Andrew's Story
Andrew Coe is a coffee roaster and educator based in St George, UT. He won the 2023 US Coffee Roasters Championship and then represented the United States at the 2023 World Coffee Roasting Championship in Taipei, Taiwan, finishing 3rd overall, the highest placing ever by a US roaster at the time.
The Circuitous Analytical Route
Much like his cycling adventures (Andrew has spent time as a cycling coach, too!), Andrew's personal coffee journey has taken a long, winding path with many pit stops along the way, stops that would ultimately shape his approach to coffee roasting in unique ways.
Andrew earned a Master's Degree in Mathematics, and after graduating took a temporary job at a cafe just for the health care it provided. He didn't know it at the time, but the seeds of his future career were planted then and there.
He next worked an engineering job for a decade, building transportation models. But the coffee itch was always there, and it was during this time he began roasting coffee at home, following the familiar progression from popcorn popper to Behmor roaster to the more powerful, data-driven Bullet.
A move to Portland, Oregon convinced him that he should really give this whole coffee thing a real try. He quickly found a job as a barista, won a local roasting competition hosted by the roastery across the street, and then used that momentum to launch Elevator Coffee, a small online roaster and wholesaler.
The Elegant Solution
Andrew's engineering background has paid dividends in the coffee world. He approaches roasting the same way he approached math and engineering problems: by isolating variables, recording meticulous data, and taking detailed notes in search of an "elegant solution."
For him, coffee roasting is less about following a curve and more about understanding the chemistry underlying the curve.
This is why a big part of Andrew's toolkit for developing as a roaster is using small roasters to do lots and lots of batches with small variations. His best advice for those looking to improve their roasting skills is to pair roasting data with cupping notes to understand how minute changes actually influence flavor.
"Take really good notes. Each roast you do will teach you a little bit more about roasting. So if you take good notes and can learn from your past batches, it will really help your success moving forward."
He used the Bullet roaster in exactly this way to prep his coffees and advance through the preliminary and qualifying rounds into Finals at the USRC competitions in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Andrew is presently building a 100% electric roastery and education space in St George, UT, opening in the second half of 2026.