Sunday, February 26, 2006

Engagement Alliance Podcast No 1: Ristretto Roasters

Ristretto Roasters is a café and artisanal coffee roasting company that sells small-batch, super-premium coffee hand roasted by Din Johnson. It’s a great example of a small business that was founded on passion and is thriving, all while offering excellent value - amazing coffee, superb baked goods, free wifi, and a comfortable place to conduct business or bring the kids. (Check out the Ristretto Roasters fan blog for a small sample of the reviews their customers are putting online.)

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From my home in London, England, I called Johnson’s wife and co-captain at Ristretto, Nancy Rommelmann, last night in Portland, Oregon to talk about Ristretto: how it started, how Din roasts the coffee, where he sources the beans, and how great it is for him to be channelling his passion for roasting the perfect batch of coffee into a living. (Din was actually roasting the beans, which means no interruptions, not even for podcasts.) We talked for just over thirty minutes; for the coffee buffs interested in listening, all of the hardcore java-related content - including Nancy’s outrage over a Starbuck’s employee’s contention that “Ethiopian coffee is just bitter” - comes at the beginning of the conversation.

Engagement Alliance Podcast No 1: Nancy Explains It All - Download this podcast

Links to the people, blogs, companies, and articles mentioned in this podcast:

"Engagement Alliance Podcast No 1: Ristretto Roasters" continued...