The release this month is Purple Matrix, an offering roasted by Colin Rackelman of Stimuli Coffee that invites us to experience something chromatic. He’s roasting a beautiful coffee from Aricha, Yirgacheffe, Gedeo that entices with notes of purple fruit and flowers. Happy listening & sipping!

I am going to let Nicole speak for herself in this beautiful write-up she did for her release on the Matchbook Coffee Project website:  "This release has allowed me the time to look at the small things: how I put my art together, what things I would love to receive in a box were I to get one, but also what cup of coffee is my absolute favorite to share and commiserate over.  I’ve selected the El Salvador Muchas Aguas. I wanted to select something that really captured what I get excited about in my everyday drinker. The cup has balanced acidity, great body, and sweetness. Something that reminds me of eating pie, or compote on french toast, or nougaty candies with bits of fruit. Matchbook hasn’t featured an El Salvador, so I knew it was the coffee.  My final reflection: Coffee changed my life in ways I never expected. Coffee captivates, and I think when we really get into coffee, it just can’t be helped. This release is my love letter to roasts past and roasts still to come. My love letter to coffee."  -Nicole

Brynn has been involved in coffee for years now, bouncing around the pacific northwest they had a long-running fascination with the coffee industry & roasting in particular but not until landing in Oakland CA did they find an opportunity and safe space to begin roasting. Brynn has roasted a beautiful Brazilian coffee for us this month and if you have not ordered your bag yet we still have a few kicking around so don't miss out. Enjoy this episode as we discuss Brynn's journey to roasting as well as some preferred brewing methods. 

Today we are speaking with Adrian Lopez of Grand Coffee, he has roasted a delicious Ethiopia Abiyot Ageze for the Matchbook release this month. We discuss his budding coffee interest while a college student in New York as well as the way roasting coffee has evolved his understanding of this very special bean. -All the best from the MCP crew P.S. If you want to get your bag of his roast click here: https://matchbookcoffeeproject.com/products/mcp-066-adrian-lopez P.P.S. To keep up with his work over at Grand Coffee head on over here: https://www.grandcoffeesf.com/  

Marissa & Ethan of Tanbrown Coffee are the featured roasters for this latest Matchbook release. Initially brought together by a shared Asian American experience Marissa & Ethan are firm believers in the qualities of the coffee coming from Asia, in this Podcast we talk about how they approach coffee and also what they chose to roast for Matchbook.  Check out more of the good work Tanbrown does at @ Tanbrown.coffee If you want to grab a bag of what they roasted head over to: Matchbookcoffeeproject.com

This month's featured roaster is Marvin Duncan, quality control manager at PERC coffee in Savannah Georgia. In our interview, we talk about Marvin’s Matchbook release, how a failed date at a coffee shop opened his eyes to how awesome Coffee can be, and what his preferred brewing methods are. WARNING to Chemex and Espresso lovers Marvin might make you question your preferred brewing method. Check out more of the good work Marvin does at PERC @ Perccoffee.com If you want to grab a bag of his roast check out Matchbookcoffeeproject.com before it's gone. 

We are excited to feature Chelsea Thoumsin this month as our Matchbook Release and in this episode we discuss Chelsea's great work with "Get chu some gear" and why she thinks combining decaf with caffeinated beans is a winning combo for her Matchbook release  Chelsea competed and won in the Cup Taster’s Nashville Qualifier and currently is the green coffee buyer for Counter Culture in North Carolina. Find out more about Chelsea on her Instagram @chelsea.tastes.things

We're so excited to announce that Renata Henderson of Cxffeeblack in Memphis, Tenn., is the featured roaster for February here at Matchbook!  For Renata, roasting evokes history and connection that goes far beyond what's in front of her. We hope that you feel that magic as you listen. 

2022 is gonna be a big year at Matchbook! We're kicking things off with Sara Gibson and Kimberly Zash of Sightseer Coffee in Austin, Texas. They aim to work with women across the supply chain—from women farmers and women-led coops to exporters to importers—their goal is to empower women and honor the amount of work women do to keep the supply chain of coffee going. 

Ashley Griffeth is the roaster for the month of December here at Matchbook. Originally, we had someone else slated to roast this month, but plans changed and we were honestly sort of scrambling. A friend recommended I talk to Ashley, who is the co-founder of Loom Coffee in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I don't think we could have envisioned a better partnership if we tried.    Ashley began Loom in early 2020, when she was laid off at her job because of the pandemic. But then she partnered with a former regular customer named Chris to start a coffee company — but they wanted to do things differently. One of the principles behind Loom is to only work with coffee shops working to pay their staff a living wage. We get into how this works and how the last two years have shaped and made Ashley the roaster that she is today.

Tio Fallen is the featured roaster for the month of November, and we couldn't be more excited to celebrate the confluence of coffee and music that this release represents.  Tio is the founder of Three Keys Coffee in Houston, and was the 2021 Glitter Cat Roasting Competition winner. With Three Keys, Tio finds the commonalities between coffee and music easily — coffee has tasting notes, it can evoke multiple senses, and the flavors of a particular coffee can speak differently from one drinker to the next.  In this episode, we talk about how Tio got into coffee and how he makes connections in his life — not just to music and coffee, but through food, community, and establishing a sense of place. Tio's coffee is called "Toot Your Own Horn," so we hope this coffee encourages you to reflect on your own victories and celebrate all your accomplishments, both big and small.

Gabe Boscana is the owner of Máquina Coffee and talks risk, green buying, and how to start your own small roasting business. Gabe is a returning Matchbook roaster—so you know this release is going to be special. 

Argus Keppel is a roaster working for Caffe Vita in the Pacific Northwest, and I think he might be one of our most enthusiastic roasters we've worked with to date here at Matchbook. We were pointed in his direction by Julia Lancer, a two-time Matchbook roaster. If we were handing out superlatives at MCP, Julia would win "hardest worker," and Argus would probably come in second only to them.    Argus threw himself head first into his release, harkening memories of childhood. He wanted his coffee to taste like the milk leftover in your bowl after eating cereal, so he literally cupped coffees with not just one, but four different bowls of cereal milk to guide his decision making. Argus is someone you want to be around to remind you to stay curious and excited—he loves roasting so much, and his energy is like a matchbook (get it?!?!) sparking joy and enthusiasm anywhere he shares his passion. Here's Argus. 

This month’s release is meant to challenge your perceptions of what you know about roasting, education, and making tasty coffee.  We’re thrilled to work with Christina Chin, owner of Favor Coffee, this month here at Matchbook. She’s roasting coffee for you folks in August, and she’s generating a bit of mystery for you...

his interview is almost like a stop on a long journey. We’re not done yet—we still have coffee to roast, to send, to drink, but this is just a quick pit stop along the way.  Mikey Rinaldo is the Matchbook featured roaster for the month of July. They own a small roasting company out of Chicago called New Math, which highlights specialty Asian coffees. Mikey found coffee during grad school, and pursued their passion through brewing at home and eventually roasting, ordering coffee from places like Sweet Marias, and fiddling around in their kitchen.  Eventually, Mikey wanted to explore more—specifically, they wanted to learn more about specialty coffees coming from Asia, which don’t get as much shine in the specialty coffee industry. Perhaps your view on coffees from Asia has been formed by a singular tasting, or maybe you've just heard things about coffees from the region. Mikey is here to dispel preconceptions and find the potential in coffees from the region. Because that’s what specialty coffee is all about, right? It’s not necessarily about sourcing the most pristine coffees but finding ways to highlight their inherent potential and honor the hard work that goes into growing coffee.

J.R. Harris is the Matchbook roaster for the month of June, and they've taken an approach to Matchbook that is totally unique. When we present the Matchbook model to roasters, they usually focus their energy on sourcing a really exquisite coffee, a model that's served us well in the past and makes sense for what we do. But we've always been interested in pushing the model, and really figuring out how to fully allow a roaster to express themselves creatively.    J.R. asked us to challenge them, and we worked together to source a coffee—from Colombia—that was meant more to be a roasting puzzle, working backward from our shared goal, which is to serve a coffee that makes people happy. For J.R., the excitement is to explore potential within confines, rather than getting caught up in choices and preconceived ideas about how certain types of coffees will taste.   It's a fun and fascinating approach, and we're stoked for folks to push this project to its limits, thinking creatively not just about the coffee in your cup, but how to imbue your sense of self into your roasting style.

Jiyoon Han is the featured roaster for the month of May here at Matchbook. She sources and roasts coffee for Bean & Bean, her family's coffee shop with four locations across the greater New York City area.  Bean & Bean sources coffee almost exclusively from women or women-led farms and cooperatives. Jiyoon believes coffee can be a tool and uses coffee sourcing as a way to address gender inequity across the coffee supply stream. 

We've been doing Matchbook for four years now. Our very first release was in March of 2017, and we've worked with over forty different roasters to bring folks some of the most exciting and interesting coffee releases — at least, we think they are!    Matchbook is old enough to have alumni, folks who know each other through the project, and people who come back to do a second release to showcase how they've grown and changed over the last few years.    Julia Lancer was roaster #7 when we first worked with her in October of 2017—and we're thrilled to work with her again.    Some things about Julia have changed, but some have stayed refreshingly the same.    Julia still gives 110%. When she did her first release with us, she took ownership over every item in her Matchbook box — she took the photos, she handpainted the labels, and she individually carved demitasse spoons for each person. This release, which revisits many of the things that Julia loves and cares about, will be equally as special, unique, and pouring outward with love for the coffee community.

Things are getting cute over here!  We're doing something we've never done at Matchbook—we're featuring TWO roasters for the month of March. Bianka and Sabreen are the team behind Cute Coffee, a roastery based in Oakland with its roots in Los Angeles. Bianka Alloyn and Sabreen Naimah met at a cafe, and since then have been exploring their shared love of all things coffee together.    Bianka and Sabreen describe themselves as big kids—two people who love bubbles, wearing bright and colorful clothing, and just love to laugh and have fun. They radiate excitement, and their gleefulness shines in their coffees. From the producers they work with to the holographic stickers that adorn their coffee bags, it's kind of impossible not to smile when you're talking about Cute Coffee.    The coffee Bianka and Sabreen chose for their release took A JOURNEY to get to you, but they hope you feel loved and special as you sip on what they've chosen for you. And if you're feeling a little down in the dumps, don't worry—their swag is a gentle reminder that you—yes, you!—are a bright shining star. Here are Bianka and Sabreen. 

Aaron Fender is the co-founder of Portrait Coffee in Atlanta, Georiga, and the featured roaster here at Matchbook for the month of February. Aaron is the type of person you want to sit and have a beer with. In fact, we probably spent more time just sitting on Zoom talking and chatting than we did actually recording.  Aaron started Portrait Coffee less than two years ago, and their motto is "pouring a new narrative," which they do by shining a light on Black people in the coffee industry. Aaron is interested in coffee as a conduit, a way to connect with people and build shared experiences, which you hear in this episode. Our conversation is more casual than most you've probably heard on the podcast because Aaron is incredibly easy to talk to. He's the type of person who asks questions, wants to know more about others, and can break the ice easily.     We talk a lot about Aaron as a person in sometimes funny and abstract ways in this episode. We immediately get into a discussion about the HBO show Succession and we also talk about how his Matchbook release, which he's called "Soul Food" reflects his personality both as a roaster and as a person. Aaron likes to feel things out and on the lessons he's learned in the past to inform the decisions he's making today. We hope you're just as excited as we are to drink his coffee and enjoy something that's truly born out of his passion to connect with others and use coffee as a bridge to do exactly what we did in this episode, which was pretty much hang out and swap stories. Here's Aaron. 

There is so much joy in this episode.    Sum Ngai is the co-founder and roaster at Coffee Project in New York City. Sum originally started Coffee Project as a community hub—a place that folks in the neighborhood could gather and share a space that is non-judgemental and accepting. No one at Coffee Project is going to make fun of you or make you feel bad for asking what a macchiato is or if you have vanilla syrup.    As Coffee Project grew, Sum realized that she needed to provide opportunities for her staff to grow and learn new things. So she took the standalone coffee shop and expanded—Coffee Project now roasts coffee, hosts an SCA certified training lab, and has locations in Brooklyn and Queens.    If you've ever felt like you're faking it—like maybe you roast coffee but don't feel like you're a roaster, this is the episode for you. Sum also expressed reservations stepping behind the machine, but learned that all she had to do to be a roaster...was to be a roaster. If you're listening to this episode and have ever felt like you weren't qualified or experienced enough, know that we at Matchbook think you're a roaster, and we're proud of you.   Here's Sum. 

This is the second time we’ve worked with Jen Apodaca. Jen is the featured roaster for the month of December over here at Matchbook, and when we first partnered on a release back in July of 2018, Jen did this ambitious release: not only did she roast three different coffees, she also did the artwork for the bags.  Not much has changed in terms of ambition—Jen is now at the helm of her own coffee company called Mother Tongue, and her goal is to roast excellent coffee while paying coffee farmers well. That sounds simplistic, but Jen breaks down how she’s designed her roasting program around excellent coffees that might go unnoticed or unremarked by others. In a sea of experimental processes and high-scoring coffee varieties, Jen is looking for the coffees that are absolutely solid, but sometimes remain overlooked.  At this point, I’ve interviewed Jen four times: once for Barista Magazine, once for the first Matchbook release we did, and once for my podcast, Boss Barista (which, as Jen mentions, she does change a diaper on air during our recording). When I go into interviews with people I’ve talked to a lot, I’m sometimes nervous I won’t have anything to chat with them about. What else could be said at this point? With Jen, it’s clear she’s always learning, either something about herself or her philosophy on roasting or even how the first Matchbook release might have inspired the pathway she’s on now. This episode is jam-packed with those small nuggets of information, those moments of reflection and transformation.

We’ve come full circle this month. Matchbook was started by a group of coffee folks who wanted to highlight the incredible work of roasters—folks who don’t often get the limelight. This group was brought together by one person: Cheyenne Xochitl Love. Cheyenne is a person with vision. She’s the featured roaster for the month of November, and in a way, this is a homecoming. Cheyenne started the damn thing, but then stepped back from coffee about a year and a half ago to reassess her relationship to coffee. In this episode, we explore the ebbs and flows not just of coffee, but of life. Cheyenne’s coffee career spans over two decades, and not all of that time has been linear—which, as you’ll hear her talk about, is a good thing. Stepping away gave her time to reconnect with what she loves about coffee, and how much she loves roasting. This conversation reminded me of why I joined Matchbook. I remember Cheyenne pitching me this seemingly silly idea—treating a coffee release like a record EP and finding rad roasters to work with. But over the last four years, Matchbook has transformed, evolved, become more than just a bunch of kids clanging their heads together trying to get coffee shipped to people across the nation. And it’s because Cheyenne believed in us, believes in roasters, and empowered us to run with it, to explore our unique skills as individuals and as a collective and make this into something special. And I can’t describe how special it is to be right here, at this point, sharing her coffee. A quick note: Cheyenne’s coffee history is expansive, and she’s been quoted and featured in hundreds of articles over the years. Cheyenne encourages you to search for articles under her current name, Cheyenne Xochitl Love, and her former name, Dani (spelled D-A-N-I or D-A-N-Y) Goot, to find some of the earlier articles. And seriously, reach out to Cheyenne if you want to talk more about roasting or anything coffee-related because she wants to talk to you! Here’s Cheyenne.

In the last few months, we’ve gotten a good number of roaster suggestions. Folks send us emails about people we should work with, or roasters to keep an eye on.  Early this year, we got an email from former Matchbook roaster Steve Cuevas. He told us about a roaster he knew, and thought we should know as well—Luz Amaya.  Luz is the roaster for the month of October over at Matchbook, but that’s not where we started with Luz. We initially chatted with her about doing a release in early summer, but then COVID-19 hit and made securing a roasting space a difficult task. It’s funny, though—we talked to Luz about that, and she mentioned that she preferred to roast in October because her birthday is on Halloween.  Folks, this is going to be a spooky release! Skulls, spiderwebs, haunted places all come up in Luz’s Matchbook box. In this episode, however, we take a step back, and chronicle how Luz got into roasting. Luz works for Devoción in New York, and roasts primarily coffees from Colombia. And honestly, that’s what we thought she’d roast for this release.  But Luz pushed us. Luz’s family is from El Salvador, and she really wanted to find a coffee from El Salvador to roast for you. After a few sourcing and importing hiccups, we were finally able to get coffee into her hands, and she’s roasting an El Salvadorian coffee for you for the very first time. Learn more about Luz—you won’t be disappointed. Here she is now.

It’s impossible not to smile when you’re talking to Carlos Sims. He’s the featured roaster for the month of September here at Matchbook, and we’ve been lucky enough to feel his cheerfulness and positivity throughout our time working together.  However, positivity doesn’t imply ease, and in this episode, we detail how Carlos got to where he is. Carlos candidly details how he went from watching his mom brew coffee in Jacksonville, Florida as a kid, to starting his own roasting company called Happy Home—and all the struggles in between. Sometimes, it’s easy to take things at face value, like a cheery demeanor or an encouraging phrase, but Carlos pushes beyond niceties and gets at the root of things. We talk about toxic work environments and having the courage to know when it’s time to quit and prioritize your mental wellbeing. Family is a central theme in Carlos’ life—and it’s the theme of his coffee release—and we talk through how difficult the word ‘family’ can be in the coffee world. We recorded this episode a few weeks after baristas at Augie’s Coffee were fired from their jobs for attempting to unionize, and how the word ‘family’ can be weaponized in these instances. So we push on that definition in this interview, and talk about how important it is to feel seen, to help others, and really define what community and family mean to you. And in the end, you’ll leave with a smile on your face. Here’s Carlos. 

Something I find fascinating is when people talk about their hometowns. That’s not necessarily the place they were born or grew up, but the place they call home. The place they identify as part of themselves and who they are.  This month, we’re excited to be working with Riley Fields as our August featured roaster. Riley is a roaster and manages quality control for Velodrome Coffee in Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan—the part that’s actually attached to the top part of Wisconsin...if that’s still not ringing a bell, it’s ok. Riley jokes that the Upper Peninsula is sometimes left off maps or drawings of the United States. It’s like a bonus, a secret place that only its inhabitants know how wonderful it is.  Marquette sits on Lake Superior, and Riley’s release is a love letter to the lake, and a love letter to her hometown. Riley isn’t from Marquette, but as you learn about in this interview, it’s a city that’s defined who she is as a roaster and person. It’s helped shaped her tenacity, her creativity, and her love of coffee.

Ciera Young is the owner of Mama's Brew Coffee in Houston, Texas and the July featured roaster here at Matchbook. Ciera’s release is perfect for the season. She’s relaunching her brand in August and making big moves to realize the vision of her business: to roast excellent coffee and provide coffee professionals job opportunities that’ll get them mortgage-ready.  In this episode, we talk about Ciera’s lifelong relationship with coffee. With Mama’s Brew, Ciera wants to take all the positive and negative interactions she’s had with coffee and provide people with a safe place to explore flavors and find something they love. We talk about how, as a Black woman who is a patron of coffeehouses and coffee culture, she was often talked down to and how specialty coffee has had a longstanding problem with gatekeeping—or closely guarding information. As Ciera mentions, she HAD to start her own business to keep going in coffee. These experiences made Ciera challenge her relationship to the coffee industry, and she talks about how she had to carve a space for herself that was decidedly different than what we’re used to seeing within specialty coffee. 

Long, winding roads, Appalachia, and growing up in coffee: that's all here in this episode with May's featured roaster, Grace McCutchan of Red Rooster Coffee in Floyd, Virginia. 

Last month, I was having a conversation with Joe Marrocco at the United States Coffee Championships. We were walking, and a random person stopped him, and told him just how influential he was to their roasting career.  There are not a lot of people as influential to the world of coffee roasting as Joe. He’s the featured roaster here at Matchbook this April, and as I’m writing—and now saying—this, it feels difficult to summarize the career of someone who is so embedded in our community. And now, during the time of the COVID-19 crisis, he’s someone I’m especially looking to for guidance and support.  This is a heartbreaking time for coffee—and a time whose implications we don’t fully yet understand. Baristas across the nation have lost their jobs, and there’s a lot of uncertainty about what happens next. How will we get money to baristas? How will we help small businesses reopen so they can hire back the folks who have been laid off?  For Joe’s release, we’ve teamed up with Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp to set up a barista relief fund. We’ll be donating all the profits from this month’s box, and work to get this money directly in the hands of baristas. Depending on how much money we make, we hope to get cash payments between $100-$200 to folks who have been laid off—we’ll have more details for you soon on our Instagram. For now, please enjoy this candid episode with Joe—it’s a little all over the place, like our feelings are right now, but we hope you can glean a little from one of coffee’s shining stars. Here’s Joe:

Shit's about to get real spooky and chill over here.  Baylee Engberg is our featured roaster for the month of March. Find out why this episode is equal parts laid back and fast-paced, what the fuck a ball roaster is, and how Baylee has progressed from working in a drive-thru coffee shop to roasting more coffee than most people ever have. 

I used to be a teacher, and I explain things in analogies a lot. Like, a lot. It’s a helpful tool to bring someone with you along the way—it helps connect people to complex ideas, topics, and is just a really effective educational tool.  Throughout this interview, Candice Madison uses a lot of analogies. She’s the featured roaster her at Matchbook for the month of February, and Candice’s career in coffee shows a lot of things. One, she’s incredibly tenacious, two, she cares a lot about education and connecting with coffee drinkers, and three, she’s not afraid to try a lot of things, and she’s not afraid to fail.  Candice’s coffee career—and subsequently, her approach to coffee—reflect all these values, and show that roasting is really just a fantastic game of trial and error. Now, she’s the Director of Roasting for Royal Coffee in Oakland, California, and she’s spent a long time trying to figure out just what she wants out of coffee—and that approach has changed a lot, which is reflected in her theme, Coffee Pig, which is about not looking past things we’ve been told are ugly or unworthy, and finding wonder and beauty in every corner. And in a way, that perfectly reflects the journey Candice took through coffee. It’s not about being right or knowing your exact path on the first try, but it’s about being brave enough to keep going, no matter what. Here’s Candice. 

I think it's safe to say that this might be one of the most special interviews we've ever done.  Izzy Fraire is the founder of Matchbook. He's the person doing all the behind-the-scenes work, getting green samples, paying invoices, even driving to the post office to make sure you all get your coffee on time.  But Izzy is probably the person you've heard from the least. He's always hiding in the shadows—but this month, he's front and center. Learn about the person that makes Matchbook possible. 

This feels sort of cheesy to say, but it’s true—this is a very special edition of the Matchbook podcast. Instead of one episode, we’re making three, highlighting the different members of the Matchbook project.  The Matchbook Coffee Project is a collective of four folks who work with a new roaster every month. I’m one of the members, and this month we’re taking over—we’re roasting the coffee, creating the art, finding special merch for you, and sharing more about our journey through Matchbook.  Today, I’m with Katie Miller. Katie is the reason you can order your Matchbook coffee—she maintains the website and keeps it looking shiny. Katie is the type of person who likes to look outside the box for answers, and enjoys a challenge. Katie has been so seamlessly ingrained in the group that, when she told me she wasn’t always a member, I was completely flabbergasted.  Katie is so wildly fascinating, passionate, and ready to take on the world. I’m glad you’re getting the chance to know her. 

This feels sort of cheesy to say, but it’s true—this is a very special edition of the Matchbook podcast. Instead of one episode, we’re making three, highlighting the different members of the Matchbook Project.  The Matchbook Coffee Project is a collective of four folks who work with a new roaster every month. I’m one of the members, and this month we’re taking over—we’re roasting the coffee, creating the art, finding special merch for you, and sharing more about our journey through Matchbook.  First, we’re chatting with Lindsey Shea, our resident photographer and group organizer. She’s the one who makes many of our roasters look good, and she holds us accountable, calling us to make sure we’re getting all our tasks done—if you can believe it it’s actually a lot to produce a Matchbook box every month. Lindsey’s journey into coffee is typical, but her journey into photography is unique, and she provides a perspective on how to create your own magic and follow through on your ideas and passions.  I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with Lindsey over the last few years, and I hope you enjoy this interview. 

Who is Cameron Heath and why is he so unusual?  In this episode, we bring back one of our favorite roasters, Cameron Heath of Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, North Carolina. Cam was one of our earliest Matchbook roasters—and we brought him back to roast a holiday treat for you! 

We're making a podcast!