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Luis Zaman

Male

Haslett, MI

United States

Profile Information:

What is your position in the coffee industry?: coffee roaster, home barista, coffee enthusiast
Where are you located? ( City and Country ): Lansing, MI
How many years have you been in the industry?: 1
If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?: yes
Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.: I've been a home barista for a while now, and started as a home roaster. We are now roasting for a tea house in downtown-ish Lansing and retailing there as well. Also have quite a few word-of-mouth customers that buy on a weekly basis. We have plans for a new coffee shop in the area in the works. I can offer some space to jam (most likely), but don't have any commercial machines at the moment.
What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?: All of them
About Me:: Home Barista and Home Roaster turned Retail Roaster. I have a Silvia, Macap M4 doserless stepless, and a Reg Barber rosewood. Also have a couple of presses, a Chemex, a Beehouse pourover, and a Bodum Kona. I recently moved to Mid Michigan and have been thinking of opening a coffee shop because of the plethora of terrible coffee in the area.
About My Company:: Right now, it's a couple of guys roasting for a local tea house / restaurant. We are also retailing out of her shop. She has given us free reign to take over some counter space and offer more of a coffee shop like menu, so we'll look into that. Eventually the goal is to have our own roasting/retailing shop in the near future.
What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?: The coffee
Website:: http://mastodoncoffee.com

Comment Wall:

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rob

yeah I know magdalenas for sure. I used to catch live shows/open mic nights there. I have always wondered why they didn't do coffee with the tea there. Gone wired's(across the street) spro and brewed SUCKS and there is this vacuum in downtown on Michigan now that Rudy Bags is gone...if you guys are passionate and are about to fill the void I would love to brainstorm with you guys and help out.

The pics look great....fantastic crema.

I was checking the blog out...I have been to many of the same places as you guys.

I was a barista in Mason for years, and if we go in the late morning they may let us jump behind the bar and play with the linea for awhile. They have chemex there too and work with a tasty artisan roaster out of Princeton that I have always been impressed with.

Let me know.

Jan 5, 2009
Miro

Hey Luis! Long time no see. You should drop by for a shot soon, it's been way to long since we've geeked out.

Jan 5, 2009
Miro

http://www.baristaexchange.com/group/greatlakesbaristas

Jan 5, 2009
Miro

I worked till about 2:30P. I have to go do this wholesale training in Saline later today, so im not to sure ill be around.

Jan 5, 2009
M

haha i totally helped you last week!

Jan 7, 2009
rob

how does this friday (jan 23 '09) look for you? we can do a little tour of a few places if you dig. let me know

Jan 17, 2009
rob

friday will work dawg. when/where you want to meet? I get out of work at 12:30

Jan 21, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

nice. check out my 15 minutes of fame on www.rapidgrowthmedia.com. Thanks for coming to the goat-a-rama.
Kurt

Jan 21, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

Somebody is there 9-5 m-f and roughly 10-4 on saturday until we get our formal tasting bar built. even then we will have limited hours staffed by volunteer home baristas who want to hone their skills and learn some.

Jan 21, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

I know of a 5 pound Sivitz air roaster for sale 2500.

Jan 22, 2009
rob

4 works well for me

do you have an e-mail and I will e-mail you my phone number or you can msg me on here and I will check it

Jan 23, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

I need to raise the price! Thanks for your support and interest of my tiny little venture and of the "Cloud 9" espresso project. We started out with a matrix of about 15 coffees which were roasted to 2 or 3 different degrees and evaluated individually for Ease of pull (could you get a good shot on the first pull or did you have to adjust the grind a couple of times); crema; color; length of shot; and finally aroma and flavor. That information is the foundation for all my espresso blends. Anyone serious about developing a solid understanding of how coffee performs as espresso should start there first.

Jan 25, 2009
rob

yeah man, I didn 't know we were supposed to meet there cause you never got back to me. glad you enjoyed. i am actually what helped make that spro what it is I am brought to say....i probably trained that gentlemen behind the counter

Jan 26, 2009
Trevor

Yo Luis, it was nice meeting you last week man. Let me know next time you'll be back this way and I'll try and set aside some time to talk more coffee. cheers

Jan 26, 2009
Ryan Knapp

hey thanks again for stopping by last week. hope your experience and espresso was enjoyable.

Jan 30, 2009
Miro

Yeah dude, get over here soon. We can hit up Mercury for sure, after having some Ugly coffee that is. :o)

Feb 2, 2009
Miro

Hahaha. I must admit, its pretty weird that the Mug is featured in this months issue, but its amazing! I'm still not use to seeing Ugly peeps in the mag haha. Drop by for a shot soon.

Feb 24, 2009
Miro

Hahaha! That's really bad ass. I'm glad you had the balls to do that :o)

Dude, im telling you. Marshmallows!!!! They're in there.

Mar 15, 2009
Miro

We'll my mother just gave birth to my new baby brother, and i might be gone this weekend but you can probably set it up with zak. Try mailing him on the exchange. If it looks like im staying ill let you know and well figure something out.

Mar 19, 2009
Miro

YES!!!!! :oD

Mar 19, 2009
Ryan Knapp

thing are going good in GR. Your due for a visit, eh?

Mar 24, 2009
Amanda Latham

Justice fingers!

Mar 27, 2009
Amanda Latham

Oh. It's supposed to be a judge with no thumbs...

Mar 27, 2009
Amanda Latham

and I didn't write that joke... Mallory did.

Mar 27, 2009
Trevor

Ah, I was man. I'm on my way out right now though. I don't know if you've met Laura or not but she'll be there the rest of the night. Keep me posted when you'll be back in town though.

Apr 11, 2009
Miro

thats crazy! next time you have some extra let me know. id love to try it.

Apr 13, 2009
David Robson

whats happening with your chat? You said "yo" twice then went quiet. haha.
Thanks bud. Every time I get the camera out my latte art goes sketchy but was an alright attempt.

Apr 17, 2009
Miro

I'll be working with ethan from 330 till close. come get coffeee~!!!!!!

Apr 18, 2009
Ryan Knapp

I'm glad you enjoyed the gerbicho rogicha (did you take a bag home or chemex it?). Too bad I missed you, I think your probably due for another visit soon tho. We just got in a Yirgacheffe Wondo Adame and a micro lot Costa Rican you'll have to check out.

Apr 22, 2009
Miro

Thats because it absolutely has been forever. Luis, come get ugly with me my friend.

May 6, 2009
David Robson

haha my'bad!
I'm on quite often but you never seem to be around
I dont have anything planned for the rest of the day so will be on no doubt but gathering the troops for a college night on the town tomorrow
gonna be messy :)

May 9, 2009
tif

what's up dude?!?!

May 9, 2009
Miro

Oh, thats cuz were brothers, duh

May 10, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

Be there til 4:30 come on over.

Jun 1, 2009
Ryan Knapp

sweet, I'll be on bar

Jun 2, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

That's hilarious. I can hardly wait to smell the mystery beans.

Jun 2, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

Did you use actual Red Cedar River Water?

Jun 3, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

the "mystery coffee" was 2006 #10 CoE El Salvador producing farm, Santa Elena http://www.cupofexcellence.org/CountryPrograms/ElSalvador/2006Program/AuctionResults/tabid/278/ctl/FarmDetails/mid/708/ItemID/546/Default.aspx
This is new crop and i scored it 88. looks like the international judges gave it 88.48 in 2006. Very focused, sweet, clean, with faint floral notes and a milk-chocolatey base. Nothing "big" to jump out at you which is why our friend, the home roaster who only buys huge Ethiopian naturals, didn't really appreciate it.
Kurt

Jun 4, 2009
Logan Demmy

Sorry but ill be in cbus for the weekend. But one of the guys who trained me, Adam, will be there on sat. from 9 to 1 i think. Good luck on your journey

Jun 4, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

I think we should filter some Red Cedar River water and try it out. But I agree, the Lansing water is almost as good as Mackinac Island water which comes from solid limestone bedrock, filtered naturally for millenia but probably loaded with minerals that would choke up a machine. As for the bag, I reuse bags and sometimes the oils foul or perhaps it had my Chai tea spice mix in it. Thanks for the great pics of the Red Cedar. Would love to utilize your tech savvy for our website, blogs, etc.

Jun 4, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

"I reuse bags" only around the shop and for samples, not for customers!

Jun 4, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

Yea. Uts informal just show up. We are still going to do an organized event but need some time to figure out the format and plan it and get a couple of cool machines to play with like a dels corte and synesso in addition to the Rancilio.

Jun 10, 2009
Kurt Stauffer

Bring it! You lucky dog.

Jun 10, 2009
Miro

When i lived in A2, i lived right near down town, and it was great. Rent wasn't crazy bad, but i also lived with 4 other people, so yeah. Check out places on catherine st. maybe. That's where i lived and it was quite nice.

Jun 24, 2009
tif

omg yes!
i work fri 12-7 and sun 11-5

Jul 2, 2009
David Robson

Where are you!
haha

Aug 6, 2009
David Robson

Aw man! Luck for some. haha
So what have you been doing? not heard for you in a while.
hows the espresso machine?

Aug 8, 2009
David Robson

haha cool stuff, how is it all?
someone finally hired me by the way, it seemed like a nice job but its turned out to be a pile of ass, 10 second shots, the wont let me touch the grinder and asked that I not do latte art (have u seen the new pics btw, lovin them!). Lucky for me i went into a local cafe with a 3 group nuova simonelli aurelia and they offered me a job! I have a meeting on tuesday with them.

Aug 16, 2009
David Robson

haha if im ever in the US i will give you a shout so you cant point me in the right direction. I'm at the shitty job with the quick, poor coffee now. I have an interview tomorrow with this other place so I'm looking forward to that. Petty much had the worst 24 hours known to man, some of it is the kinda stuff you expect to see in a damn soap TV show lol.
I'm having a bit of a coffee problem too. My espresso seems to be coming out overly acidic, so much so I spat the last one out lol.

Aug 17, 2009
Eric

I just finally got a chance to check out those pictures because we just got back to MKE after the very long weekend in MI. I have gotta hand it to you, the pictures turned out fantastic... I will let Courtney know you got some awesome ones of her up there and dont be surprised if I steal a few. Also, it was really great finally meeting you in person, you are a stand up citizen if I have ever met one. Haha. Anyway, I think we are going to be back in Michigan for the coffee event at Madcap in early October, so maybe we could all meet up around then or something. Also, if you are interested my good friends at Roast Coffee Co are doing their annual barista jam at their shop towards the end of October, and that should be a ton of fun if you or anyone you know wanted to make the trip out. But anyway, I will keep in touch, and you do the same... let me know how the mitten goes!

Aug 24, 2009