Rebecca Cooper has worked in and around the coffee industry for more than 20 years, in varying capacities, including the opportunity to work on the origin side of the industry, meeting producers and cupping harvest lots. She’s passionate about keeping coffee producers, and the work they put into our morning cups, central and visible. She loves to talk about the complexities of coffee production, and celebrate the beautiful intricacies unique to each year’s harvest, to each producer’s farm, and to producing regions, all of which come through on the cupping table. Rebecca believes whole heartedly that the engaged and connected coffee drinker (and home roaster), is the best kind of coffee drinker, so let’s all dig in to where our morning cup originated, and talk about the hands that brought it to us!

Rich’s journey into coffee began like so many others, terrible drip coffee. The caffeine was necessary however the enjoyment of coffee was limited. His view of what coffee could be changed when he experienced an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe that tasted like blueberries. The explosive fruitiness changed his perspective of what coffee could be and from then on, he has been on a journey to see what is possible with coffee. His tastes have continued to evolve, and he transitioned to making home espresso. As he has gone deeper down the rabbit hole that is home espresso, he decided to that to really experiment with different coffees he needed to learn how to home roast. Home roasting has been a journey and a learning experience. Rich purchased a used Aillio Bullet and with no experience or knowledge started roasting his own coffee. Learning about sourcing green coffee, green coffee processing and different roasting styles has been an adventure. The biggest benefit has been enjoying fantastic coffee from all over the world. He hopes to share what he has learned and learn from others at the same time so we can all enjoy incredible coffee.

Lou Nemeth was a cream & sugar coffee drinker until a friend knocked his socks off with some fresh roasted coffee in 2005. Since then, his mission is to introduce others to what coffee really tastes like—fresh & flavorful—with no additives necessary. Lou loves seeing people’s reactions when they taste beautifully grown, craft roasted coffee for the first time. For the first 12 yrs, he used a Diedrich IR-3 drum roaster with some software integrations. For the last 6 years, Mill City’s 10K drum roaster has helped him grow his consistency & quality producing roasted coffee for his customers. Even though Lou has over 10,000 hrs roasting, he’s humbled by the craft and the unique results he and his team experience at the cupping table. He’s always striving to improve the coffee he roasts each week, knowing that there’s so much more to learn.