Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Coffee People: Katy Szapa, Ruby Colorful Coffees
Transcript
- 0:04The coffee. People Podcast is presented by
- 0:06Rostar Coffee Packaging. Rostar is the digital.
- 0:09Printing company that makes custom printed.
- 0:11Packaging for coffee products they create.
- 0:14Packaging that make even small roasters look like a.
- 0:17Really Big deal at rostar.com. You'll find out about their fast
- 0:21turnaround time, high quality product.
- 0:24And low printing minimums. It's what separates.
- 0:26Them from the rest of the industry, Rostar will quickly
- 0:29become your favorite source. For custom American made product
- 0:32packaging, they work with small, mid and large coffee roasters.
- 0:36So if you're ready to upgrade. Your coffee packaging go to
- 0:39Rostar dot. COM To learn more and connect
- 0:41with the team link in this podcast.
- 0:44Show notes. Hey, good morning everyone.
- 1:09Welcome to the Coffee People Podcast, which is part of the
- 1:12Roast West Coast Coffee Network and is presented by Roast Star
- 1:16Coffee Packaging. If you roast great coffee, you
- 1:20want to showcase it in a great looking package.
- 1:22Go to roaststar.com to learn more.
- 1:26I'm Ryan Walt and this is the Coffee Podcast where we meet
- 1:29interesting people from all corners of the coffee industry
- 1:32today. I'm chatting with Katie Zappa.
- 1:34She's a production roaster from Ruby Colorful Coffees in
- 1:37Nelsonville, WI. I was really excited about this
- 1:41chat because I'm a. Bit of a Homer for Ruby Coffees
- 1:44they're from. Near my hometown in Wisconsin,
- 1:46and if you and I were to meet randomly on the street.
- 1:49Somewhere there's a 90 percent chance I'm wearing a.
- 1:52Well worn Ruby camp style ball cap.
- 1:55I was wearing it when I recently stopped for a cup of coffee at
- 1:58their cafe in Stevens Point. While you're listening today,
- 2:02you can head to rubycoffeeroasters.com to see
- 2:05all the coffee they're. Currently offering I warn you it
- 2:08is a lot. And then had to add Ruby
- 2:11roasters on Instagram where you'll see Katie describing
- 2:14those very coffees. As for me, I'm ready to drink
- 2:18one. I'm struggling my.
- 2:19Way through perfecting the Kaleida wave this week.
- 2:22I mentioned that on the last show, so I hope today's a bit
- 2:25better than yesterday's. And wherever you are, I hope you
- 2:29have a full mug of the Liquid Darkness as well, because it is
- 2:32time for this Coffee people conversation with Katie Zappa,
- 2:36production roaster at Ruby Colorful Coffees.
- 2:52Would you mind introducing yourself for everyone listening?
- 2:55Name Job Title who you work. For and perhaps like your
- 2:59favorite guilty pleasure movie or TV show.
- 3:04OK, my name is Katie Zappa. I'm the production roaster at
- 3:09Ruby Coffee Roasters in Nelsonville, WI.
- 3:14My favorite guilty pleasure movie is probably Blade Runner.
- 3:21Blade the original or the new one?
- 3:23Both. I don't know that I've ever seen
- 3:27the original. I've always thought I should
- 3:29watch it. Actually qualifies as a guilty
- 3:31pleasure cuz it's a great movie but.
- 3:34I think anything you watch regularly over and over again
- 3:38counts. Could you describe for us?
- 3:40What a production roaster does. So people listening have that
- 3:43context while we're chatting. Sure.
- 3:46And my primary responsibility is our daytoday roasting.
- 3:52So I mean that's that's the gist of it.
- 3:55I think figuring out what we're roasting for the day, weighing
- 3:59out batches and carrying out the actual roasting duties, cleaning
- 4:05up at the end, and then I also have a role in well.
- 4:10I'm not sure how it works in other roasteries, but here at
- 4:14Ruby we're really like collaborative.
- 4:18So our roasting team is also our QC team and sourcing team.
- 4:23So I also have responsibilities in QC and sourcing as well.
- 4:30People that listen to this show know that I am from Wisconsin.
- 4:33I was actually just at the Ruby Cafe in Stevens Point like a few
- 4:36days ago before driving back. And I'm wearing a Ruby hat right
- 4:40now, so I'm obviously a fan of the brand.
- 4:43I almost replaced it, but this one is so worn out and worn in.
- 4:46It's it's just, it's like it's just perfect spot right now.
- 4:49I think you are also from Wisconsin.
- 4:51I'm wondering a little bit more about your background.
- 4:54You know, what were you doing before you got into coffee and
- 4:57did you have like a first? Do you have a first memory of
- 4:59coffee that kind of stuck out to you?
- 5:03I I was trying to think about this like I wasn't really.
- 5:07That into coffee. It was something that I
- 5:11definitely like, started in college with.
- 5:13I drank coffee every day, but I wasn't like specialty coffee was
- 5:19something that happened, like within the last four years or so
- 5:24that I started realizing that there is this whole other whole
- 5:28world of coffee that is a little more interesting.
- 5:31But my background has been from college and on.
- 5:35It's mostly been in. Farming and sustainability, I
- 5:40do. My partner and I also have a
- 5:42organic we're not certified, but a vegetable farm.
- 5:46Before I started working at Ruby, I was farming for five
- 5:50years on a CSA farm in southern Wisconsin.
- 5:55And then when the pandemic hit that farm went out of business
- 5:58like shortly before then and I came back, came back up north.
- 6:04And ended up just getting a temporary job and we decided to
- 6:08start a farm and I found a parttime job working in
- 6:13production at Ruby. So I was filling bags and
- 6:16shipping out boxes, and I was very different entry into a
- 6:20specialty coffee than I think a lot of people probably have, at
- 6:25least who end up roasting. Well, you've got to start in
- 6:28that coffee world somewhere. I think a lot of people fall
- 6:30into things by accident. Did you grow up on a farm?
- 6:33I mean in Wisconsin. No, I didn't.
- 6:36How did you get into that kind of interest in food and growing
- 6:40food in particular? Well so I studied architecture
- 6:44in college, so I have a degree in Design and architecture.
- 6:48And then while I was working on an ecological design certificate
- 6:53we had some like regenerative farming and permaculture
- 6:57classes. And then I started working for a
- 7:01local like market gardener and I just fell in love with growing
- 7:07vegetables. And since college I've worked in
- 7:11restaurants and mostly like farm to table focused restaurants
- 7:15and. So that's always kind of been
- 7:18important to me. How did you transition from kind
- 7:22of the filling bags and doing the work just that you get when
- 7:27you start at a coffee company into being either interested in
- 7:31roasting or being asked to step in and fill a role?
- 7:34Well, it was very unexpected. I went from working part time in
- 7:42on the production side and then. We had some shifts in our
- 7:46roasting team, so the head roaster was moving on.
- 7:51The production roaster at the time moved into the head Roaster
- 7:55role, and Jared, the owner of Ruby, asked if I would be
- 7:59interested in a roasting job, which I hadn't been considering.
- 8:05It wasn't something that I knew I was even interested in or even
- 8:11had like the skills for. Which in hindsight was totally
- 8:16not right. Because being in like a culinary
- 8:20world and just, yeah, like my partner is a chef, I have so
- 8:24many chef friends, like, and we just surrounded by flavor.
- 8:28And you know, like it was a huge part of my world.
- 8:32So it was surprising to me to step into like tasting coffee
- 8:36and cupping and it being such a easy transition, but probably
- 8:40shouldn't have been so surprising.
- 8:43I always think it's easier for other people to see maybe what
- 8:47we might be good at or what our potential is than ourselves,
- 8:50because we have this vision of ourselves, of who we're supposed
- 8:53to be and they don't. They just kind of see what's
- 8:56happening in front of them. Not everyone, but you know, a
- 8:59good, I think a really good boss sets himself apart by
- 9:02identifying people that would be good in a role.
- 9:05Ruby Coffee Ruby Roasters is based in a relatively small
- 9:09town. I think only a couple 100
- 9:11people. The cafe I mentioned is in
- 9:13Stevens Point, which is a college town, a little bit
- 9:14bigger. How does that impact the the
- 9:18brand? The brand is fairly well known,
- 9:20I have to say, like if I wear this hat to an industry event,
- 9:22everyone asks about it. They say, you know Ruby and Yep,
- 9:26of course I do. They're right by my house back
- 9:28home. How does being in a small
- 9:31community impact the business or impact what you're doing?
- 9:34Do you, do you feel that that you are part of a community?
- 9:37So I think especially from an industry perspective, it's
- 9:44really interesting to be in small town in central Wisconsin.
- 9:49There's like other roasters, but they're not nearby.
- 9:54We're like kind of, it feels like we're on our own here and
- 9:59we don't get. I feel like if you were at a
- 10:02roaster in a bigger city, you would.
- 10:04Have more exposure to other people in the industry or be out
- 10:09and able to like try more coffees from other roasters.
- 10:13And we're really, it feels like we're on our own in a lot of
- 10:19ways, which I think has been a pretty, it's a really good thing
- 10:25in some ways and like we don't have I guess a lot of influence.
- 10:31I was gonna ask, what is the benefit of being, you know, an
- 10:34island, so to speak? Yeah, so we have, like we have
- 10:38our framework and our sourcing and roasting styles that make
- 10:43Ruby coffee what it is. And like both Emily, our lead
- 10:47roaster, and I have never worked at any other roastery.
- 10:51You know, I have really only interacted with one other
- 10:55roaster in the few years that I've been here.
- 11:01And so like we have this, these ideas and values of what Ruby is
- 11:06and we're able to really stick to that.
- 11:08And we have like this framework of roasting style that Jared has
- 11:13set up and passed along the roasters that he's hired.
- 11:18We're just able to really stick to that and work within that
- 11:24well and not try to like bring us certain like.
- 11:29Bring a personal flair or like style to something because this
- 11:32is what we know and I think that is reflective in a way of like
- 11:39being in a small town in central Wisconsin, just it feels really
- 11:44grounded in where we are. I think that's an interesting
- 11:49comment, the grounded part. And and the idea that you don't
- 11:53have a lot of outside influences not, I mean we live in an era
- 11:56where we can look things up, but actually being in a somebody's
- 11:59space is different than seeing it online, right?
- 12:02Yeah. Speaking of which, I think it's
- 12:04like 100 degrees there today. Is that not?
- 12:06Did I not see that seems? Crazy hot for Wisconsin?
- 12:09We ended up getting some storms this morning and that helped
- 12:14cool it off, but it's pretty muggy.
- 12:15Yesterday was 100 and tomorrow is also supposed to be.
- 12:19Summer in Wisconsin. I love it you.
- 12:23Mentioned a little bit about how you guys have this strategy,
- 12:27this, this view of what a Ruby coffee should be, You know
- 12:31that's what you're working towards.
- 12:32I wonder if you can speak to that just a little bit about
- 12:36what the strategy is with the. Roasting team and like what it's
- 12:39like for you since you don't have a lot of outside influence.
- 12:43You really have to kind of be working with each other and
- 12:45supportive of each other. I would imagine that makes it
- 12:47easier in some ways, cuz you get to know each other really well.
- 12:50But maybe more challenging because how do you deviate if
- 12:54you feel like, hey, this is something important?
- 12:56That's a really big question. I'll go back to like kind of how
- 12:59you guys strategize and what the philosophy is around the coffees
- 13:02that you're serving? Yeah.
- 13:05Well, I think that it starts with sourcing coffees from.
- 13:11With a like emphasis on relationships and producers that
- 13:15we've worked with since like a lot of them we've been working
- 13:19with since Jared founded the company.
- 13:23So we're working with coffees that come from similar or
- 13:29similar lots or similar regions. And I think like so Ruby, our
- 13:36motto is colorful coffees. And what we try to do is have
- 13:41really exemplary coffees that showcase the best
- 13:46characteristics from the locations or from the origins
- 13:50and the producers that they're coming from, but that are also
- 13:53really approachable. So each one is like is an
- 13:58individual experience, but also can be enjoyed by people who
- 14:02aren't necessarily like coffee nerds or or just like really
- 14:07into. Strange processes or so every, I
- 14:11mean we really like have a certain like certain cup
- 14:15characteristics that we're looking for and we have a pretty
- 14:20strict roasting system. We have profiles that have been
- 14:24set up and that we work from with each new coffee.
- 14:31That's really, I mean it's really great because we have
- 14:34this framework and. They're all like really good
- 14:38references to work from. They're they work.
- 14:42And we also know that the coffees that we're getting are
- 14:46going to be good with like different variations in the
- 14:49roast. You were saying we collaborate a
- 14:53lot. We work together a lot.
- 14:55Emily and I are both. I mean, at this point, like I've
- 15:00been roasting for a year and a half and she's got a year longer
- 15:05than I do. And I learned pretty much
- 15:08everything I know from her. She learned from the person
- 15:10before her. So like all of these, like, we
- 15:15know how to work with our profiles, like, and how to use
- 15:19them to bring out the best in each coffee.
- 15:22I feel like recently we've kind of hit this wall where we're
- 15:26using all of the information that has been like, taught to
- 15:32us. And we are now like kind of
- 15:35branching out and learning more and like teaching each other,
- 15:40kind of allowing ourselves to be to take a few more risks, to be
- 15:46a little bit not experimental because everything is
- 15:49intentional. And we're making tweaks to the
- 15:53roasts for a reason, but we're feeling more comfortable and
- 15:58like, confident in. Adjusting some of our profiles
- 16:03and achieving better roles. Do you think that, and sorry to
- 16:08interrupt, but do you think that comes with trust in each other?
- 16:12And believing that there's trust from the leadership at Ruby in
- 16:16you. Do you think that's part of
- 16:17that? Absolutely, yeah.
- 16:20I find that Ruby seems to be very prolific to me.
- 16:23I mean, you make it sound like it's just very step by step and
- 16:26very simple, but. I mean, I think you have like a
- 16:28dozen different coffees on your site right now.
- 16:30And when I'm in the shop, there's always stuff from way
- 16:33more sources than I see in a lot of other roasters that focus on
- 16:37one or two or three. And so I know that it's more
- 16:40than just like, you know, a BCD. You mentioned that you are kind
- 16:44of branching out and I'm wondering if there's a direction
- 16:47that you're looking to go or you're saying, here's the coffee
- 16:50we have, let's see what it can tell us.
- 16:55Yeah, I think we're still. Working within the the values
- 17:00and the like, the colorful coffees, the approachable
- 17:05coffees that we that make Ruby Ruby but like really trying to
- 17:12to get the best out of each new coffee.
- 17:14So even if it's something that we have had before, I mean each
- 17:19lot, each year, each crop is a little bit different and so.
- 17:25We're taking a lot of measurements, getting kind of
- 17:28scientific about it with moisture and density and all of
- 17:33those measurements and then using that information to do
- 17:39different trial roasts. And it's more of like not trying
- 17:43to change the direction of the coffees, but really using the
- 17:48information that we have to. Make it the best possible roast,
- 17:53and not necessarily just trying to repeat the exact same roast
- 17:57that we've been doing. Does that make sense?
- 18:01Oh yeah, I. Get it?
- 18:02I'm also thinking of the central Wisconsin that I grew up in and
- 18:08maybe the desire for consistency.
- 18:11I want my coffee to be the same every day for my whole life
- 18:15before I go to work. And so there's some risk in
- 18:18that. You mean you didn't say that,
- 18:19but in a community where? That consistency is people take
- 18:24pride in that and as a farm can you you strive on consistency
- 18:27That's like the best is to have consistent weather, consistent
- 18:30crop, you know, all that stuff. So I'm wondering with your
- 18:33background in Food and Agriculture and you're running,
- 18:37you know, a farm in an organic manner now a small, how do you
- 18:40feel about the sustainability efforts in coffee And in this
- 18:44current moment where we're going through kind of an extreme
- 18:46summer, which seems like it'll be?
- 18:49The first of many that we experience in the next several
- 18:52years. Do you see a future?
- 18:55In which coffee, especially coffee at origin, has to change?
- 18:59Or do you see that impacting your ability to source coffees
- 19:02the way you have been? That's a really good question
- 19:08and I feel like you can like everywhere.
- 19:12There's so much doom and gloom around, like climate change and
- 19:16coffee and. It's like kind of hard not to
- 19:21feel like it's it's just gonna become impossible to get good
- 19:27coffee in the future. Which I mean, I guess I don't
- 19:31see it that way at all. Partly because like a lot of
- 19:38especially like specialty coffee is coming from small, like small
- 19:44holder farms. These farmers, these producers
- 19:49are, they have a lot of ingenuity and they have a lot of
- 19:52like will to adapt to what's happening like at in the
- 19:59location that they're in. And I can see how at a large
- 20:04scale like it's really going to impact a lot of the large scale
- 20:08farms, but at a smaller scale. People have the ability to
- 20:13change what they're doing. They're they have the ability to
- 20:18like look at what's growing the best in their little
- 20:21microclimate and select their own coffee trees and like
- 20:26improve, be constantly improving what they're doing.
- 20:29And I think having like roasters that recognize that and are
- 20:34looking for producers that are doing that, I think there's a
- 20:38lot of opportunity for growth on small farms.
- 20:44And I don't, I don't know a lot about it, but I just I feel like
- 20:51I'm probably a little more optimistic.
- 20:53You know, seeing, even seeing how small vegetable farmers in
- 20:57Wisconsin can adapt to the way the weather affects their their
- 21:02growing conditions versus the larger farms that you know have
- 21:06a lot, a lot challenging, I think that.
- 21:10That opinion carries a little more weight because I know that
- 21:12you are actually growing things and having to probably do some
- 21:16of that on your own. One thing I noticed when I was
- 21:18home recently was. The corn crops.
- 21:21Were significantly shorter than I remember in the past for the
- 21:24summers and but also knowing that.
- 21:28All the farmers. That I know or that are in my
- 21:30family or in my life are very ingenuitive.
- 21:33It's not acceptable to just say, Oh well, this isn't working.
- 21:35I'm just going to stop for the day.
- 21:37That's just not how a farm works, so.
- 21:39I like that you are optimistic about it because frankly, I
- 21:43definitely lean a little doom and gloom when it comes to
- 21:46climate, and I think it's easier to fall into that because it's
- 21:49constantly being reinforced. So I'm feeling good today that
- 21:52you gave me something positive to think about.
- 21:55You didn't necessarily start at Ruby to be a roaster.
- 22:01I don't. I'm guessing because it was the
- 22:03beginning of the pandemic. You weren't thinking like this
- 22:05is my future. And you have the small farm, but
- 22:08do you see coffee playing a role going forward for you for the
- 22:12long haul? And I shouldn't.
- 22:13Maybe that's not a fair question, but do you see
- 22:16yourself continuing down this path with coffee?
- 22:20Yes, absolutely. I have been.
- 22:23I like, fully enjoy, almost like all the aspects of what I'm
- 22:28doing. And I'm really excited for like
- 22:32for the possibilities for the future at Ruby.
- 22:36The farm will continue. Like it definitely flip-flopped
- 22:39from like wanting to farm full time and have a part time job to
- 22:44like wanting to do coffee full time and I will help on the
- 22:47farm. Yeah, I really, I really love
- 22:53it. And I I think that there's a lot
- 22:57of, yeah, there's a lot of room for growth for me, especially as
- 23:02Ruby is growing. Yeah, I'm really excited about.
- 23:07Well, what's something? That has challenged you then
- 23:09over the last couple years as you've been learning.
- 23:11Is there something that you kind of learned that you thought, oh,
- 23:13I would have never thought that about coffee or some sort of
- 23:16lesson that maybe surprised you Well.
- 23:21And you can say no like no. I knew everything from the
- 23:24beginning. I feel like.
- 23:27I feel like I'm. I'm learning new things, like
- 23:30almost. And I mean all the time, it's
- 23:34just like, it's been really challenging for me personally as
- 23:38like a person who I tend to like well, I used to tend to hold on
- 23:43to things like. And with roasting, you know,
- 23:48something happens that that doesn't go the way you want.
- 23:50Like you just kind of have to let it go.
- 23:52I've gotten a lot better at letting go, learning from it and
- 23:55moving on and I guess approaching approaching things
- 24:01with confidence, like, yeah, you.
- 24:06Are somewhat social media famous?
- 24:10You talk about coffee on the Ruby Coffee Roasters Instagram,
- 24:14which has like 25,000 followers. Being part of a small business,
- 24:17was it just like, hey, we've all got to do these things or was
- 24:20that something that you kind of wanted to do to help share
- 24:22information about the coffees you're producing?
- 24:26Both. It was definitely like we were
- 24:29asked to do it and you know, we we agreed to because it is like
- 24:35we all kind of have to play that part and at the same time like.
- 24:43So I went on my first origin trip this spring.
- 24:46I went to Costa Rica and we were there for a week and we toured a
- 24:50bunch of farms and I came back and I was like, I just want to
- 24:54talk to everyone about coffee. I want to like, I want to show
- 25:00everyone like how this happens, like at the ground level and
- 25:03where these coffees come from and all of these like beautiful
- 25:07people and places that are like the real stars of this coffee.
- 25:12And I think that that kind of me just like being so excited about
- 25:17it and enthusiastic about like like coffee education and just
- 25:22like how do we get people to really feel connected to where
- 25:27their coffee is coming from. And that kind of.
- 25:30So I feel like I kind of put that on myself a little bit
- 25:33with, you know, what wasn't the way that I would have wanted to
- 25:37put myself out there. But it's fine.
- 25:39It's I'm trying to embrace it. You've got.
- 25:42Costa Rica. Down Do you have kind of like in
- 25:44your mind? This is where I'd really like to
- 25:46go visit Origin as your next origin trip.
- 25:49I assume that won't be the last. I hope not.
- 25:53I don't everywhere there's. I mean the variety of like the
- 26:02scales of the farms that we visited, the different, like
- 26:05processing setups, there's like such.
- 26:08There was such a great variety in this tiny country that we
- 26:11visited. There's just like so much out
- 26:14there. Like I would love to go to
- 26:16Colombia, I would love to go to Peru, love to go to Kenya, like
- 26:21to Africa, Indonesia. I mean like anywhere.
- 26:25Send me anywhere. If you.
- 26:30Are out driving around. You've had a hard day, a hard
- 26:34morning at the farm on a weekend, and you stop to get a
- 26:37cup of coffee somewhere. What do you order for yourself?
- 26:42That's a good question. I depends where I am, I suppose.
- 26:48Here, like we have. I pretty much only drink Ruby,
- 26:53but I guess if I'm if I have options that would be something
- 26:59different that we don't normally have at Ruby.
- 27:02Like, I'm pretty inclined to order like an anaerobic coffee
- 27:08if there's one available. Or yeah, anaerobic naturals,
- 27:14just to try different things and see some of the processes and
- 27:20things that we don't see very much at Ruby.
- 27:24Is there anything that we didn't cover today that you wanted to
- 27:26share about Ruby Coffee, Ruby's Coffee program, or about
- 27:30yourself? I don't know.
- 27:34I guess we covered a lot. If.
- 27:40Somebody were coming to visit Ruby Coffee and they had a
- 27:43chance to meet you at the Ruby Cafe and say in Stevens Point
- 27:46what? Would you tell them?
- 27:48That they should order from the shop.
- 27:53And I think. Hannah is the manager there.
- 27:55She's gonna judge you. She's gonna listen to this and
- 27:57say. What did Katie?
- 27:59Say well, I know they do a really great job with a lot of
- 28:05their drink specials. They have like a honey latte or
- 28:11lavender. I think they had a lavender
- 28:13latte. They make really nice special
- 28:16drinks that especially on these hot days like definitely try one
- 28:21of those or the Maple lot Iced Maple latte sounds really good.
- 28:27That is a good. One, and then you can take that
- 28:28and walk across the street and step right into the river.
- 28:31Cuz it's so hot out, yeah, Katie.
- 28:34I really appreciate you kind of putting yourself out there,
- 28:37taking some time to chat with me this morning.
- 28:40I'm a Homer for your roaster, so.
- 28:42And the coffee that you're making, it's regularly at my
- 28:45house. So thank you for doing that and
- 28:48also being excited to learn. Yeah.
- 28:51Thank you. Enjoyed talking with you.
- 29:04Okay. Some key takeaways.
- 29:06Generally speaking, a production roaster is the person or one of
- 29:10the persons who are performing the routine daily roasting
- 29:13operations. They're producing the coffees
- 29:16that end up in the bag at the direction of a head roaster or
- 29:19management team. Often, especially in a small
- 29:22roastery, there's a lot of overlapping job duties.
- 29:26A production roaster will often be involved in cupping and
- 29:28quality control. Or creating a roasting schedule.
- 29:32In Katie's case, she's also collaborating with her fellow
- 29:34roasters to share coffee education and tasting notes on
- 29:38the Ruby social media accounts. Katie mentioned that prior to
- 29:42Ruby, she worked at a CSA farm. CSA stands for Community
- 29:46Supported Agriculture. It's kind of like a direct
- 29:49purchase network between me and you and the farmer.
- 29:53I buy a CSA produce box from Yasu Kochi Farms here in San
- 29:56Diego County. They put together a box of
- 29:59produce that they grow and supplement from other.
- 30:01Nearby local farms. And then they deliver it to my
- 30:04house or let me pick it up at the nearby farmers market.
- 30:08It is always way more food than we can possibly eat for less
- 30:12money than we'd spend at the grocery and the neighbors all of
- 30:15delivery days, because we often share what we know we won't get
- 30:19through. Katie started at Ruby as a
- 30:21general production worker. Think filling bags with beans
- 30:25and packaging product for shipping.
- 30:27She has since moved up into a production roaster roll.
- 30:31The Ruby Roasting location is in Nelsonville, Wisconsin.
- 30:34It's a fairly small farming community.
- 30:36The location forces the roasting team into a little bit of a
- 30:39bubble, but it also allows them to shut out some of the industry
- 30:43noise and focus on doing what they do with the coffee, which
- 30:47includes working within the systems they've created.
- 30:51Which enables them to reach a form of consistency despite
- 30:54working with a continually changing agricultural product,
- 30:58the roasting knowledge. Is.
- 31:00Passed down internally from roaster to roaster, then from
- 31:03within that system comes freedom to find creativity in the
- 31:07coffee. As for Katie, she's optimistic
- 31:10about the future, despite the doom and gloom surrounding our
- 31:14current warming climate. In her version of the future,
- 31:17being small and nimble is an advantage at the farm level.
- 31:21Which I found to be a fairly refreshing take because it is
- 31:24hard not to get caught up in all of that fear and all of that bad
- 31:27news about climate change. I really appreciate that.
- 31:30Katy made me feel a little bit more optimistic today, and I
- 31:34thank her for taking some time to step outside of her comfort
- 31:37zone to appear on this show, and to Ruby for representing
- 31:40Wisconsin in the coffee industry.
- 31:43You can find all of the important links to Ruby colorful
- 31:46coffees in this podcast, show notes or in the newsletter found
- 31:50at roastwestcoast.com. While you're there, sign up so I
- 31:54can send this show to you every time it drops and then you won't
- 31:57miss any interviews or coffee. Smarter education pods?
- 32:00Thank you to everyone who does. This show continues to be free
- 32:04and exist because listeners and readers sign up for the free and
- 32:09paid versions of the newsletter. And the support of our sponsors.
- 32:13Great sponsors like Rostar Coffee Packaging, our presenting
- 32:17sponsor Prince Coffee Packaging and they focus on building
- 32:20relationships with coffee brands.
- 32:23You can learn more at rostar.com.
- 32:26Our other coffee industry partners all deserve a virtual
- 32:29high five. They include Ignite Coffee
- 32:31Company, Maria Coffee, Cape Horn Coffee, Importers, Zumbar Coffee
- 32:35and Tea, Ascend Coffee Roasters, Moister Coffee Company.
- 32:39Steady State Coffee Roasting San Franciscan roaster Company
- 32:43Crossings Coffee, Acento Coffee Roasters, Camp Coffee Company
- 32:47Civets, Roasting Machines, First Light Coffee Whiskey a, say, a
- 32:51coffee Source and Coffee Cycle Roasting.
- 32:54Chris O'Brien, the owner and head roaster of coffee Cycle
- 32:57roasting, is my collaborator and coffee expert on the Coffee
- 33:01Smarter Podcast. If you're trying to brew a
- 33:04better cup of coffee at home, you should be listening to that
- 33:07show. Find it.
- 33:09Wherever you're listening to this one, the Coffee People
- 33:12Podcast, which is part of the Roast West Coast Coffee Network,
- 33:17this episode is was has been written, produced and recorded
- 33:21by me and Ryan Walt. I hope that this episode of
- 33:23Coffee People found you with a full cup of coffee, and I thank
- 33:27you for tipping your baristas and for always being sure to
- 33:31drink good coffee.