Interview with Katja Klein - Founder of Kontext Coffee Company
This week we had a chat with our fellow ROEST friend, Katja Klein, the founder and head roaster of Kontext Coffee Company.
Katja told us how she got into roasting, what good coffee means to her and why she decided to purchase a ROEST.
So get yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy!
Katja Klein and her sample roaster - ready for a day full of experimenting with different coffees!
For the people who don’t know, could you give us a short introduction to who you are and what you do?
My name is Katja Klein and I am the founder and head roaster of Kontext Coffee Company based in Monmouth, UK. We have been sourcing and roasting fully traceable and sustainably traded specialty coffee since 2019. We roast on a 12kg Probat P12 and brought the ROEST on board in April 2021.
What brought you into the coffee industry?
I started out in the coffee industry as a barista as so many do. I think I have always had this romantic notion of opening my own cafe one day and so during a gap year in Canada I felt like I ought to try working in a cafe first. I loved it even more than I thought I would and so I started taking classes to learn more about coffee - first an SCA barista class, then a coffee sommelier class and then I started working my way through the ranks, loving every step of the way.
I learned roasting as a production roaster for Right Side Coffee in Barcelona where I worked for 2 years. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher than Jaoquin, the founder of Right Side. Great people, great coffee, best place to learn and I would have stayed but sometimes life just takes you to new places and for me that ended up being Monmouth in the UK.
Cupping session at Kontext Coffee. Mmm, we can smell it from here!
What have been the most notable moments that have shaped your career?
That's a tough question. I can definitely still remember my first sip of specialty coffee - a natural coffee from Yirgacheffe which absolutely blew my mind. I had already signed up for my barista class by that time and couldn't wait to dig into the topic after that.
And while the sensory aspects of coffee and the more playful fascination of brewing it a million different ways roped me in further, I would have to say slowly discovering the complexities of the coffee value chain is what gave me a deeper sense of meaning working in this industry.
Finding out that something so mundane and at the same time so revered as a cup of coffee can be just taken for granted in the part of the world that can afford to enjoy it, is also responsible for providing a living for so many people in the global South has impacted my career in coffee greatly.
The challenges and injustices coffee farmers face and what I, as a coffee professional, can do about that is really at the core of what drives me in this business. That is ultimately why I decided to start my own roasting business: to be in a more empowered position to shape my own value chain and to have more of a say in how the value is distributed across this chain by choosing the right partners to work with. I try to let my values guide me in all of my business and life decisions.
And just to bring this back to why I like working with my ROEST sample roaster in this context: ROEST is not only a supreme piece of technology, it is both developed and manufactured in Norway with sustainability in mind and specifically not in another part of the world where regulatory standards around labour are lower and labour is therefore cheaper. That has definitely influenced my buying decision.
What does good coffee mean to you?
Good coffee means delicious coffee that is providing a decent living for every single link in the value chain that brought it to my cup - from the farmer all the way to the barista.
Katja is a proud owner of ROEST S100, which has allowed her to easily experiment with profiles to bring out the best flavors!
Why did you decide TO purchasE a ROEST for your roastery?
The main reason why I decided to buy the ROEST is because I wanted to be able to experiment with different roast profiles and learn more about how different approaches to roasting impact the flavour of the coffee. It turns out it is also extremely convenient for sample roasting. :)
Katja’s go-to profile is the Standard air temperature profile by ROEST, which helps reveal flavors and characteristics of most of her coffees.
In what ways has the sample roaster helped you so far?
It has made my life a lot easier because you can just run it alongside other activities during a production day without having to pay much attention really. And yet it produces roasts that are impeccable! More traditional sample roasters can be a bit smokey and roasty, and in my experience you have to be a good cupper with a good imagination to be able to assess the full potential of a coffee from those types of sample roasters. The ROEST is much more precise and to the point. It is also quite complex and gives you a lot of different options. In terms of using it as a learning tool I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer!
And finally, what advice would you give new roasters who are just starting out their careers in coffee?
Keep an open mind and be brave enough to ask all the questions that are on your mind! In our industry, it can often seem like everyone around you already has all the answers but if you look closer that isn't actually the case. There are many strong opinions about all things coffee out there but often they are just that - opinions. In my experience it is worth it to dig a little deeper and dare to question the way things are done in every aspect of our industry. The second piece of advice I have for anyone working in coffee is: keep working on your palate and learn to trust your own taste buds :)
Thank you so much, Katja. You keep on inspiring us!
Don’t forget to check out Katja’s Specialty Coffee Roastery, Kontext Coffee Company.
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Did you know that Tim Wendelboe is a fellow ROEST friend as well? Check out his 5 roasting tips here.