United by Coffee by Oscar Pineda

As a coffee roaster working in the Midwest, I’m always looking for opportunities to grow my knowledge and skills. But there aren’t too many classes or training centers nearby, so it was timely that our roaster manufacturer reached out to Reverie to invite us to be a part of a special intensive workshop. Our customers don’t get to see too much behind the scenes, so I thought I’d put down some thoughts about my experience.

Oscar Pineda (left), Reverie’s lead roaster, and Mr. Hobans of Mr. Hobans Coffee Roastery, Hamburg, Germany. (shaky selfie cred: Oscar Pineda)

I recently traveled to Santa Rosa, CA to visit the Loring Smart Roast manufacturing plant and training facility to attend their Master Class along with about a dozen other coffee roasters from across the globe. Loring makes the smartest and most efficient coffee roasting systems in the industry. Though I had no idea what to expect when I arrived, I was eager to soak in all I could to expand my coffee roasting knowledge.

I’ve known that we are doing great things at Reverie. But it’s hard to know exactly how well your own facility operates until you get the chance to meet the maker and a bunch of other roasters from around the globe working on the same equipment. And technology changes faster than we can adopt it, so we need extra help to be sure we can keep up.

Loring roaster during the manufacturing process. (photo cred: Oscar Pineda)

Our instructors for the two-day event were Rob Hoos of Nossa Familia Coffee in Portland, OR, and Mr. Hoban of Mr. Hobans Coffee Roastery in Hamburg, Germany. We spent much of our time in the classroom studying the ins-and-outs of the machinery and various technical methods for roasting better coffee. I was particularly curious to learn about how well we managed our daily production, as I am always looking for ways to work more efficiently. I have felt confident in our approach each day, but knowing I have the best equipment to work on really makes a difference in the quality of our product.

There’s always room to improve in our work. But I’m super happy to know now that we have developed, all on our own, a world-class coffee roasting program. While we may not possess all the fancy tools possible (except our super sweet roaster), we are right on track with some of the best roasters in our industry using the tools and knowledge we had up until this point. From here, we can only get better and I can’t wait to share the progress we will make in the coming weeks. The opportunity we have really makes me happy.

During the class, the roasters paired up for a friendly competition amongst each other. The goal was to match a profile created by Rob Hoos by roasting a tiny amount of coffee manually. Joe and I only had four attempts to match the profile, and our selection was chosen as best among all competitors.

At the cupping table with the roasters in the Loring Master Class, February 2020. (photo cred: Oscar Pineda)

Thanks to everyone at Loring Smart Roast for hosting the event. Thanks to all the roasters and trainers for giving your time and interest in making better coffee. I came home knowing more than when I arrived, which is already being put to use in our operation. This group of people brought their individual ideas to the table and shared their personal experiences in coffee for the benefit of everyone. And lastly, thanks to my team at Reverie for believing in me and for making it a priority to provide me this learning opportunity. I hope to make you proud of the quality work we do every day at Reverie.

Reverie’s 2 year old Loring S15 Falcon 15 kilo coffee roaster. This is a super sweet machine that makes fantastic coffee. Come check it out sometime. (photo cred: Juan Garcia)