Coffee Smarter: Cropster Cafe
Erick Armbrust returns to introduce Cropster Cafe and discuss art vs. consistency in roasting.
Coffee Smarter: Cropster Cafe
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Guest: Erick Armbrust
Role: Area Sales Manager
Online: cropster.com
Topic: Cropster Cafe + Art vs. Consistency in roasting.
What he drinks: His go to is an oat flat white, but his first trip to a new (to him) cafe will be a batch brew coffee and a shot of espresso.
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Late in the pod, we serve from the ins and outs of Cropster Cafe to address a question I find infinitely fascinating. Does the use of software that enables automation, consistency, and efficiency impede a roaster's creative or artistic expression? Do we lose something in the process?
According to Erick, the answer is a nuanced "No." The skill and art needed to unlock the potential of a coffee are still there. The need to experiment and depend on your own skills and experience still exists. The software merely enables a roaster to get back to that dream roast a second and third time, and again into the future.
The repeatability enables a business to grow, scale, and maintain consistency, which will, in turn, allow for more coffee exploration and an expansion of creativity. It is a balancing act between passion and paying the bills! According to Erick, data is not our enemy.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PODCAST
Cropster Cafe collects information about your cafe operations and analyzes and shares that data with the user, enabling improved efficiency and consistency.
The info doesn't live in a silo. Cafe can be integrated with the other Cropster products, like ROAST, for example, to allow sales in the cafe to be compared to the roasted coffee inventory. Information like that allows a cafe owner to ensure they have the right quantity of products to maximize profits, increase or decrease labor, or adjust purchasing calendars.
Espresso machine telemetry is another form of data collection. The La Marzocco Pro app Erik mentioned is an example product that integrates with their espresso machines to collect and send data to the user on things like flow rate and usage. With the app, a cafe owner can make remote adjustments to the machine.
Our friend James Harper over at the Filter Stories podcast has some really big news.
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WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO WITH OUR COFFEE
I never understood Tom Petty until I moved to California. Pretty funny considering he got his start as a Floridian. We’re camping near Petty’s final home in the hills outside of Malibu this week, and jamming out—respectfully—at the campground.
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