r/coffee_roasters

Curious if anyone would find this helpful. I created a webapp (eventually iOS and Android) that imports invoices from green coffee purchases, parses out origins, amounts, prices, tariffs, etc. and reports out trends, c-price comparisons, time between orders, pounds per day equivalents, etc. It even may include an agent to ask the data questions to better understand your green coffee trends and opportunities for improved efficiencies. I've been using it for my commercial roasting business and has given me tremendous insight for purchasing patterns and pricing strategies. I welcome your thoughts in advance!

Hello everyone,

I am currently completing my Master’s degree at Harper Adams University and conducting research on coffee consumption, sustainability, and consumer perspectives within the coffee industry.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete my anonymous survey:

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/harper-adams/quantifying-the-green-premium-consumers-trust-and-willingness-3

If possible, please also share the survey with other coffee enthusiasts or relevant groups to help me reach more respondents.

Thank you for your time and support.

I have a buddy who started his own LLC right before the start of 2026, and was about to get a business loan from Chase for $25k with 9% interest which he'd have to pay off over 10 years so he can buy the coffee cart and equipment to get the business started. I had won pretty big in Vegas at the beginning of April ($13k) and decided to quit Sports Betting while I'm ahead. So at this point in this time, I'm sitting on a lot of money, so I told him why not instead of a loan from the bank, he lets me invest $20k for a permanent 20% ownership in his business, and I'd get 20% profit paid out monthly. He thought on it for a few weeks, and decided to take me up on the offer. We met up with a business lawyer who wrote up a contract and altered the operating agreement of my buddy's LLC to include me as a 20% owner once I give my friend the $20k. Now all I really have to do is sign it, but for some reason I have been feeling a little hesitant. Maybe I am in over my head? My buddy has worked in the food industry for a pizza spot for several years and makes a damn good coffee, but how difficult is it to succeed in the coffee space? We made sure to include some safeguards in the contract (such as if he decides to quit on the business and sell off all the equipment before I make back $10k of the $20k I invested, I get 100% of the money from the sell off of the equipment, and if he quits after ive made between $10k-$19.9k, then the selling of the equipment would be split between the two of us 50-50), but I just feel like I'm jumping into a space i know little about. If his coffee is really good, is it reasonable for me to expect success or how much more goes into this space.

And what are you using it for?

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I recently started using Claude to review some business questions: reports, staffing, coffee waste, sales analysis, COGs...

So far I'm fairly impressed. It gets me 89% to an answer and after review and validation, it feels fairly accurate and trustworthy.

I can see where folks who are not versed in technology could go south by not validating the response. I've found plenty of garbage and recalibrated my prompts accordingly.

Hi everyone,I’m writing to you from Kenya, home to some of the best coffee in the world. I have access to large farm areas and a network of local growers who are looking for a better way to get their beans to the world.Most of our coffee goes through the traditional factory system, but I have a vision for something different: Direct-to-Roaster partnerships.The idea is simple: instead of buying from a middleman, you partner directly with us. You could even set up your own processing or "factory farm" right here on the ground. This ensures:Total Traceability: You know exactly which hill your beans grew on.Fairer Pay: More money stays with the farmers.Custom Processing: You control the washing and drying to your specific standards.I’m curious to hear from the business owners here. Does a direct-investment model in Kenya sound like something the international market is missing?

Hey everyone,

First off, I know there have been some recent strongly worded posts and comments about how many people are trying to get into roasting or start roasting businesses.

And honestly, I get it.

Roasting is clearly not something you can figure out from one Reddit thread, and I respect that people in this space have spent years learning through practice, mistakes, long days, and probably a lot of expensive lessons.

So just to be clear, I’m not here asking anyone to hand me a full playbook or “tell me how to start a roastery.

That being said, everyone has to start somewhere, and for us, this is part of doing the homework before we take the idea too seriously. And I’m coming here to pick your brains if anyone has the capacity.

Me and my friend have been fantasizing about starting a coffee roasting business. To be very honest, we have zero experience running a roastery. But we are big coffee lovers. So let me just put that out there before anyone comes for me lol.

That said, we’re not lazy, unrealistic or keyboard warriors.

We’re both good learners, pretty hard working, and have built successful careers in the corporate world against a lot of odds.

We know this is a totally different space, but we also believe that if we do the homework, learn from the right people, and actually roll up our sleeves, we can figure things out.

But before we even think about jumping in properly, we want to understand the business from people who have actually done it, ideally someone in the U.S. or Canadian market since that’s where we’re based.

We’d love to learn things like:

• What did you underestimate when you started?
• What mistakes did you make early on?
• What part of the process was harder than expected?
• What would you do differently if you were starting today?
• What should complete beginners like us learn before putting real money into this?
• What was the first step you took?

If anyone here is open to a quick conversation, I’d really appreciate it. Feel free to DM me.

And if you don’t have time for a call but still want to share advice, please drop it below so others can benefit too.

Also, if this post annoys you or you feel like saying “don’t do it,” or "go work in roastery or be a barista first", fair enough, but this post is really for people who are open to guiding beginners.

Wishing everyone well either way.

Thanks in advance.

I’m looking for a US based partner for my coffee brand launched in 2025. Good supplier, good branding, website has been active with strong domain name I purchased in 2024. The operations is setup, just need a partner that is familiar with the industry and can help build marketing campaigns and help with content. I can do some content from our location. I started content and marketing with a local freelancer but he had to abandon the project do to large paying clients he acquired 6 months into it.

I currently have a 10 year running business that is expanding rapidly since last year so my focus is more on that biz but I know there’s a lot of potential for the coffee brand.

Thanks in advance!

I am seeking professional insight into optimizing sample roasting workflows using the Nucleus Link or Kaffeelogic Nano systems. After transitioning from an SR800 to implement more rigorous data collection, my objective is to establish an efficient protocol for evaluating new green coffee. I am specifically interested in whether established roasters utilize the machine’s auto-generated profiles (A–E) to establish an initial baseline or if a manual, custom-profile approach is preferred for sample analysis.

I initially started with the recommended dial in process but was not necessarily pleased with my results. Currently, my process involves running profile C with various development times to get an initial baseline. From there I can get an idea of the development I am looking for as well as the beans potential. Then I can start to branch out into other profiles using the data I collected as good starting points.

However, I still feel like I'm missing something and I'm hoping one of you can help me refine this sequence. I would value information on the most direct path to identifying a bean's peak flavor profile, while minimizing batch redundancy, and maximizing the utility of the Link’s precision controls.