Presenters
2012 Presenters
James Hoffmann (Keynote Speaker!)
Director, Square Mile Coffee Roasters
Adolfo Reyes
Owner, Los Portillos
Adolfo was born in El Cielito, micro region of Santa Barbara, region of Santa Barbara. He grew up working with coffee. Making nurseries, planting the trees, cleaning the farm, picking, depulping and washing the coffee were the main duties that he had to accomplish when he was a child. His father is a coffee grower and his brothers are too. He has 12 siblings. He had his first pair of shoes at the age of 13 years. When he was a teenager, inherited a 0.17 hectares farm from his father and then he started to grow and produce coffee by himself, selling it in the regional market. He sold that farm in 1997 and bought a piece of land with a size of 0.70 hectares in a higher place in the same town of El Cielito, where he had to walk 30 minutes up to the top of the mountain, through a very steep road, but that piece of land was the only affordable for Adolfo. He planted Pacas there and he started to produce. He got married and has a 5 years old daughter named Laura. Was in 2010 when the Cup of Excellence changed his life. he won 7th place in the competition, and Royal NY bought his micro lot . He fixed his house, Built his wet mill and solar dryer to process coffee and also bought a car with the money he made in the competition. After that he decided to sell his coffee directly to Royal Coffee and still doing it.
Benjamin Paz Munoz
Manager, San Vicente
I grew up here in Peña Blanca, the town where the San Vicente mill is (my father owns the mill). I belong to a family of coffee growers and buyers, both of my grandfathers were local coffee buyers, very small, and all my uncles were coffee farmers when they were young. I've worked with coffee since my childhood, I was 8 or 9 years old. During my vacations and weekends I worked at the mill with my father, brother and cousins. I studied here in the school at town, and then I moved to the city to study at the university. After I finished, I came to work full time at the mill, and we still working all together, my Father is the head of the Mill, my cousin manages production and quality control, my brother manages exportations and I manage the specialty coffee department, and the relationship coffee program, I work directly with the farmers and collaborate in all the activities of the mill. I have a coffee farm, I'm member of the Roasters Guild, we have a roastery and we sell roasted coffee locally and very soon we are going to open a cafe in our town.
Jay Caragay
Owner, Spro Coffee
Filmmaker, paintballer, photojournalist, talkshow host, cigar aficionado, BBQ-ist, adventurer, raconteur and lover turned barista. Jay Caragay owns and operates Spro Coffee in Baltimore, Maryland offering a selection of coffees from six coffee roasters and a seven method by-the-cup brew bar. His extensive experience has taken him across the United States and Canada to Mexico, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Japan and trained baristas on four continents. Jay’s focus is on exploring and expanding the barista craft and nurturing customers with hospitality while experimenting with new and varied ingredients.
Tommy Gallagher
Equipment Technician, Counter Culture Coffee
Tommy Gallagher has always been fascinated with how and why things work. A childhood of taking things apart and trying to put them back together led him to art school where he studied Industrial Design and Illustration. He fell into coffee while living in Washington, DC, where he spilt his time between being surrounded by Barista Champs behind murky coffee’s bar, and working part time as a Memorial Stone Cutter. Today his interests in how things work, coffee, craft and making stuff have converged in New York City, where he handles Technical Services for Counter Culture Coffee.
Rob Stephen
Senior Trader, InterAmerican Coffee
Rob Stephen is the General Manager at Coffee Solutions and Senior Trader, East Coast for InterAmerican Coffee, Inc. in Hopedale, MA. He is a certified Q Grader, SCAA Cupping Judge and a Q Grader Instructor with over 20 years of experience at all levels of the industry. At Coffee Solutions, he works with all aspects of the industry as a consultant, trainer and a provider of laboratory services. At InterAmerican, he works with specialty coffee roasting companies to provide great coffee and even greater service.
Todd Mackey
QC Coordinator, InterAmerican Coffee
Todd Mackey is currently the QC Coordinator for InterAmerican Coffee East in Hopedale, MA, who offers green specialty coffees for roasters of all sizes. He also oversees operations and is the Lead Trainer for Coffee Solutions, a professional services firm offering training and consultation for all segments of the coffee industry. He is a Licensed Q-Grader, BGA Level 1 & 2 Certified Barista, BGA Northeast Chapter Representative, Credentialed Examiner, SCAA Certified Instructor, USBC Sensory Judge, and Co-Founder of the Providence Coffee Society. Todd lives in Providence, RI with his wife Grace and daughter Ayla Mae.
Colleen Anunu
Coffee Buyer, Gimme Coffee
Colleen doesn't like to sit still. She is the coffee buyer for Gimme Coffee, and volunteers for coffee organizations and events world wide. She loves talking and learning about supply chain management and logistics. She also loves karaoke.
James Schoenhut
Owner, Royal Coffee NY
Jaime is President of Royal Coffee New York, a specialty Green Importer. Jaime has been working in specialty coffee for over 18 years, first as a roaster/retailer before starting Royal New York. He enjoys the challenge of discovering great coffees and the people that stand behind them. He and the Royal crew have hosted Cup of Excellence events for the past 4 years.
Dan Streetman
Director of Coffee, Irving Farm Coffee
This Historian turned coffee nerd moved to NYC in January to take over wholesale operations for Irving Farm. While he will always be Texas, the city is proving to be exciting, challenging, and magical. Dan has Head Judged 20 barista competitions in the United States in the past 3 years, and tasted literally thousands of competition espresso drinks. He is also the current Vice Chair of the Barista Guild of America's Executive Council. Dan also loves to geek out about all things food & beverage, customer service, and sociological.
Scott Guglielmino
Product Manager, La Marzocco USA
Scott has worked in the coffee industry for the past 9 years, starting in the Bay Area and moving to Seattle to work for La Marzocco USA. When he’s not trying to understand the complex nature of espresso machines, he often can be found pursuing water filtration, gardening, cooking, or alongside the company of his close friends. Scott is La Marzocco USA’s Product Manager and Technical Evangelist. If you run into Scott he’s always interested to hear your ideas on improving espresso machines.
Rik Kleinfeldt
Owner, New Harvest Coffee Roasters
Most historians believe the Mikhail Gorbachev is responsible for Rik Kleinfeldt’s entry into the coffee business, though there is some disagreement whether there is a direct link between the Soviet coup in August 1991 and Rik’s assumption of the role of General Manager and Roaster at the Coffee Exchange in Providence. After 9 years in retail, Rik started New Harvest Coffee in 2000 and hasn’t looked back. Occasionally up, but not back.
Simon Ouderkirk
Manager, Spot Coffee
A native New Yorker, Simon is a relatively new transplant to New England. In January of 2010 he was brought aboard the team at Seven Stars Bakery to head up their coffee renaissance, and since then has implemented an ever-growing training and certification program. When he just can't get enough coffee at work, Simon works with the Providence Coffee Society, a group he co-founded, dedicated to shaking things up within the blooming coffee scene in Providence. When not severely overcaffienated, Simon enjoys eating charcuterie, playing rugby, and Crossfit.
Matt Brown
Sales Associate, Cafe Imports
Matt made the jump from slinging roasted coffee to green coffee in 2011 when he joined with Café Imports. Since then, he has been able to work and cup alongside industry professionals from around the globe in a wide variety of settings. As a part of the Sales team, he works with Roasters on a daily basis, matching unique coffees with equally unique needs. He had the privilege of judging at last year’s NERBC, and is looking forward to another busy year ahead.
Teresa von Fuchs
Director of Wholesale, Irving Farm
Teresa von Fuchs started in coffee more than half her life ago, and since 2008 has been happily rebuilding a career as a grown up coffee nerd. She most recently joined Irving Farm Coffee Roasters in NYC as Director of Wholesale. She loves talking with people about all the ways in which coffee continues to be an awesome mystery. And sometimes, she dances like no one is watching. (Hopefully, no one is watching.)
Andrew Blyth
Senior Trader, Royal Coffee NY
Andrew Blyth is a senior trader at Royal Coffee New York, Inc., a specialty green coffee importer. Andrew has been working for Royal Coffee for seven years where his primary responsibilities are quality assurance, buying and selling specialty green coffee, and inventory/futures management. He is an active member of the Roasters Guild and a supporter of the MANE conference since its inception. Andrew's favorite part of working at Royal is threefold: meeting coffee producers and seeing their farms, visiting his customers, and getting to cup great coffees every day.
Byron Holcomb
Coffee Director, Dallis Bros Coffee
Byron's responsibilities are green purchases, quality control and training for the 99 year old company. He has worked his way through the industry from seed to cup, literary. From owning his own farm to working under some of the best roasters in the US, Byron has a rather broad perspective of how coffee gets in your cup.
Brant Curtis
Assistant to the Regional Manager, Wilbur Curtis Co
Hailing from the City of Angels, Brant Curtis was born into a life of coffee. Representing the 4th generation of a family owned business, Brant heads up the Marketing Department at the Southern California HQ of the finest coffee brewer manufacturer in the world, Curtis. Since his induction into Specialty Coffee, there has nary been a moment of rest, much to the chagrin of Rachel, his wife of 4 years and Zoe, his 10 month old daughter. Brant has many acronymic titles that clutter his business card, but we won't bore you with the details.
Liz Clark
Upstate Regional Manager & Trainer, Gimme Coffee
Liz Clark lives in Ithaca NY, where she first started working in coffee four year ago. Her sensory experience precedes her passion for coffee, as she has been studying perfuming and scent for quite some time now. Her excitement is contagious and she absolutely loves working with Baristas and brightening people’s day with delicious coffee.
Katie Carguilo
Customer Relations, Counter Culture Coffee
Katie Carguilo has been a barista for 10 years and worked with Counter Culture Coffee's New York City customer support team for 5. She is the current NERBC and USBC champion.
Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman
Editors, Sprudge
Welcome to Sprudge.com: The Worldwide Leader In Coffee News.
Sprudge delivers daily content, viral video, and live multimedia event coverage. Their work has been featured by The New York Times, NPR, Boing Boing, Wired, The Village Voice, and many other publications.
Founded by Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman in 2009, Sprudge.com is today the most widely read coffee publication on the planet. Today's gossip is tomorrow's brews.
Ryan Soeder
Customer Representative, Counter Culture Coffee
Ryan Soeder began his coffee career at Starbucks in 2003 in Louisville Kentucky. After discovering specialty coffee, he began getting involved and helping to develop the local coffee community and competing in latte art competitions. He later moved to Seattle to become the coffee trainer at Roy Street Coffee and Tea, part of the Starbucks Street Level concept store project. It was during this time that he won the Coffee Fest Latte Art Championship in Chcago and placed in 4 out of 5 of these competitions. He now works for Counter Culture Coffee as a Customer Representative in Boston.
Bob Garver
Co-Owner, Bard Coffee and Wicked Joe
Bob entered specialty coffee in 1992 and has been in the industry ever since working both as a barista and a roaster. Along the way he has been privileged to serve as a Lead Instructor and Subject Matter Expert for the SCAA, and has been certified and served as both a USBC Head Judge and a WBC Sensory Judge.
Scout Rose
Director of Retail, Joe
Joe Director of Retail, Scout Rose grew up in Texas and went to Emory University in Atlanta, GA where he studied Philosophy. He moved to New York in 2004 and really enjoys being involved this coffee movement that recognizes quality in the cup, ethical labor practices and sustainability. At Joe, Scout is part of the Green Buying Team. He also instructs Joeys in the ways of cupping and enjoys his time peddling espresso as your morning bartender. In his spare time, he is writing an Encyclopedia of American Menswear.
John Moore
VP Sales & Marketing, Dallis Bros Coffee
John Moore has spent almost 20 years sourcing, roasting, slurping, spitting, extracting, and pondering some of the most wonderful coffees on earth. In his current role with Dallis he is fortunate enough to share coffees and the means to brew them others on a daily basis.
Thomas Dolby
