A Centre is only as good as the palates and hands behind it. Ours judge, roast, pour, and keep the whole thing running — here they are.
The palates that decide what earns a place on the shelf. Every lot we carry is cupped and scored before it reaches you.
Founder & Head Grader
Cup of Excellence judge
Burc founded the Centre to make specialty coffee something you could learn, not just drink. He judges Cup of Excellence competitions and travels to the farms we buy from — which means the score on the bag is one he can stand behind.
A score is a promise. I don't put my name on one I can't taste twice.
Founder & Head Grader
Cup of Excellence judge
Burc founded the Centre to make specialty coffee something you could learn, not just drink. He judges Cup of Excellence competitions and travels to the farms we buy from — which means the score on the bag is one he can stand behind.
A score is a promise. I don't put my name on one I can't taste twice.
Faculty Lead
Cortez Coffee Roasters
A fixture of Tucson coffee for decades, Ron leads the Centre's teaching bench. He built his own roastery from the cupping table up, and he runs our grader training the same way — slow, exact, repeatable.
Green to brown is where the flavor is made — or lost. These are the hands on the drum.
Head Roaster
Nate dials in every profile we run and keeps the roast log honest. He thinks three moves ahead of the bean.
Roasting is a pool game — you're never just making this shot, you're setting up the next three.
Head Roaster
Nate dials in every profile we run and keeps the roast log honest. He thinks three moves ahead of the bean.
Roasting is a pool game — you're never just making this shot, you're setting up the next three.
Where all the upstream work finally lands in a cup you can hold.
Head Barista
Sal runs the bar and trains the floor. Precise about the variables, patient with the people learning them.
Extraction is just chemistry you can taste — dial in the variables and the cup tells you if you got the math right.
Head Barista
Sal runs the bar and trains the floor. Precise about the variables, patient with the people learning them.
Extraction is just chemistry you can taste — dial in the variables and the cup tells you if you got the math right.
Head Barista
Sal runs the bar and trains the floor. Precise about the variables, patient with the people learning them.
Extraction is just chemistry you can taste — dial in the variables and the cup tells you if you got the math right.
The work you don't see at the bar — numbers, story, and the small stuff that keeps a Centre open.
Reporting & Analytics
Keeps the roast, inventory, and sales numbers in one honest picture.
Marketing
Tells the Centre's story — the farms, the classes, the people.