Base Coat Coffee Drops is a project built to roast exciting, unique, and clean tasting extra light coffee. We purchase coffee that supports education, science, and innovation. Our sourcing is primarily aimed at supporting producers newer to the specialty coffee market, or who are contributing to the success of others' educations. When we can, we prioritize buying from less represented communities in coffee.

The project started in response to two feelings:

  1. the eagerness to learn how to drum roast
  2. and the desire to drink coffee in the "extra light" style, which had been extremely hard to come by in the PNW.

The name, Base Coat, is an homage to spending many hours as a child applying base coats of paint to support the projects of two artist parents. It is also a play on the idea that the best roasters "have no impact" on a coffee's character.

Our Ethos

At our core, we're driven by coffee science and curating shared coffee experiences. We tailor roast experiments and explore our curiosities all while being hyper-transparent about our process. It's a project fueled by passion, but also honesty.

Often times it is expected that the producer provides all of their possible info, but rarely the roaster. We are doing our best to flip that script. We value traceability, but ask less when we buy and share more than we probably should. We can do this because we have trust in green quality from our exporter and importer partners. As we grow, we hope to pass on that trust to our customers, while also breaking norms in our whimsical and hyper-honest natures.

How it works

Most months, we will source two to three exceptional coffees that will adhere to our profile styles and sourcing ideals. We choose one to roast with under the principle of having whimsical fun, while also learning something about roasting. That coffee is also sold as a "roast experiment" -- where you as the buyer get to participate in sensory feedback for the experiment.

Coffee drops are launched as extra light or light, as well an espresso/drip profile if it could pair well with milk. Here are the (loose) definitions of those profiles we've grown to love on the Proaster:

Extra light

  • Disclaimer: we offer two styles in this window, nordic and ultralight. The main difference being how the development looks. We don't love using the term "ultralight" as sometimes it feels like a race to the bottom for the lightest possible roast, rather than the best tasting roast. Our ultras are decently light and will present like many other ULs. However, please consider that we're drum roasting and have limited max heat potential right now. At the moment, we're prioritizing more evenness in a roast for a slightly lower agtron number.
  • Ultralight: ~30 seconds of development time or less (drop temp are 385-389°F); and about as light as we can possibly take the green. Usually our least soluble offering but also least characterized by our drum roaster. Florals (if present) and coffee structure are in full display. Acidity is present, but toned down. Roast character is almost non-existent after rest.
  • Nordic: ~35 to 45 seconds of development time (drop temps are 388-394°F); coffee is lively, and represented without accentuation through roast. Development is often represented by a strong dip in RoR (we essentially cut gas 10-15 seconds into first crack and let it ride). Acidity is usually most prominent, roast character is mildly present, and sweetness is lifted from extended development. Flavors are structured and at high intensity.

Light

  • Light: 55 to 80 second development (drop temps are 392 to 398°F); coffee is roasted relatively quickly to preserve structure. Post first crack development is still low heat momentum. Drying and maillard stages typically last longer than in our extra light profiling. Coffee is still tea-like, less structured, plenty sweet, and retains a high clarity of flavor through some roast character.

Espresso/Drip

  • Development is open-ended; roast style is most similar to "american light"... sometimes drifting into medium. Coffee is roasted with a slower momentum in order to stew flavors and increase solubility. The coffee body is boldest and aimed to pair with milk and/or extract with higher success on 9 bar espresso. It will still offer complexity and balance when served black.

On occasion, we also buy less of an even more exceptional lot to practice roasting for the competition scene. We sell these in 60g and 100g (~3.5oz) bags on a limited basis.

About us

This project is run by Aidan and Peter. They have been friends since pre-school and spent much time in our adolescence daydreaming about building a business together. Coffee came into their lives in their own happenstance ways. Since then, their immediate goal with this project is to kickstart their own careers in coffee without having to conform to any current cafe landscapes.

Prior to Base Coat, Aidan left academia and software developing to spend a few years working as a barista in cafes, banking that he'd be in the right place when a roastery position opened up. Impatience grew pretty large but, when one did, he had realized that the coffee profiling he had been exposed to, as well as the subsequent green coffee being purchased, was not going to fuel his passion. Starting this project meant he had freedom to follow exactly what excited him in the industry. Through a coffee conference talk, he found himself attending a local coffee roasting course taught by Mike Nelson (founder of Guilder/Junior's Coffee) at a PDX-based co-roasting space. Shortly after, Base Coat began its incubation.

Aidan is based in Portland, Oregon. He is coffee roasting and buying, and has vested interest in coffee roast profiling and origin-level coffee details. He cares a lot about the green we're buying and sharing our journey as we go. Peter is based in the Hudson Valley, New York. Peter has more of the "design mind" as well as a passion for building community. He is very talented at curating and refining content. He is passionate about connection, shared experience, and how coffee can enable those interactions.