We believe in the concept "sharing is caring". This is our video journal - a way for us to share what we do with the hope that it can be useful to others.
23.09.2016 Size matters and companies need to grow.
Ideas surrounding the fact that I still hear people that don't think it is possible to "roast tasty coffee on bigger roast machine" or that it always "is better to work with smaller roasteries, over big once". I hear the new kids on the block running around to customers saying, don't buy from this or that roastery because they are too big. If you're one of those. Consider these two things. (1) If you never actually had the opportunity to production roast on bigger machines (a 40+ kg size machine, which really isn't a big machine to start with, 500 kg that is a big machine) you actually don't know anything about it. (2) The reason why it is sometimes difficult to have tasty coffee from a bigger company is not about the size of the company, it is what the owner structure decided to do with the company at a certain size. For me, Counter Culture in the US and Solberg & Hansen in Norway in are two of the coolest and most interesting companies to follow. Counter Culture even has a "Sustainability Manager", how many of all of the tiny roasteries around Europe are even close to be as much "specialty coffee" as counter culter is? Probably Tim, no one else. My only point is that with size comes opportunities to be truly sustainable as a company and to help the industry. Size is necessary, important and there is no reason why a larger scale roastery can produce some of the best coffee in the world.
01.09.2016 I visited the MAD Symposium, this is what I took with me.
I visited the MAD Symposium, this is what I took with me. The MAD Symposium is gathering of chefs and other representatives from the restaurant world. The project is founded by Chef Rene Redzepi that has world renowned restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. The theme of the Event was "Tomorrow's Kitchen" and over two days there was presentations, discussions, and workshops that all aimed to prepare the restaurant world for the challenges of today. Here are my thoughts and ideas about the event and a few topics that I think is relevant for us in the coffee industry as well.
10.08.2016 What I gained from taking a step back
Today it has been almost one and a half week since I stood behind a roasting machine. That might not seem to be a lot but for me, that is about the longest time "away" from roasting I have been for several years. I realized this just the other day, I have been having so many new ideas regarding new roasting approaches, quality control procedures, and how I, from a bigger perspective want to approach coffee. And I wanted to figure out where they came from.
I found this fascinating. Mostly because this is the first time during my six years in coffee that I have made a decision to take a short step back to get some new perspective. I still think there is more behind in than just stepping back, also a change of scenery and people I surround myself with. Regardless, I continue to sketch my new tests, patiently letting them come, soon enough there will be plenty of roasting.
Perspective is everything.
08.08.2016 The future of coffee is User-Friendly
How is it that we in Specialty Coffee focus so little on being user-friendly? Have we perhaps convinced our selfs that Specialty Coffee isn't user-friendly and that is simply the way things are? Sometimes I think it looks like we have this idea that it has to be complicated to be really good? Well, it is time to stop with that, because the future is user-friendly regardless if we want it or not. The more user-friendly we get the more nerdy we can get - we need both.
30.07.2016 This is me introducing a new project
This is me introducing a new video project. At the start it will mostly be me talking about various coffee and entrepreneurship related ideas and experiences. I am looking forward to embark on a new project that hopefully will provide valuable insight and content for the people following it.