Interview: Le Sommet Coffee

Le Sommet Coffee is a new micro-roaster based out of of Doylestown, Pennsylvania aligning interests in competitive endurance sports and outdoor adventuring with the world of coffee.

Inspired by the great outdoors the roasters develop single origin coffees that revolve around specific sports and outdoor activities.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Matt and learning more about his brand and goals.

Kaldi:
We’d love to learn about the history of your brand and how a new roaster launched in a smaller town market.

Le Sommet Coffee:
I'd love to tell you a little bit of background. My background outside of roasting coffee on my own for a number of years is competing in many endurance sports including long distance marathons and Ironmans.  Coffee has been a part of my pre-race routine, enjoying it before or during hikes, and even kicking back on the weekends with a good book or conversation with friends and family.   I found it was pretty lacking, particularly on the East Coast region, a true connection between coffee and endurance sports and outdoor trekking.

I've done some hiking in the pacific northwest and even some cycling around Mount Rainier, and Mount Hood.  I really want to bring that to this area. Doylestown is the town we are located in, about 20 minutes, the way the crow flies, north of Philadelphia.

I really wanted to initially focus on the local aspect of Le Sommet Coffee.  Now that we’ve launched I am starting to develop more of the alignment to endurance sports and outdoor adventuring, particularly hiking.  That is truly who we are and what makes us more than the coffee.

This year we will be supporting some local multi-sport races in the area, and looking to sponsor a cycling team. I really want to grow the brand in that direction to align the coffee to endurance sports. A big factor when racing is you want a coffee that's kind of low acid. So all of our coffees up to this point are focused on low acidity levels. And when we get into developing a light roast, that can be hard to do, but we can certainly work that into the roast to make it unique.

So it's not just, "Hey, here's some coffee," and, "Hey, we do endurance sports," I really want to have the synergies there as well. I am really trying to work out how best to do that so people can have a similar connection that I experience. So given the fact that my passion is for both coffee and endurance sport plus outdoor hiking there's a clear market segment that's lacking, at least in the greater Philadelphia and even somewhat closer to New York area as well.  I felt it's a great opportunity to introduce a brand and coffee that aligns to that.

I launched with the Summit Series last year.  In the next week, the first light roast in our line up be launching. And that is in our Elevation Series, which will align more towards hiking, outdoor adventuring.  There is the sports aspect in the Summit Series, but there's also kind of an outdoor enjoyment factor that the Elevation Series will capture.

Kaldi:
So where did you guys learn to roast, or you said you were home roasting?

Le Sommet Coffee:
I was home roasting for a year-and-a-half, almost two years. And it was really out of curiosity. I mean, what really sparked it was a trip out to Arizona. I was out there, and I had some amazing coffee which blew away what I had before.  I started talking to one of the cafe owners who had a small roaster in the back, and I was like, "Oh, you guys roast your coffee here?" And we got into a good discussion. He said, "Yeah, you could just do it at home. Just pickup the Behmor, which is like a little Easy Bake Oven for coffee, order yourself some green coffee, and get going." I thought, “Why not?”

So just like that I started and as I home roasted, I was curious because I liked it, after some trail and many errors of coarse. I started giving it out to people, and they really enjoyed it too.  Last year I thought, "You know what? I'm going to take some capital that I saved up and put it in and give it a shot to see where I can take it as a true coffee roasting company."

Kaldi:
What was your other career before?

Le Sommet Coffee:
Yeah, so I had worked 20 plus years in IT, consulting and healthcare. I had reached the director level, and it really came to the point where I was traveling a lot. The jobs that I was taking on, I knew if I went any further, it would pull me away more, and demand more of a commitment at that time.

And not that I was looking for an out, but I think from a timing perspective, everything aligned, and I was like, "You know what? I love this. People love the coffee I'm making. I think I'm just going to go for it."

Over the holidays, we had a really big kick, we did well. And coming into the new year, and decade, timing is great because, like I said, I really want to continue a local presence, but put more focus on the outdoor adventuring and cycling.

Kaldi:
Awesome. And then what kind of equipment are you roasting on right now? What size and machine?

Le Sommet Coffee:
I have a Mill City Roaster roaster. We do all micro batch roasting, so it puts us closer to the coffee. And as far as our offerings, 12-ounce and 5 pound bags.

Kaldi:
Is that a one kilo or a five kilo machine?

Le Sommet Coffee:
It is a two kilogram roaster.

As a startup, I could have gone to the three kilo or larger, but I chose not to. I didn't see the initial investment being there. And I always figured, you know what? I can keep the two kilogram, and once we start broadening out towards introducing more organics where I'd have to run potentially two roasters, I can run the 2 kilogram then upgrade to a larger scale roaster to make operations with organic and non-organic coffees more simplified. So it was planned to not go big out of the gate.

Kaldi:
So how are you sourcing green beans? What's your sourcing philosophy right now?

Le Sommet Coffee:
I source directly from a wholesaler, Royal Coffee New York, in 150 pound bags. So we direct source from them, and they source from all over the world from small farms to co-ops.

It's great because I can sample different potential roasts and cup them and see if it is s a coffee to introduce. And having that setup provides a lot of flexibility.

Kaldi:
How are you sample roasting? Are you using that two kilo machine?

Le Sommet Coffee:
Actually, I am still using the Behmor just to sample.

I can just do half pound, to a pound at a time. I'm used to it. I know both machines very well, the nuances, I can tailor it in on the 2 kilogram different than the Behmor. I also roast different, I pull back, even if I intent to later go darker with a potential bean. I try to start cupping in the medium range when I sample, just to pull out the natural flavors before going any darker.

Le Sommet Coffee:
Right now, I only do single origin. The plan is to continue to move forward without moving towards blends. I like that we can pull the individual characteristics from each high quality sourced bean rather than trying to create blends. So for now, all of the offerings are single origin.

Kaldi:
Your pricing's pretty low for single origin.

Le Sommet Coffee:
In this area, these prices are aligned with other roasters.  The only difference is they are most likely roasting on a larger scale. We have some mid-market level roasters that kind of keep the prices competitive. Had we been located in downtown Philadelphia, yeah, the prices may be higher. But the current price point for launching in this area, it's competitive. And even my wholesale pricing is aligned to other roasters, in the local area.  again, they can produce on a larger scale than where we are with equipment, staff and funding.  Le Sommet Coffees are selling in a few local markets and bakeries right now, outside of having the ability to order online.

Kaldi:
Is most of your focus on wholesale, direct to consumer, or do you have plans to do retail or anything like that, like a coffee shop?

Le Sommet Coffee:
Yes to all. I mean, right now the focus in start-up initially was online as it was the fastest way to get people to try our coffees.  In December, some wholesale accounts were established.  Right now more efforts are focused on expanding to other retailers as having products available to consumers at the time of purchase can make all of the difference for growth and letting people know your coffee is available.

Kaldi:
When you were home roasting or even now, are you more of an espresso guy or pour-over or what kind of a profile do you look for for yourself?

Le Sommet Coffee:
For me personally, I prefer the Chemex. I just find it's a very evenly balanced when brewing coffee. I have an espresso machine, and enjoy espresso, but it has to be the right time. But most roasts I trend more medium and brew on the Chemex.

Kaldi:
I only asked because I thought you might be an espresso guy because of the triathlon or Ironman. Usually those guys love espresso. They just want the caffeine I guess.

Le Sommet Coffee:
Yeah, I do it sometimes when in the mood, but mostly I just enjoy time with the coffee.

Kaldi:
No, I personally think pour-over is a better way.

Le Sommet Coffee:
If I'm getting up for an Ironman at 4:00 in the morning, yeah, I'll take whatever's easier on my stomach.

Kaldi:
So where are you? Do you have a warehouse or what's your operation set up now? I mean, two kilo is pretty small.

Le Sommet Coffee:
Yeah. So we are what is called a limited food processor in Pennsylvania. That's how we are set up. No retail space, yet.  Everything is setup in what used to be the garage and it is fully converted into a coffee roasting facility. You could not tell it used to be a garage, So we have our certifications from Department of Agriculture, our local health department, and everything has gone through the checks and balances.

As the weather gets better, I've got a hard shell pack on my bikes, and if it's a local delivery, I can just throw it in there and go deliver the coffee. Not only saves on delivery cost, but gets me more time on the bike. Kind of free training.

Le Sommet Coffee:
But there is another roaster in Philadelphia by bike.

Kaldi:
I think that's Peddler. Is that Peddler Coffee?

Le Sommet Coffee:
Peddler, yes.

Kaldi:
Peddler - they’re out of Philadelphia. There is exists that kind of bike messenger style, culture in coffee. So I think sometimes those guys evolve into setting up their roasters and want to keep that bike kind of urban thing going, which is cool.

Le Sommet Coffee:
Yeah. And although there is a synergy as far as bike, the city, urban feel, that's kind of their thing. But for me, it's a little different. It's more connecting with outdoor adventuring, endurance sport lifestyle. Not that it has to be a clear differentiator, but people are like, "Oh, yeah, do you deliver on the bike?" And well, yes and no, but it's not just delivering coffee on a bike, it is far from that association.  For me, it’s about connecting the enjoyment of the outdoors to coffee.

Kaldi:
Matt, is there anything else you want to add about your company? I think it's great you're doing sports, the local events. I love the small size. Anything else you're excited about right now?

Le Sommet Coffee:
There's a lot going on. I'm trying to build the business in a smart way, but also not lose the passion that kind of initially ignited the start of Le Sommet Coffee.  In the day-to-day of running a business, you can get lost in the numbers, the metrics and the kind of the cold facts you have to focus on to keep the lights on.  I just want to make sure that we carry the business in a smart way so that we are here tomorrow, but more importantly not to lose site of aligning with outdoor adventuring and the joy of endurance sports while connecting with coffee.  That is truly who we are and will always be.

More @ https://www.lesommetcoffee.com/

(This interview was conducted as part of a premium coffee subscription program called Kaldi in  2020 that is no longer in operation  due to COVID 19  Business Closures).