2018 Presenters  

Jeremy Lyman is a co-founder of Birch Coffee, specialty coffee roaster with 10 coffee shop locations in NYC and roastery in Long Island City.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Becca Woodard has been in the coffee industry for 4 years. She is currently the Head Trainer and Wholesale Account Manager for George Howell Coffee and the 2018 United States Brewer’s Cup Champion. She decided to start competing this year, and has taken a whole new approach to the Brewer’s Cup competition; from using the stage and the voice it gave her as a platform for a message, to showcasing innovation in pouring and brewing techniques. Her message is about the systemic problems on both ends of the supply chain. On the cafe end, there is a large imbalance of cis white men dominating behind the bar and in competitions. On the farm end growing practices are often doing more harm than good to the Earth and the coffee plants. Using competition as a way to talk about these issues and bring them to the attention of others is what drives Becca to push boundaries and give it everything she can into her performance.

Joseph Monett is the Director of Training and Development for Cafe Grumpy. Joseph partners with retail managers and wholesale directors to grow teams and educate staff. With over a decade in the culinary world, Joseph knows what drives an excellent craft company—connecting with customers, creating a vibrant community, and celebrating the hard work of your team.

Joseph not only trains employees and wholesale accounts, but holds extensive experience teaching classes to the public and has also been featured in publications from Eater to Business Insider.

Robert Wallach is a founding partner and co-inventor of the Coffee Freshness System which utilizes pressurized CO2 gas to preserve the freshness of roasted coffee beans. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering and has previously worked in the Semiconductor Industry of Silicon Valley. The search for a better way to preserve coffee beans for home brewing led Robert to study the science of coffee staling extensively and in 2012 to partner with a Mechanical Engineer and develop the Coffee Freshness System. Robert is passionate about the field of Coffee Freshness and is eager to share his knowledge on this subject at CoffeeCon.

Richard Bastar has worked in the water treatment industry for 5 years with Nalco, and Ecolab Company, and Voltea, and also served as a U.S. Army Officer for 8 years.  He brings a level of professionalism, critical thinking, and attention to detail that is much needed in water treatment.  Through travel around the U.S. and EU to better understand water and quality, he has developed a level of appreciation for specialty coffee that drives passion across our team.  Richard holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering (ChE) and continuously strives for excellence throughout his career and within the Voltea team.

Chuck Herrera is long time coffee enthusiast turn pro. Three years ago he quit his job as graphic design after being completely enamored with the desire to balance well made coffee, hospitality and the esthetics of the third wave coffee culture. In these few years Chuck has been involved in coffee shop start ups, small batch roasting, coffee directing, cafe management and consulting and worked at the top West LA coffee bars like Cognescenti Coffee, Menotti’s Coffee Stop and Bar Nine Coffee Roasters.

Recently Chuck opened his own coffee bar with his fiancé Jenna, Good People Coffee Co in West Los Angeles. Taking a very different approach to specialty coffee Chuck crafted drinks that are tailor to suit every palate, high scoring single origins as well as homemade, handcrafted sweet lattes. Most days Chuck can be found on bar at Good People. 

Patrick McKeown is Head Roaster for Allegro Coffee Roasters’ Bowery location. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Sustainability from Stony Brook University where he realized the global impact of the coffee trade. After co-founding a small roasting company on Long Island, the opportunity to be part of the specialty coffee scene in NYC was too good to pass up.​ Day-to-day he manages the roasting, packaging, and distribution of ten single origin coffees and two blends; he hosts public events like cuppings or extraction classes and still enjoys getting behind the Victoria Arduino Black Eagle to make drinks for guests. 

James was presented with coffee and its industry four years ago after moving to New York City from Buffalo. After being blessed with a trip to Costa Rica, he became determined to highlight quality in coffee, and accept the many opportunities of how one can use such a product. Working with Abbotsford Road, James is able to offer businesses his unique perspective of seeing things: both from a consumer and a customer point of view. His hopes are to personally and professionally grow with Abbotsford Road, bringing with him the opportunity to form long lasting relationships.