Roastergeek Magazine, June 2018
Roastergeek Magazine had the pleasure to visit with the head roaster and leader of the Esoteric Order of Roast Masters from Redshift Coffee, Marco Allen, and learn more about this mysterious roasting company.
It is a well worn cliche to say that a roaster “came out of nowhere” these days in our fast changing industry, but in this month’s issue we have a roaster that literally came out of nowhere. In easily one of the strangest developments in Craft Coffee, Redshift Coffee Roasters burst on the scene just last year, seemingly out of thin air. Nobody knew where they came from, or indeed, if they truly existed at all. Stranger still was their commitment to an entirely new form of coffee sourcing: Cryptic Trade, and their secret roasting society: the Esoteric Order of Roast Masters. Much as Craft Coffee shops adopt the same un-place aesthetic, every roaster today makes bold claims about how rare and exclusive their coffee is – although I doubt any would go so far as to make the claim that their coffee came from a pristine parallel world devoid of humans. If true, it would upend everything we believe about sustainability in Craft Coffee. Was this just another viral marketing campaign? I had to find out for myself the real story, judge its authenticity, true or not.
I admit I was intrigued by the notion of magical coffee roasting. I imagined robed wizards casting spells while all around them burlap sacks of coffee flew through the air. I have always been a big fan of fantasy novels so when this job was offered to me I threw myself into learning everything I could from their enigmatic website. Could there really be a parallel world free of human pollution? Who built the abandoned monuments the travelers found there? What happened to the travelers who disappeared? I spent many nights dreaming of the possibilities.
After months of failed attempts I finally was able to contact their Head Roaster, Marco Allen by email. Redshift does not have their own roasting space, instead they collaborate with a popular local roaster to use their space at night. Marco has agreed to let me tag along with him for an evening to witness firsthand the esoteric methods of roasting Redshift coffee. We arranged to meet in the back parking lot at midnight. Marco was stepping out of his red VW camper van just as I arrived.
Marco is a slight man with an athletic build of someone who regularly does yoga. He has sandy brown hair salted with gray that runs down past his shoulders. His face is clean except for a long wispy goatee that extends beyond his chin giving him a Fu Manchu look. He is wearing faded tan drawstring yoga pants and an old t-shirt that reads “Hyperborean Skateboarding Association.” On his shoulder is a very worn cloth backpack. He is a bit of an cult celebrity of sorts, having hosted a public radio program for the better part of twenty years called Musical Star-Streams that airs on the weekends from midnight to 4am featuring spacey electronic music.
He unlocked the gated door to the space. There was a note taped to the main door that read, Marco, please clean up chalk drawings when finished. He ripped it off and threw it in the trash can next to the door. We entered into the dimly lit warehouse and he closed the door behind me. He then fished a piece of chalk from his pocket and drew a large x on the back of the door then proceeded to make small symbols in each of the four spaces. He then walked to the other two doors nearby and made the same marks. He said it’s important to protect the gateway. The warehouse was filled with pallets of green coffee, I asked which were his. These? He replied, this is just conventional coffee. Our coffee isn’t here yet. I asked if there was a truck coming later to deliver the beans and he said its nothing like that. I began peppering him with questions about how they source the coffee, what do they mean by hermetic roasting technology, etc. He said rather than try to explain it would probably be easier to show me.
He led me to a metal desk with a typewriter and a strange black mirror next to it nearby the two roasters. On the roll of the typewriter was a list of coffee to be roasted. He sat me down next to the desk and asked if I wanted some coffee. Naturally I agreed and he poured us both a cup from a thermos from his backpack. I sample some of the brew, it is warm and vibrant. It displayed an intense juiciness that burst through me. I feel a deep sense of intense awareness enveloping my body, like I am more than here, like I am subtly disconnecting to the physical world and observing it from a distance of a few inches. It’s as if the coffee is transforming me somehow.
Sit here and no matter what happens don’t leave this spot he tells me, can’t have you wandering off and disappearing on me. He then walks over to a massive vintage stereo out of the seventies. Turning it on lights up a warm glow, the VU meters spring to life, and it crackles with electricity through two very large speakers mounted on the wall. He plugs his old iPod into it and presses play. A single synth-wave emerges from the speakers, followed by another, then a sequencer joins in. The coffee must be very strong as I feel a vibration deep in my bones. He goes to the center of the space in front of the smaller of the two roasters, draws a large circle with a star, and begins to fill the spaces with symbols. When he is done he sits in the middle of the circle, pulls out what I thought first to be a deck of cards but may instead be a Tarot deck. After shuffling the deck he lays out five cards in front of him and begins chanting. I can’t make out what he is saying but strangely I sense the words “as there, so here” all around me.
The deep frequency thrumming of the stereo fills the space and the dim light seems to flicker and pulse. Then the entire space is suffused in a shimmering glamour. Time and space collapse on themselves, the boundaries of the physical world dissolve. Between the speakers where before I had seen racks of dry goods now I could see through the wall to a night sky filled with black stars, two crescent moons just waxing into the shimmering void. Thinking it is a trick of the light I shake my head and try to regain my focus but the image remains. I become aware of figures moving about the space, scooping beans and filling the roaster. With a roar the roaster comes alive, LED lights flicker to life on the control panel, a giant flame erupts into the main blower, the beans suspend in air within the chamber and the alchemical transformation begins – all while Marco remains seated in the center of the circle chanting.
A cacophony of synth-waves rise and fall, oscillating around, enveloping the room. My whole body tingles as if is being electrified. I don’t know if it is the trance-like quality of the music or some strange side effects of the coffee but everything around me is fuzzy, like it is here and not here. My mind and my body exist in some sort of liminal space. I sense an invisible presence, something sinister, seeking to bend my will to its own. A harvester of eyes, looking inside my head, right up front to the back of my skull. It seeks to be released. To open the door. I look over to the door we came in and I see the strange chalk markings glowing like a barrier to the outside world. I then remember Marco’s admonishment to not leave this spot and somehow marshal the will to remain in place. The exertion is excruciating and I blank out.
When I come to dawn light is just peeking into the windows high in the warehouse and Marco is in front of me gently shaking my shoulders saying wake up sleepyhead. While the light is still dim in the warehouse things are clear again and my sense of self has returned to normal. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. Everything appears to be as it was when we first entered the space, aside from the numerous chalk drawings scattered about. Marco steps over to the typewriter and writes “it is done.”
He tells me it is time to leave before the other roasting crew show up to begin their day. The dawn light is just peeping over the horizon as we exit the space. It occurred to me that Marco’s life is one that is in opposite of our own between his radio gig and his roasting schedule. When we are getting ready to go to work his day is done. And when we are going to sleep he is just getting started. You could almost say he lives in a parallel world.
This interview showcases the mystique and craftsmanship behind Redshift Coffee, offering a glimpse into the amalgamation of ancient wisdom and modern coffee culture.
