Stephen Ezell on Coffee Truths, Defects, and Doing It Right - WNL - Sept - 2025

Stephen Ezell, roaster, educator, and Yemen project consultant, joins Wednesday Nite Live with Tracy Rigdon, Jim Alabiso, and Charles Gaskins to strip coffee down to truth and technique. We map his path from Boot Coffee and mentorship to teaching hundreds of roasters, unpack the Yemeni Coffee Project’s real logistics and risks, and show how to spot meaningful defects (and ignore the internet noise). We track where money leaks out of the chain, and how cafés and consumers can push more value back to origin, then close on Stephen’s punk-rock, DIY teaching ethos and what he’s building next.We pair that with a ground-level look at Solune Coffee as a living community hub, part roastery, part creative venue. The conversation hits how roast decisions shape sweetness and clarity, why black coffee reveals the work, and how local events, music, and maker energy keep a shop vibrant. Bottom line: sourcing and paying for quality matters, varietals carry place in the cup, and local support is the difference between a real scene and corporate beige.Takeaways:• Boot Coffee origins & the “confident curiosity” classroom• Yemeni Coffee Project: risks, choke points, and who captures value• Defects you can taste (and the ones you should ignore)• Practical brew fixes at home (grind, water, storage)• Why varietal + origin matter, and how Solune builds culture around the cup• Actionable ways to support farmers and your local shopHosted by Tracy Rigdon with cohosts Jim Alabiso and Charles Gaskins. Drop your origin/brew questions in the comments and tell us your go-to local café.View the full video here:https://youtu.be/28g5-RuDxsc?si=4612Hq20Rsi0pX4Z