The Philosophy Of the Roast...

On May 21st, the Coffee Master Journey team took a trip to York, Pennsylvania to visit the Starbucks Roasting Plant.  After our visit, we now understand the technicality that goes into the transportation of our products and the roasting process.  Getting to see the operation first hand was eye opening to all of us future Coffee Masters, and being able to walk in a room with 10,000,000 pounds of coffee was unbelievable.  A special thanks to Mark Ormsbee (Licensed District Manager/Coffee Master) and Allyson Kern (York Roasting Plant) for coordinating the tour for our team and William Brent for giving us an unforgettable tour of the York Roasting Plant.

The York Roasting Plant was built in 1995 with the addition of the Green Bean Warehouse in 2001.  Producing 50 blends of coffee including Seattle's best, the York Roasting Plant roasts 2 million pounds of coffee a week, while processing 65,000 order picks/day on average.

The magnitude of this room was incredible.  Burlap sacks were stacked far above our heads and went on in rows as far as the eyes could see.  It was such an experience to walk through the isles of the green coffee room, reading the bags labeled from all their origins, and touching the green coffee that fell from the bags.

The operation at the plant was extremely impressive.  Knowing they ship to 2,500 locations really opened our mind to the complexity of their function and how much precision goes into their work everyday.

(Left-Right: Manfred, Mike, Stacey)

(Mark Ormsbee: Starbucks District Manager/Coffee Master)

(Mike Penna: Company Operated Starbucks Store Manager/Coffee Master in NYC)

(Left-Right: Manny, Stacey, Mike)

(Left-Right: Jordan, Maykol, Roberto)

(Stacey Carpenito: Licensed Starbucks Brand Champion/Coffee Master)

(Summer 2 Promo Coffee: Kati Kati Blend)

(Pictures inside York Roasting Plant)

(Left-Right: Manfred, Roberto, Mike, Stacey, Jordan, Jay, Julie, Maykol)

We had an incredible day at the York Roasting Plant and plan to share our stories with our teams when we return.  The experience was unforgettable and we thank the Staff at the York Roasting Plant greatly for allowing us to tour their facility.

Thanks to Stacey, Jay, and Mike for providing transportation for everyone to the plant.

Special thanks to Mark Ormsbee & Allyson Kern for organizing our trip.

Special thanks to William Brent for being our tour guide for the day, your knowledge was very impressive and we greatly appreciate the time you took to teach us about the operations of the plant and to answer all of our questions.  

Thanks to all for creating a day we will never forget!

Our next class will be in July due to scheduling conflicts, we will have a conference call on June 13th at 12pm to discuss our projects from May.  Please email pictures of your posters or attach any videos or power point presentations to all that are involved in our Coffee Master Journey Class.

Activity: Find 3 interesting facts about the other Starbucks Roasting Plants (Kent Wa, Minden NV, Colombia SC, Augusta GA) and post them in a comment! 

-Jordan