This week, I had a chance to chat with Eyal Rosen, co-founder of ROASTe, “the world’s largest coffee marketplace.” They feature everything from world renowned coffee beans to espresso machines to make that perfect cup of coffee.
If you’re a coffee fan and haven’t been to their site, I’d recommend at least checking it out today. I also want to thank Eyal for taking the time to answers my questions.
Eyal is a graduate of Columbia Business School, former senior product manager at Lucent Technologies and former VP of marketing at Nokia Siemens Networks.
What’s the story behind Roaste. Why would you want to leave a VP Marketing job and test out the entrepreneurial waters?
ROASTe.com was founded by coffee lovers, for coffee lovers. Scott (Lush, co-founder of ROASTe) and I were looking for ways to get great fresh coffee at home, and we just got lost with all the physical and virtual options. But then we said, why not have a single place, were you could explore everything? Fresh coffee direct from award-winning roasters, great coffee machines from leading brands, and useful information from pros and peers. That’s when ROASTe.com was born.
I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, even when I was VP Marketing for Nokia Siemens. When the ROASTe.com idea came up, I was immediately hooked. As a coffee lover, I just couldn’t wait to bring all these goodies out to the community. I talk to my friend Scott Lush, who was leading a high-tech consulting business and told him about the idea. Scott, being a coffee enthusiast himself, got excited too.
The passion and love for what we do is our biggest driver. We are not a corporate, and everything we do is financed out of our own pockets. But we have faith and we work hard every day to bring more value to our customers. I can definitely see ROASTe.com becoming a central destination for coffee shoppers and enthusiasts on the Internet. A place where we all have lots of fun and great coffee.
Why should a coffee drinker shop at Roaste versus other online coffee shops or even their local coffee shop down the street?
Let’s be honest, as opposed to guys like us, most coffee lovers want to have great coffee, but they really don’t want to spend too much time on finding it. That’s where ROASTe.com come in. We have America’s largest selection of award-winning roasters and a recommendation system that will drill down into all this variety to bring you only the coffee that is right for you. I can’t say a lot about it right now, but in a few weeks we will unveil a coffee taste-detector that will allow anyone to find their perfect cup from hundreds of great coffees. On top of that, we offer for a limited time, free shipping as well as money back guarantee –so taking us for a test drive couldn’t be easier.
How are coffee producers/roasters selected to be featured on Roaste?
Scott is our coffee roasters honcho. He is in touch with the best of the best, trying out their coffee and getting to know the story behind every cup. We get lots of interest from coffee roasters. You won’t believe how many great artisan roasters are out there looking for recognition beyond their local domain. Of course we accept only the finest ones. And since coffee is shipped direct from the roasters to our customers, it always arrives fresh, which makes us very attractive both to customers and roasters.
Any advice for people looking to make a better cup of coffee, selected coffee on your site, or anything else along those lines?
Coffee is a classic example of the weakest link. Everything should be aligned to get a good cup. It’s actually very easy.
(1) Get your coffee freshly roasted from the finest roasters. Any coffee on our site will do. For example, We have recently added PT’s Coffee Roasters, Roast Magazine’s 2009 Roaster of the Year. Their “El Salvador Los Planes Pacamara” was rated 95 by coffeereview.com. It would be just perfect for drip coffee. http://www.roaste.com/product/ptscoffee/El-Salvador-Los-Planes-Pacamara
(2) Coffee should be ground right before brewing. Pre-ground coffee loses aroma faster than you can say “latte macchiato”…even an entry level $25 burr coffee grinder would be a good start.
(3) The better the coffee maker, the better the result. But again, it can be as simple as a mocha pot or French press to get started
(4) Last, but not least, experience helps. You will improve with every cup. I guarantee it!
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