Our project may still be on paper, but it’s important to go through what a typical day could look like. This will give us a clearer picture, help us to avoid potential problems, and see aspects of it that we hadn’t yet considered.

Coffee delivery day. The truck pulls up.
“Bonjour monsieur, vous allez bien?”
The driver waves as we unload sacks of green coffee, the smell of jute mingling with damp stone and the hum of our little electric mini-truck. It’s a bit beat-up but it gets the job done.

This is how it starts. Not with fanfare, but with a pallet and a plan.

As tools become more precise—roasting machines that hear first crack before we do, pour-over machines that mimic expert hands—we find ourselves asking: does precision diminish the craft? If the machine can do it, what’s left for the artisan?

Let's talk about workflow. In a coffee space—especially one centered on intentionality—workflow might be the most crucial element behind the scenes, without which nothing in front of the scenes would flow at all.

I've come to see prepping a workflow as gardening. The gardener knows that what appears above soil—the vibrant blooms, the fruit-laden branches—depends entirely on what happens beneath the surface. A gardener dedicates 90% of their effort to soil preparation, understanding that this invisible work determines everything that follows. Similarly, planning a coffee shop's workflow carries exponentially more importance than simply arranging equipment.

Over the past few years I've been fortunate enough to meet coffee producers and to talk with them about what they do, some of the problems they face, where they see the future of coffee heading, and what we might do about it. As a coffee roaster and green coffee buyer by profession, I've been a part of the planning process, contract negotiations, calculations of how many bags of green coffee needed to last a certain number of months, and the last minute adjustments which are needed when there is either a delayed container, a quality control problem, or a strike at the docks. I've also become more aware of the reality that, as a small scale roaster, my ability to make a difference is somewhat diminished.