Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Stephanie Welter-Krause, Founder of Swelter Coffee

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Stephanie Welter-Krause, Founder of Swelter Coffee · Coffee People Podcast

0:00
And I, I appreciate you're here. So without too much further ado,
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I'll kind of read my little intro here and say hello.
0:08
And that'll be the first part of our show.
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Hey there everyone, welcome to the Coffee People podcast.
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I'm your host Ryan Wolf. The show is presented by Rostar
0:33
Coffee Packaging found online at rostar.com.
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The Coffee People podcast is part of the Roast West Coast
0:40
network. Go to roastwestcoast.com to find
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recaps of this show, our Coffee Smarter podcast, so much more.
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If you haven't poured yourself a cup of coffee, now is the time
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to get started. Our guest today is Stephanie
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Walter Krause, I hope I said that correctly.
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The founder of Swelter Coffee, which you can find
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online@sweltercoffee.com. Stephanie, welcome to the Coffee
1:04
People podcast. Hello, thank you.
1:07
It has been a couple of minutes since I've done one of these
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recordings. I'm always a little nervous for
1:13
the first episode of a new season, so I appreciate you
1:17
being here today. I'm hoping we can get started by
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Let Us Know where Swelter Coffee is, what it is, and you know
1:25
what it is that your role there is.
1:28
Sure, sure. So Swelter Coffee Roasters is
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currently based in the Chicago area as of last August.
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I moved out here from the Bay Area in California.
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That's where I started Swelter Coffee.
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I am the owner and sole runner. So far it's still just me doing
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all the things and I really started it the business out of a
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passion for coffee and a mission to make the world better.
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So my the value and the driver behind Swelter Coffee is to
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support women coffee producers and to promote sustainability
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throughout the coffee industry and our consumerism as a whole.
2:13
Right away, I'm going to jump ahead and you know, kind of the
2:15
notes that I sent you, but there's a, a mission statement
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on your website, Coffee by Women for Everyone.
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And I'm wondering what does that mean?
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What does being a woman in coffee mean to you?
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Why is that such an important component that you put it right
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there on the front of the first thing people see you when they
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go to find you? Sure.
2:36
Yeah. So it really was more about my
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sourcing practices than me. And in itself the, the
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inspiration between the inspiration for Swelter Coffee
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was really this intersectionality of gender
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equity and sustainability. I just happened to be really
3:01
into coffee at the time and was sort of toying with the idea of
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doing a little bit more serious. I was doing, I was roasting for,
3:11
for as a hobby for friends and family and, and colleagues for
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many years before that really it started when my previous career
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in design really focused on environmental sustainability.
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And so I learned a lot about supply chains with different
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industries because I'd work with a lot of different or
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businesses, big Fortune 500 organizations or small
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nonprofits, etcetera. I'd learned a lot about supply
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chains and sort of the breadth of how sustainability touches
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our lives and everything we do. So anyway, there was really just
3:53
this connection between the women producing all of our
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world's food and the lack of equity and support that they get
4:01
and receive and how supporting women as in regards to gaining
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equal training, equal education, equal funding sources,
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resources. We could produce a lot more food
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in our world without having to degrade any more land.
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And that was through a different the work by a really amazing
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organization called Project Drawdown.
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Me being passionate about the coffee industry, that was sort
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of my gateway into kind of creating something that could
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have a positive impact and unite 2 of my passions, which is
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gender equity and sustainability and sort of that kind of came
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with my point of view and coffee.
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Well, that kind of brings me back a little bit to how did
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this passion for coffee get started in the 1st place?
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I mean, do you have an experience that kind of set you
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down this path or a memory of coffee in your life that made
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you start thinking about it as more than just a function of
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waking up in the morning? Yeah, You know, coffee, as long
5:08
as I can remember, has had played some role in my life when
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I was really a lot younger. You know, my family drink coffee
5:15
in the mornings. I remember getting up and my mom
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would be making coffee so we'd have the smell of, you know,
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kind of a Folgers like experience every morning.
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And that was always a bit nostalgic.
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And I think I became a coffee consumer probably in my teens.
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I grew up in the Northwest, so in the in the 1990s.
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So the coffee house scene was sort of the thing, you know,
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teens would do and, you know, you just go to the coffee
5:43
houses. That was sort of kind of that
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culture that came out of the 90s.
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And so for me, it was just always something I loved.
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I loved going to coffee shops and hanging out at coffee shops
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and, you know, consuming coffee. And so that was just sort of a,
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never really thought beyond that part of it until I became an
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adult. I kind of, I categorized myself
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and my habits somewhat along the lines of a maker mindset.
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I like to figure out how to do things and do them myself.
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And so I discovered you can roast coffee at home, which just
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blew my mind, 'cause I, I make my bread, I make my cheese, I
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make all the other things, you know, And I'm like, well, why am
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I not roasting my own coffee? How was this possible?
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So that's sort of piqued my interest.
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So I went down that rabbit hole and when I started roasting my
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own coffee in my oven in my apartment in Oakland, CA, I was
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trying to achieve the the dark full body coffee that I was kind
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of used to that I kind of would always drink.
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And it was through the process of buying beans from different
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origins, just trying to explore and have fun and roasting in my
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oven that I just naturally got lighter and lighter in my roast
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levels as I could taste different things.
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And, and kind of really birthed my appreciation for more of the
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lighter and medium roasts that we we find nowadays in this
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third wave coffee industry and 4th wave coffee industry.
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So it was really a natural organic process and I just fell
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in love with it. So of course, I did it for what,
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8 years before I started the business.
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Something like that. Yeah.
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It's just something I really love doing.
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I just want to point out, you just said that you make your own
7:37
cheese. I'm from Wisconsin and I don't
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make my own cheese and I like making things.
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That's incredible. I wouldn't even know where to
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begin with that. You mentioned that you did this
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for eight years before kind of starting a business.
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That means you had something else going on.
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You earlier you said visual design.
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You brought that up. Did that make it harder or
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easier to come up with a name and a branding having kind of
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that background and design harder?
8:01
Oh my. Goodness.
8:03
It is. So hard to be your own client.
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Of course I do all the my own branding and and illustration
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and web design and everything. It's been really challenging.
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It is really hard to be your own clients and I think for me, like
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when I work with with clients myself, I still do design work.
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I kind of get after hearing about their story and what they
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want to do with whatever project it is, I start getting visual
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ideas and references, etcetera. But for my own brand, I really
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didn't have a clear vision going into it for the branding, but I
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had a clear mission for the company and how I wanted to
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start building the company. So that for me came was just,
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you know, I have this gut check and that's I run with it, but
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the visuals were really challenging.
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So when I when I launched, I kind of just kept it simple.
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I did just simple typography. I tried to use lots of color
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because I just really like color and I played around with a
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couple different things. I just tried to keep it simple
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and then last year is when I went down the rabbit hole of
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actually trying to design it with a little bit more intense
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and I landed on the illustration, which is now on
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the front of the bag, really trying to elevate the mission of
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supporting women. So I wanted that to become more
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apparent in when people see the brand other than the tagline.
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The tagline also came accidentally, Coffee by women
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for everyone. It actually came about, I think
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when I was doing a pop up and people would make funny
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comments. Oh, but I'm a man.
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Can I drink it too, you know? And I was like, well, yes, it's
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yeah, women make the coffee and produce the coffee.
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Doesn't mean you have to be women to consume the coffee.
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So that's kind of where that came from.
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It was just really in a concise way to to frame it.
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I can hear just about every man in my family saying that exact
10:03
thing at a farmers markets. I'm sorry for that.
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Oh, no, that's OK. I know.
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It's just, you know, people are kind of being silly.
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And I mean, especially when you come up on something that maybe
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was a little unexpected or you aren't sure about or you don't
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know about, you just kind of make remarks.
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So not a big deal. Well, it's a confident
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statement. I just want to say that like
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it's something that when I read it, I said, oh, this is an
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identity that they that they understand that they are not
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shying away from. And I think that makes people
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pause because there's so few things that we feel super
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confident about in our life, and we don't always see that in our
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branding. Well, thank you.
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I really appreciate that. That is kind of why it really
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rose to the forefront and the previous branding and the and
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the current branding which it's now in a script previously, I
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actually have it here. I don't know if you've seen it,
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but it was just like big text, you know?
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And the script is actually done by a really good friend of mine
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who does a lot of really beautiful lettering.
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So yeah, that phrase just really, it really, it says it
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all. It's this is coffee by women.
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But it's for everyone to consume and to appreciate and to love
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and enjoy. And it's supposed to represent,
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you know, everyone having access to high quality, ethically
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driven, delicious coffee. It's not just for the elite.
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It's not just for people with fancy coffee makers.
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It's for everyone and anyone who wants to dive in and explore and
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taste it So. I think that's commendable and
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the fact that you believe in the taste and the flavor and you're
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willing to put it out in the world is is kind of the next
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step of that. You mentioned earlier you moved
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from the Bay Area to the Chicagoland area.
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This is your first winter out there.
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How has it been so far? It's about 15° outside right
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now. Oh, so balmy. 2 yeah, you know
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it's still sort of novel and and fun we've got a bunch of snow.
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I have a 7 year old, so of course it's really awesome to
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see the kid just loving the snow and playing in the snow.
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It's the snow's fun when you're a kid.
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When you're older and have to deal with shoveling and being
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cold and driving and all that, it's kind of a pain in the butt.
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But yeah, it's kind of fun. It's still fun and novel.
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All new, sort of funded. Be in a new place and explore a
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new new environment. Well, I was thinking about being
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in the Midwest in particular while I was reading about your
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Zero Waste Coffee club, which I'm going to have you explain in
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just a second. And the reason I was thinking
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about the Midwest in a initiative like that is because
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things are harder when half of the year, it's more challenging
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to go outside. It's harder to motivate people
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to do things that require more effort.
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You know, I was here in California during the pandemic
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era, the especially the beginning, and it I had to
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remind myself that it was easier for me than for my family back
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home because I could be outside pretty much all year.
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Yeah. I mean, it's chilly today at
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like 56° and I'm struggling with it.
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But you know, the the idea that I couldn't go like the world was
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bigger for me than it was necessarily for my brothers or
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my mom. And.
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So when I think about efforts like the Zero Waste Coffee Club,
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I know that in Chicago might be more challenging than in a
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different place just because there's more effort that goes
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into it. Could you tell us what that is
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and why the impact of food waste is something you're considering
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with your company and with coffee?
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Yeah. So the Zero Waste Coffee Club is
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a basically a coffee service that delivers freshly roasted
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coffee to your door and a reusable packaging system.
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It tackles the food waste in the regard of diverting organic
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material or material that's that could be broken down from
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landfill and cutting down on the use of plastic altogether.
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It's really rooted in my sustainability side of myself
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and wanting to offer customers a really a truly different and
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sustainable option for getting high quality coffee.
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When I was going down the the research rabbit hole of how to
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package my coffee and something that fit my ethics and
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standards, nothing out there really fit the bill.
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So that's how I started testing out this idea.
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You know, personally, I, I try to do, I buy stuff in bulk and I
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refill containers, I go to the, you know, those types of shops.
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And so it's sort of like something I'm familiar with.
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And as far as a sustainability side of things and trying to
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reel in our consumerism, the circular economy is really key
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to to, I am by no means an expert, I'm just an enthusiast,
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but it's really it's going to be key to changing our systems in
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the future to a reuse setup versus a single use setup.
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And so I saw no one else was doing this, no one else was
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offering. The closest thing you would get
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is going to a grocery store and buying coffee in bulk, which is
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a great option if you have it. However, for high quality
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coffees that you know, we're paying farmers a premium price
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to purchase and so I have to be able to then make a business out
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of it. You know, you don't want to be
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buying coffee that sit in your bulk aisle for six months and
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not be so flavorful and wonderful anymore.
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And I think high quality coffees are not necessarily associated
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with the bulk section. So that's where it's like, it's
16:14
a great option. And I fully, you know, support
16:17
people who buy their coffee in bulk from those options.
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But not everyone has that, like you said, getting out in some
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parts of the world or even the US in particular with weather
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and access, you might not have access to those things.
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So that's where creating an e-commerce option was really key
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in developing the Zero Waste Coffee Club.
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So you I basically packaged the coffee and custom made silicone
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bags and I mailed them out to customers every four weeks.
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And then when they get their coffee and refill their own
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container where however they want to store it, they then mail
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that back to me and then I clean, sanitize and then reuse
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the same set of things. So there's no packaging waste
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that happens in the whole system.
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When you were looking into that, that the possibility of this,
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did you run into a lot of roadblocks?
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I would imagine that like just trying to find, you know, just
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answering the question, is this even allowed?
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You know, like those types of things would stop me.
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I'd be like, I don't, I don't know what to do here.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I suppose the buck's still
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out there. No one's right about it yet.
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I follow all the food, food safety standards that are
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required. But yeah, I'm still really, I
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still feel this system. I'm in a kind of a two point O
17:45
testing stage of I'm not sort of full on launching everything,
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but I still have a lot of kinks to work out regarding the
17:53
systems. But yeah, because I'm basically
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creating something that doesn't exist.
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So I'm figuring out what materials are most efficient,
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light, durable, washable. Sanitation is essential that are
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easy to use from a consumer standpoint, easy for me to fill
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and refill, stay closed during shipping, food grade, of course,
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without saying so, there's a lot of things that were required.
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And so when I first started, I, I picked out a couple of my
18:26
subscribers who were friends to help test out and I just used
18:30
off the shelf options that I could find.
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And then I grew that a little bit.
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And then last year I did a crowdfunding to be able to
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invest in custom made bags that that checked a few more boxes
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that I needed. And a couple of those were
18:46
staying closed while I shipped them across the country.
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The, the statue of pipe bags were not, do not stay closed all
18:53
the time, no matter how many clips you put on them, that kind
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of thing. And so, yeah, double things.
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There's, there's lots of hurdles to jump through and to figure
19:03
out, but that's still rooted in the way I want to build this
19:07
company. I want it to be pushing the
19:10
boundaries and actually offering different options and better
19:14
solutions. That might require creating a
19:18
new system, but I kind of feel like if the system is creatable,
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there's other products that could use this system.
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And so I feel like there's potential there from a
19:30
sustainability aspect to branch into other products potentially,
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not just coffee. How do you stay motivated to
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pursue this challenge, which is a challenge, and I say that
19:44
seriously because I struggle with this.
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Sustainability is important to me.
19:48
It's something that my wife would say I go a little insane
19:52
about when it comes to what we buy or don't buy.
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But even I've like really struggled in the last year in
19:58
particular because I can't even convince, you know, the
20:00
neighbors in my apartment complex to recycle, you know,
20:03
it's still or like to use the right bin.
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So you're already sourcing sustainably, roasting coffee,
20:10
doing your own branding. This is another effort.
20:14
How do you stay motivated to do it?
20:16
That is a very good question. I'm incredibly stubborn.
20:20
My husband will tell you that. I don't know.
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I just that actually this type of stuff is actually what keeps
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me going. I'm not in this to make to make
20:31
money to do the status quo. I'm actually I'm in this.
20:34
I chose to quit my secure day job in a career I had for 15
20:39
years to do something different because I wanted, I wanted to be
20:47
able to do something that makes the world better.
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And this is the type of stuff that I want to see happen.
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If someone else had already figured it out, great, I would
20:54
subscribe to American and do that.
20:56
But no one had figured that out yet.
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So that's why I don't know. I find it interesting.
21:02
I there's always a level of learning, tons of research that
21:07
has to happen. It's grueling and gets tiring
21:10
and really frustrating, but I don't know, I'm passionate about
21:13
it. I guess I just have this weird
21:16
passion and stubbornness to to keep going and to keep trying
21:21
until something really shows me that this is, you know, until I
21:25
really hit that wall and it's like, no, this is not possible
21:28
because of XY and Z. And then I'll know.
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OK, at least I tried. I, I know I tried.
21:34
Now I need to move on to the next thing.
21:36
Sure. Do you think having a child
21:39
keeps you motivated in that way? I think about that a lot because
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I don't have kids of my own. And so when I'm thinking about
21:46
the future, it's fairly selfish in that regard.
21:49
Obviously I have God kids that I think about and I have friends
21:53
kids and that sort of thing. And I, I wonder about that.
21:56
How would that change my perspective of what I do today?
21:59
And, you know, probably pushed me over the edge into crazy,
22:03
but. Well, yeah, thank you for for
22:06
pointing that out. For me personally, it it has
22:09
been a driver. I didn't decide to get enough
22:15
courage to start my own business until after I had a kid, which
22:19
is probably not the smartest way to do it.
22:20
You should do it before you have a kid and have it be successful
22:23
so you can be financially stable.
22:25
But I didn't have the motivation and, and it did that something
22:30
in me changed. I know it doesn't happen for
22:33
everyone, and that's fine. But for me, the both the, the
22:41
passions for sustainability and for gender equity really came to
22:46
the forefront when I had a kid, you know, and kind of just
22:51
evaluating the future. I mean, I was already, I was
22:55
probably more diligent on the sustainability side of things
22:57
when I was young and single and could do all the sacrifices I
23:01
wanted to. When you have a kid, you kind of
23:03
have to succumb to conveniences. So yes, I sometimes buy those,
23:08
you know, snack packs that I just hate so much and a little
23:11
part of me dies. But, you know, but when you have
23:13
a kid taking a lunch to school, you kind of have to just you
23:17
have to use the tools that you have.
23:18
And I think that's OK. I think in a way it also has has
23:23
allowed me to give myself a little bit more grace and some
23:26
of the things that I think when I was younger I was a lot more
23:30
stubborn about. But yeah, I think having a kid
23:35
does make you think about the future and your impact and what
23:40
role or role model do you want to be for your kid.
23:44
And so it kind of maybe gives you a little bit more motivation
23:47
to really become that role metal that you would have wanted to be
23:51
for your kid. And then when you have one, it's
23:53
OK now or never. You know, this kids going to
23:56
grow up and my time's going to be out.
23:57
So it's now or never. I put a note in our pre show
24:02
chat about the value of hope at this time and sustainability and
24:06
kind of the future climate. All things that impact coffee
24:10
are things that seem unstable in the moment and we're
24:16
questioning. And so for me, finding people
24:19
that are still motivated and inspired helps keep me going.
24:22
And so I thank you for that. You have a decade of roast, more
24:28
than a decade of roasting experience.
24:29
You've been running Swelter for four or five years, I believe.
24:33
I am wondering if somebody came to you and asked you for some
24:38
advice, said, you know, I want to kind of do what you do.
24:40
I want to start roasting or I want to start a company someday.
24:44
What would you say to them? If someone wanted to start
24:49
roasting it, they'd do it. And like, I just think it's so
24:52
fun. It's such a low bar to just
24:55
start getting some sort of vessel to roast coffee in your
25:00
house and do that discovery. That's like just such a fun
25:03
sensory experience and just a fun learning about the craft and
25:09
the coffee itself and all of that.
25:11
So just go for it in any way that you can.
25:14
You can, you can do it really cheaply or you can get a really
25:17
fancy little home roaster nowadays and there's tons of
25:20
video tutorials and all the lots more education online to learn
25:24
about what's happening to the coffee as you roast.
25:27
So that just go for it. If you have an interest there
25:31
starting a business, I'd probably not tell people to do
25:35
what I did. However, I don't know.
25:41
I think everyone's going to have their own journey.
25:43
You have to stick to your own motivations and your own
25:48
inspirations. And so if you are able, I would
25:51
say do planning. Plan as much as you can do
25:56
research as much as you can, save up as much as you can until
26:01
you just kind of have to dive in because you could do that
26:03
forever and just have one excuse after the other before you start
26:09
doing what you want to do. At a certain point, you just
26:12
kind of have to dive in. And that's sort of what happened
26:15
to me is like I did a little bit of planning.
26:17
I should have done a lot more. I did a little bit of saving.
26:19
I should have done a lot more. But at a certain point I was at
26:23
a point in my life where I was like, it's either now or never.
26:26
I just have to go for this. I have to try it out.
26:28
I have to prove it to myself. Either I can or cannot do this.
26:32
And if I can't, if I end up, you know, not succeeding in making
26:35
it a sustainable business where I can actually start paying
26:39
myself, I have stuff to fall back on, you know, and it would
26:43
really be heartbreaking, but at least I know I tried as hard as
26:48
I could and learned a lot of stuff, but I could revert to
26:52
other stuff, other business, you know, my previous career or some
26:55
other endeavors I've I've started.
26:59
And that's kind of what I tell myself is like, you know, it's
27:01
isn't. You don't have to keep at this
27:03
forever, still having, you know, Plan B, plan C, plan.
27:08
DI think what I'm hearing from you is that I should buy a van
27:12
because it's now or never and the show should hit the road.
27:17
Yes. I will caution you though, on
27:19
the other side of that, the longer you go without having a
27:23
traditional job, the harder it is to go back to a traditional.
27:25
Job, Yes, yes, I will definitely.
27:29
And I will definitely agree with that.
27:32
I don't know if I could just get hired by someone again and work
27:36
for someone else. I'd like to think that if it's
27:40
the right kind of organization, especially if it's if it's like
27:43
an organization I can feel really passionate about, I can
27:46
do it. But I'll probably try a couple
27:49
other things before. Well then that leads us to what
27:54
comes next. What's the future of Swalter
27:56
Coffee as you're moving forward into what?
27:59
What year is it 2025? Yeah, yeah, that's a such a big
28:03
question. I've been doing a lot of
28:06
reflecting and thinking about this.
28:08
I've kind of been going just flying on the seat of my pants
28:14
thus far. I have some vague ideas of where
28:16
I want to move the company, but I think what I really need to do
28:19
is solidify that vision as to where it needs to go for, for
28:23
Swelter coffee to have the impact in the world that I
28:27
really want it to, it has to grow.
28:30
I have to have more buying power to support farmers.
28:33
I have to have more, a bigger team to have the effective
28:37
communication to customers for education.
28:40
So the company needs to grow. And so that's really the focus
28:43
on that. That growth road map is what I
28:45
need to need to do, whether it's what sort of wholesale or
28:51
business model I need to figure out that makes the most sense
28:55
and find those partnerships and people to to make help me make
28:59
it happen. That idea of growth and hope and
29:04
all these things that we've been talking about, one of the new
29:06
things that we're doing on this show for this season, season 13,
29:10
is talking to people about things that they care about and
29:13
things that they want to support.
29:14
And I kind of last second sent you a message just asking, are
29:18
there any sort of charity or nonprofit efforts that are
29:20
important to you or that we can share with people as they're
29:23
kind of going into the year and thinking about how can I be, you
29:27
know, a source of, of support for other people?
29:30
Yeah, Yeah. The two that came to mind,
29:33
they're two organizations that I know their work pretty well and
29:36
they have a really positive impact in in coffee, in the
29:41
coffee space are the folks they're based in predominantly
29:48
in Vermont that they work in Central America.
29:51
So it's Food for farmers.org. They do a lot of amazing work in
29:57
programs trying to help farmers diversify their income and get
30:03
food on the table, stuff like that.
30:06
They have a lot of really great programs because for a lot of
30:10
the year for farmers, they get paid once a year, once harvested
30:14
out. And so they often go through
30:16
part of the year, you know, with a lot of scarcity.
30:20
And so they work with a lot of people and just helping them
30:23
find ways to diversify their income and their food sources.
30:27
And so they do really great work.
30:29
The other, the other organization I'm really
30:31
passionate about is being voyage.org.
30:35
They work specifically with women producers in Central
30:38
America and I think they're just branching into Colombia.
30:42
So their focus is on skill building, resources, market
30:48
access, etcetera. They have a handful of different
30:51
really amazing programs and they've been growing like crazy.
30:53
So they're doing really impactful work to help
30:56
specifically women producers across Central and now starting
31:00
to move into South America. So both of those organizations
31:02
are doing really great work as far as on the supply chain side
31:05
and they're pretty small. So the impacts, any sort of
31:08
supported donations people have will have a big impact on on
31:11
them. When you are out exploring the
31:15
world and you stop at a coffee shop or a coffee roaster, what
31:19
do you order? So I have a couple different
31:23
criteria. First of all, if it's what time
31:27
of day is it? If it's in the morning I opt for
31:30
more of like a black pour over type of thing.
31:33
If it's in the afternoon, I go for the fun milk drinks, my go
31:37
to milk drink. If it feels like the the cafe
31:41
has a lot of skills and quality, I'll go for a cappuccino.
31:45
That's sort of like, if they can make a good cappuccino, they're
31:48
going to pass my test. I'm a die hard cappuccino
31:52
drinker, especially in the afternoon, like after lunch.
31:56
But if, if it's like especially if it's a roaster, if it's a
32:00
cafe and they don't necessarily roast their own coffee, I kind
32:03
of might just pick whatever. But if it's a roaster, I like to
32:06
try with some of their single origins and just usually try
32:10
something I'm not familiar with. I drink my own coffee all the
32:13
time. And so when I'm out and about, I
32:15
like to drink other people's coffee.
32:16
And especially if it's someone I hadn't heard of.
32:20
Or if it, if I can see if it's a woman producer, I will
32:23
definitely go for that. But usually you can't see that
32:27
or like an origin that I'm not familiar with.
32:30
I'll try like a single origin pour over very.
32:34
Boring, not at all. This is what people are
32:36
listening for this. They're excited to hear this, I
32:39
hope. The last question I have for you
32:42
then is as we are, as we're stepping away and we're sending
32:46
people to sweltercoffee.com or they're engaging with Swelter
32:49
coffee in some way. What would you say they should
32:53
think about trying from you? What would be, you know, hey,
32:55
this is the thing that I'm really excited about and I want
32:58
you to taste or try from our from our roaster.
33:03
I'm about to release, I just released my my single origin
33:10
from India called Varshinis India.
33:14
That one's really delicious one. This is the second year I've had
33:17
it and last year it came and went rather quickly.
33:20
It was pretty popular and I only bought a small amount.
33:23
So try that if if you haven't really explored Indian coffee
33:27
yet. That's a really fun one.
33:28
And then I'm about to release a new Ethiopia and it's a new
33:33
origin working with importer based in Michigan, Artisan
33:38
Coffee Imports that I love the work they do.
33:41
I've been buying through them for my Rwandan source.
33:44
And so this is the first one from Ethiopia and I'm, I love
33:48
Ethiopian coffees. So I'm really excited to release
33:51
this. It's not on the website yet.
33:53
So maybe in a few more weeks I'll have the profiling done and
33:55
all the brand packaging done and have it released.
33:58
But that one's going to be pretty special.
34:01
But I just say Explorer. I try to offer a spectrum of
34:06
coffees on the medium spectrum. They're almost all single origin
34:11
except for one blend that I do for folks who like a little bit
34:14
of a darker, fuller body. It's the Frieda's blend.
34:18
So I just say poke around, see, think about what you like in
34:22
your cup and and try something that might might fit that or get
34:26
the the tasters coffee lovers gift pack and there's a little
34:29
box with three different samples.
34:31
You can get three different coffees to try.
34:33
So. I wish more roasters did that.
34:36
Really. I do because I'm somebody who
34:39
drinks a lot of coffee and explores a lot and connects with
34:43
a lot of different roasters. And if I'm going to buy a full
34:47
bag from every place, that adds up pretty quickly.
34:51
And then I'm not making a living anymore and I can't keep doing
34:54
this. So if more people offered like a
34:56
2 pack or a three pack or a four pack and I could, you know,
34:59
spend say under 50 bucks and try the gamut, that would be
35:03
amazing. So thank you for doing that.
35:06
Stephanie, thank you for spending this time with us and
35:08
sharing a little bit about your story.
35:10
We certainly appreciate it. Yeah.
35:12
Thank you for inviting me. This was really great.
35:14
You had really great question. Oh, thank you.
35:18
You can find all the links that we chatted about in today's
35:20
episode, including the one to sweltercoffee.com and the
35:24
charities that we just mentioned in our show notes in our
35:27
newsletter. Our newsletter is coffee
35:29
peoplepodcast.com. This show, the Coffee People
35:32
podcast, is part of the Roast West Coast Coffee Network and
35:35
can be found on all of your favorite podcast platforms.
35:38
Apple, Spotify, just search for Coffee People.
35:40
Shout out to our presenting sponsor, Rostar, the coffee
35:43
packaging company that helps small businesses tell their big
35:46
story. They really have enabled us to
35:48
keep doing this. And that's it.
35:50
Thank you for listening to a share of the stories of coffee
35:52
people, in particular Stephanie Walter Kraus.
35:55
Please tip your baristas and be sure to drink good coffee.