#14 Going from 0 to 400 000lb with Mike Perry, Klatch Coffee

In this episode, our guest is Mike Perry from Klatch Coffee who will share his over 20 years of experience in the coffee industry over the upcoming 3 episodes. Mike and his wife Cindy started Klatch in 1993, and have been honored with multiple prestigious national and international coffee awards. In the first episode Mike will talk about his coffee story and how bad coffee at the office and a lack of decent cafes for a date can lead to the start of a great coffee venture. The Klatch cafe came first, rather then roasting, and through the interview we'll learn how a cafe can be an amazing catalyst for a successful roastery. Mike will tell us one of those cool “how I found my roaster” stories, which can happen once every ten years. I have a few stories of my own, so if you haven't heard them, go ahead and listen to the previous episodes. Mike found a 24 kilo Diedrich, which initiated a debate about the ideal roaster size for a coffee startup. Mike will also discuss what the minimum load is on a 24 kilo roaster. Mike will tell us if roasting in a cafe in is a good idea or not, and point out the milestones as Klatch Roasting grew from selling a few hundred pounds in 1997 to 400,000 pounds today. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit valeriancoffee.substack.com