Laura Ross: Hula Daddy's Award-Winning Roaster
Forbes Magazine recognized Laura Ross as one of the “Top 12 USA Coffee Roasters.”
Ten years ago, we placed an online ad for a tour leader. Laura applied for the job. She had been working for the Mauna Kea but wanted a change. We liked her and trained her to do tours. She was outstanding and the visitors loved her.
At the same time, we decided to do our own roasting and were installing a new roasting machine. We had an agreement with an experienced roaster that he would work for us for a year and do roast training. Laura liked the idea of coffee roasting and started assisting him. Pretty quickly she was doing her own coffee roasts. By the time he left, she oversaw all our coffee roasting.
Laura is amazing. She is meticulous. She sorts every roast before she roasts it and again after she roasts the beans. We had a coffee professional tell us,” We can always tell your coffee there are never any defects. No one else does that.”
We can ask her to repeat a roast she did five years before and she checks her log that has minute-by-minute temperature changes and then does it.
Laura took the Q grader examination. This is a three-day test of coffee knowledge and cupping ability. For coffee roasters, it is the equivalent of the bar exam for lawyers. There are only 12 Q graders in Hawaii. The pass rate is just 50%. Laura passed on her first try.
We aren’t the only ones who have recognized Laura.
- Laura was voted Hawaii Retail Employee of the Year in 2010.
- Forbes Magazine recognized her as one of the “Top 12 USA Coffee Roasters.”
- She is a three-time winner of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival Cupping Contest.
- Coffee Review consistently gives her roasts high scores. We have customers who won’t order until they have talked to Laura about the current coffees.
The next time you sip one of our coffees know that Laura put her Aloha into it.
