In this interview, Garrett Oden, the Owner of Fresh Cup Magazine, shared his experience starting in a café, then moving into copywriting for coffee, food, and food tech, and the journey that led him to take ownership of Fresh Cup.

We shared a similar experience early in our coffee career of wanting to make an impact. However, after seeing under the hood of the businesses we worked at, that the reason we weren’t seeing the impact we were hoping for wasn’t because the businesses didn’t want to make an impact. It was because they weren’t particularly profitable and unable to make the desired impact as a result.

During our interview, innovation came up multiple times and Garrett shared his love for innovation. He believes that there’s a huge opportunity in beverage concentrates across the industry, whether in cold brew, teas, or other formats.

We discussed the Welcome Box and RoasterLink, and how they help support cafés, roasters, and vendors through business challenges. Garrett sees his role—and the role of Fresh Cup—as one of service to the industry. He believes that if someone engages with Fresh Cup for more than a year, they should accomplish something as a result. I appreciate this approach because it’s generative, supportive, and education-focused—everything an industry publication should be.

We concluded our conversation talking about Alimentous, a content and copywriting agency for coffee, food, and food tech that Garrett also owns. We also touched on the emergence of AI and how it has affected marketers, business owners, and who is best positioned to get the most out of these tools.

In this interview, Joshua Bosarge, Co-Owner of Procession Coffee, shared the journey that led him to coffee. Growing up, he really didn’t like coffee—but eventually had a mind-bending coffee experience that made him want to stay in the industry. Joshua spoke about the influence of music, punk, DIY, skate culture, and design in shaping the brand identity of Procession.

I first became aware of Procession through an activation they launched a few years ago where anyone who got a tattoo of the Procession broken pot logo somewhere visible would receive free drip coffee for life… or until the end of the world, that is. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to keep an eye on Procession.

Joshua shared insights and lessons learned from opening and operating in a food hall as their first location. He encouraged owners considering similar spaces to remember they have more leverage in the conversation than they might think—and to negotiate terms that work well for their business.

During our conversation, he spoke about his personal ethos: to never stop learning, growing, and taking on new challenges. In line with that ethos, they officially launched their roasting program at SCA in Houston this year and will soon roll out a subscription service, with a focus on merch as well.

We also discussed how he and his business partner maintain a healthy personal and professional relationship—and how they divide their responsibilities. The breakdown is simple: Joshua is over the future, while his business partner handles the present. Where there’s crossover, they collaborate.

In this interview, Caleb Holstein, the Co-Founder & CEO of greensquare, shared about his experience as a 17-year veteran of the coffee industry, from starting in cafes to owning a roastery, and eventually launching greensquare. Caleb shared how a transformative coffee experience and key mentorship shaped his approach to coffee, which reminded me of the importance of mentors and the influence we can have on others during moments that may seem mundane to us.

During our conversation, he explained the value of greensquare, how it functions, and the opportunity it creates not just to optimize operations but to further democratize and change the coffee supply chain.

In light of the early 2025 spike in the coffee futures price, Caleb noted that something we aren’t talking about enough in coffee is our mental health in response to higher prices and the challenges that go along with this. He pointed out that green coffee buyers didn’t suddenly wake up one day and become bad green buyers. This shift is simply the current reality of our industry. While some of it is outside our control, there are things within our control and he emphasized that this season isn’t about winning or losing; it’s about change and that roasters’ pricing strategies shouldn’t be focused on competition, but on survival in our present reality.

Finally, we talked about the skills that transfer from physical jobs like working in cafes and roasting coffee to owning a tech company. He noted that the key is to know yourself and become an excellent communicator — because those skills translate across industries, companies, and roles.

In this interview, Kristin Kulik of The Left Hook Coffee shares her journey from coaching lacrosse to working in restaurants, bars, and cafés across the country—an experience that eventually led her to open a roastery right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kristin shared how she accidentally fell in love with coffee while managing and opening restaurants and bars, when life took a “left hook” that eventually inspired her to start Left Hook.

She’s passionate about creating a space where communication flows both ways—across the bar and throughout the business. Her background in coaching lacrosse has deeply influenced how she hires, trains, and leads. As a result, she looks for people who are coachable, have strong communication skills, and are team-oriented.

“The left hooks are few and far between,” she says. “It’s losing a friend, having a baby, moving internationally for a job.” We measure our lives by these left hooks—sometimes painful, other times joyful—whether we realize it or not.

Kristin also shared her belief that coffee is made three times: first at origin, second during roasting, and finally during brewing. If we drop the ball at any of those stages, we’ve failed everyone else up and down the supply chain. This philosophy is deeply tied to how she approaches training and team development, with an emphasis on improving personally for the sake of the team.

In this interview, Tim Williams, the Director of the World AeroPress Championship and the founder of Fieldwork Coffee, shares his early memories of drinking coffee as a functional beverage to help him stay up to watch Formula One as a teen. Tim also discusses Fieldwork’s approach to seasonal coffee releases, drawing inspiration from the fashion industry, and why they focus on washed coffees.

We touch on having high standards personally and professionally and what it means to inspire teams toward greatness rather than pushing them toward it.

Finally, Tim shares the history and evolution of the World AeroPress Championship, from a casual competition to a structured global event and how host cities and competitors can get involved.

In this episode, Luke interviews Jacob Horton, the co-owner and head roaster of Verb Coffee. Horton shares his journey from school that led him into the world of coffee, and ultimately leading to his co-ownership of Verb.

Jacob shares Verb’s philosophy and approach to initiatives such as starting their food program, hiring, and ensuring values alignment within the team. He emphasized the importance of investing in employees, believing that with the right people, anything is possible.

Verb's mission statement—valuing people while adding value to people—guides how they source coffee, interact with customers, and make daily decisions. Finally, Jacob leaves us and the industry with a challenge: to champion each other rather than build moats around ourselves and our businesses.

In this episode, Luke interviews Addison Mathis, the QA manager for Perc Coffee. Mathis recounts their unexpected journey into the coffee industry after initially aspiring to be the president. They share how their path included dreams of being a marine biologist, artist, and therapist before finding a place in the coffee world.

During the conversation, Addison shares their passion for training, which stemmed from early career experiences where knowledge and training felt gatekept. As a QA manager for Perc, Mathis focuses on creating empathetic training environments by recalling their own experiences as a new barista and being conscious of the diverse backgrounds of those they train. Mathis also emphasizes the importance of hospitality and caring for people as a priority over simply sharing coffee.

Additionally, Addison reflects on the role of competition in the coffee industry as a space for innovation, storytelling, and personal development, while also keeping a keen eye on what could be improved in the competition space.

Be sure to stick around for the closing, where Luke reads one of the final lines from Addison’s barista competition routines—reminding us that hope is something we find together.

In this episode, Luke interviews Lucia Bawot, a Colombian photographer and the author of We Belong: An Anthology of Colombian Women Coffee Farmers. Bawot shares the journey that led her into the world of coffee, which began unexpectedly with a volunteer photography role at a coffee event in El Salvador. Inspired by a photographer, she pursued coffee photography to give a voice to the people in coffee.

Bawot shares the inspiration behind her book, We Belong, which stemmed from her realization that women's contributions to the coffee industry are largely unacknowledged and disregarded. In our conversation, we explore her thoughtful process of selecting the stories she included in her book and the ones that continue to resonate with her.

She also shares how this book has led her to seek ways to use photography as a therapeutic tool to support the mental health of coffee farmers. Inspired by her own experiences and the emotional impact of the stories she documented, she created the Beans to Minds project to provide mental health support to women in coffee.

Finally, Lucia shares the challenges and rewards of this work and emphasizes the importance of creating space to process emotions.

In this episode, Luke interviews Philipp Schallberger, the co-managing director of Kaffeemacher. Philipp recounts his studies of smallholder agricultural supply chains, which provided the framework to analyze and seek to improve coffee supply chains. Schallberger shares his perspective on the responsibility and joy that we hold on the consuming side of the industry.

A hallmark of Kaffeemacher is their commitment to sharing knowledge and growing their business through generously sharing what they have learned. This can be seen through their extensive library of coffee educational material on YouTube, podcasts, their blog, and the classes offered at their academy. He also describes the company's unique structure, which allows them to make unconventional decisions, such as investing in a coffee farm in Nicaragua for learning purposes, without the pressure of traditional business structure and expectations. Ultimately, Philipp underscores the significance of storytelling in connecting people and fostering a sense of responsibility and joy.

In this interview, Kenzel Fallen, the CEO and co-founder of Three Keys Coffee, shares how her background in risk management informs her role as an owner and leader of a roastery. Fallen emphasized her appreciation for how coffee brings people together and the community that forms around it, rather than focusing solely on tasting notes. One of the things that make Three Keys Coffee special is its inspiration stemming from music, and Kenzel shares how they connect music to every coffee they release.

She also shares that, as a company, Three Keys is committed to quality, sustainability, and community engagement, which informs how they source their coffee, the equipment they use, and their approach to education. Finally, she shares what it’s like to manage a business with her husband and what it means to work collaboratively by leveraging each other's complementary skills.

In this conversation, we heard about Christina Chin’s journey through cruise ship sales, international travel, a bakery, and a roastery that ultimately led to forming Favor Coffee.

Christina kept returning to the concept of hospitality as the reason they are in coffee in the first place, and she also reminded us of the need to engage thoughtfully with the greater coffee community to keep our tanks full as entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.

We wholeheartedly agree that keeping our tanks full in hospitality, coffee, and life requires being intentionally engaged in the community. Thank you for modeling this intentionality and thoughtfulness for us, Christina!

If you missed the podcast recommendation, it is:

• Boss Barista

Buy coffee here: favor.coffee

Follow them: @favor.coffee

In this conversation, we heard about Ben’s journey that led him into coffee and the genesis of Long Miles as coffee producers.

Over and over during this interview, Ben kept coming back to the fact that people are the reasons we do the work we do in coffee and creating meaningful relationships are the backbone of what we know to be specialty coffee.

Couldn’t have said it better Ben! Thank you, for modeling Ubuntu for us and the rest of the coffee industry. We need it!

If you missed his book recommendations, they are:

- The Art of Possibility

- Unreasonable Hospitality

Thank you Patrick and the rest of the @savorbrands team for leading our industry by example in Pono…doing what is right.

I (Luke) am leaving this conversation reminded once again that there is more work to in making our industry and our world a better place.

“How much do you need and can I pay more?” - @proleteriat

These kinds of questions we should be asking in our industry to begin to create real conversations around equitable prices.

Thank you Xavier for leading by example, putting your money where your mouth is and reminding us to not lose sight of caring for the people around you today in an effort to make a larger impact on the industry tomorrow.

“Would my mom feel comfortable here?” - Sarah Fillmore

Such a great question to ask when evaluating an environment or experience.

In this interview, we got to chat with Sarah from @good_intentions_coffee about what a good cafe experience looks like, how she got into the coffee industry and the good she’s bringing into the world through her company.

One of the phrases that stood out to us was, “I came for a job and left with a career.” This sentence and sentiment is so familiar to us here at The Lev Co and one we hear often with the folks we work with. The coffee industry is a special place and one that needs all kinds of folks to bring their unique perspectives and gifts to.

Thank you, Sarah, for bringing your unique perspective to our industry through @good_intentions_coffee.

Our 🔑 takeaway from our interview with Chris of @keystotheshop is- perspective provides clarity.

Seeking the perspective of our community & team should provide us with the clarity to helps us make decisions from a place if need filling vs. making decisions based on comparison.

Thanks for sharing your story and insights with us Chris!