Valor Coffee Podcast
A podcast and video show hosted by seasoned coffee pros and Valor Coffee founders Ethan Rivers, Ross Walters and Riley Westbrook where we discuss coffee, starting and running a business, and the specialty coffee industry.
Episodes
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep180
A very special thank you to Lucas Cuadros of Unblended for hanging with us on the pod!Why would a roaster spend thousands of dollars flying to a coffee farm? Lucas from Unblended, our Colombian exporting partner, is back on the podcast to make the case that going to ...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep179
A very special thank you to Justin Goodhart for joining us on the pod!
A year after Justin first helped us decide whether to even try it, our catering program has grown from about 10 events a month to 38, and we brought him back to tell us what comes next. We get into...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep178
A very special thank you to Chris for joining me on the pod!Why do your baristas stare at customers instead of engaging with them? Ross sits back down with Keys to the Shop founder Chris Deferio (almost 10 years into coaching coffee shop owners now) to dig into the r...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep177
Tuesday POD!! Let's get it.We want our best employees to eventually quit, and we mean that. In this episode, we sit down with two former Valor baristas turned coffee shop owners and talk through why losing a great employee to their own venture isn't a betrayal, it's ...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep176
Why does the exact same Instagram Reel, like "don't be on your phone behind the bar" or "give guests water during a rush," get read by one barista as empowering and another as exploitative? We dig into the abundance vs scarcity mindset divide that is currently...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep175
How do you actually find time to post on Instagram when you're running a coffee shop? We sat down again with our social media manager Lynden to break down what's really working: time-blocking, why your logo isn't your brand, and why messy behind-the-scenes content al...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep174
What if the thing making your coffee taste like watermelon or peach isn't fermentation at all? I sat down with my business partner Ethan, our green coffee buyer, to talk through what might be specialty coffee's biggest lie right now: co-fermented coffee. We break dow...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep174
Lynden is the mastermind behind our social media at Valor, and this episode she finally breaks down how she does it. From posting store hours as an unpaid intern to building a brand that's pulled in 26k followers, Lynden shares what actually moves the needle on Insta...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep173
So you want to open a coffee shop? Before you sign a lease, let us try to talk you out of it, or at least make sure you know what you're actually signing up for. In this episode we play devil's advocate on our own dream job: managing a revolving door of 20 somethings...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep172
Joey's been running our catering operation for a year and a half and has somehow not quit. In that time we went from 3 events a month to 30, hit $239k in revenue, and learned basically everything the hard way. We're breaking down real numbers, real pricing, permits, ...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep171
We just celebrated 10 years of Valor Coffee with a trip to New York and dinner at Eleven Madison Park AKA the restaurant behind two of the most talked-about hospitality books in the industry. In this episode we break down the full experience, what they did that nobod...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep170
What happens when two specialty coffee companies from opposite sides of the world sit down to talk about the future of coffee? In this extended episode, we're joined by Kirk Pearson from Project Zero in Australia to unpack one of the biggest conversations happening i...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep169
Is automation helping specialty coffee or slowly replacing the craft that made people fall in love with it in the first place? We explore the growing trend of pre batched espresso, automated milk systems, and what these changes could mean for coffee shops, baristas, ...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep168
Running a coffee shop in 2026 is more complicated than just making great coffee. In this episode, we talk about the real challenges behind raising prices, understanding margins, and building a coffee business that can actually survive long term. From labor and cost o...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep167
Most people get into coffee because they love coffee, but what keeps you in it is learning how to truly care for people. In this episode, we sit down with our baristas to talk honestly about burnout, difficult guests, and what it takes to sustain great hospitali...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep166
We just got back from World of Coffee in San Diego and honestly tried to answer a simple question: was it actually worth it? This episode is an honest breakdown of what the event is really like, from walking the show floor and testing gear to connecting with pro...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep165
What happened to third-wave coffee? Today, we unpack how the industry has shifted: from purist pour-overs and strict “rules” to flavored lattes, matcha, and a reality that most cafés are just elevated versions of Starbucks. We talk through our own co...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep164
We’ve signed five commercial leases since starting Valor Coffee in 2016 – and we’ve learned (painfully) how lease terms can make or break a café. In this episode, we break down the lease language that confuses everybody (CAM/TI, gross vs. tripl...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep163
Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way!
Caleb and Haley from Makers Café (Pensacola, FL) are in the studio, and we’re talking about what happens when you keep t...
JOIN THE VALOR COFFEE COMMUNITY – Courses, Exclusive Videos, PDFs, Spreadsheets and more: https://community.valor.coffee?utm_source=spotify&utm_campaign=ep162
Thanks for listening, following/subscribing, giving us a good review, and sharing with your friends on social media. It goes a long way!
What does it actually take to take a coffee shop from six figures to seven? In this episode, we break down the ceilings most g...
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