Roaster Summer School. 15th-18th July 2024, Basel
Next July, together with Ingo Albrecht from Roast Rebels, we invite you to the Roaster Summer School. Over four days, we will conduct 16 workshops on the topics of roasting, green coffee, starting a business, communication, and sensory analysis. The workshops are for everyone who already roasts, wants to develop further, is looking for exchange, and is considering starting their own roastery.
Background
"Come on, let's do something bigger together," Ingo said during a visit to Basel. We had just recorded two videos, one about roasting at home, the other about tips and tricks for roasting with the Aillio Bullet.
We met in 2018 at the first Swiss Roasting Championship, when Ingo was a volunteer and we were hosts at Kaffeemacher in our former location in Münchenstein. Ingo focused early on home roasting, smaller roasting machines, sample roasting, and making roasting easily accessible.
Ingo Albrecht and Philipp Schallberger
At that time, we started offering roasting courses and sharing our practical knowledge. Since then, we have always been in exchange, as we both deal with roasting, essentially doing the same thing, but on different scales. And that brings a great dynamic with it – even though it's the same, there are indeed differences when we talk about proportions, airflow, temperatures, green coffees, etc.
So, in this Summer School, we want to bring our two worlds together and pass on precisely these experiences to the participants; one topic, different perspectives.
Format
For four days, we will take over our academy in Basel. We will set up various roasting machines – Aillio Bullets, Giesen 1kg roasters, and sample roasters from Nucleus Link.
Each day will focus on a specific theme, which we will discuss in four workshops. The format will be a mix of theory, practice, and exchange. Open discussion in a small group helps enormously to make rapid progress and gain new insights.
We encourage you to bring your own questions so that we can discuss them in the group.
Monday, July 15, 2024
Monday will be all about roasting. It will cover roast profiles for different markets and beverages, fine interpretations for espresso and filter coffee, as well as coffee for automatic machines.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
On Tuesday, we will focus on the raw product, green coffee. We will roast samples, taste different coffees, and discuss which beverages and markets we could reach with them, evaluate different qualities, and create blends that should have a broad sweet spot.
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Wednesday will be about starting a business – how to set up a roastery, which marketing strategies we can recommend, how sourcing and purchasing green coffee can be profitable for all parties in the long term, and how a target group can be defined through pricing and positioning.
Thursday, July 18, 2024
On Thursday, we will fully immerse ourselves in sensory analysis. We will learn how to conduct a professional cupping and a cupping for quality control, evaluate coffees according to the SCA evaluation form, taste and discuss different post-harvest processes and their influence on taste, before moving into an open discussion with Ingo and Philipp.
Barbecue on Wednesday evening
On Wednesday evening, we invite all participants to a barbecue. Regardless of which days you register for, you are invited for food, drinks, and informal exchange.
Who is the Roaster Summer School for?
- for everyone who wants to make great progress in roasting in a short time
- for everyone who enjoys exchanging ideas
- for everyone who wants to develop further in roasting
- for everyone who is considering starting a roastery
- for everyone who already runs a roastery and wants to sharpen their concept
- for everyone who roasts and now wants to develop further in sensory analysis
We focus on shorter units of 90 minutes, in which we share our experiences, engage in exchange, and develop individual solutions for your topics.
Booking
Places are limited to 12 participants. A workshop day costs 350 CHF including lunch and drinks. The Wednesday evening event is open to all participants.
Monday, July 15, 2024
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
