As the coffee roasting market and profession continue to gain popularity, we are thrilled to interview the Education Manager of Wecoffee to explore their innovative approach to coffee education and how technology enhances the learning experience for their students.

Tell us more about Wecoffee and what you do there.

I’m Sungbin Cho, the Education Manager at Wecoffee. My main role is to coach and mentor our members to foster their growth and development as coffee roasters. Wecoffee is a coffee training community that focuses on improving the skills of coffee professionals. Founded in 2019, we have grown to over 540 members. Unlike traditional education, we encourage members to network and provide a space for them to freely practice roasting and extraction. Our goal is to help our members broaden their perspective in the industry.

You said that Wecoffee is different from traditional education. What are the main differences?

Traditional coffee education comes in various forms, such as attending academies, learning 1-on-1 or in small groups from experts, or receiving group coaching. However, these methods have limitations. Even the high-quality small-group classes may be biased towards the instructor's particular approach.

I’d say the most crucial aspect of learning is through practicing and internalizing skills, but many traditional settings lack adequate practice space. Occasionally, if students are lucky, they might get access to practice areas if their instructors allow, but this is rare. Wecoffee overcomes these limitations by providing a space where members can practice anytime, even in the early hours, for six-month period. I believe that these elements set Wecoffee apart from traditional coffee education methods.

It's clear that Wecoffee has a unique approach to coffee education. Let's dive a bit deeper into your philosophy on education. What do you consider most important in running a successful coffee education brand?

The key is understanding what the trainees need, even when they don't know themselves. Many trainees are unsure about what to study or which skills to develop. Our role is to guide them periodically, providing a foundation for self-motivated growth.When students receive high-quality education, their positive experiences can create word-of-mouth recommendations. While new education brands may struggle initially and there's often a lag between creating buzz and attracting new students, it's crucial to consistently build brand value.Ultimately, an education brand must build trust over time. This requires educators to continuously develop themselves. Education trends have changed dramatically in the past five years, so it's essential to reflect current trends and demonstrate active involvement in the industry.

That’s really insightful. How does technology then, specifically Firescope, contribute to your educational services?

Both instructors and trainees need continuous development. Particularly in roasting education, software like Firescope greatly helps in improving roasting skills. It allows us to record and analyze the roasting process, archive data in the cloud, and make it searchable at any time. This ability to compare previous batches and analyze logs is a significant advantage.It’s particularly useful to learn to interpret graphs. It enables trainees to understand and improve subtle changes in roasting. Accurate analysis of key data such as ROR allows for adjustments in unpredicted situations. As experience accumulates through this process, unexpected roasting results significantly decrease, leading to more precise roasting.Furthermore, Firescope is also very helpful for developing education materials. It ensures the delivery of accurate information through recorded data, and it preserves precise logs without relying on human memory. This prevents errors due to faulty recollections, making the materials more reliable.

So what roasting equipment do you use to train your students and why?

We primarily use Easyster roasting machines. It’s also the equipment I use most often, primarily due to its reasonable price. Many Korean roasters use Easyster because of its good performance and after-sales service in relation to its price. This also allows us to discuss roasting in the same environment as other roasters.

Moreover, Easyster takes a form between analog and digital, making it highly versatile. Particularly, expensive machines often have issues with touchscreens breaking down or difficulties in sourcing parts. Being able to avoid such inconveniences is another advantage of Easyster. Additionally, we use Stronghold machines for competition preparation or learning roasting principles. I believe that Easyster and Stronghold share the same principle in how beans roast. Using both machines allows for gaining diverse experiences. We also utilize Bullet roasting machines. Ultimately, I think it's important to experience different equipment while learning the same principles.

What's the most important factor when designing a roasting profile?

I consider gas pressure as the most critical factor. Before roasting, once you've determined the characteristics of the green beans and decided on the target roasting point (medium, light, dark, etc.), I believe the most important thing is to select the appropriate gas pressure that matches these factors. If you set the gas pressure correctly, you can effectively bring out the coffee's character at the appropriate drop temperature.

Once you determine the gas pressure, the airflow and charge temperature are automatically decided. For example, if you set the gas pressure high, you would set the airflow high and the charge temperature low. Conversely, if you set the gas pressure low, you would set the airflow and the charge temperature high. Because the other factors are relatively determined based on the gas pressure, it can be said that 90% of the roasting profile is determined by the gas pressure.The reason I came to this conclusion was to find a roasting method without exceptions. For instance, some people reduce the heat in the latter part of the roast, while others maintain high heat from start to finish. Both have their own styles, but occasionally they encounter coffees where their style doesn't apply. I thought there needed to be a fundamental principle that could produce delicious results without exceptions, and I found the answer in setting the appropriate gas pressure suited to the coffee's characteristics.

Your approach to roasting is interesting, especially how you've identified gas pressure as a fundamental principle. Now, let's shift our focus to the technology you use in your roasting process. Why have you continued to use Firescope for five years?

As a roasting profiler, the basic features were available from the start, but Firescope has continuously evolved over the years. Initially, the development was slow and there were quite a few bugs, but the price was very reasonable. Although the price has increased since then, there are significantly more features I can benefit from. While many users might ignore bugs or inconveniences, I've reported over 300 bugs for resolution, and they've fixed all issues. This has built my trust that the development team is genuinely considering how to make production easier for roasters and actually improving the software. With UI updates and addition of new features, their product justifies its price increase, which is why many users are satisfied and continue to use it.From an educator's perspective, the convenience of comparing logs is a major reason.

Since it is cloud-based, users can log in from anywhere to access their records, making it easy for everyone to review and analyze roasting data outside of the training sessions. I found that this flexibility allowed better focus for my trainees. They could analyze logs at home just as effectively as on-site. Those who progressed the fastest did so by using this feature to throughly plan and refine their roasting techniques, testing ideas in their own time and then applying them directly in the roasting environment.

Who would you recommend Firescope to?

I would recommend it to everyone who roasts. If you're using Artisan or worried about the cost, you might not need it. However, if you are looking to use a roasting program and find Cropster too expensive, Firescope is a good alternative.

Firescope provides offerings similar to or better than Cropster at a reasonable price, and those who roast less than 10 batches a month can even go for the free plan. The reason Cropster is paid is because of the cloud-based data recording and management, but this can be sufficiently benefited in Firescope as well.

Using Firescope can really speed up production and improve results, especially with the profile feature. Initially, you might think your coffee profile is pretty solid after a year or two, but as you use it for 2-3 years, you will notice the profile gradually becoming more refined and developed. The more you use it, the better your coffee tastes, and your roasting skills improve. That’s why I recommend Firescope to everyone. It’s a great solution that helps producing quality coffee quickly and efficiently.