Ward Robak - coffee roaster and psychologist

Ward orders green bean coffee from Coffee Shrub (commercial) & Sweet Maria’s (consumer), both are operated by the same company located in Oakland, CA. They source coffee from all over the world directly from growers and regional co-ops. It’s better than Free Trade, given there are no middle companies. St. Mark’s coffee, both regular and decaf, rotate from various sources depending on what’s available when ordering and the coffee’s flavor profile. Our current coffees both hail from Ethiopia, but are from different locations. 




Ethiopia Dry Process Senna Katta Mountain Coffee Farm


Senna Katta Mountain farm is located in the Boter forest preserve, Limu Kossa, Jimma. It's actually the only coffee farm in this remote forest area with a small clearing made for their processing site. This isn't a clear-cut coffee farm, but rather, part of a government land grant where plots in agro-forest areas were given away to farmers who could be good stewards to the land by maintaining the natural forest habitat. Senna Katta Mountain is owned by Yodit (photo below), and her husband, Solomon. They are both pharmacists.

Ethiopia Dry Process Senna Katta Mountain Coffee 

Flavor Profile:

City+ roasts pull out a range of stone fruit flavors, rustic cocoa, and tart berry hints that add an acidic impression that's a nice addition for a fruity dry process coffee. A versatile dry process. City+ to Full City+. Good for espresso.

Ethiopia Dry Processed Organic Yebuna Terara -
Swiss Water Process - Decaf

The fruity dry process flavors of the pre-decaf coffee come through. Berry notes crop up in the cup, along with bittersweet backing flavors, hints of stewed stone fruits, doughy rye, and rustic sweeteners. City to Full City. The lion's share of this Ethiopia Swiss Water custom decaf blend is from the Western Ethiopian region of Jimma, most of which are dry process coffee, and all are 100% Organic! All of the coffee stations where these coffees were sourced are located at very high elevations between 1900 and 2200 meters above sea level, most sourcing coffees from small holders in the region who grow "JARC" heirloom cultivar selections (Jimma Agricultural Research Center).

Red "Cherries" 

The pictured red "cherries" are actually the whole fruit of the coffee plant immediately after being picked. Before the beans can be roasted, they must be processed: Removal of outer skin, pulp, mucilage, and parchment. Common processing methods include Washed, Dry/Natural, and Honey—see Coffee Processing 101. Below is a pic of the regular “green” coffee we’re currently drinking before roasting:


The picture on the left is of the regular “green” coffee beans we’re currently drinking, but before roasting. 
The next picture is a photo of Yodit, who owns Senna Katta Mountain Coffee farm with her husband, Solomon (not shown). They are both pharmacists as well as coffee farmers. 


The third picture is of Ward's very high tech, computer run coffee roaster.