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known barista with a terrific story. They may not have want to make coffee shops and their people better and
had the opportunity to tell the story to others before, more fulfilling.” Deferio shared with us.
but after being on our podcast, they may feel that being With about 10 episodes per month and never miss-
a barista could be rewarding. They would feel that at least ing one, Deferio always tries to make sure each episode
someone is willing to listen to their experience. The is meaningful and impactful, not just a throw-away epi-
podcast could give people in this industry such a rare sode. Now the show has nearly 2.5 million downloads
opportunity,” said Micky. and over 700 episodes published and is listed in over 170
For many coffee podcasts, the hosts only use it more countries. “It is thrilling to know there are companies
as a tool for external exposure with no business purpose. that have used Keys to the Shop as their primary resource
Nevertheless, someone is still successfully taking the from the time they launched until now. I am constantly
coffee podcast to the next level and making it his own humbled and take my role in producing this content very
business. Keys to the Shop is a podcast designed to pro- seriously as I steward the wisdom of our collective in-
vide the coffee retail professional with insights, inspira- dustry,” he said.
tion, and the tools needed to grow and advance your In fact, Keys to the Shop is a win-win for both the
coffee career or business. Through interviews with ex- listeners and Deferio himself. On the one hand, the lis-
perts both in and outside the coffee industry, listeners teners could reach some of the rarest materials on barista
could get specific, practical, and actionable advice about work and shop management. On the other hand, Deferio
barista work, management, and leadership skills, all for also won many of his customers through his podcast, even James Harper,
free. The podcast host Chris Deferio has been in the though he did not start the show with that in mind. He the host of Fil-
ter Stories
specialty coffee industry for 23 years, deeply involved in shared: “I was pretty shy about promoting my services,
the early third-wave movement, competitions, and work- but I have got over that and feel that I want to make sure
ing in many cafe leadership roles over these decades. The the right people hear about it and have the chance to work
show was born from Deferio’s desire to offer up what he with me and I have the opportunity to serve them. My
used to long for as a manager and trainer to run a suc- clients say that they feel they already know me from the
cessful shop. “My goal is to offer a resource that grounds show, and as a result, they know my values, and it has been working in finance, Harper realized his genuine interest Harper interviewed four leading genetic experts in coffee.
people, slows them down long enough to make wise the number one thing that has attracted them to me.” was in coffee. So he quit his job and started a new career He also did a lot of reading to understand the interplay
choices, and puts roots down deep in the right areas. I Working full-time on the podcast, Deferio successfully in coffee. While working as a coffee wholesaler, Harper between genetics and coffee and all the theories behind
sustains his family and works to grow the business and found himself in the middle of specialty coffee. He want- it. To make the episode more accurate and convincing,
serve more clients in need appropriately. ed to know more about specialty coffee, but all he could Harper flew to Kenya and Ethiopia and spent a couple of
While most coffee podcasts are in the form of in- access was only very filtered information. “You don’t get days visiting coffee farmers and a genetic research labo-
terviews, as it needs less preparation and production, one into the real truth of the matter, like who is farming my ratory to learn about a variety of species of coffee and
man insists on swimming upstream. Filter Stories is coffee? What’s really going on? There are a lot of stories their genetic development.
probably the only documentary-style coffee podcast in that are out there, but I’m not hearing them. I guess this The reason why Harper puts so much effort into a
the field. In this podcast, you could find many amazing is the documentary person in me. I love to explore these coffee documentary is simply that he loves it. He believes
stories, for example, an award-winning coffee grower profound stories. I also love audio narrative stories. So I that his hard work of getting all the different information
earning just US$2 profit from 250 espressos; or a coffee decided to make my own documentary coffee podcast.” and turning it into something digestive would help more
producer who is almost murdered three times during a In 2017, Harper began his journey of making a people, whether professionals or amateurs, understand
civil war. Recently, Filter Stories released a new series documentary-style coffee podcast. He tried to talk to coffee better and sometimes help them rethink it. He told
about coffee history as well as coffee science. anybody who was in the podcast industry. He read a lot me in the interview: “There is absolutely a place for
“Back in the day, I loved many documentary styles of books about how to make narrative audio. He also ‘speaking to the expert’ type of podcast because you hear
of podcasts like This American Life. I want to listen to taught himself Spanish to better communicate with coffee directly from the expert. I choose to do what I do, bring-
this style of coffee podcast, but it didn’t exist. I wished farmers in Latin America. With a lot of practice and ex- ing many experts together in a single episode, because
it existed. I know others wish it existed. Therefore, I ploration, Harper is now the expert. Apart from doing you can listen very intently to it and soak it into your
decided to try it. At the very least, what’s the worst that’s his own podcast, he is also a producer and occasional host head. And when you really pay attention to anything like
going to happen if I make it? If you can’t make a living for other coffee podcasts, including 5THWAVE and Ad- that, it then starts changing how you see the world.”
out of it, it’s a great experience anyway. I had some sav- ventures in Coffee. Luckily, Harper’s hard work on the coffee documen-
ings, so I began what became Filter Stories.” Said James However, even with all the techniques and produc- tary podcast has paid off. He saw people discussing and
Harper, the host of Filter Stories. tion methods learned along the way, it still takes much reflecting on what he presented in the podcast. For ex-
It might be hard to believe that, with his most pop- effort for Harper to make an excellent coffee documen- ample, in his last episode of The Science of Coffee,
ular series reaching over 100,000 listens, James Harper, tary podcast. Sometimes, it can take up to 100 hours an Harper addressed the impact of noise and how it detracts
the Filter Stories host, had zero experience making doc- episode. For example, in his The Science of Coffee series, from the sensory experience of coffee. Noise is such a
umentary podcasts before he started the project. Initially there is one episode on plant genetics. For that episode, common thing in cafes that most of the time, people won’t

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