RoR #30 : Challenging Dogma With Data w/ Coffee Roaster and Chemical Engineer Mark Al-Shemmeri

Roasting has historically been shaped by the experiences of crafts people and their experiments with what works, or does not work, in their roastery. These days we hav many people entering into the industry to affirm, challenge, and explore those dogmas in an effort to find the "why" behind the assumptions we have. Today's Rate of Rise guest, Mark Al-Shemmeri is one of those people challenging dogma with data. Mark is a chemical engineer who spent four years as a doctoral researcher (EngD) in the UK figuring out how to simulate coffee roasting in-silico , creating a digital twin of a coffee roaster. The data-driven approach meant a lot of roasting, analysis of the process and product and coding up of simulations to predict how different green coffees, in different roasters with different process conditions, transform during roasting. Mark also operates a nomadic roastery under the pseudonym 'dialect' - a name befitting for his engineering approach to coffee and his efforts to challenge the complexities entrained in the industry. In this episode we talk with mark about how as a chemical engineer he ended up also in professional coffee work, how his expertise has shaped his own approach to roasting, and a look into the experiments he has been running to explore the variables of coffee roasting in a quest to simplify the overly complex. Links: https://www.instagram.com/kramalshemmeri/ https://medium.com/@markalshemmeri https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Al-Shemmeri https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=H-A07IcAAAAJ&hl=en Related episodes: RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises RoR # 21 : Data, Community, and the Art of Roasting w/ U.S. Roasters Champion Andrew Coe of Elevator Coffee RoR #20 : Challenging the Status Quo w/ David Lalonde of Rabbit Hole Roasters, Montreal, Quebec Visit www.roastertools.com for the best software to help you run a roastery!