Episode 48 - A Deep Dive into ROEST and Modern Roasting Technology with Tom Hopkinson - Part 1

About this episode

Tim Wendelboe interviews Tom Hopkinson about the evolution of coffee roasting technology and the ROEST sample roasters.

In this first of two episodes, I sit down with Tom Hopkinson, Head of Coffee and Customer Success at ROEST, and dive deep in to coffee roasting. Tom found his way into coffee by opening a café with no experience at all. The café lasted less than a year, but his fascination for coffee only grew. He went on to work at Prufrock, where he learned the fundamentals of coffee, before moving to Dublin to focus on roasting. Later, he continued his journey in Berlin, working with The Barn and Five Elephant, and writing courses and educational content for Barista Hustle. Two years ago, Tom decided to settle down and moved to Norway to join ROEST. My collaboration with ROEST began about 12 years ago, when one of the founders, Sverre, presented his master thesis to me and Morten Wennersgaard (of Nordic Approach.) Sverre's goal was to develop a 1 kg home roaster, but both Morten and I did not see a commercial need for a roaster like that. At the time, we were both frustrated with the limitations of the traditional sample roasters in the market and wanted to contribute to the development of something better. We therefore recommended Sverre to develop a modern sample roaster. Some years later…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Wendelboe

Guest: Tom Hopkinson

Topics covered

• coffee roasting
• modern technology
• ROEST
• coffee education
• entrepreneurship
• sample roasters

Keywords

• coffee
• roasting
• technology
• ROEST
• entrepreneurship
• education
• sample roasters

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ROEST, Prufrock, The Barn, Five Elephant, Barista Hustle

Products: p100 sample roaster

Places: Norway, Dublin, Berlin

More episodes of Tim Wendelboe Podcast

• Episode 56: Evolution, Genetics, and the Future of Coffee – A Conversation with Professor Andreas Tribsch. · June 5, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Episode 55: Ranked No. 2 in the World – Exceeding Guest Expectations with Stephanie Dawn Holm · May 21, 2026 · 54 min
• Episode 54 - The Future of Honduran Coffee: The Biofilia Transition - A conversation with Benjamin Paz · April 28, 2026 · 15 min
• Episode 53 - Adapting coffee farms to prepare for the future – A Conversation with Moises Herrera from Finca el Puente · April 14, 2026 · 33 min
• Episode 52 - Transitioning to Biological Farming – A Conversation with Diego Baraona · March 24, 2026 · 27 min
• Episode 51 - Purchasing coffees in Kenya - Live from the cupping lab · February 11, 2026 · 40 min