcing a really exquisite coffee, a model that's served us well in the past and makes sense for what we do. But we've always been interested in pushing the model, and really figuring out how to fully allow a roaster to express themselves creatively.    J.R. asked us to challenge them, and we worked together to source a coffee—from Colombia—that was meant more to be a roasting puzzle, working backward from our shared goal, which is to serve a coffee that makes people happy. For J.R., the excitement is to explore potential within confines, rather than getting caught up in choices and preconceived ideas about how certain types of coffees will taste.   It's a fun and fascinating approach, and we're stoked for folks to push this project to its limits, thinking creatively not just about the coffee in your cup, but how to imbue your sense of self into your roasting style.
    37 min
  • May 2021 — Jiyoon Han [EP023]

    Jiyoon Han is the featured roaster for the month of May here at Matchbook. She sources and roasts coffee for Bean & Bean, her family's coffee shop with four locations across the greater New York City area. 

    Bean & Bean sources coffee almost exclusively from women or women-led farms and cooperatives. Jiyoon believes coffee can be a tool and uses coffee sourcing as a way to address gender inequity across the coffee supply stream. 
    33 min
  • April 2021 — Julia Lancer [EP22]

    We've been doing Matchbook for four years now. Our very first release was in March of 2017, and we've worked with over forty different roasters to bring folks some of the most exciting and interesting coffee releases — at least, we think they are! 

      Matchbook is old enough to have alumni, folks who know each other through the project, and people who come back to do a second release to showcase how they've grown and changed over the last few years.    Julia Lancer was roaster #7 when we first worked with her in October of 2017—and we're thrilled to work with her again.    Some things about Julia have changed, but some have stayed refreshingly the same.    Julia still gives 110%. When she did her first release with us, she took ownership over every item in her Matchbook box — she took the photos, she handpainted the labels, and she individually carved demitasse spoons for each person. This release, which revisits many of the things that Julia loves and cares about, will be equally as special, unique, and pouring outward with love for the coffee community.
    34 min
  • March 2021 — Bianka Alloyn and Sabreen Naimah [EP21]

    Things are getting cute over here! 

    We're doing something we've never done at Matchbook—we're featuring TWO roasters for the month of March. Bianka and Sabreen are the team behind Cute Coffee, a roastery based in Oakland with its roots in Los Angeles. Bianka Alloyn and Sabreen Naimah met at a cafe, and since then have been exploring their shared love of all things coffee together.    Bianka and Sabreen describe themselves as big kids—two people who love bubbles, wearing bright and colorful clothing, and just love to laugh and have fun. They radiate excitement, and their gleefulness shines in their coffees. From the producers they work with to the holographic stickers that adorn their coffee bags, it's kind of impossible not to smile when you're talking about Cute Coffee.    The coffee Bianka and Sabreen chose for their release took A JOURNEY to get to you, but they hope you feel loved and special as you sip on what they've chosen for you. And if you're feeling a little down in the dumps, don't worry—their swag is a gentle reminder that you—yes, you!—are a bright shining star. Here are Bianka and Sabreen. 
    34 min
  • February 2021 — Aaron Fender [EP20]

    Aaron Fender is the co-founder of Portrait Coffee in Atlanta, Georiga, and the featured roaster here at Matchbook for the month of February. Aaron is the type of person you want to sit and have a beer with. In fact, we probably spent more time just sitting on Zoom talking and chatting than we did actually recording. 

    Aaron started Portrait Coffee less than two years ago, and their motto is "pouring a new narrative," which they do by shining a light on Black people in the coffee industry. Aaron is interested in coffee as a conduit, a way to connect with people and build shared experiences, which you hear in this episode. Our conversation is more casual than most you've probably heard on the podcast because Aaron is incredibly easy to talk to. He's the type of person who asks questions, wants to know more about others, and can break the ice easily.  

      We talk a lot about Aaron as a person in sometimes funny and abstract ways in this episode. We immediately get into a discussion about the HBO show Succession and we also talk about how his Matchbook release, which he's called "Soul Food" reflects his personality both as a roaster and as a person. Aaron likes to feel things out and on the lessons he's learned in the past to inform the decisions he's making today. We hope you're just as excited as we are to drink his coffee and enjoy something that's truly born out of his passion to connect with others and use coffee as a bridge to do exactly what we did in this episode, which was pretty much hang out and swap stories. Here's Aaron. 
    36 min
  • January 2021 — ChiSum Ngai [EP19]
    There is so much joy in this episode.    Sum Ngai is the co-founder and roaster at Coffee Project in New York City. Sum originally started Coffee Project as a community hub—a place that folks in the neighborhood could gather and share a space that is non-judgemental and accepting. No one at Coffee Project is going to make fun of you or make you feel bad for asking what a macchiato is or if you have vanilla syrup.    As Coffee Project grew, Sum realized that she needed to provide opportunities for her staff to grow and learn new things. So she took the standalone coffee shop and expanded—Coffee Project now roasts coffee, hosts an SCA certified training lab, and has locations in Brooklyn and Queens.    If you've ever felt like you're faking it—like maybe you roast coffee but don't feel like you're a roaster, this is the episode for you. Sum also expressed reservations stepping behind the machine, but learned that all she had to do to be a roaster...was to be a roaster. If you're listening to this episode and have ever felt like you weren't qualified or experienced enough, know that we at Matchbook think you're a roaster, and we're proud of you.   Here's Sum. 
    29 min

About The Matchbook Coffee Podcast

From the publisher's feed

The Matchbook Coffee Podcast is a way to shine a light on the folks we work with every month. We give creative control over to a different roaster, and they get to tell their story however they'd…