Episode 50 - 2025 – A Coffee Year in Review

About this episode

In this episode, Tim Wendelboe and Ben Symes reflect on the highlights and achievements of the coffee industry in 2025.

As the year comes to a close, I sit down with Ben Symes, our wholesale manager, to reflect on 2025 and look back on what has made this year special. In this episode, we talk about the farms we work with around the world, reflect on the 2025 harvests, the coffees that stood out to us, and the relationships we continue to build with the people who produce our coffees. We also share highlights from our projects this year, including our biological farming initiative, producing long-format films from the farms, and following the achievements of our team. Alongside the farms, we look back on experiences that made 2025 memorable: being recognized 5th on the 100 Best Coffee Shops list, celebrating Stephanie’s 15-year anniversary and Ben’s 10 years with the company, traveling to inspiring coffee events and destinations, and, for the third year in a row, receiving the Sprudgie Award for Best Coffee Podcast, an achievement we are truly grateful for and could not have done without the support of our listeners. Above all, we want to thank you for supporting us. Every day we strive to make the coffees we roast and share as good as they can be, and we look forward to sharing more great coffee…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Wendelboe

Guest: Ben Symes

Topics covered

• coffee harvest
• coffee farms
• coffee relationships
• biological farming
• coffee events
• coffee achievements

Keywords

• coffee
• harvest
• farms
• biological farming
• coffee events
• Sprudgie Award
• 100 Best Coffee Shops

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sprudgie Award

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