Staff

Mark McKee has over 20 years of experience in the specialty coffee arena. He has roasted for the past 10 years and has studied under indivudals such as Philip Meech at Caffe Lusso and Brian Speckman at Tullys Coffee. Mark believes that each bean should be roasted to bring out it's own unique characteristic and flavor and does not roast to the dark full city roast of a Starbucks. Marks passion is relationship coffee, building relationships with the growers, ensuring that they receive a fair price for their product and that quality coffee is preserved for years to come. Mark is an advocate against all of the certification that is being done, especially since most needs to be paid for by farmers. He believes most certification confuses the consumer and stresses instead the importance of relationship coffee with quality. After all, if the coffee does not taste amazing in the cup, who will desire to drink it, no matter what the certification says.

Mark has opened up coffee shops in various countries both here in the United States, Canada, France and the Middle East. He has been involved in various areas from being a barista, store manager, corporate trainer, coffee specialist, importer and even journalist as he has been featured in the origin section of Roast Magazine the past two years. He has been involved in larger venues such as the coffee trainer for the Seattle Mariners on opening day at Safeco Field in Seattle. He loves to read books on coffee and can always be found near a burlap sack of coffee with his french press.