Joe Harrison

About Joe Harrison

Growing up in wine country, I knew many farmers and winemakers. My Dad loved to taste wine grown nearby, so we would go to vineyards and tastings frequently. Wine is a big deal when you live in wine country. I first fell in love with coffee while working at Alpen Sierra Coffee Roasters in South Lake Tahoe, where I first learned to roast coffee. We cupped a natural Ethiopian one day, and it changed the whole trajectory of my life. After that, I moved to Portola Coffee Lab as a barista and then advanced to roasting. While there, I coached and competed in many coffee competitions including the US Barista Championship and the US Brewers Cup. It was during this time that Scott Rao sat at the roasting counter and taught me an incredible amount about roasting and tasting. Eventually we won Roast Magazine\'s Roaster of the Year award in 2015 at Portola Coffee Lab. I\'ve learned the true power of coffee to connect people from all over the world. Farmers from around the world bring their amazing nuances right into our communities, and we get to know them by name if we\'re lucky.\' I get excited about trying new coffees. I\'m even more passionate about the intimate ways coffee shows up in our lives. I genuinely think the job of a roaster isn\'t first to roast awesome coffee, but to enrich the many moments that we\'re all having together on this journey called life. I moved to Eugene in 2016 and got the idea to bring great coffee to my new friends here. I was lucky enough to meet Mark and Thomas who owned The Barn Light. We started roasting coffee, eventually starting Farmers Union Coffee Roasters in 2019! We pay farmers directly at a much higher rate than the fair-trade, so they can invest in their farms and families instead of paying middlemen. We want to introduce you to a side of coffee you might have not known about.

Experience

1. Co-owner

   Farmers Union Coffee Roasters

   Feb 2019 — Present · Eugene, OR, US

Education

• University of California, Irvine

  Bachelor's Degree

Skills

• Green Coffee Evaluation
• Equipment Maintenance
• Cupping
• Food & Beverage
• Brewed Coffee
• Retail
• Barista Training
• Management
• Latte Art
• Customer Service
• Event Management
• Training
• Post Roast Analysis
• Coffee Roasting
• Tasting
• Marketing Strategy
• Specialty Coffee
• Sales
• Menu Development
• Team Building
• Inventory Management
• Espresso
• Roast Curve Profiling
• Water Analysis
• Strategic Planning