Roaster Summer School. July 15-18, 2024, Basel
Next July, together with Ingo Albrecht from Roast Rebels, we are hosting the Roaster Summer School. Over four days, we will lead 16 workshops on the topics of roasting, green coffee, starting a business, communication, and sensory analysis. The workshops are for anyone who is already roasting, wants to develop further, is looking for an exchange, and is thinking about starting their own roastery.
Background
"Come on, let's do something bigger together," Ingo suggested during a visit to Basel. We have just recorded two videos, one about home roasting, 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 as Kaffeemacher at 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
Back then, we started offering roasting courses and passing on our practical knowledge. Since then, we have been in constant exchange, as we both deal with roasting—essentially doing the same thing, but on different scales. And that brings a great tension with it - although it is the same thing, there are 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 exactly these experiences on to the participants; one topic, different perspectives.
Format
We are taking over our academy in Basel for four days. We will set up various roasting machines—Aillio Bullets, Giesen 1kg roasters, and sample roasters from Nucleus Link.
Each day focuses on a specific theme, which we will discuss in four workshops each. The format will be a mix of theory, practice, and discussion. Open exchange in a small group helps enormously to make great progress quickly 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
On Monday, everything revolves around roasting. It's about roast profiles for different markets and drinks, subtle interpretations for espresso and filter coffee, as well as coffee for automatic machines.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
On Tuesday, we focus on the raw product, the green coffee. We roast samples, taste different coffees, and discuss which drinks and markets we could reach with them, evaluate different qualities, and create blends intended to have a broad sweet spot.
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
On Wednesday, we look at starting a business—how a roastery can be set up, which marketing strategies we can recommend, how sourcing and purchasing green coffee can be designed to 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 dive fully into sensory analysis. We will learn to conduct a professional cupping and a cupping for quality control, evaluate coffees according to the SCA evaluation sheet, taste and discuss different post-harvest processes and their influence on taste, before we go into an open round with Ingo and Philipp.
Barbecue on Wednesday evening
On Wednesday evening, we invite all participants to a barbecue. Regardless of which days you sign up for, you are invited to eat, drink, and enjoy a relaxed exchange.
Who is the Roaster Summer School for?
- for anyone who wants to make great progress in roasting in a short time
- for anyone who enjoys sharing ideas
- for anyone who wants to develop further in roasting
- for anyone thinking about starting a roastery
- for anyone already running a roastery and wanting to sharpen their concept
- for anyone who roasts and now wants to develop further in sensory terms
We focus on shorter units of 90 minutes, where we share our experiences, exchange ideas, and work out individual solutions for your topics.
Booking
Places are limited to 12 participants. One 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
