Just over a year ago, I wrote a college essay on my venture into the realm of coffee
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hipporun
- Posts: 192
- Joined: 9 years ago
I think it is pretty good, posting it encase for anyone interested in reading:
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I bent over, pulled out the tryer, closed my eyes and took a deep whiff, analyzing the fresh aromas. I looked through the sight glass, then the time and temperature graph on my monitor. "Developing a bit behind schedule," I thought to myself. I reached down below the table and turned the knob on my propane tank, "2.5 kPa should do the trick."
My coffee venture started in 8th grade on my dad's La Pavoni, a manual, lever espresso brewing machine. I didn't even enjoy the taste of coffee at the time, I just latched onto the complexity behind such a simple process, water traveling through coffee grinds. My hobby and passion became studying the science of extraction and mastery of barista techniques. After a few months, I found a whole new sector of coffee with a different realm of knowledge to learn, coffee roasting. It's simple, in some type of device you add heat to green coffee beans to make them brown and brewable. After a few months of roasting for myself and my family, I decided to turn my newfound hobby into a business. I loved roasting coffee just as much as I loved making money! Some coffee bags, a bit of pondering over a business name and a graphically designed logo later and Caffeine's Beans Coffee Company was selling freshly roasted coffee beans locally. My air roaster could only roast 2-3 ounces at a time, selling by the pound made this process sluggish. I set off to the internet and combed the coffee forums to find a roaster with a larger capacity.
The Huky 500, a 500 gram maximum capacity drum style coffee roaster handmade by blacksmith Kuanho Li in Taiwan was perfect. Mr. Li's respect for aesthetics (a trait I have ultimate appreciation for) showed in his work; clean cut stainless steel, precise welding and stained hardwood handles and grips formed the most beautiful piece of work I had ever seen. The cost was steep at $1500, but, I had the money. For the past two years, I invested all my money in the stock market. Money I received for holidays and birthdays went to companies in exchange for pieces of paper saying I own that company, a fraction of a company that is. Sell Tesla, buy Apple, pick up a few more shares of NDLS, they report quarterly earnings next week. It is fun like a game, especially when you triple your investment. Selling $2,000 worth of shares to buy a coffee roaster was not part of my financial routine.
I spent the rest of my money on 60 pounds of green coffee beans. My parents were in awe at the amount of greens I bought, thinking I was being too ambitious. Sure enough, I proved them wrong. Over winter break, I received enough orders to blow through that 60 pounds and had to turn down lagging orders.
Now that I had a commercial style machine, new areas of roast science arose and stole my attention; such as temperature management, heat, airflow and roast profiling to fit different regions, origins and processing methods. I began meticulously studying every coffee I purchased. I would roast it again and again, cupping (essentially wine tasting for coffee) each batch trying to find the perfect profile to bring out it's best attributes.
Coffee and all that comes with it is just the latest expression of my entrepreneurial spirit. (Not to say it is going anywhere soon.) Whether I am selling old and no longer used stuff from around the house on Ebay, stringing lacrosse heads for $20 per head, (a skill I taught myself), flipping custom dyed lacrosse heads, making and selling duct tape wallets or constructing longboards, I am always combining my passion and creativity with entrepreneurial actions to make money.
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I bent over, pulled out the tryer, closed my eyes and took a deep whiff, analyzing the fresh aromas. I looked through the sight glass, then the time and temperature graph on my monitor. "Developing a bit behind schedule," I thought to myself. I reached down below the table and turned the knob on my propane tank, "2.5 kPa should do the trick."
My coffee venture started in 8th grade on my dad's La Pavoni, a manual, lever espresso brewing machine. I didn't even enjoy the taste of coffee at the time, I just latched onto the complexity behind such a simple process, water traveling through coffee grinds. My hobby and passion became studying the science of extraction and mastery of barista techniques. After a few months, I found a whole new sector of coffee with a different realm of knowledge to learn, coffee roasting. It's simple, in some type of device you add heat to green coffee beans to make them brown and brewable. After a few months of roasting for myself and my family, I decided to turn my newfound hobby into a business. I loved roasting coffee just as much as I loved making money! Some coffee bags, a bit of pondering over a business name and a graphically designed logo later and Caffeine's Beans Coffee Company was selling freshly roasted coffee beans locally. My air roaster could only roast 2-3 ounces at a time, selling by the pound made this process sluggish. I set off to the internet and combed the coffee forums to find a roaster with a larger capacity.
The Huky 500, a 500 gram maximum capacity drum style coffee roaster handmade by blacksmith Kuanho Li in Taiwan was perfect. Mr. Li's respect for aesthetics (a trait I have ultimate appreciation for) showed in his work; clean cut stainless steel, precise welding and stained hardwood handles and grips formed the most beautiful piece of work I had ever seen. The cost was steep at $1500, but, I had the money. For the past two years, I invested all my money in the stock market. Money I received for holidays and birthdays went to companies in exchange for pieces of paper saying I own that company, a fraction of a company that is. Sell Tesla, buy Apple, pick up a few more shares of NDLS, they report quarterly earnings next week. It is fun like a game, especially when you triple your investment. Selling $2,000 worth of shares to buy a coffee roaster was not part of my financial routine.
I spent the rest of my money on 60 pounds of green coffee beans. My parents were in awe at the amount of greens I bought, thinking I was being too ambitious. Sure enough, I proved them wrong. Over winter break, I received enough orders to blow through that 60 pounds and had to turn down lagging orders.
Now that I had a commercial style machine, new areas of roast science arose and stole my attention; such as temperature management, heat, airflow and roast profiling to fit different regions, origins and processing methods. I began meticulously studying every coffee I purchased. I would roast it again and again, cupping (essentially wine tasting for coffee) each batch trying to find the perfect profile to bring out it's best attributes.
Coffee and all that comes with it is just the latest expression of my entrepreneurial spirit. (Not to say it is going anywhere soon.) Whether I am selling old and no longer used stuff from around the house on Ebay, stringing lacrosse heads for $20 per head, (a skill I taught myself), flipping custom dyed lacrosse heads, making and selling duct tape wallets or constructing longboards, I am always combining my passion and creativity with entrepreneurial actions to make money.
