Roaster Profile: Argus Keppel

by Mark Vecchiarelli //

Argus Keppel
Co-owner, Goshen Coffee Co.

Instagram: @notes_of_argus

Accolades: 

  • Coffee Fest: Americas Best Espresso Chicago 2013 - 2nd place (roasted coffee for)
  • Brewers Cup: North Central Regionals 2014 - 3rd place (roasted coffee for)
  • Coffee Fest: Americas Best Espresso St. Louis 2014 - 2nd place (roasted and competed)
  • Coffee Fest: Americas Best Espresso National Championship Portland 2014 - 3rd place (roasted and competed)
  • Genuine Origin Roasting competition 2016 - 3rd place (roasted and competed)
  • Brewers Cup: Coffee Champs Kentucky prelims 2017 - 2nd place (competed)

Tell us a bit about you...

Argus Keppel HeadshotMy name is Argus Keppel, I am 31 years old, and I run Goshen Coffee Company located just outside of St. Louis. We are a wholesale roasting facility providing the best specialty coffee we can source. We currently do not have a store front, but focus all of our attention on wholesale clients.

I got my start in coffee a little over 5 years ago with Goshen Coffee. I was asked if I would be interested in roasting coffee, because I was a prep chef, the old owner thought I would be a good fit. He had just sold the company and was looking for a replacement roaster. As soon as I saw the first roast I fell in love and I knew I wanted to be a part of this magic. Before that first day I had never seen green coffee, how no idea how it was roasted, and didn’t know what a pour over was or third wave coffee, or any wave of coffee by that matter. 

The plan was to get 6 months of apprenticeship and then take over the roasting. That did not go as planed. On the end of my third week of training the old owner told me he had sold his house and was moving multiple states away the next morning. He had no plans of telling the new owner this.

The following monday Jay, my now business partner, and I came into work and we now had a roasting operation to run. This was the end of 2012.

We were much smaller then and I dove deep into coffee. Sharing any knowledge I could and applying everything I learned to roasting and brewing. Over the last 5 years I am proud to say we have grown 15%-20% each year and will roast a little less than 100,000 pounds of coffee this year. 

I quickly became involved in coffee competitions after seeing my first one SCA event in Boston in 2013. I was mesmerized by their routines and were convinced they were speaking a different language. I thought they were all scientists. I wanted to be a part of this. So I started to enter our little company in them. Over the years I have crafted my roasting and brewing better because of the feedback I receive from these competitions. There is no better feeling then having a bunch of highly skilled coffee professionals tell you the coffee you have roasted is really tasty.

Two years ago I was made a 20% owner and now spend a great deal of my time working on the logistics of running a roaster. I passed on the roasting to someone more skilled then I was and the coffee got even better then I could have imagined. We have a small staff of 4 now, including myself, and anyone of my guys can tell you anything you want to know about coffee. I have been able to travel to Peru and Honduras to source coffee and have meet some of my closest friends because of the coffee industry. I feel forever grateful to be a part of coffee so I always feel like I need to give back. 

How do you integrate the KRUVE Sifter into your routines?

Argus KeppelRecently, at the US Coffee Champs I competed in the preliminary round of the Brewers Cup. The top four highest scores receive a guaranteed spot in the qualifying round. Rules were pretty straight forward: brew two cups of coffee for two sensory judges and one technical judge in 7 minutes. Competitors had their choice between 2 coffees to brew. We tried these coffees blind. I picked a very vibrant Kenya and I knew it was a Kenya before they told me. We were given 350 grams of the coffee we picked and 30 minutes to practice. The Kenya was very large in size, an AA. Because of the large particle size I was producing more fines than normal when grinding. Even with an EK. When I brewed a test V60 extraction was long, coffee was overly acidic. I tried 3 more brews grinding coarser each time. The coffee was tasting better, but I still was not satisfied. time was running out.

 

Every cup I brewed without the Kruve Sifter was bitter, overly acidic, or muddled

So, I took the grounds and sifted them in my KRUVE Sifter using a top sieve size of 900 microns and a bottom sieve size of 500 microns. The result was an extremely clear, syrupy, sweetly acidic balanced cup of coffee. Raspberries, candied orange peel and a caramel finish were my tasting notes and both judges agreed.

Recipe: 

  • Grinder: Hario V60, Size 02
  • Coffee: 20 grams 
  • KRUVE Sifter: 900 & 500 micron sieves
  • Water: 300 grams 
  • 50 gram bloom, wait 30 seconds. Pour to 150g. Pour to 250g. Pour last 50g around edges 
  • Brew Time 3:15 

 

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