Coffee Origins
When we tell our story, that short pitch of our who, what, where, when, why, we know that it starts somewhere early in the morning. And, whether it’s dark still or there is that small amount of light shining through the windows, we hope that your mornings starts somewhat like ours do, with coffee. Sure, you may turn on your coffee machine, start your water to boil, or maybe if you’re a little fancy, you start with firing up your espresso machine. At Reverie, we start our days a little earlier and somewhere closer to the beginning, with the roast. Our story, much like story of coffee, is really a collection of many other stories. Now we would like to think, the story of how you got to the point of enjoying your morning coffee (even if it’s not ours) started with someone else’s story in mind.
Yesterday, we sat down with Oscar Pineda, our Head Roaster and Director of Coffee, and Jason Hendry, our General Manager of Wholesale, to hear their stories and learn about how we make our specialties coffees like Boneshaker Espresso, Costa Rica Las Lajas, plus some exciting roasts to be expected in the future.
Head Roaster and Director of Coffee, Oscar Pineda.
For Jason, his relationship with coffee started at young age, he said that, “The smell of coffee, that really got me when I was younger. My stepdad would make coffee in the morning, and I tried it and it was terrible. Why would anyone drink that?”
He rediscovered coffee at Il Primo, Wichita’s oldest coffee shop. Jason said, “They introduced Wichita to a lot of the sweeter coffee drinks. I was hooked, I liked them. I started to drink a lot of coffee at home with a lot of sugar.” He said if he wasn’t drinking coffee from Il Primo he was drinking store-bought blends like Maxwell House which he referred to humbly as, “crap coffee that he could get to taste how he wanted to.” Around 1998, Jason became friends with a roaster in Wichita who owned a cafe that served gelato and their own specialty coffees. It was here where Jason was first introduced to roasting and the origins of coffee. It was not until the early 2000s that life had led Jason to taking up a job Starbucks. Like many of us in the coffee world, our first introductions to specialty coffee started with places like Starbucks or whatever local shop we were fortunate to have. For Jason, being at Starbucks allowed him to learn more deeply about coffee and its origins. A few years later, Jason found Reverie and he’s been here ever since. He’s worked as a barista, roaster, production assistant, and now our General Manager-Wholesale.
“Learning where coffee really came from, and thinking about life in this localized and small lifestyle allowed me to focus on coffee from its origin, process, and trade from the farm to the roaster to the cafe.”
Oscar and Jason preparing for a coffee tasting or as we say in the industry, a cupping.
Oscar’s relationship with coffee started right of high school where he worked with Wichita Vending (now Roaster Joe’s) as a warehouse employee. He said that originally he was not all that interested in coffee, but working through many different roles he eventually began working with their coffee production team. It was here that his in interest in coffee grew when he learned about roasting. He did say however that he did not get trained very well, and many things he did he had to learn on his own. It was a learning experience, he says, “I may have caused a fire or two on my first few roasts,” but not after long, Oscar became the head roaster working on coffee production, coffee packaging, and employee training.
In 2016, Roaster Joe’s was looking to build a partnership with Reverie. For Oscar, this was an introduction to Reverie and the start of a relationship with Andrew (Reverie Founder). Oscar said that Andrew very welcoming and invited him come by Reverie to chat about coffee and see what they do. Oscar came by during a coffee throw-down and that was the start of many conversations about between the two of them. Oscar says that he really connected with Andrew and Reverie, “What they wanted to do for the community, what they wanted to for origins, I really felt that connection.” It was soon after that Oscar was offered a position with Reverie doing production and helping organize our Wholesale department. Two years later, Oscar become the Head Roaster and Director of Coffee at Reverie.
“What really drew me to the desire to become the Head Roaster was to represent the Hispanic peoples, represent the farmers, and represent our communities that are being underestimated.”
Jason Hendry, General Manager-Wholesale, and coffee importer Ryan Chipman, co-founder of Yepocapa Coffee.
Before any coffee reaches our cafes and before it reaches you at your office or home, it starts with coffee farmers like those apart of Yepocapa Coffee, a coffee farmer cooperative community founded by Abdiel Tax Illú (Chino) and Ryan Chipman. All the coffee we serve is made with story of the farmers, the importers, and the roasters in mind. As the market for coffee changes, we are constantly considering the many variables associated with coffee farming and coffee export/import practices. That’s why we do our best to emphasize the work our wholesale and roasting team does everyday in developing new understandings in an open and transparent way. Both Oscar and Jason shared that they are doing our best to be mindful of how Reverie operates by trying to find people that want to work with us in a way that is promotes growth and collaboration. Everything is better for all involved because there is always a conversation happening between the roaster, the importer, and the farmers.
“Our story is connected with what is actually going on. This is why our coffee costs the way it does, and it’s why the coffee tastes great. ”
We’re excited to share more of what’s going in the Roasting Dem in the coming weeks. We will be releasing updates about a new El Salvadorian roast and a Brazilian roast. Please continue to shop locally and support local businesses like ours. We may not be serving drinks today, but we are going to still be working for you to create the best coffee in Wichita.
If you are not yet a customer at work, please email to learn how you can get started: info@reverieroasters.com or www.reverieroasters.com
From all of us at Reverie, thank you!