Bluebeard Coffee Roasters | Featured Guest Roaster

Ballard and Assembly Coffee Co is pleased to welcome our new friend’s from Bluebeard Coffee Roasters, bringing a taste of tacoma to our little pocket of Seattle! For the next couple months you will get an opportunity to enjoy some of the best Tacoma, Washington has to offer, as well enjoy art by one of their partner’s and friend’s Gracia The Artist who will be featured in the shop!!

Opened in April 2011, Bluebeard Coffee Roasters is delivering world-class coffees to an expanding market of coffee lovers in and around beautiful Tacoma, WA and we got a chance to hear from the co-roasters at Bluebeard to give ya’ll a bit of insight on how they do what they do and learn about what excites them. Excited about the 3rd wave coffee scene, roasters Magdalena and Sam support spaces that buy really high quality green coffee and get excited about spaces that people can gather and enjoy amazing coffees and have great conversations.

First of all, tell us about the name?
The short answer? Bluebeard was our family’s childhood cat, along with Paisley. My dad was an English teacher, and Kurt Vonnegut's books were a steady presence around the house growing up, so I assume the cat's name came from Vonnegut’s novel by the same name. 

Magdalena, how did you get into roasting? What do you love about it?

I started roasting coffee around 9 years ago at a previous job at a local roaster after a long stint of working as a barista. I took interest in working in production and was so very fortunate to apprentice roast under a dear coworker friend. I love learning about coffee producing countries, agriculture, importing/exporting, and of course the hard work that it takes to develop and replicate a beautiful roast profile. 

Sam, how did you get into roasting? What do you love about it?

I Started working in specialty coffee in 2014, started in front of house at a local  coffee shop, trained at victrola coffee, kinda just got obsessed with latte art and tasting different coffees from all over world. Going to lots of public cuppings and enjoying all the fun things 3rd wave coffee has to offer. After a few years at my past job I applied at bluebeard coffee. I really wanted to get closer to green coffee and roasting. I really enjoy working in coffee. What I love most about roasting coffee is profiling new coffees, and exploring different roast profiles.

Talk about your collaboration roasting together and with the owner(s)? Is it challenging? What works well?

Currently we are roasting 5-6 days a week, we are both profiling and roasting the same coffees. Lots of cupping and evaluating how we want to represent our coffee. We roast on a Probat L-12. We do our absolute best to find a balance of acidity and sweetness in each coffee. 

Honestly it is not challenging at all collaborating with each other, both of us take constructive criticism very well. At the end of the day we want to represent the coffee producers' hard work and all the hard working hands that went up and down the supply chain.  

As a boutique small batch coffee roaster, what values or principles guide your selection of coffee beans, and how do you ensure the quality and uniqueness of your offerings?

Our values and principals are important to us. We offer a humble variety of high quality single origin coffees along with our blends. We strive to pay for quality while keeping a community friendly price tag. Accessibility to our beautiful coffee while providing a diverse and cozy atmosphere is top priority to us. We ensure quality by cupping constantly, keeping our equipment maintained and clean, and always leaving an open door for conversation to educate customers about our coffees.

Could you walk us through your typical coffee roasting process? Are there any particular techniques or nuances that define your approach and set your roasts apart?

We typically start each production day by allowing our Probat L12 to warm up for about an hour. We plan our roast schedule starting with our coffees from  Africa followed by Central and South  America. These single origin and blender coffees vary seasonally as we pursue fresh crop. Our goal is to always intentionally roast each coffee to find the ideal balance in acidity and sweetness. Each coffee has its own unique profile that we are able to replicate and adjust as a team.

What role does sustainability play in your sourcing and roasting practices? Are there specific initiatives or partnerships you've undertaken to promote environmentally friendly and ethical coffee production?

Sustainability plays a huge role in our coffee sourcing Year after year, we buy fresh crop coffees from lots of the same communities in Agaro Ethiopia, Huila Colombia, Antigua Guatemala and more. Sourcing coffees consistently from the same coffee producers, exporters, and importers is ethical coffee buying practice. Building relationships is crucial to our coffee program. 

Can you share a memorable experience or challenge you've faced as a small batch roaster and how it has shaped your approach or perspective on coffee roasting?

We believe that many of us can relate to Covid shut down as one of the most challenging times in our small batch roasting careers. Our cafe was shut down but our production staff stayed persistent filling grocery store shelves and launching a well received subscription platform. The solidarity in each other grew as we faced the unknown of the pandemic and what that meant for the coffee supply chain. We were fortunate that we were well, but not excessively, stocked on our green coffee inventory. Intentional forcasting was more crucial than ever and has greatly influenced us today with our continuous planning.