What is your position in the coffee industry?
coffee roaster, coffee enthusiast, supplier
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Where are you located? ( City and Country )
Lexington, KY, USA
How many years have you been in the industry?
4
About Me:
My name is Jeremy Spainhour, roaster and owner of Kifu Coffee Roasters, a retail and wholesale coffee roastery located in central Kentucky. I love being a part of the [micro-] coffee culture--the people, the product, and the passion *here* are very unique. I have a passion for roasting. For the first three years of Kifu's existence, we (my wife and I) operated entirely as a not-for-profit (and before that I roasted for myself and friends). Only since July have we transitioned into a for-profit business, so roasting for me begins with a passion for coffee. I like to make money as much as the next person, but I'm not willing to pursue money at the cost of quality of life. Coffee roasting allows me to enjoy life and make money. I will negotiate just about anything to roast coffee for a potential customer. I just want to keep my drum turning, and continue improving at my craft.
About My Company:
I roast on an Ambex YM-15 with ProfilePlus RT. However, I don't depend on automation to do my job for me. I have created all my own roast profiles and have a few tricks to manipulate my roasts that the computer cannot do :) We are a roastery only, so all of our time and financial investment is spent on the quality of our product--sampling / sourcing, cupping, and experimenting with various profiles to find the optimal roast for each coffee that comes through our inventory. It has been suggested to us multiple times to open a coffee shop, but we have no desire to do so. Kifu Coffee Roasters is a dedicated roastery, and that's it. We love what we do and have no plans to do anything else.
What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?
Probably being able to constantly try new coffee.
