A Roaster By Any Other Name

“Roastmaster” vs “Master Roaster”

The article was originally published in ROAST Magazine in May/June 2004 as the Roasters Guild launched its Coffee Roaster Certification Program. Additional information about the early success of the Roasters Guild can be found here and here.

(in 2017 the Specialty Coffee Association of America unified with the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe to create the Specialty Coffee Association. Also, the Roasters Guild merged with the Roasters Guild of Europe to create the Coffee Roasters Guild. This is the story of how the Roasters Guild changed the way coffee education was presented, and created the industry's first professional certification program elevating coffee roasters from skilled laborers to respected professionals.)

WHO DEFINES AN EXPERT coffee roaster? Is it acceptable to grant yourself the title of Master Roaster, or is it proper to wait for someone else to identify you as such? Is the expert title only as respected as the one granting the title? And what is the difference between being a Roastmaster and a Master Roaster?

Confused? Well, so are many coffee roasters.

The terms Roastmaster and Master Roaster have often been used interchangeably to describe any person who roasts coffee. But there are important differences between the title of Roastmaster and the designation of Master Roaster. These differences are steeped in the history of trade guilds and are an important part of understanding the industry as a whole.

A Brief History Lesson

A guild is an association of merchants or craftspeople that is formed to advise its members and to set and regulate standards for a particular trade. Guilds were comprised of trades people who sought expert skills and education, and thus membership in a trade guild became a quality assurance guarantee in the marketplace. Badges, uniforms and titles became important ways to identify guild members as skilled professionals who are held to regulated standards and professional competency.

Historically, the terms “Apprentice,” “Journeyman” and “Master” were designations of skill and accomplishment within the guild structure, and only the trade guild had the authority to grant a tradesperson “Master status.” Titles were granted based on an individual’s technical skill and ability to meet customer expectations. Education, of course, was the key, but in the medieval times in Europe, formal institutional education was not available to commoners or tradesmen, thus the educational relationship between the Apprentice (student) and Master (teacher) were born. In most guilds, the title of Apprentice was reserved for those actively studying a trade or craft under a guild-recognized master. These apprenticeships lasted several years, with the master providing the practical education required to enter the workforce. Once apprentices completed their education, they became Journeymen. Since the apprentices did not want to compete in business with the master, they journeyed to other towns to seek employment or open their own business. Once recognized as having expert skills, a journeyman would become a master in his own right.

Today, guilds continue to exist for every industry. For coffee roasters, that guild is the Roasters Guild, an association of professional coffee roasters within the organization of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. The main goals of the Roasters Guild are to present the craft and science of coffee roasting as a professional occupation, further roasters’ skills and knowledge, encourage the interaction and communication between specialty coffee roasters, and focus the voice of roasters in representing the specialty coffee industry. Since education is the recognized priority of the Roasters Guild, implementation of a Master Roaster certification program is of greatest importance to the Guild leadership and the membership.

Contemporary Training

Various trades have an established protocol for training and development: building trades and craft trades have peer learning apprenticeships and often licensing requirements, while the culinary trades maintain apprenticeships and formal institutional education. Coffee roasting does not lack the complexities of these other trades; to understand the business of coffee roasting one must make a study of the industry, which requires years of research, knowledge and training. To this end, the title of Master is reserved for the most knowledgeable and experienced individuals.

Within the food and beverage industry, for comparison of skills and expertise, two examples of expert designations are Master Sommelier and Master Chef. Historically, these two professions provided training and education in formal apprentice programs. As society advanced and institutional academic education became prevalent in the 20th century, colleges and universities began to offer formal degree programs in the two vocations. When trade associations began to educate and test individual’s skills, expertise and knowledge, then confer Master titles to the most expert in the field, these vocations become professions. This is the goal of the Roasters Guild Certification Program: to present the craft and science of coffee roasting as a professional occupation.

To understand the expert skills and knowledge necessary to achieve the highest designation in these two fields, one must just look at the total number of Master designations in each field. There are less than 70 Certified Master Chefs and only 56 Master Sommeliers in the entire United States in 2004. These numbers are staggering considering all the hotels, restaurant, resorts and clubs in this country.

Although these are just two examples from within the food and beverage industry, there are other examples that illustrate the high level of education and expertise required within a profession to earn the title of Master.

Battle of the Titles

Within the coffee roasting community there are two identifiers that continue to be used interchangeably: Master Roaster and Roastmaster. Each identifier has a very different meaning and should be understood.

Roastmaster is an employment title for a professional coffee roaster who is the principal individual to lead the roasting process. The Roastmaster title can be used to illustrate a management position, or an individual with more skills than a task-oriented employee. This Roastmaster title is akin to that of a Chef. While anyone who cooks food professionally can be called a cook, only those individuals with recognized skills and experience, or those employed to lead or direct a staff of cooks are afforded the title of Chef. Similarly, anyone roasting coffee can use the title of Roastmaster. Thus, this title is commonly used without individual training, recognized expertise or demonstration of skills within the Roasters Guild.

The designation of Master placed before a title denotes expert recognition in that field. Only an institution, association, guild, union or governmental body can grant this recognition. Therefore, when the title of Master Roaster is used, it is understood that the individual has been awarded that distinction by a recognized organization. However when an individual self-proclaims Master Roaster status, or a business uses the Master Roaster designation as an employment title, they are misrepresenting the individual and causing great confusion in the industry. The Roasters Guild is working to eliminate this confusion, and establish a defined criterion before the title of Master Roaster is awarded to any individual.

What Does It Take to Become a Master Roaster?

The Roasters Guild has initiated a formal educational curriculum designed with testing protocols to establish the basic requirements for the formal guild designations of Apprentice, Journeyman and Roaster.

Apprentice Roaster—Individuals currently in the education and investigative phase of their career, who may not yet be employed to roast coffee. This position is defined as a trainee, as an inexperienced person, or as someone who works for a skilled professional in order to learn a craft or trade.

An Apprentice roaster candidate undertakes practical education and participates in theoretical education in the form of classes, seminars and readings. This program will be administered through the Roasters Guild. The coursework includes laboratory equipment, basic roasting equipment and operation, basic cupping, basic grading and defect identification, coffee farming, processing, and individual research.

Journeymen Roaster—This individual is employed to roast coffee and has already completed the formal or informal training for that position. A roaster with the journeyman title has demonstrated basic knowledge in all facets of coffee roasting and is a qualified artisan who is under the employ of a skilled professional.

The educational curriculum for Journeymen is designed to be more challenging than the Apprentice level. It consists of intermediate and advanced level classes and requires broad-based educational investigation to complete. Topics include: intermediate roasting equipment; advanced origin processing; coffee cupping; purchasing and finance; manufacturing; brewing; decaffeination; the history, economics and culture of the global coffee trade seminar; and practical roasting skills.

Master Roaster—This individual is identified as an expert by his or her peers and the Roasters Guild and is generally regarded as an authority within the industry. This individual possesses the highest degree of education and skills related to the craft and science of roasting coffee. The Master educational curriculum consists of: roaster operations management, advanced sensory science, good manufacturing practices, coffee certifications, coffee marketing, training, coffee chemistry, advanced roasting, advanced cupping and advanced grading. This level is designed to be complex and multifaceted, and it requires substantial individual learning related to industry topics, allied manufacturing and business topics.

Master Roasters are sought by others for training, assistance, advice and learning. They are the academic elders of the industry who have gained notoriety for their expertise and professional accomplishments. This is not a distinction to be taken lightly or underestimated; it is a high honor and recognition for professional skills and abilities. Master Roasters can fully represent the industry, as they possess a wide breadth of knowledge pertaining to all things coffee.

Accreditation and Certification

During the past two years, the Roasters Guild Certification Committee has created a comprehensive model to begin educating coffee roasters with the goal of conferring the Master Roaster designation. The elite levels of Journeyman and Master Roaster will be offered to members of the Roasters Guild, as they are for professional roasters, while the Apprentice level is for individuals investigating careers in coffee roasting. Each certification level will require several years of study, as the educational classes are designed to complement one’s professional employment. The goal of the guild is to begin offering certification classes next year, pending the completion of the class curriculums and identification of appropriate educators.

The Roasters Guild program is an educational program with the secondary aspect of awarding title designation for the completion of the educational portions and demonstrated mastery of coffee skills, and guaranteeing overall industry expertise. For the purposes of this program, the Roasters Guild has developed a new and comprehensive training program that utilizes educational classes from the SCAA and provides opportunities to seek other industry teachings as well.

All too often individuals attend a trade association event with the promise of education and training. These classes are often large lectures and seminars where the attendee receives a certificate of attendance or completion. Since the student does not always retain the information presented in lectures and seminars, it is difficult to judge skill and knowledge levels. This is why the guild’s educational system will be hands-on; learning by doing is the key. To guarantee the student has received the proper learning and retained the information, candidates will be tested at the conclusion of each class. This will ensure that designations will be awarded based on demonstrated skill and expertise.

At each of the three levels, the education is designed to coincide with the individuals’ professional career progression in the coffee business, with basic entrylevel classes for the Apprentice, building to more challenging classes and learning for the Journeyman, and culminating with the dynamic learning and extensive research required to complete the Master Roaster program.

The Apprentice-level education is one of career investigation and basic knowledge, thus this level will receive an accreditation upon completion. This accreditation signifies the successful completion of the curriculum.

The title of Journeyman Roaster and Master Roaster will be earned designations, as no honorary titles will be conferred, nor will individuals be “grandfathered” into a title by evidence of years roasting. The curriculum for these levels will include performance testing and demonstration of job skills; a certification will be issued upon completion, signifying a guarantee of individual competency. Once the program is fully operational, individuals without the educational background, skill or expertise who have not completed the Roasters Guild Master Roaster program will no longer be able to claim the title of Master Roaster. Also, employers will now have a realistic expectation of the skill and expertise of each coffee roaster based on their certification level.

Who Is a Master Roaster?

A Master Roaster will be able to represent the coffee industry in its entirety, not just from one perspective, thus the requirements of coffee education and expertise will be very high. In addition to the theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom, a Master Roaster needs to demonstrate mastery and knowledge of coffee roasting. However, the Master Roaster, elite as the title would imply, still needs to be grounded in roasting operations and demonstrate tremendous skill at roasting, machine operations, coffee selection and blending.

To ensure the Master Roaster designation has value beyond the membership of the Roasters Guild and the SCAA, an advisory committee comprised of key industry professionals has been created. These advisory committee members are thought partners in the development process of the Master Roaster curriculum, and they work to add professional perspective and ensure the relevance of the education and accreditation program.

The Master Roaster program is designed to condense a lifetime of career learning into an educational program, while providing learning that would not normally be accessible. All coffee roasters do not have the resources or luxury of time to conduct research and attend educational seminars. The dynamics of the Master Roaster curriculum will present pertinent and relevant topics to coffee roasters and allow them to benefit from targeted and industry-wide teachings. Thus, it is imperative that the coursework add value to all roasters. The Master Roaster Certification program is available on the Roasters Guild web site, www.roastersguild.org, for review. This program has been approved and adopted by the Roasters Guild Executive Council and will become a strategic and tactical priority of the organization.

The success of the Master Roaster program will be determined outside of the coffee roasting business. The coffee roasting industry has been operating for generations with informal apprenticeships within companies and among peers. Unfortunately, this has not developed into accepted industry-wide education. We are still a very fragmented industry with no defined standards. The Master Roaster certification program establishes standards of expertise, rewards demonstrated skills, and creates a recognizable hierarchy within the coffee roasting profession. Employers will be able to better recruit roasters based on certification levels, and they will better understand employees’ and prospective employees’ skill levels. Roasters will be recognized for their knowledge and expertise, not simply for their longevity in the business. The defined curriculum and requirement of demonstrated skills will allow those outside the industry to recognize this program as education based. Thus, the achieved titles will be respected as professional designations, not employment titles.

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Spencer Turer is vice president of Coffee Enterprises in Hinesburg, Vermont. He is a founding member of the Roasters Guild, a Licensed Q grader, and received the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA, now SCA) “Outstanding Contribution to the Association Award.” Turer is an Ambassador for the?International Women's Coffee Alliance and an active volunteer within the coffee industry.

Spencer led the creation of the Master Roaster Certification Program and served on the first Roasters Guild Executive Council.

Members of the Roasters Guild Certification Committee 2001-2004: Spencer Turer – Certification Committee Chair, Paul Thornton – Education Committee Chair, Shawn Hamilton – Administration Committee Chair, Peter Giuliano – Training Committee Chair.

Members of the Advisory Committee 2002-2004: Spencer Turer – Dunkin’ Donuts, Don Holly – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Willem Boot – Boot Coffee Consulting, Carlos Brando – P&A International Marketing, Kenneth Davids – Writing & Consulting, Karl Guggenmos – Johnson & Wales University, Ted Lingle – SCAA, David Griswold – Sustainable Harvest, Christopher London – Elmira College, Suzanne Brown – Brown Marketing Communications, Stanley Segal – Drexel University, Tim Castle – Castle & Company, Steve Kintz – Food Marketing.