Latest / Coffee People Podcast / S5:E5 - Ian Nelson, Quality Control & Green Buyer, DOMA Coffee: An Interview

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S5:E5 - Ian Nelson, Quality Control & Green Buyer, DOMA Coffee: An Interview · Coffee People Podcast

0:11
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I appreciate it and I'm
0:14
honestly surprised I swear as much.
0:44
He's also a musician and when I asked him, he said, sure grab a
0:48
song, his band is named Kadabra and their album Ultra is out.
0:52
Now that is Kadabra with AK at the beginning, and you can
0:55
listen to it at Kadabra band at band camp.com again, that is
1:00
Kadabra with AK. Stay tuned at the end of this
1:03
episode to hear the full version of their song.
1:07
In King and I'm just speculating here, but that has to be about
1:11
coffee, right? A good morning everyone.
1:24
Welcome to season 5 episode. 5 of the roast West Coast coffee
1:28
podcast. I'm Ryan Walton.
1:30
This is the show where I bring you the stories of coffee
1:32
professionals entrepreneurship and coffee education today.
1:36
You're going to hear my chat with Ian Nelson of Doma coffee,
1:40
which is based up in Post Falls Idaho.
1:43
Post Falls is near the border with Washington and just outside
1:46
the popular Lake Coeur d'Alene. The area has been growing like
1:50
crazy for the better part of a decade, my wife and I even
1:53
considered moving there before we ended up in San Diego.
1:56
And I've actually been to the do McCafe.
1:59
It's why I reached out when I knew the show was expanding,
2:02
outside of Southern California, Ian is in charge of quality
2:06
control. And apples and green coffee
2:08
buying for DOMA. I was excited to chat with him
2:11
because he recently took and passed the coffee.
2:14
Q greater certification from the coffee quality Institute or cqi,
2:19
which is a bear of a class. The cqi self-proclaimed mission
2:23
is to quote, improve the quality of coffee and the lives of the
2:26
people who produce it end quote, they have a huge mission
2:30
statement and I'll put a bunch of info in the newsletter, which
2:33
you can read at roast westcoast.com.
2:36
While you're there, you might as well subscribe so you can get
2:39
this show emailed to you first every week.
2:42
You can also find the link in the show notes wherever you are
2:45
listening to this podcast. Ian and I are going to talk
2:48
about the Q greater class. What role, quality control plays
2:52
when it comes to buying and roasting coffee and how scent is
2:56
so important when it comes to grading coffee, right now.
2:59
We're at that point in the episode where I asked if your
3:03
coffee mug is full, I never really know if it is unless you
3:06
post a photo. And take me at roast West Coast
3:09
on Instagram. Today I'm actually sampling
3:11
several new to me coffees from thoughts and process coffee
3:15
based in Orange County. On Deck is a medium roast semi
3:19
washed Brazil, espírito Santo. Thanks to Mateo.
3:22
Nunez for sending this down to me to try.
3:24
It has tasting notes of vanilla candied fruit and molasses and
3:28
the smell is quite intoxicating by now, your mug has to be full.
3:33
I hope it is because it is time for this conversation with Ian
3:36
Elson of Doma coffee out of Post Falls Idaho.
3:49
But I appreciate you being here. I'm on the roast West Coast
3:53
coffee podcast at the say that every time.
3:55
Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, just for our for our listeners, if
4:00
you could state your name, where you work in your job title and
4:04
then maybe if you were to go to another coffee shop or you know,
4:08
out in the world. What are you going to order for
4:10
yourself? Okay.
4:12
Well, my name is Ian Nelson. I At Doma Coffee, Roasting
4:17
Company, which is located northern Idaho right on the
4:21
border of Washington and Idaho, I am head of quality control at
4:27
Doma and I also dabble in green buying and roasting.
4:31
And if I was to go to a cafe, / of The Roasting Company and
4:37
order something to drink, I would probably ask them what
4:42
they have for batch Brew or pour over options that they have.
4:47
Yeah, I'm not a huge espresso person.
4:50
I obviously have to drink it regularly for my job so I do
4:56
enjoy it. But usually when I go out I ask
5:00
what they have to offer and just kind of based off of origin of
5:04
the coffee or process or if it's something I haven't tasted
5:07
recently. I'll shoot for That sure, and
5:11
for anyone listening you can't see in, but I can and he's
5:14
wearing a pretty sweet jean jacket police line.
5:17
I'm very jealous of it. It's kind of here.
5:21
Well, Doma is in Post Falls Idaho, which is I have family in
5:25
Post Falls. I've been to Delma.
5:27
That's right. Which is pretty cool.
5:29
It's a great little spot. So I'm excited to be talking to
5:32
you. Let's go back in time a little
5:34
bit. Did you have kind of a first
5:37
experience with coffee that kind of made?
5:38
You think, you know, This is interesting.
5:40
This is something I kind of like, yeah, growing up my
5:43
parents never drank coffee. My first experience with coffee
5:48
was my grandparents, always had some hot boiling.
5:55
I don't know, you know, when there's coffee and it's sitting
5:58
on the bottom of a mr. Coffee, like burner, and it just
6:01
tastes burnt and gross. At the time, I didn't realize
6:04
that, but that's pretty much my first experience with coffee.
6:08
I'm sure it's a lot of people's. First experience.
6:10
But we used to put ice cream in the coffee because as a kid,
6:16
you're not your first initial reaction to tasting coffee is
6:20
kind of like this is acquired taste.
6:22
That would be my first coffee experience.
6:24
I didn't really start focusing on it until I was fresh out of
6:29
high school and I was dating this girl who was a barista at a
6:33
local cafe. So I'd spend most of my time
6:37
there and then about When I was, I think my late 1920, probably
6:43
my late teens, early twenties, I started working at a local cafe
6:48
that isn't around anymore because I wanted to not have to
6:53
wear a uniform at work and I guess express myself while
6:58
getting paid so it wasn't even like had nothing to do with the
7:01
coffee aspect. It was just I wanted to be
7:03
myself at work and Yeah, and now I'm a slave to the trade so it
7:12
sounds like you kind of always been in coffee, was there ever a
7:15
time where you might have beat? You might be doing something
7:17
else a different time. Different Ian Nelson timeline
7:20
somewhere. Where could you have gone?
7:23
Yeah, it's interesting. There is a period.
7:26
I probably worked coffee for 45 years and there is one year I
7:30
took off to work at a screen printing facility.
7:34
And that's just because I I was kind of getting tired of the
7:37
whole Barista trade and customer service aspect.
7:41
So there was a year where I was doing that.
7:44
I don't know what else I would would be doing if I wasn't
7:47
working in coffee. I think I've just too far gone
7:50
at this point. I can't really think about my
7:55
life. I mean, I do graphic design
7:56
stuff on the side for fun. I do it.
7:59
Mainly for like local music acts and my own musical endeavors.
8:06
And I'm not bad at it, but I don't know if I would pursue it
8:10
as a career or not. So sure, just an extra a nice
8:14
skill to have really comes in handy.
8:18
A lot actually, I have a graphic design degree and for a brief
8:21
time was like a full-time designer and now I find that I
8:24
just use it to support my own efforts.
8:27
Exactly. Just saved money.
8:29
Yeah. Pay someone to take care of that
8:31
stuff. Yep.
8:33
Make a logo or I want a cool sticker and I don't see it.
8:36
So Where then I can make it myself.
8:37
Yeah, exactly. I have two kids and my kids
8:41
every time I'm doing something on Photoshop, they'll come
8:44
around and be like, Dad, can you make me this t-shirt?
8:46
Like, I have an idea for a t-shirt.
8:48
Can you make me a t-shirt? I was like, maybe someday.
8:50
We'll see, you know, trying to like brush them off and ignore
8:54
him. Just go can teach them how to do
8:57
it themselves. There you go.
8:59
Exactly. Miss my son like he's been
9:01
sitting, you know, I know this is we're getting off topic but
9:04
he's been like sitting over my shoulder.
9:06
Asking me like, oh, what are you doing here?
9:08
How do you do that? So maybe someday, I'll be able
9:11
to spread that talent to them. Maybe, I mean it's pretty
9:15
amazing. I don't do graphic design for a
9:17
job anymore in part because there's no real middle class of
9:21
designer anymore. Because there's so many options
9:23
out there, I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about
9:26
Doma in general. How did you end up there in
9:29
particular, what makes Doma unique or special?
9:33
And you know, as a craft Coffee Company?
9:35
Yeah. Okay, well, first off Dome has
9:38
been around for 22 years. They started in the year 2000.
9:43
They're owned by Terry and Rebecca.
9:47
Pataw know, the idea of Doma as far as I know began when they
9:52
were young 20s and living, in Salt Lake City, and I'm not
9:57
certain why they ended up in Post Falls Idaho, but that
10:00
happened to be the location they landed on and so that they're
10:05
just been focusing on. Doma ever since we are currently
10:09
growing at a quick rate. So we will be building a new
10:14
facility in the near future, which is, which is exciting.
10:17
I definitely hopped on at the right time so that has been
10:23
great for the company as far as something that kind of is
10:28
unique. One thing I enjoy about Doma is
10:32
we try to have offerings of all All sorts like we try to have
10:39
the complex unique interesting coffees with light Rose we have
10:44
dark Rose like a lot of Blends Blends focused towards different
10:47
Brewing methods and that kind of keeps me on my toes as green
10:51
buying and QC. Yeah I'd say that's something
10:55
that's exciting. The owners also really love
10:58
winter sports which kind of ties into a question I'm sure we will
11:03
get to later on while we can. We can we can skip right to
11:07
that. You guys have the the pow deep
11:10
coffee. I think that's what you were
11:12
referencing there. But yeah, it was I sent you an
11:15
email kind of about that. I'm wondering what that is and
11:18
what is that correlation to the? The outdoor industry.
11:21
So for those who don't know how is stands for protect our
11:25
Winters, it's a climate change advocacy group that is ran by
11:31
winter sport athletes. And they do a lot of great work
11:35
and Dome as a Coffee Roasting Company.
11:40
You know, climate change, affects the whole industry and
11:45
process of us receiving our coffee.
11:48
A lot of farmers are origin, are dealing with issues with their
11:54
crop and that's actually kind of how we got tied into.
11:57
That was a couple of years back when we were visiting Guatemala,
12:02
it was like the first time any of us really got to see that in
12:05
person and so when we got back the protector, winners crew
12:10
stopped by and sparked the idea to us that we kind of like
12:15
collab. And then we could help by
12:19
funding some of their things that they do since we kind of
12:23
had the first like kind of visualization of that in
12:27
Guatemala. We try to also partner with one
12:32
of our Laughs that we purchase from Guatemala direct trade.
12:37
So we always try to have the pow, / deep coffee and organic
12:42
coffee from Guatemala. Very cool where you guys are
12:45
located Post Falls Coeur d'Alene when you're surrounded by winter
12:49
sports and point is nearby and just a ton of great skiing and
12:54
Lake Coeur d'Alene for outdoor water activities and so it's a
12:58
cool program, I'm a snowboarder myself.
13:00
So we are always paying attention to like what's
13:02
happening each year. The snow totally and it's gotten
13:05
harder because we usually go and December over Christmas to say
13:08
Colorado, some years we have not had any snow and some years we
13:13
were getting dumped on and things have gotten more extreme
13:16
kind of everywhere. Yeah, now take that to a place
13:19
where at origin, where they are, depending on the weather to grow
13:23
this crop that we are enjoying. It's definitely something that
13:26
is impacting. Anyone, involvement coffee, I
13:29
want to ask you a little bit more, you mentioned earlier, you
13:32
work in quality control. Roll and some green buying, what
13:36
is quality control entail? What does that mean?
13:39
You know, what are you doing? Day to day?
13:41
And after that, we can jump into a little bit about curating.
13:45
And I know that's something you've been pursuing.
13:47
Yeah, absolutely. Try to make this, not super long
13:50
story. I got time when I started at
13:54
Doma. I was I guess I never got to
13:57
that, so that ties in really well, actually, when I started
14:00
at Doma, I worked in the production team.
14:03
And the production team is who bags and ships the coffee.
14:07
And I was here for probably about two to three years at that
14:12
point. And I made it known that I was
14:16
interested in growing in the company.
14:19
There was like, part of me that the idea sparked out, okay?
14:22
I'm going to do this for a career.
14:23
I'd already been working in coffee.
14:26
I don't know probably eight years at that point and I was
14:29
like well it's pretty much all I know I have Barista experience I
14:32
have roast or yeah, roasting experience production
14:35
experience. So I mentioned that I wanted to
14:40
start a training and green buying and they were having me
14:44
do sample roasts for couplings? Because at the time we had
14:48
someone else head of QC but QC was very casual at that.
14:54
Point at DOMA. It was more like we would get
14:58
together and cup purchasing samples, whenever we had time,
15:03
and there wasn't necessarily a department for it, and once that
15:08
person left the company, it was kind of like, well, Ian's
15:12
trained on Sample. Roasting these been cupping with
15:14
the head roaster and the QC guy. He might as well take on the
15:19
mantle. And so they sent our head
15:23
roaster, myself and our Ian to take a sensory class with royal
15:30
coffee, and if he, if you don't know, Royal coffee is an
15:34
importing company that has been around for a very long time.
15:36
We purchase a lot of our green coffee from them and we're
15:40
really close to them. As far as like, our partnership
15:43
goes and they have an education team at Royal that they call the
15:48
crown. And I always make the joke that
15:50
they're the Avengers of coffee because they have an insane
15:54
Education team. Everyone's The really wise and
15:57
smart know so much about coffee and they are pretentious about
16:02
it which I really appreciate. So we went over there and we did
16:06
like a basic sensory training course with them and at the time
16:12
and I don't believe it's I don't exactly know.
16:15
But Candice Candice Madison was there roasting or head of
16:20
roasting instructor I believe I might have gotten her title
16:24
wrong but She mentioned that there is this thing called The Q
16:29
grading course and it's where you get certified to grade.
16:33
The quality of arabica coffee. They also have a real boost of
16:36
one but she was pushing the Arabica training course and
16:41
that's because they were offering that course at their
16:44
education site and that's first time I heard about it.
16:47
So when I got back I kind of put these goals on myself.
16:51
Like all right, I'm in this slot Doma where Now, the QC person
16:57
I'm going to try and make this department like a more official
17:01
and formal thing. So, over the last, I guess it'd
17:04
be almost two years now. It seems like a lot longer
17:08
because I've crammed a lot in there and probably with covid.
17:11
You know, everything time to seems really strange.
17:14
I have done a few education things for myself.
17:18
I have worked on my palate vocabulary and just many
17:27
different sensory practices and I always had the curator course
17:33
in the back of my mind but it is a little spendy to participate
17:38
in that course. And there's also a great chance
17:41
that you might not actually pass and get certified.
17:44
So it's kind of like a gamble if you're, you know, not fully
17:49
confident. Yeah, the course itself just so
17:51
people know what you're getting into.
17:53
Yeah, it's like a like taking the cue grade and course And
17:56
taking the test. It's like a week-long and like,
17:58
60. It's like, 16 test.
18:00
It's not just like one multiple choice thing that you and you're
18:03
going through a whole process of, you know, I think about
18:06
taking an exam in school and I was, you know, you're like oh no
18:09
short answer long essay. It's kind of like that but if
18:12
your mouth yeah and it's exhausting it's it's basically
18:18
coffee bootcamp which if you're into that, it's really exciting
18:22
but like there is definitely some days.
18:24
I know I'm jumping ahead but there.
18:25
Some days during the course where I was like, oh man, I need
18:29
to like go to bed because I am like overdone with it
18:33
information right now, but yeah, I was exciting.
18:37
Anyways, I brought up to our general manager that I had been
18:42
wanting to take this Q greater course.
18:45
And I felt like it was the next step in my career.
18:48
And so I kind of like brought a proposal to him, how I could see
18:52
it benefiting the company and threw the idea out there, that
18:54
maybe they would. Fund my Q greater journey and
19:00
went over and they sent me to Hawaii of all places, which was
19:04
really exciting to take this course with Tim Hynes who now
19:09
works for a company called Suk Athena.
19:12
But he also is the co-founder of husky cup, which is like a to-go
19:17
Cup made from coffee cherries and husks, they recycle them and
19:22
make to-go cups out of them. I know they're really popular in
19:25
Australia. Yeah, I know a few people that
19:27
have them here. I myself have one and it was
19:29
hosted at a place called Pacific Coffee research which is located
19:34
in Hawaii Kona and it's owned by Brittany horn and Madeline
19:39
Longoria Garcia and they are amazing people to know and work
19:44
with and yeah I went there spent a week, just cramming knowledge
19:50
into my head and tasting a lot of coffees once it got to go
19:55
ahead. You participate in the Q greater
19:57
course. I spent the month previous to
20:02
traveling to a why the main. There's a big portion of the Q
20:06
greater course that is focused on a Roma's and the different
20:11
types of Aromas that you can find in green coffee and
20:15
throughout the roasting process. And there's a kit that is
20:19
certified by the sca called Lynn Nate, the Nadeau Cafe.
20:23
So, a big part of my preparation was Was memorizing.
20:27
Those sense and Like Making Connections, mentally of like,
20:32
what this scent is. Technically say it's Cedar but
20:37
it reminds me of my dad building a house when I was young.
20:42
You know, the wood sawdust type smell or like there's cucumber.
20:49
But to me, the Cucumber reminds me of the, I don't know stuff.
20:54
They clean rest. Area bathrooms with like stuff
20:59
like that. That's super interesting.
21:01
Like you're kind of you're creating like a scent and visual
21:05
taste Connection in your brain. Yeah, exactly.
21:08
By associating it with something else.
21:10
Feels like a Sherlock Holmes sort of thing which is really
21:13
just kind of unique. I was going to ask this earlier
21:15
but I didn't want to interrupt, you know, obviously as you're
21:17
pursuing this and you're already, you've been tasting
21:20
coffees and doing that over time, but do you think that you
21:23
need to have some natural Talent?
21:25
Continue palette or in your sensory abilities or is this
21:29
something you? Can anyone could start in cert
21:31
training and eventually get there?
21:33
I mean, from what I've noticed, I do this a lot with like my
21:36
friends who aren't coffee people or like my past, roommates is
21:40
every time I brew coffee, I'll ask them what they're tasting,
21:43
just because I'm curious, because that's what I do for a
21:46
living and everyone, you know, they have their general idea of
21:50
what they're tasting and they'll try to reach and put out these
21:53
different safe flavor notes or Al Di Roma or acidities
21:58
affecting them. So I think everyone does have
22:01
that in them but it does take a lot of practice and a lot of
22:06
tasting and if say someone was planning on trying to get their
22:12
Q greater certification, I would probably give it at least a year
22:16
before you actually try and you know participate in the exam
22:20
like and that's just like tasting daily cupping as often
22:24
as you can. You know?
22:25
Trying to make those connections mentally to what you're smelling
22:28
or tasting. Yeah, I believe anyone's
22:31
capable. It's just putting the work in.
22:34
I'm imagining, and this is going to age me a little bit, but that
22:38
while you're training, you are blindfolded.
22:40
Like the Karate Kid that is, they sadly know what was the
22:47
actual like Hawaii experience? Like you said, you mentioned how
22:51
it was exhaustive and intensive. But once you start taking those
22:54
tests, Does that kind of go by in like a feels like something
22:59
where you might just feel like you blacked out for a week and
23:01
at the end of it, you're either Q greater you're not or like you
23:04
know what was that experience? Like for you.
23:06
Yeah I mean it definitely went by really quick like it kind of
23:09
felt like oh it's already over and the first few days you're
23:14
not tasting right away. You know the first few days is
23:17
kind of like lectures, you know, discussions and those days felt
23:23
like they took a little longer and then Those ones they seem
23:27
the longest because we're also sitting there for the majority
23:31
of it. I mean I looked out and in my
23:34
situation we were sitting in this roasting education space,
23:39
that had a window. You know, staring at the ocean,
23:42
with the sun setting. So it was like, that was nice
23:46
but I could see that being the part that feels like it takes
23:50
the longest, but once it's over, it just kind of seemed like a
23:54
dream, I guess. I would compare to say
23:57
performing like if you're a musician and you're performing,
24:00
like it's like the build-up skin on stage is like, all right, and
24:03
then you get on stage and then like, however, long your set is,
24:07
it's over, like, it's like, you barely remember any of it.
24:10
Sure, you mentioned earlier that you have, some musical
24:14
Endeavors. What's your, what's your music
24:16
life? Like music life?
24:20
It is. Busy is very busy.
24:23
I play in A band called Kadabra. It's like a heavy psychedelic
24:29
rock band and pretty much besides coffee.
24:33
That's what I spend the other half of my life doing.
24:37
Yeah, so really busy with that touring.
24:40
As often as we can, don't miss really kind and works with my
24:44
schedule with that. And we thankfully our sign to
24:49
this record label based out of Rome, Italy called heavy, psych
24:52
sounds. And it's a label that focuses on
24:56
I guess psychedelic Rock. I'm assuming you play music at
25:01
the facility and there's music playing during the roasting
25:03
process. Yeah, everyone at Doma.
25:07
Well, I'd say probably 80% of the staff at Doma plays music or
25:11
like musicians. You might not seem like it in
25:14
The Branding but like you walking the Dome and you can
25:17
just look at somebody, you know, like oh, that guy plays music.
25:20
That's well, this is my challenge.
25:23
If you guys haven't done this I've challenged a few Roasters
25:26
where music is integral to what they do.
25:28
I want to know if you roast the same coffee, beans, the same way
25:32
but play different music. If the beans taste differently.
25:36
That's what I want someone to do that.
25:38
And like actually test it and like say all right we're going
25:40
to we're going to play Rage Against the Machine for an hour
25:43
and do real estate and then we're going to play some Bob
25:46
Marley and you know see what the difference is it out affects the
25:50
palette to? Yeah there's a lot of discussion
25:53
on how playing music. While you're cupping affects the
25:57
experience and infects your scoring.
26:00
It's always like half and half. I've had people that are, like
26:04
some people like, so it doesn't really affect it or some people
26:07
who are really strict and like no music while I'm cutting and
26:09
scoring coffees. And then there's some people who
26:12
are just like, yeah, whatever. Like I like the music when I cup
26:18
but I feel like I can separate myself from actually like, you
26:21
know, feeling the music. Like, oh yeah, this song rips.
26:24
This song is awesome. Awesome.
26:26
And like, all these coffees taste amazing, you know, like I
26:30
personally don't think it affects me but some people I
26:34
have noise on almost all the time, no matter what I'm working
26:37
on and my wife is the opposite. She needs things to be quiet
26:41
when she's working and she'll ask me, how can you do this?
26:44
This other thing while you also have a show or podcast or music
26:48
on? And I don't actually hear it
26:51
just creates this background that helps my brain Focus for
26:54
some reason. Really and music is that way
26:57
too. But I would be curious because
26:59
of the emotional impact that music has.
27:01
I usually listen to podcasts where I'm working because I can
27:03
just zone out and not hear anything for however long I'm
27:07
working. If anyone's listening, and
27:08
doesn't think this is already happened.
27:09
We didn't actually say it, but you used successfully passed the
27:12
Q greater course. Hmm, you are an official Q
27:15
greater, how does that change what you do?
27:18
If at all and you know, how is your, you know, pretty Q greater
27:23
experience. Post Q greater experience.
27:25
Since of Doma is anything changed the most important
27:29
takeaway or weights affected? Say the way icub is people,
27:36
everyone has their opinions of in their preferences over, you
27:40
know, coffee coffee. So complex there's so many
27:42
different ways you can roast coffee, brew coffee, so many
27:45
different ways. You can drink coffee and
27:49
everyone enjoys it their own way.
27:51
Everyone has their own preferences.
27:53
What type of coffees they enjoy? And so beforehand.
27:58
I think I would base the quality of the coffee.
28:01
More on my flavor, preference or likes a roast preference and now
28:08
it kind of allowed me to be more objective when I'm scoring
28:12
coffee. That's kind of the main goal
28:13
behind the Q. Greater certification is that we
28:18
can have an industry that is as calibrated as they can be based
28:23
on the objective principle or not.
28:25
Doubles objective characteristics of coffee.
28:28
So it's allowed me to be a little more fair and not decide
28:32
if a coffee is good or not based on the way.
28:35
It tastes so many different aspects of coffee or of a
28:39
coffees flavor profile, that affects it.
28:42
It's kind of wild like you can have a coffee.
28:44
That's a, it's a fruit bomb, high acidity.
28:47
But, you know, that wants to after taste like could be really
28:50
short and it could say tastes like a paper bag.
28:53
Then like, you might score the acidity.
28:55
Hi, In the initial flavor /, Aroma high, but the aftertaste
28:59
is going to be scored low and yeah, it's just interesting.
29:03
I feel like I feel like I'm gonna ramble if I keep going but
29:06
yeah, it shows all about. Now, it's always helpful.
29:10
There shows about rambling. One thing, I'd like to kind of
29:13
get out there is how many curators are in the world.
29:17
Is this something that is common?
29:18
Is this something like, for example, like where you're
29:20
located in kind of Idaho, Washington area?
29:24
Yeah, you know, is there a queue greater Every other coffee shop
29:26
or is this something that's a little bit more prestigious?
29:30
I think it's couldn't at least they like to consider it to be
29:33
prestigious in my area. I'm the only Q greater in our
29:37
general coffee scene which includes, say Sam Point as Evans
29:43
Brothers, zoroaster, local roasting company over there.
29:45
They do a great job, and then Spokane has like four or five
29:49
roasting companies, and that's kind of our general scene, but
29:52
if out of all those roasting companies, I'm the only That is
29:56
certified Q greater and I'm sure they all like have really great
30:00
pallets and cut really well. So I'm not really sure on other
30:05
areas, but there is a cqi which stands for the coffee quality
30:09
Institute database that you can go on and it shows you every Q
30:14
greater in the world and where they're located, I'm here in San
30:18
Diego area and there's only you know a few and we're a community
30:21
of about three and a half million people on the bigger
30:23
yeah area. So, And of those, there's, you
30:27
know, I think there's 20 plus Roasters, you know, that I can
30:31
get to here in San Diego and I still only know of one or two
30:35
locally, maybe there's probably more than that, that I just
30:37
don't know, but it is something that is, is a challenge and a
30:40
success. So it sounds like it would
30:42
impact you. Most, as a green coffee buyer in
30:45
your day-to-day job, I'm wondering if that has caused
30:47
you. I don't want to, I don't think
30:49
it's cause you any challenges, but as a green coffee sorcerer
30:53
and trying to Source some sustainably your now, adding
30:55
Other layer of filter. You know.
30:58
On the coffee is coming through apps.
31:00
In front of you. Do you think that is benefit?
31:03
I mean, I'm assuming it's benefited Domo, but how do you
31:06
go about deciding which coffees are right for Dome on which ones
31:09
aren't? Yeah, that so that I wouldn't
31:11
say difficult it's not the right word to use with green buying.
31:15
There's so many factors just like with it is grading the
31:20
quality of a coffee. So many factors that go into it
31:23
and with Doma that is an Hushed, Roasting Company like two
31:27
decades. Being a company Doma, has their
31:30
own needs and ways that they have certain like offerings like
31:36
that. They want it, roasted certain
31:38
components they need and certain qualities of each component.
31:43
Like say, we have an organic dark roast blend, and it's
31:47
consists of three components of either, south or Central
31:51
American Origins and say, with the coffee like that.
31:55
When you roast the coffee darker, those obvious flavor
32:00
characteristics in the seed kind of get roasted out the darker
32:03
they go. They get that General more dark
32:07
chocolate Smokey characteristic. So coffees like that I will go
32:12
through and I will you know get the samples from the Importer or
32:16
the producing partner and I'll still score them as if like I do
32:22
the standard sample roast profile and I'll just score them
32:25
as If I'm like, would score anything else and even if it
32:29
fits like a lower score than my Preferred Quality, we'd still
32:34
like purchase it if it fit our needs or also if you like
32:37
benefits a producer. So I think that's one.
32:39
Good example. As far as like we have a limited
32:42
program which I sparked the idea to the owners.
32:47
I think it's been going on for four years now.
32:49
Because when I started demo, we didn't really have offerings
32:52
that were, I guess exceptional might be a way.
32:55
Use and there's more complex coffees where an interest of
32:59
mine and I wanted to see that in the company.
33:01
So say something like that, I'll just like be cupping samples
33:05
that I get in. And if there's something where
33:07
I'm like, oh man, this is awesome.
33:08
Like we need roast this and we need people to taste this.
33:10
Then I'll just like make the call to make that our next
33:13
limited edition so that one's a little bit free range for
33:16
myself. I don't know if that helped
33:18
answer your question or not, it always helps.
33:21
Okay. That actually that actually
33:23
gives me a thought. It makes me wonder So and I'm
33:27
not trying to be disrespectful to Post Falls or Coeur d'Alene
33:30
area. You have been around a long
33:32
time. You were one of the first Coffee
33:34
Roasters before craft coffee was so common, people would have
33:38
been used to a certain style of coffee.
33:40
Yeah, probably time. You know what you might call
33:43
Diner. Instant coffee.
33:44
So your community around you has been growing with you.
33:47
I would assume. So what might be the preferred
33:52
coffee and then in the community might not necessarily be What
33:56
you as a q greater like this is the best coffee I've ever had.
33:58
Right. That's exactly.
34:00
That's a struggle I have every day.
34:02
Yeah, so high. So that sounds like with your
34:04
limited program, you're balancing that with what is best
34:08
for business. I mean I'm a big believer that
34:10
the best coffee or anyone is the coffee that they like and
34:14
absolutely for some people in my family that's instant coffee for
34:17
me, it's something a little more crafty maybe not quite as at the
34:21
level you are at even but I can appreciate those two.
34:24
So we're Where would you say it? Sounds like you've got maybe
34:28
let's call it a half a dozen plus Roasters in the general
34:31
area. How do you see craft coffee
34:34
growing in, you know, in your neck of the woods?
34:37
Well, I know personally, you know, with Delma being
34:40
established, we are now at kind of I'd say the younger
34:44
generation of people running the show here at Doma and there is a
34:49
community that is definitely set and kind of those ways that
34:53
you're speaking of Diner. Diner, coffee ways.
34:57
And one of our goals that we kind of just have as a company.
35:01
And as a community is, we are trying to educate our clientele
35:06
and our customers and keep them tasting new things.
35:09
Keep them intrigued, and that's kind of a way we're helping push
35:13
that as far as other Roasters, go, a lot of them are kind of
35:17
focused on that more uppity third wave, I guess style that's
35:21
going on a lot of light. Roast focused coffees.
35:25
And they do a good job at pushing that, and I got mad
35:29
respect for that. That's definitely something.
35:31
I wish Doma did more of but I again, I do agree with you.
35:36
Like what you like and I enjoy that Doma.
35:39
Tries to give those options. Yeah, they spread the range yet.
35:43
Your community has been growing exponentially over the last.
35:47
Say five, ten years as well and bringing in a lot of people from
35:51
other places in the world say California.
35:53
For example, I've certainly seen some Signage when I'm in Idaho
35:57
with the outline of California, xed out.
36:00
He just I've seen it in Washington.
36:04
I've seen it already too. And I get it because I'm someone
36:07
who can't necessarily afford to live in California, but I do I
36:10
get it on all sides but I think that also brings a lot of people
36:14
to and, and with the lake, you guys are tourist Community as
36:17
well. Yeah, it brings people from a
36:19
lot of other communities to your area to experience what you're
36:22
offering and having a wide range of coffees as probably certainly
36:25
Fish. Yeah, absolutely you mentioned
36:27
earlier and I want to make sure I don't forget to ask this but
36:29
that you are potentially building a new facility or
36:32
working on a new facility. Will it be in that same location
36:35
that you guys are now? Or is it still in Post Falls or
36:37
where you guys headed, it will be in the general area.
36:41
It's not going to be in the same same exact location but it will
36:46
be in this same area. There was like half of our
36:51
employees live in Spokane, Washington.
36:53
And then half live in Coeur. D'Alene So, we always try to
36:56
keep it at least kind of in the middle because everybody has to
36:59
commute to facility. Is there anything that we didn't
37:04
cover today? That people should know or that
37:06
you, you know, and thought about before we talk that would be
37:10
valuable to that. Well since we are talking about,
37:13
you know, Quality quality and coffee is kind of organized, say
37:19
by the cqi and SCA and it kind of gives you this Idea of what
37:26
quality coffee is. But I think a lot of people can
37:30
get caught up in the way, their coffee tastes and flavor
37:35
profiles, and I think just being more aware of the work and
37:40
effort that's going behind. Getting that coffee to us is I
37:44
think it's a good thing to be aware of that and kind of think
37:47
on that, like if you're tasting a coffee, that is complex and
37:50
exceptional. Exceptional, there's a lot of
37:53
work that went behind that coffee getting That way and I'm
37:56
not talking. Like, as a roaster, I'm talking
37:58
more like, on the origin side of things.
38:00
So I'd say if you're a coffee lover, just educate yourself on
38:05
that. It's cool stuff to know.
38:08
It's fun. And it's very interesting and if
38:11
you ever get the top, the Earth opportunity to go to An Origin
38:14
country, definitely do it. It's amazing.
38:17
It's my favorite part of the job.
38:18
It's definitely a nice perk Yin. I really appreciate you spending
38:24
some Some time with me on the show and and also just for by
38:28
pursuing quality control and that certification that you have
38:32
now is a q greater, I appreciate that.
38:35
You care about the product, you're putting out in the world
38:38
and I think that's something that, as a, as a drinker and not
38:42
a roaster as someone who's just out here as a consumer, I always
38:45
appreciate. Definitely, you're welcome.
38:48
Yeah, I mean I'll try and send you some coffee here soon to.
38:52
I don't know if you've had any of our coffee but all all.
38:55
I get your address and send you the good stuff.
38:58
I appreciate I always loved the good stuff.
39:08
To recap, I think in not wearing a uniform at work is a big
39:12
motivator for a lot of people. Ian being one of them even more,
39:17
so now that we've gone through covid and a lot of us have been
39:19
wearing, sweat pants, every day for several years.
39:23
I'm not saying I've been wearing sweatpants every day for several
39:26
years. I'm just not saying that I
39:29
haven't been either. I waffle between wanting to
39:32
express myself with my clothing and just going to Steve Jobs
39:35
route and wearing the same thing every single day.
39:37
So I don't have To think about it, I will say that uniforms can
39:41
provide a sense of identity with the job and Inspire camaraderie
39:45
with your coworkers. I see it both ways.
39:49
Doma has been around for more than two decades.
39:52
That is a lot of time in a community.
39:54
They've seen their first customers grow older and their
39:57
next Generations. Come up, the coffee's they offer
40:00
today have to serve the pallets of their OG customers and meet
40:04
the expectations of the next-gen coffee.
40:06
Drinkers who have never known anything but third, Coffee for
40:10
Ian. The goal of becoming a q greater
40:12
was one that he put on himself. I checked and counted just over
40:16
500 Q graders in the United States compared to the estimated
40:20
600, 11,000 Baristas and coffee professionals /.
40:24
The zippy a data science team, that is a pretty exclusive Club
40:28
to be in Ian. Also, mentioned the Husky coffee
40:32
cup, which I looked up and it's pretty cool.
40:34
Husky is spelled h. U s-- k, EE It is a coffee cup.
40:39
Created out of leftover coffee husks blended with a resin husky
40:44
is a benefit Corp or a B Corp which I'm personally a huge fan
40:47
of and do they have a program to take back any cups that may
40:50
reach the end of their life? Preventing them from hitting the
40:53
landfill, I'll link to the Husky coffee cup in the newsletter.
40:58
Domas Powell collaboration coffee this year was called Deep
41:02
and they donated $2 for every 12 ounce can and another $2 for
41:06
every pound sold. Protect our Winters is a
41:09
political advocacy organization, led by athletes and passionate
41:13
Outdoors persons focused on lobbying for systemic.
41:17
Climate change action, you can learn more at protect our
41:20
Winters dot-org. And finally, I did reach out and
41:24
check in with Doma. Again, this week, I emailed with
41:27
Ian and with lab manager. A black who informed me that
41:30
they are dropping one of those special limited edition.
41:33
Releases next week, it is an anaerobic processed Ecuador,
41:37
pinch each area from Finca Cruz, Loma Farm, just north of Quito
41:40
Ecuador, Chris O'Brien of coffee cycle.
41:43
Roasting and I talked about anaerobic processing on a
41:46
previous coffee smarter episode. It's one of the more recent
41:49
Innovations in coffee processing where the beans are subjected to
41:53
an extreme, no oxygen environment that enables the
41:56
processors to exert firm And Tatian control over the bean,
42:00
allowing them to bring forward flavors and coffee
42:03
characteristics, that just isn't possible with other processes.
42:07
I'll include more info about this coffee, on roast
42:10
westcoast.com, But be sure that you're following at Doma coffee
42:14
on Instagram, so you can see when it officially drops on
42:17
their website or just keep checking Doma coffee.com every
42:21
day. Later, this week, Chris, O'Brien
42:23
of coffee cycle, roasting will be back for his last coffee
42:26
smarter episode for a minute, to talk about Cowboy Coffee and for
42:31
paid subscribers to the newsletter, there is a new Bean
42:33
Journal column up this week, featuring steady-state coffee,
42:36
roasting for those of you who are out there listening, thank
42:39
you. You're the best and a big thank
42:41
you to Cafe litter ignite Coffee Company.
42:44
Most your coffee company steady-state coffee, roasting
42:47
coffee cycle, roasting Camp, Coffee Company, Cape Horn,
42:50
coffee importers first light. Ski zoom bar coffee and tea and
42:54
Maria coffee, please consider joining them in supporting the
42:57
creation of this show by signing up for a paid subscription to
43:01
this shows newsletter on roast westcoast.com this episode of
43:05
the roast West Coast coffee. Podcast is was has been written
43:09
produced and recorded by me. Ryan won't I hope this show is
43:13
found you happy healthy and with at least enough sanity to make
43:17
it through the day. For those of you headed out for
43:20
a cup of coffee somewhere in the world, this Week.
43:22
Please always tip your Baristas and be sure to drink.
43:26
Good coffee. And without further Ado, this is
43:51
Kadabra with their song being King
49:43
I really appreciate what you had to go through the pasture, your
49:46
test. So I know just enough about it
49:48
to know that I don't want to do it.
49:51
Yeah, it's exhausting. I'm just glad it's over with.
49:54
Well, I mean, you do have to recertify every three years.
49:57
So, I like beer, hey everyone, if you like the roast West Coast
50:02
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