Meet Your Guest Roaster - Dune Coffee

One of our favorite parts about bringing in our partners here at Assembly is learning about them and sharing their story! We got to sit down with Kay Cheon who is in charge of wholesale and training programs at Dune. Enjoy!

How did you find yourself at Dune?

I moved up to Santa Barbara in 2014 to complete my undergrad studies, and had a few coffee friends who were working at Dune at the time. I started at Dune that same year, and feel grateful for the work we’ve been able to do as a team and the connections I’ve been able to make. We’ve been really fortunate to drive specialty coffee in a lot of ways here in Santa Barbara, and in doing so, holding to our mission of making coffee accessible, approachable, and fun really resonates with what I like about coffee and what I’m passionate about.

Big Where did the name Dune come from? Are the owners big Frank Herbert fans?

It’s a pretty sweet story where Julia Mayer, one of Dune’s owners, is a big fan of the series. When Julia and Todd were dating before they married, Julia mentioned to Todd that she really liked the novel, so Todd read the whole book (which for those that don’t know, Dune is not a short story)!

We read about Julia and Todd’s brief story on the website, but any anecdotes that help inspire what it was that really got them excited about making coffee? What was the connection to Verve? Were they already a part of the coffee scene?

Julia has worked in coffee for a large part of her career, while Todd ran a retail skate shop before they began Dune. Both Todd and Julia used to live in Santa Cruz, so the connection to Verve was there when they opened the State St store in 2009.

Todd & Julia (Owners)

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

We always think about balancing coffees on our menu that we want to drink, as well as coffees that our family members might drink. I think Santa Barbara and the coffees our community enjoys has changed over the years, and we feel privileged to play a part in sharing specialty with our local and not-so-local community.

You talk about your sourcing and your coffee partners and how they are important? For folks who don’t know, could you talk about the considerations that go into selecting your partners?

The main thing for us is treating producing partners (or wholesale partners, or vendor partners) as relationships. There will be good times and not as good times, but we want to be able to commit to the people we work with through thick and thin, and to trust that we can grow together and make coffee better for everyone.

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?

Santa Barbara is fairly progressive when it comes to municipal environmental programs, so on the retail side, we’re able to integrate recycling and upcycling fairly effectively in our stores. More recently, we’ve acquired a Loring roaster which we feel has a slightly lower footprint and will be more efficient as we continue roasting into the future.

With the increasing popularity of specialty coffee, how do you stay innovative in your roasting techniques and flavor profiles to stand out in the competitive market?

There are plenty of coffees and roasters out there to suit almost any desire out there, but for us, it’s important for us to continue progressing, whether that means refining existing systems or developing new ones to get better at what we do. It’s one of our company values that resonates the most with me personally.

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

Roasting certainly poses different challenges and opportunities on top of retail. While it’s not unique, one of the more memorable challenges was the early months of the pandemic, when business was changing dramatically and we had to manage green inventory and commitments we had made at origin. Thankfully, we were able to navigate and get creative so as to honor our purchases at origin, because we knew a lot of the producers we purchase from were relying on us, so we were able to honor all of those commitments with our partners.

In the world of roasting, how do you balance consistency with the desire for unique, limited-edition offerings? Are there certain flavor profiles or characteristics you consistently aim for?

There’s something I heard somewhere that consistency of experience can go hand in hand with unique coffees or experiences, but it’s the consistency that develops trust for people to feel confident that those pricier coffees are worth it, or that they’ll be able to find something they enjoy on our menu. We try not to get too specific with certain flavor profiles, but I would say we have a good sense of what we like and what our guests and clients enjoy.

As a guest roaster at a boutique coffee shop, what can customers expect from your featured roasts? Are there any specific blends or single-origin coffees you're particularly excited to showcase?

Whenever I see our core lineup of blue bags (blends), green bags (single origins), and pink bags (adventurous) represented, I feel excited and confident that there will be something different consumers can enjoy and find a way into our coffees, or even specialty for the first time. 

Looking into the future, what trends or developments do you anticipate in the world of specialty coffee, and how do you envision your role as a roaster evolving in response to these changes?

I think there are a lot of developments on the producing side of things, as coffee producers are able to do a lot more with coffee and flavor than what we’ve previously imagined. At the same time, there are lots of producers that don’t have the same access to resources or markets, so I think certain processing methods or advancements in cultivation or variety can help with the quality that producers can grow.

Your labels and design and cafe aesthetic is AMAZING… tell us about the folks who bring the brand to life, any inspiration that guides all these things?

Julia and Todd have the vision that bring our design and stores to life, but we couldn’t do it without Sarah Wilkinson, Chach Hernandez, DJ Javier, and Michael Matheson, to name a few.