Tucked away in the far northwest corner of Washington State is the city of Bellingham. Not only does this city boast of its geography–being situated between snow-capped mountains and the shores of the Pacific Ocean, this is a city that also boasts of an incredible coffee culture, and some incredible cafes & roasters. I had the privilege growing up not from from Bellingham, and find myself returning there often when I get back to the city I grew up in.
During these many visits, one roaster that I have come to really appreciate, and find contributing greatly to the specialty coffee culture of the city is none other than Makeworth Coffee Roasters. And so I am thrilled to have the chance to share their story as we begin a new year as our Coffee Roaster of the Month for January 2024!
Hey Tim, so great to get the chance to connect with you! Help our audience get to know
you a bit better…What’s your backstory in coffee/How did you get started?
Like most folks, my first coffee experience was through Starbucks; and it was truly just a job to get through college. Honestly I wasn’t even a coffee-drinker for most of that experience. The entire time in that job I had zero intention to pursue anything further in the industry. After graduating college, and moving through several really different workpaths (college volleyball player training for overseas, personal trainer, high school volleyball coach, wedding photographer, graduate student, sales, university admissions counselor) I got to my wits end feeling like my creativity and desire for impact had always been stifled. While I was working as a university admission counselor, a friend of friend was introduced who was a head roaster at Solid Coffee (Artesia, CA) and it sparked some serious curiosity. One thing led to another and I convinced him to let me apprentice under his work. So I’d spend all day working in an office trying to not implode, doing a job that was draining the life out of me, and then right after I would lose the dress clothes for some jeans, a pair of vans and a plain shirt to jet over and clock in to join the evening roasting session. As trade for his really generous education, I did all of the bottom-of-the-barrel tasks for Solid (bathroom and floor cleaning, heavy lifting of equipment and burlaps, and basically the grunt work behind the scenes) . In that setting, I quickly became obsessed with the intersection of art and science in the roasting process. It was the fusion of sensorial experiences and objective/measurable variables. I remember one of my very first days in that apprenticeship, I was introduced to cupping coffees and had my MIND BLOWN! I tasted an ethiopian natural process coffee and couldn’t believe I was drinking coffee. I was hooked on the whole thing. The methodology behind roasting, the massive variety of sensory possibilities, the complex supply chain behind the product, and the discipline/skill it took to not only make something great, but to be able to make it great OVER AND OVER again.
After this apprenticeship came to an end, I knew I was ready to dive in deep. I launched my own small label called “Neighborhood Coffee Company ” that was my experimental space to roast coffee and donate profit to charities of choice along with hosting social events and community-focused programming. My interest in coffee, although fascinated by all of technical skills, was ultimately motivated by the desire to have a humanity-focused career. That private label was not cranking out a ton of coffee, but it rewired how I thought about what the coffee industry is really about– people! Coincidentally, I was fortunate to find a more formal roasting opportunity under a certified Q grader at a small roasting company in Huntington Beach, CA. His guidance was one of the greatest gifts I could have asked for at the beginning of my roasting career. It took my fire for the industry to another level! By cupping together 100’s of times, often times batches that had miniscule differences, I quickly gained refined understanding of the sensory experience AND how to apply those perceptions. The rigor and discipline it takes to truly evaluate coffee is such an elusive skill. Working alongside him for the 2 years continues inform how I source and create profiles to this day.
What keeps you going in coffee?
It’s been an incredible journey to work in coffee for nearly 7 years. Looking back on my progression, I see such an interesting ebb and flow of my passion inside of the industry. Some seasons were so locked in with the obsession of the craft: brewing, roasting, sourcing, tasting etc. Some seasons have been solely about people-concepts: events, social causes, psychology of service etc. But I’m noticing that the ebb and flow has been more like a slowing pendulum swing. each swing toward the other side is less extreme than it was last time I was on that side. I mean this in the absolute best way, though. It’s not that I’m losing passion (although I hit some SERIOUS burnout a couple of times), but instead am beginning to see that it’s all part of a vibrant, deeply interconnected ecosystem. Each facet of the industry feeds the other aspects. Because I get to have a hand in the many different worlds, I’m continually propelled to stay involved, continue learning, and most importantly be grateful that this industry has given me a sustainable career to (hopefully!) positively impact the world around me.
Can you tell us a bit about the history of MakeWorth Coffee? How long have you been around?
So originally starting by the name of “Makeworth Market,” in May of 2019, this company has seen some really beautiful iterations that eventually helped solidify our passion to ultimately be a people-first, hospitality driven coffee roasting company. As we all know 2019 was an interesting year to start a business, ramping up into COVID’s impact. Originally the concept was (and in many ways, still is!) to be a shared community space that highlights creatives and do-ers of the city. With a 16 tap beer parlor, weekly event programming, curated mercantile display and a specialty focused coffee/kitchen menu it was a place to come be and create. Through COVID it became much more clear that we had an opportunity to focus on and really commit to our desire to be a true and passionate coffee roasting company. So while Makeworth has been in its space since 2019, we’ve been in the roasting game since late Spring of 2022. Many more lovely years to come 🙂
How did you come up with the name?
The idea of the name “Makeworth” came from the desire to simply create something beautiful, something community focused, and something meaningful as an expression of the inner creative, artist and entrepreneur inside all of us.
Before we get much deeper, can you share with our readers what you’re drinking/enjoying these days when it comes to coffee?
As you and I connected on it recently, but I am STOKED about our coffee sourced through Frinj the specialty coffee growing collective from California, USA. The very principle of that coffee keeps me energized, plus it’s a really great round and balanced profile. The other coffee I cant seem to get enough of is our washed Guatemala from Don Aurellio Villatoro. It’s got so many layers of tasting, high sweetness and nuance, but is so approachable and easy to enjoy. It’s like a great pool– a shallow end to play in and a deep end to get lost in 🙂
So, your home-base is Bellingham, WA. What many people might not know is that I spent much of my childhood growing up in Bellingham WA. Can you tell us a little bit more about what the specialty coffee community is like there? What are the similarities/differences then say Washington state’s most famous coffee-city? (Seattle).
I love this question and have a theory, although I studied anthropology at university, I am not claiming expertise here. haha.
In short, it has everything to do with the impact of urbanization and environments that can and do become metropolized. Without assigning any sort of value to either city, it’s so fascinating to observe Seattle as a solidified and established city– compared to the ongoing, ever-wild environment of Bellingham. I’ll just say this: the untamed, wild and undeveloped environment of Bellingham informs a unique, excited and passionate creative community. Seattle is home to some absolute staples in the coffee world– and is continuing to add new and cutting edge companies each year. And in the same, yet so incredibly different way, the wild and outdoor-focused environment breeds a whole different mindset, approach, and value system for current and future businesses. Bellingham, home to seemingly countless award winning breweries, restaurants, and coffee shops continues to outperform it’s size of footprint on the map. I’d like to think the outdoor beauty and closeness to untamed nature is a huge mental impact to that reality. specifically with the coffee scene, the community here is incredible. I have so much personal respect for so many of the folks in our city. And the best part is, the best is yet to come!
Keeping the focus on the specialty coffee community—in Bellingham and beyond—what do you love right now, and where do you see things in 5 years? What would you like to see change/improve/stay the same?!
What I love now about the specialty coffee community is the evergreen opportunity to showcase the centrality of human connection. In contrast to the model of big chain coffee companies, independent and specialty focused companies have an opportunity to subvert a narrative of faster, cheaper, and more. i think there is much to be said with the communal effort to open up transparency of the supply chain consumers, but I don’t think this is the actual solution. Moreso what I’m observing, hoping for, and loving when i see it, is the opportunity to actually be an authentically hospitality-focused community. Ultimately, people don’t care about how much you know, until you know how much they care. The pursuit to increase consumer knowledge of coffee without any humanized precedent feels directionless. I’m not so sure consumers really care about the impact of elevation, fermentation periods, varietals, or roast levels unless they are able to attach a lived experience and a felt sense of humanity about it all.
We have this moment in time, in the SCC, to actually choose to invest in our standards of human care, both systematically and on a personal level. Choosing to actually seek better participation in the dynamics for a fragile supply AND genuinely seek to take care of the guests who walk through our doors or purchase our coffee. The technical and intellectual understanding of this industry are undeniably going to exponentially grow– I hope our communities capacity to genuinely care for humans around them follows pace.
I know this past year you launched some new packaging for your coffee. Can you share more about this project, your vision for it, and what people can expect when they get their hands on it?
I couldn’t be more grateful for how this new packaging turned out. It was a project that, from start to finish, was completed entirely in house. One of our team members is a graphic designer who happens to be a great barista and helped really bring our collected ideas to life. The concept is a sunrise that came from the simple idea that each day the sunrises is a new day to have hope for, be excited about, and to make the most of. Each day is a gift and the next day is not always promised. But we wanted to have a design that felt elegant yet simple. The golden embroidered font matched with the outlinted gold of the sunrise cutout plays with the various light and color reflection of each gradient sticker and insert. We’ve loved the gradient pattern for a long time and think it’s fluidity and undefinedness is such a sweet complexity to the bold and simple white soft texture of the box itself.
Ultimately we wanted to create a packaging as beautiful as we could to match the passion and love that went into getting each coffee to our customers hands!
Speaking of coffee, could you share a bit more with our readers about your
philosophy/approach to roasting of the coffee that goes into those bags? You mention “intention is the precedent and foundation for our process.” How does that look? What equipment do you roast on?
Totally. One thing I’ve been adamant about in our sourcing model is to seek to work with origin-specific importing companies rather than general multi-origin importers. I mean no criticism at all to the bigger importers– I’ve had incredible coffees and seen amazing impact from that scale and model. But the intention behind this approach is to not only gain earlier and better access to green coffee, as well as closer connections with producers, but to get an actual more-in-touch look at the coffee world as a whole. Instead of having 1-2 different channels of feedback, I get to have 10-12. 10-12 different people offering their perspectives and insights to their experience with each origin. My access to new thoughts, new solutions and greater compassion for the process is multiplied greatly the more trusted voices I get to hear from. Just this past couple weeks alone, I’ve been able to gain 3 field reports from different origins, from 3 different people. It helps keep us in touch with how things really are, and with ways to think, respond and do better on our end. I admit that keeping 10-12 strong relationship is quite a bit more work. It’s more emailing. It’s more spreadsheets. Its more energy. But this intention is a massive precedent for the quality that comes of it– both in the cup and in the experience of making it happen
I noticed on your site you share about believing “craft coffee and genuine hospitality belong perfectly together.” Can you share how you live that out in your cafe and as a team?
So this idea of “hospitality” has ALWAYS fascinated me, and I am eager to let it continue to evolve in myself and in our company. The longer I work in coffee, the more I’ve understood that ultimately it has less and less to do with the coffee itself. Don’t get me wrong, it is my number one objective and responsibility to source and roast as quality of coffees as I can– and to master the skills to do it consistently. But at the fundamental level of this objective is the great need to keep the main thing, the main thing: that people are cared for.
One book that I continue to glean from daily is “When Willpower Is Not Enough.” the basic idea of the book is that most people don’t actually possess individual will power to sustainability change or maintain a value, and that the real way to affect purposeful and sustainable behavior is to change the environment of the individual rather than change the individual themselves. Applied, I believe that hospitality is not simply “behaving” with acts of service– it’s not sustainable. Hospitality is about creating environments where acts of service flow naturally. From maximizing employee compensation and experience, to setting up efficient and ergonomic working condition, to intentionally designing a space that’s enjoyable to be in, to creating visually beautiful products, all the way down to the genre and volume of music in our cafe… all of it creates an environment that allows for organic behavior to reflect our value of care for ourselves and others. When you feel good, it’s easier to be good 🙂 We have a lifetime of improvement to go, no doubt, but are finding amazing impact when the focus is shifted toward creating a better environment for our staff and customers.
It’s been great getting the chance to connect up and share your story. Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Well first off– SO MUCH GRATITUDE for this spotlight and opportunity to share. I am beyond thrilled to share what we are up to and some raw thoughts on how we are doing our best to do our best. As we look to 2024, we have some awesome things on the horizon. Coffee focused in-person events, dropping an epic coffee subscription, new design releases, and just incredible coffee partnerships. I am eager to be connected with this community and collaborate with other likemind folks. If anything we are doing resonates with a reader, I’m always available to connect!
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Contact Info:
web: www.makeworthcoffee.com
instagram: @makeworthcoffeeroasters
facebook: facebook.com/makeworthmarketbellingham
email: tim@makeworthcoffee.com
Find their beans: If you’re looking to get your hands on some beans then definitely check out their web-store for what they’re currently roasting.
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I just want to say a huge thank you to Tim at Makeworth Coffee Roasters for being such a huge contributor to the coffee culture in Bellingham WA. Check out their site, grab yourself some beans, and enjoy!
Stay Caffeinated,
Tyler
commonly coffee 