At the end of June, Kaldi's hired a new roaster, Joe Marrocco. Over the last couple of months he has been busy learning the craft under the wings of our talented roasting staff. I sat down with him today to chat about his experience thus far.

Mike: When did you first get into specialty coffee?
Joe: My love for specialty coffee started via a trip to Nicaragua's Segovia region with a group that helped set up a Fair Trade co-op.

Mike: Describe your first professional coffee experience?
Joe: I managed and worked at Grace Cafe in Cape Girardeau, Missouri for 2.5 years. Grace's is a third wave coffee shop - maybe the first in southern Missouri.

Mike: What has been the best part of roasting so far?
Joe: Getting to know each coffee more intimately and gaining a more in-depth knowledge of coffee in general. I love the cupping table. I love educating the customers when they come in. I look forward to doing more of that in the future.

Mike: What has been the most unexpected part?
Joe: The physical labor load.

Mike: What are you doing about it?
Joe: Stretching a lot. I got a new pair of ergonomic shoes.

Mike: What have you been working on in the last week?
Joe: I've just started to roast origin coffees on the small roaster, but I'm spending most of my time so far on the big roaster roasting blends.

Mike: What was the first step of your training?
Joe: Andrew [Timko] had me get on the big roaster and had me keep track of the degrees per 15 seconds and noticed how each coffee would vary based on the coffee's or blends' density. This helped me learn how different coffees take on heat according to their density.

Mike: What's the one thing most people don't understand about roasting?
Joe: It's the perfect balance between art and science. It's very technically precise and you have to use your senses the whole time. You have to be seeing, smelling and listening to the coffee the entire time

Mike: What are your goals as a roaster?
Joe: I don't think I'll ever reach the goal of fully understanding coffee. My goal is to continue to become more knowledgeable each day and to do my part of bring "third wave" coffee to St. Louis and the Midwest. I love educating the public about what coffee truly has to offer.

Mike: What does it offer?
Joe: Caffeine. (laughter) Each coffee - dependent upon where it's grown, the soil it's grown in, how the farmer takes care of it, how much water it takes on, etc. - has particular flavor profiles that meld together in extraordinary ways. It has much more depth and diversity than wine and you can drink it while you work.
Mike: And operate heavy machinery like a coffee roaster...
Joe: Each coffee offers a conversation. It would be too intimate to walk up to a stranger and ask her to share a cup of wine, but asking her to a cup of coffee isn't too hard. Every cup needs to be shared. You never drink a good cup of coffee without telling someone about it.

Above, Joe Marrocco hits his first crack.