Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Coffee People: Alan Escalante, Twin Lens Roasters & Film Lab

Transcript

Coffee People: Alan Escalante, Twin Lens Roasters & Film Lab · Coffee People Podcast

0:14
Hello and good morning, everyone.
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Welcome back to the coffee. People podcast, presented by
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roast West Coast. I'm Ryan Walt.
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And this is the show where we meet and are inspired by the
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entrepreneurial stories of coffee people.
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Today, I'm chatting with Alan, Escalante.
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The founder and head roaster of twin-lens Roasters and film lab
0:34
in La. Puente California, a community
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just east of Los Angeles. It's a unique business that
0:40
combines coffee and film photography to of the more
0:42
addicting activities. One can devote their time to I'm
0:46
saying that from experience. Also, addicting are our phones,
0:50
I recently smashed mind a b and for two equally wonderful.
0:54
And yet stressful days, I lived like a Pioneer.
0:58
On the Wild Wild Frontier. I even wrote out directions to
1:01
ascend Coffee Roasters on a piece of paper and then found my
1:05
way across town like our forefathers did, without the aid
1:09
of GPS. Luckily, I was able to replace
1:11
my pocket computer, fairly quickly.
1:13
Enabling me to follow at twin-lens Roasters on Instagram
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and to get online to see the coffee's Alan is roasted and
1:20
decided we're worthy of sharing with us on twin-lens.
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Roasters.com okay? It's time to get into another
1:26
coffee people conversation, I recommend listening to this
1:29
show. A fine single origin Ethiopia or
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a white chocolate, lavender latte, whatever coffee you
1:36
enjoy. Is the best coffee for you.
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While you listen to this chat with Alan, Escalante founder,
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head, roaster and film developer at twin-lens roasters.
1:56
Any questions before I jump into the show no questions but it's
2:01
nice to finally, put a face to the name.
2:04
Well, I appreciate that. Speaking of names, if you could
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for everyone listening in the future, let us know your name.
2:12
The name of your company and what was your favorite TV?
2:15
Show is a kid. So, my name is Allen Escalante.
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I'm the owner and head roaster of a twin lid.
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Estrellas small coffee company at a club.
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Went to California and my favorite TV shows a kid man.
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That's that's a hard one but it's either a toss between
2:36
Courage, the Cowardly, Dog on Cartoon Network or probably
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Power Rangers. And I'm have to look up that
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first one. I don't know that I've ever
2:44
heard of it. It's super weird like very, very
2:48
weird. Yeah but it's a good show that's
2:52
at the top. Tone kind of for your childhood
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then oh yeah, I was a weird kid, 100% that's good weird.
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Kids are always the best kids. You're not just a coffee company
3:03
or coffee roaster, though. You are also a film photography
3:06
developer, which I'm excited to get into in a little bit.
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I have a long history with photography as well, but I'd
3:11
love to get started to learn a little bit more about you and
3:14
specifically, if you had a first experience kind of with coffee
3:18
or coffee generally that you remember, that made you kind of
3:21
take notice. So to speak.
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I've been drinking coffee since I was little because my mom
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would just feed me. Like the folder is like one of
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those called the instant coffees and I would absolutely destroy
3:35
those. It's a little bit of Splenda in
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there. I don't know why, but everyone
3:40
in my family is diabetic and it was always like Splenda and a
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Folgers cup, I would drink those like crazy and then it kind of
3:48
gradually changed to Starbucks when I was a little older.
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And I've been going to coffee shops since I was maybe 12, once
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I hit College, I kind of was like, branching out a little bit
4:01
into different things. Learned about specialty from my
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partner at the time they worked at a specialty coffee shop and
4:08
Rancho Cucamonga called klatch. So that was kind of the first
4:11
experience I had with that. And then from there, it's just
4:14
been learning and about different coffees, I for fun.
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I would watch a lot of YouTube videos, James Hoffman, I started
4:21
off with him. Back in the day because it's
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super interested in just figuring out what coffee was,
4:27
and I was right before the show. I looked up was the first video
4:31
watch by him and I remember I was sitting down with my my ex's
4:36
family and we just watched a video about French Press which
4:41
is one of his first videos six years ago.
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So, 2016 was around when I got into delving into specialty, it
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wasn't too crazy but I've always had this idea of Man, copy could
4:53
be a lot more than what, you know, that cup of Folgers with
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Splenda in it. That's really interesting.
5:00
So, I am not a, I was not a person who was watching a lot of
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YouTube videos. Quinton, only my mother is like,
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oh, YouTube fanatic. I mean, that's all she does.
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Is she, she's like, oh, I want to learn this thing, and she
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goes right to YouTube. So, I didn't actually learn
5:14
about James Hoffman's videos, which are great ways to break
5:17
down complex, coffee Concepts into simple, you know, six
5:21
minute, At intervals until much later.
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Like, even after I started this show, I wasn't really in that,
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which is, I think is kind of interesting say here about him a
5:30
lot. As a influence, especially the
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last few years. What were you doing?
5:34
You obviously have a coffee company now, but what were you
5:37
doing? Leading up to this?
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What were you doing before this? On your website?
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It says that you were in the film photography industry.
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But was that always like your plan was to work in photography?
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Or how did you get started with that in the first place?
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Before the worldwide pandemic took over.
5:56
Yeah, I think we I think we all have before that it was, I was a
6:03
working three different jobs. I was getting into weddings with
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a, there's a company out in Costa Mesa California called
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Film Supply club and the owner is his a he's a pretty
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well-known wedding photographer is named Braden Flynn.
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I was working with him as working at a college nearby and
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also doing freelance on the side for my own personal stuff
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working in for small businesses doing photo and video projects
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and stuff. But pandemic it I lost
6:33
everything. And I went to work at Amazon for
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a big as I don't know what the heck to do and I've always
6:39
thought okay, well my career is going towards photography.
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I had been going to school for it.
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I've been a photographer for at that point, 34 years and I was
6:51
just like and I want to find a job in photography and I
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happened to just look through Instagram.
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And at the time there was a startup that just moved from the
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east coast to the here. In Camarillo.
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I remember just reaching out through Instagram, just a simple
7:09
message and was like, Hey, if you guys need any help, like,
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I'd be willing to drive out and help you guys out, they were a
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small company called - to play at the time where their main
7:20
focus focus was creating these products or they were film
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holders where you would slide your film in on one side.
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And I had a pair of silicone rollers on the other and you
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would put your film in, you'd have a light underneath that
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would shine through film. And then a stand where you
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connect your camera with a macro lens, basically be able to scan
7:40
your film and digitally. It was just easy to switch over
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to that for me because I had been interested in film because
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school, I started with them and in 20.
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And then for about a year was in the film industry, developing
7:54
products, and stuff like that with them.
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And then I've always, I've had the idea of creating a coffee
8:00
company for a couple of years before then.
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And I was just like, man, I want to make a studio and where
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people can come drink some coffee, and take some photos and
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stuff like that. I never expected to get into
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film, photography like that. But with going to that company,
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I started developing my own film shooting a lot of 4 by 5 and
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Different formats of film and over the course of two years,
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just learning about developing and the tactile feel of
8:28
everything. And I was just like I fell in
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love with that process. And then from there just was
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like, hmm, I see all these like small businesses popping up for
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film Labs with all this new technology where it's so much
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easier to scan people's film. Why don't I include that in my
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business? And I've Doing it for a couple
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years. And then I was like, okay, I
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think I can, I think I can get get something like this off the
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ground, I left the company. And from one of my portraits
9:02
that I've taken, because at the time, I was doing a project
9:05
where I would take photos of small business owners and other
9:08
people in small and industries like that.
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I'd gone to a coffee shop that I currently still work at and
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taking a portrait of the director of coffee there.
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He then was just like Hey, if you ever need a job like let me
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know. So, six months after six months
9:26
after that, it was the time that I left and I reached out to him
9:29
and I was like, hey, would you be able to train me and coffee
9:32
roasting and and things like that.
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He's just like, why don't you come work as a barista and we
9:39
will show you the ropes on roasting that didn't end up
9:42
happening. But I still worked as a barista
9:44
for about a year and a half and I became their social media.
9:50
Person, and I still do it, like, all that stuff for Golden State
9:53
Coffee Roasters here, in Placentia, California, I started
9:57
learning about roasting from them a little bit, kind of
10:00
picking up little things here and there, and just learning on
10:03
my own and learning from a friend of mine who roast over in
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Palm Springs. So I just kind of started just
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bringing all that knowledge and trying stuff out testing on my
10:15
own and from it, just blossomed from there.
10:18
So I don't know that. Makes sense.
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I went on a big tangent but no that's the show is all about
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tangents. I mean it's about your your
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journey and it probably felt like that in the moment of not
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knowing like six months from now where I'm going to be and
10:31
everyone fell out that you know during covid.
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Am I doing what I want to do a my with the person I want to be
10:37
with my you know happy and my situation.
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How can I make it better? I actually worked in a dark room
10:44
through college that was my college job and then worked for
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a film developing company as Well, it was my first real job
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out of college was selling camera equipment and developing
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film and I used to do it at home in my closet, but it sounds like
10:58
it was much more complicated. 20 years ago where I was running a
11:03
hoses from different sinks in the living room and the bathroom
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and and and all kinds of stuff. As far as the coffee part goes
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actually, you know what, I think we should ask a very important
11:12
question before we go any further which is what type of
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cameras do you shoot on? What's your go-to?
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If you're going to go out and take the portrait or a picture?
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What are you doing? I'm taking a portrait and I'm
11:23
intentional about it. I usually take my 4x5 camera, I
11:27
think it captures a lot more just in general detail because
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the film is the size of my face, but it's a feel of that.
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It's all the stuff goes back to tactile feel.
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I have a ADHD and it's just like anything that I could touch and
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feel like when I'm roasting, it's a it's that feeling of like
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grabbing the machine bringing out the coffee.
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Smelling it every sense in my Just like going towards that it
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just feels amazing so it's the same thing with with film
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cameras for me, but 4x5, it's you have to really be
12:00
intentional about it because every shot is like five bucks,
12:03
if you're shooting on color. And so, I'm going in and just
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like, I'm connecting my shutter, shutter release cable to my
12:11
lens. On the front of my camera, I'm
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putting in the film holder, checking, all of the focus to
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see if I'm like perfectly sharp and focused.
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Because the film plane on a big camera like that, it's so
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difficult to, like, get it spot on.
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So it's just like feeling that making sure that everything's
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level and all that stuff, because everything like every
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shot counts, as I said it's just that like that feeling just like
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I love it but if I'm going out and just like shooting like
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friends and family and stuff, I always take my twin lens camera
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so I have a Chic amount 124 G, super run of camera.
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Has like 50 years old nowadays, and mine's broken now, but I
12:57
have to get it repaired. Actually, I love that thing.
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I shoot most of my family stuff on that with like a flash unit
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on the side. So I just carry that thing
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around like it's Hefty but it gets the job done and it looks
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absolutely beautiful. I love the tactile feel of that
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sort of picture taking and the the tension that comes with
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knowing you can't take 100 photos to get one.
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There's a Precision to it and you mentioned intentionality
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which I think is a key component of both photography and coffee.
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Do you find that you have skills that overlap in both or
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character traits that you think, benefit you?
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But in these industries well for one thing, back to the tactile
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feel things, it's like I said, but both of them, it's it's the
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feeling of going through and taking the photo.
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It's a feeling of going through and like intentionally figure
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out what's happening in your Roast.
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Obviously they're a little they're different but that same
13:55
feeling kind of like is all across both its it just feels
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very nice to do both of those things when I'm in the moment
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but I don't know how to connect them necessarily but it's just
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definitely that feeling of you're making a product or
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you're making a photograph on. This tangible thing, one, you're
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going to see in the other one, you're going to taste.
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It's just like the coolest thing to me.
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And somebody will somebody else will get to experience at, then
14:25
you mentioned that you worked as a barista with the intent of
14:29
learning roasting. And that wasn't really
14:30
happening. When did you actually physically
14:32
start roasting? How did you get into that?
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Finding a place to roast. I'm assuming through your work
14:38
connections, but maybe not and working.
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Now, you only have a few coffees available kind of at any given
14:43
time. So far that I've seen, I'm
14:45
guessing you're working in small batches.
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We very much so. So, how did you get started?
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Roasting. And what has that experience
14:54
been like? What do you like about working
14:55
with a small amount of coffee? So I'd say would like any just
15:00
to go off of the working with small caught with small amounts
15:04
of coffee with going in bigger batches.
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I feel like it's a little bit more difficult to control what I
15:10
want. And it I've jumped 225-pound
15:12
Roasters a couple times and it's just like the The feel of it is
15:18
definitely different getting into like more sciency terms,
15:20
it's more the I forget what the the term is but when The Roaster
15:26
is heating up, its takes a little bit more energy to
15:30
basically get the same amount of heat.
15:34
And that's why I like working on smaller Roasters, specifically,
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I work on a San Franciscan six over at the coffee collective in
15:41
San Diego. So, I drive down every so often,
15:44
Andros down there. I rent out the roaster and And
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it's a little easier to do that than to buy a fifteen thousand
15:52
dollar roaster and you know, not have a place to put it other
15:55
than my house. So as a very small business, I'm
15:58
able to use a place like that to basically grow my business over
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time. I forget his name.
16:06
I think his name's Tyler, but he made actually at a coffee shop,
16:09
a couple years ago in San Diego and he did the same thing where
16:12
he started out of his garage and then started roasting and bigger
16:16
batch. Has over at a, the coffee
16:17
roasting collective, in San, Marcos near near San Diego.
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So a friend of mine showed me him and I was like, well, why
16:27
can't I do that? So I ended up just going and
16:33
shadowing my buddy, he's a vagabond, roasting going in Palm
16:37
Springs and he does the same thing he learned from from Tyler
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and was just like, all right, I'm gonna go San Diego with him.
16:45
And See how this whole thing is done at the time, I was like,
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what the fuck is going on? I'm sorry if I can't notice on
16:52
the show, but no problem like what how do you even understand
16:57
any of this means, like can't really necessarily teach you
17:01
just kind of have to figure it out in a way.
17:04
And so I like I said, I picked up a couple books and that's got
17:09
real book and I can't remember his first book and the second
17:11
book but it's the roasting ones. Yeah, the art of roasting and
17:15
the Art of roasting. Yeah.
17:17
The beginner's guide to roasting something like that, but I
17:20
picked those up and I kind of have already a culinary
17:24
background as I technically, I'm a home cook and I've been in the
17:29
food like world for my entire life, because my dad works for
17:34
the food industry. And so I've been drilled into my
17:36
head on everything culinary. There's a lot of practices that
17:40
you can transfer from cooking food over to making coffee.
17:45
I saw this Similarities and I was like this doesn't seem too
17:48
difficult it's just figuring out.
17:49
Like when to basically change the heat on your roaster to
17:53
achieve the results that you want.
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It wasn't super difficult for me.
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It was just kind of like learning The Roasting curves and
17:59
everything and making sure not to fuck it up and burn it, which
18:02
I've done a couple times over time as I got the hang of it and
18:06
started seeing and comparing roast two different different
18:09
places that I want to do. I went to bode leaf coffee here
18:13
in Orange County. And I was like, okay, they have
18:17
this coffee, it's a neat, it's a Ethiopia guji.
18:21
Let me get that same by that same Green from them and compare
18:25
my roast to there's see what I want to bring out when I don't
18:29
want to bring out. And so they're roast.
18:32
It was a little bit more on the medium side.
18:35
And I remember saying, I kind of want more of the Citrus in this
18:38
coffee. So I'm going to see, I'm going
18:40
to roast lighter. So I was watching a couple of
18:42
YouTube videos and is old. This Old Gentleman.
18:46
Was just like he was one of those guys that that roasted by
18:49
smell and sight and I was like I'm not going to do that but I
18:53
am going to apply the same principles of like when you're
18:56
roasting the coffee. There's a certain moment that
18:59
you stop smelling certain aspects, where that Aroma and
19:04
that that aromatic Scent of a coffee, just kind of goes away.
19:08
So like you can burn off the berry scent in the coffee and
19:12
that may indicate to you. Hey, you've got a little bit
19:15
over and you may not get it that flavor that's from my personal
19:18
experience. I remember seeing the same thing
19:21
at Golden State from the head Roaster at the time and I was
19:23
like, okay maybe there's some Merit to this, your combining
19:26
the art with the science. Exactly the sensation of
19:32
roasting coffee with the knowledge of roasting coffee is
19:35
what it sounds like you're saying, how long were you
19:37
roasting before, you felt comfortable, giving your coffee
19:40
to people or and saying, hey, this is a reflection of what I'm
19:44
trying to do, what do you think? Because I feel like that's a
19:46
real emotional moment in the beginning.
19:48
Yeah it took me about a year, so started roasting like March of
19:54
2020. And then I knew that I wanted to
19:59
start the company but I wasn't 100% sure on the name on what to
20:04
really put out there necessarily.
20:06
And so 20-20-20, I was like, okay let me start doing this and
20:12
figuring this out and then eventually I will start the
20:15
company. So I had the knowledge of
20:17
roasting for about a year and it was a lot of trial and error and
20:21
roasting in small batches. So I would, I would go to the
20:25
San Diego because I I only had I only had access to Roasters
20:29
there. Remember roasting the second
20:32
time in their facility on their Mill, City.
20:36
Sample, roaster, 500 grams and I was like, okay, perfect.
20:40
I'm a learn on this and I remember sitting in the room
20:46
with a bunch of other coffee people while they're trying to
20:48
make a sale and I'm roasting on this machine and I didn't turn
20:52
the air valve on on the machine. So all of the smoke was just
20:56
collecting Being in the, in the drum.
20:59
And I remember this. I remember the roads just like
21:02
spiking horribly. I was like, oh shit, I don't
21:04
know what to do, what am I doing?
21:06
Oh my God. And the Machine just starts
21:09
bellowing smoke at the top and the one of the guys is looking
21:13
at me as I'm doing in this, this is awful, this is horrible.
21:18
I should just quit and like never do this again but I
21:22
continued regardless nothing happened that day.
21:24
I was just like I'm just gonna drop everything and And the
21:27
beans were completely burnt on the outside I was like hmm.
21:31
Okay maybe let's not do that again.
21:33
And then I jumped up to £1 afterwards and started learning
21:38
profiles on bigger batches other than samples.
21:41
And really getting a feel for like, what happens when I drop
21:47
it at this temp? What happens when I drop it at
21:48
this tenth? What happens if I just I take it
21:51
to First crack and I just drop it there and so a lot of testing
21:55
different things And that's kind of how I just got the ideas for
22:00
my roast right now. I tend to roast a little bit on
22:04
the lighter side. As most third wave places do but
22:09
I really want to bring out the inherent notes of the coffee.
22:13
So in my Ethiopia, but I sell now it's I want to bring out
22:17
that Citrus first and foremost and have the chocolate on the
22:21
back end or on my monochrome. I really wanted to bring out the
22:27
Lemon in the Rwanda and then have the body and the sweetness
22:32
of a Brazil in an El Salvador. And so it's just that kind of
22:37
thought process going into it with my like scent and like all
22:42
my senses just doing the art of it and the and everything, but
22:46
also putting in the science of hey, I have all this trial and
22:49
error from back in the day. I know what I'm doing in a way.
22:52
Now, I'm still not an expert by any means, but I kind of have An
22:57
idea what I'm doing when I'm I'm roasting what has the reception
23:02
to your coffee and your company been like you know when you
23:05
started telling people hey I'm going to do this and have my own
23:08
business. How do people respond and what
23:11
is the state of your company your business now?
23:14
So I'm I'm not a big company by any means.
23:17
I still am working out of my house most of the time for most
23:21
things packaging and everything I do I do there but I ship
23:25
everything from my house. I I go.
23:27
To you USPS and we drop all my back, my boxes off and pretty
23:31
much I'm doing it all myself. There's no, no one else other
23:34
than me in there, I do all the website and I do all the photos
23:38
and everything and it's stressful.
23:41
I'll tell you that much. Yeah, starting a business is not
23:44
not easy and I remember the first photo job I ever had.
23:49
The owner of the company was like men, you are going to hate
23:52
your life and you start your own company and I don't do, I don't
23:56
hate my life. That's for sure but it's
23:58
definitely definitely stressful. So, I see where he was coming
24:00
from. I'm hand-delivering coffee
24:03
sometimes to people, if I get an order, you know, I'll message
24:07
them and I'll be like, hey, my roast is a little on the older
24:10
side right now. Let me go roast this this week
24:12
and I will send you a fresh batch.
24:15
You know, a lot of people very much love my coffee.
24:18
Like I got a message the other day, from some of the guys that
24:21
I handle liver to and I started crying when they sent me a
24:25
message, like you. Oh, the smell of your coffee.
24:28
Filling up the room here at the office is amazing and people are
24:31
loving it. And people are asking questions
24:33
about in, this is like, man, all my hard work is not going
24:36
unseen. No matter how small the company
24:39
is or anything like that, but my effort until now is is getting
24:45
noticed and I don't need it to be, you know, by 10 million
24:50
people. I just like if I get a message
24:52
like that from a customer, it just makes me happy and That's
24:57
the whole, the whole goal. But so far the reception of my
25:00
coffees and pretty good. I've always, I always felt a lot
25:03
of pride in working in the hospitality industry as a
25:06
restaurant GM or owner or whatever.
25:09
I was held a lot of Pride knowing that like, we, in some
25:12
ways kind of had the ability to kind of make or, or break
25:15
someone's day to some extent, The Experience they had at the
25:18
bar, you know, after work or, you know, with their family for
25:21
dinner. Those are the things that people
25:24
remember. Not so much, you know, the
25:26
logistics of Of the day and so coffee is like that too.
25:29
So that's really it's nice that people reach out.
25:32
I encourage anyone who loves a local coffee shop or roaster as
25:35
a great experience with a business, let them know.
25:38
There's probably somebody on the other side of that social media
25:41
exchange or Google review or whatever.
25:44
Who feels it the way that Alan is talking about right now.
25:47
Oh 100%, I still work as a barista so I get that and also
25:53
tip your Baristas please. What are where do you see
25:58
twin-lens going over the next year?
26:01
Next couple of years, it sounds like you're you're passionate
26:04
about it, you're into it. You're not planning on stopping
26:06
anytime soon. So what is the trajectory that
26:08
you envision? So over the next couple of years
26:11
I'm hoping in the next like five years to have a small shop The
26:17
next year, probably I've been doing a lot of coffee carts.
26:21
So I do events and I'm trying to get into farmers markets.
26:26
That's a little bit difficult, but going, so my coffee and also
26:30
serving espresso. So I have a linear mini and I,
26:34
my monochrome blend that I developed.
26:37
I really wanted to Showcase that on espresso.
26:39
So, I take my machine out to different different places and
26:42
like, serve lattes and cappuccinos, and the whole
26:45
thing. So, it's I want to make, I want
26:48
to really push that side of my business over the next few years
26:53
and really, get my coffee known whether it's in a latte or
26:56
whether it's in just like an Americano or a pour-over or
26:59
something. I want to make sure that people
27:01
are loving, not only like, Brewing at home, but, you know,
27:05
coming and getting a coffee at a farmers market on a Saturday
27:07
morning or something. It's, that's my goal.
27:10
For the next year is to really push that and I can get a lot of
27:13
events and stuff like that and grow the business slowly
27:16
gradually over time. Next.
27:18
Five years, hopefully have a shop here in and either Orange
27:22
County early or wherever it really feels right.
27:25
You know, me and a couple buddies were thinking about
27:28
opening a shop under a different name up north in the next couple
27:31
of years and pushing pushing that with twin-lens Roasters, in
27:35
the back, roasting for that code for that company and stuff.
27:39
But you know, my horizons are our broad for sure.
27:44
But I'm I'm very much hoping and dreaming About all this stuff
27:48
constantly, there has to be a little bit of dreaming to be an
27:51
entrepreneur because without you wouldn't keep working through
27:56
all the challenges that keep popping up.
27:58
Is there anything that we didn't talk about today or that?
28:00
I didn't ask you that you want people to know about what it is.
28:02
You're doing, or about the coffee, set your survey.
28:05
Well, in general, twin lens is it´s not only a Coffee Roasting
28:09
Company. I'd love people know that it's a
28:11
film lab as well. And I kind of want to push over
28:15
the next few years, like, hey, Hey, you know I also developed
28:18
film if you want to get into film or you're already into
28:20
film, I do more than a lot of labs nowadays.
28:26
I have the most modern processing for that kind of
28:28
stuff and scanning methods and everything and I kind of want
28:33
people to just get more into it. I want to keep it like open,
28:36
just in general with coffee. I don't want to be a coffee
28:38
snob. I don't want to be a film snob
28:40
either. I want to teach people, I want
28:42
to make sure that people are enjoying it as much as I do.
28:46
So yeah, twin-lens Roasters, film lab, and Coffee Company
28:50
together in one. If you didn't know that, I will
28:53
warn you. If you're listening to this
28:55
coffee and photography are addictions and you should know
28:59
that going into it. Yeah.
29:02
I've put in a lot of money into both.
29:04
So they're, they're very much a hobby and and an addiction at
29:09
the same time. When you are out in the world,
29:12
when you're traveling around and he stopped to get a cup of
29:15
coffee or whatever. What is it that you order?
29:17
What do you like to drink? I drink a variety of things.
29:20
As of lately, I've been really into matcha.
29:24
This High really love Macho. I'm not gonna lie, but if I'm in
29:27
the mood for it, I hope I order a pour-over.
29:29
Just I don't really have a preference for where it's from,
29:33
but I like I like forever that are funky, I like four rivers
29:36
other, you know, chocolaty traditional what you'd expect
29:39
her to a traditional like lat American coffee, that tastes
29:41
like, I like trying different espressos and cappuccinos and
29:45
I'm a very much like, milk drinks.
29:47
I'm not gonna lie. I'll drink an espresso but if
29:51
you give me a good cappuccino, I will I will destroy that thing.
29:56
Yeah, the other day I had an espresso or a cappuccino with
30:01
forget where the coffee was from, but it had notes of Apple
30:03
in it and it tasted like a granny smith apple and I was
30:06
like, wow that's awesome. This is so good.
30:10
What I think is amazing is when what a skill that I'm envious
30:14
of, because I can't do it, myself certainly not at home, is
30:16
when Roasters, or when Cafe is making milk drink where the milk
30:21
actually expects accents and enhances the flavors as opposed
30:24
to covers them up because I think traditionally, I assumed
30:28
you added milk and sugar because you didn't like the taste of
30:31
coffee and what I've learned over the last few years is like,
30:34
well, that's true. If the coffee isn't very good
30:36
but you can also do it in a way where you're enhancing those
30:39
flavors like the Apple. Or the berry or the whatever and
30:42
he, and that's where the idea of recipes, come in and I'm so
30:46
boxing. There's a reason why cafes will
30:49
put a certain amount of milk with a certain amount of coffee
30:52
or vice versa. You're not.
30:53
It's um, it's not always just winging it which is my natural
30:56
tendency. Yeah, Alan I really appreciate
31:00
you coming on the show. I'm excited to try your coffee
31:03
and to learn more about twin-lens.
31:04
See you guys, you grow. I love both coffee and
31:07
photography so I'm excited that somebody's out there doing film.
31:10
Thanks for In here. I really appreciate it.
31:12
Well thank you. I appreciate the invite.
31:14
This was unexpected to say the least but I'm very happy to be
31:18
on here to talk to you and it C you screen the screen, okay?
31:33
To recap after talking to Alan, I watched the trailer for
31:36
Courage, the Cowardly Dog. And wow, I say this with a love
31:40
of the Surd this show, looks batshit crazy.
31:43
And there are no way the animators weren't on drugs when
31:46
they made it, I'll be bingeing episodes.
31:48
All week, you can find old clips of the show on YouTube, which is
31:52
where Allen's early coffee education.
31:54
Came from, we have been in this incredible time where
31:57
information is literally available on any topic.
32:00
We want to learn about every moment of every day, although it
32:04
has gotten a little bit more difficult to sift through the
32:06
quantity for the quality to common denominators.
32:10
Allen's photography, film lab, and coffee, roasting efforts.
32:13
Stuck out to me. Intentionality and the tactile
32:17
experience, there are a lot of parallels in the processes.
32:21
Both involve following step-by-step recipes that
32:24
require moderating, the timing of developing the final product
32:28
and they are both unique in that.
32:29
He is starting with someone else's halfway done, science
32:32
experiment, then running an experiment of his own and
32:36
offering the final product to either the original photographer
32:39
or to us as Drinkers of craft coffee, Allen, brought up
32:42
something I've heard repeated by Roasters on this show.
32:45
The growth in roasting skills is directly related to the value of
32:49
comparing roasts both against a baseline provided by another
32:53
roaster or against yourself over time.
32:56
Alan roasted for a year. Practicing comparing each Rose
33:00
to the one prior before, believing it was time to share
33:03
his coffee with other people. If you want to be a coffee
33:06
roaster, at least a really good one.
33:08
Prepare to go through lots of trial and error.
33:11
And don't be surprised if there is a Tipping Point where you
33:14
want to quit or you feel too embarrassed to go on as Alan did
33:18
for a brief moment when he smoked out.
33:20
The California, roasting collective in front of a group
33:22
of peers. It's a good lesson that
33:24
perseverance and persistence go a long way twin-lens Roasters is
33:29
still small and new. It's a one-person operation and
33:32
Alan is still working as a barista at a local.
33:35
Coffee shop. It makes me wonder, is twin-lens
33:38
Roasters the side hustle, or is the regular paycheck at the
33:41
coffee shop. This side hustle.
33:43
I wondered that often about this show in my efforts.
33:46
Finally, anyone who creates something be it a widget, a meal
33:49
and experience, or a bag of roasted coffee is offering us a
33:54
piece of themselves. They are being vulnerable in a
33:57
really scary way because that thing is a piece of who they
34:00
are, if you appreciate a small business product or an
34:03
experience or a Of coffee. Let the Creator's.
34:06
Now, on the other side of that bank you or that review or that
34:09
note someone like Alan will feel it.
34:12
Deeply you can follow, Alan and twin-lens Roasters for
34:15
photography, and coffee updates on social media.
34:19
At twin-lens Roasters, if you're interested in ordering some
34:22
coffee or seeing how Allen Blends modern technology on the
34:25
film development. Side head to twin-lens,
34:28
Roasters.com, I'll include those links in this shows podcast
34:31
notes and of course, in the roast West Coast.
34:35
Which you can subscribe to on Rose to westcoast.com.
34:38
If you're in the early stages of your own coffee Journey.
34:41
That is also where you'll find a brand-new coffee smarter
34:44
education, podcast, specifically designed to improve your at-home
34:48
coffee brewing skills. You can also find both the roast
34:52
West Coast coffee, people podcast and coffee Smarter on
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all of your favorite podcast platforms, like, apple Spotify
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or even YouTube. Thanks for letting me know what
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You're the best. This episode of the roast West
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Coast coffee. People podcast is, was has been
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written produced East and recorded by me Ryan Walt.
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I hope this episode is, found you happy healthy and with, at
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least a thread of sanity left enabling you to make it through
36:14
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36:18
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