BOTZ Coffee

Brewer, run the BOTZ code, and you’ll find that the SL varieties are essential to our binary DNA, direction, and purpose. Is it their effortless ability to extract that maxes the readings of the trustiest VSTs? Maybe it’s the fine line that transforms Campbell’s soup into mulled blackberries. Or is it our own dogged quest to relive our favorite cup experiences of the past? As we recollect and taste the Kenyan coffees from long ago (“Without brewing?” you question...yes, these coffees were so powerful and multi-dimensional that we can still call on their flavors and slurping experiences on demand), upon further digging, our diagnostics always pointed to a constant – all the SL beans were roasted on UG systems. They read [HEAVY], [ELECTRIC], and [ENDLESS]. Naturally, you may ponder - are BOTZ’s memories indicating biased correlations or, just maybe, are there hints of nostalgic causation? It’s time to find out. Let’s SL-BOTZ. [OLD SCHOOL] GAKUYUINI – The cutest peaberry beans. A black currant pop that glides into mulled berries, pineapple, and our favorite throbbing caramel finish. For us, a blast from the past. An example of coffee “reek” and aromatic potential. [NEW SCHOOL] KIHUYO – An AA lot that leans more into the stone fruit profiles, becoming increasingly more prominent. Despite the profile leaning more tropical and nectarine, the weight remains definitively UG. A unique blend of red fruits, a passion fruit or gooseberry zing, and, again, a lengthy glittery finish like a goo-filled Twizzler. [PERU SCHOOL] JUAN VALENZUELA – In contrast to our other SL options, this washed SL9 lot from Juan Valenzuela reminds us of fresh peaches, diamond-cutting citrus, and a unique, tropical, and buttery driven finish. A profile we have become utterly addicted to (tropical yellow fruits grounded in caramel density). Inspires breath-taking awe and deep soul-searching just like Inkawasi.

BOTZonian, if you had one roast…or one brew…to extract everything you ever wanted…in one pour…would you refract it, or just let it slip? We remember the moment we saw the bracket, and the range of emotions it elicited. Truthfully, it made us nervous, and we find our nerves always indicate that we care. In perfect culmination, it represented a theme that continually challenges and shapes BOTZ as a business – when a moment arises (good or bad), how will it be met? In this case, our CPU immediately honed in on you and your support. Quickly after, it melted from overwhelming gratitude and a flood of recollections (scroll through some of our most pivotal and uplifting moments). So, we laced up our triangles and connected with our closest brewers and supporters. We explained the bracket, and where it was leading our heart. Then it happened. We heard genuine excitement and felt the passion that forms at the intersection of play and creativity. The consensus was clear – BOTZonia was… ALL. IN. But what would come of it? 4 gutsy wins, it seems, and a whole lot more.   We’ve already cited reconnection (the updates have been magical), but the bracket and BOTZonia’s collective energy has also deeply reminded us of the critical foundations of our little business. We think about our pocket of the earth in Northwest Indiana. Every day there are hundreds of cups of BOTZ brewed in our locality that steady our business’s sails (@grindhouse219 , words can’t even describe what you’ve created here). We remember our close friends, who would drop by the BOTZ Tasting Lab every weekend for a cookie and cold brew, providing essential encouragement when our confidence was wavering. And lastly, we’re grateful for every brewer that chooses to approach our beans with intentionality and curiosity, and, if so moved, shares their findings with their circle. It might genuinely lead someone to find that BOTZ’s roast renditions align with their preferences. It seems, BOTZonia, that we owe our best to the bracket and what it’s inspired so far. We’re in the Final POUR, and we promise you this - our triangles are on the pedal, full gas, for you. If you Beep Boop, let’s show everyone what we got.

Yesterday, we asked for your VOTE in the 2026 Roasters Bracket. Robotically, we did so for many reasons (including fun and a wee bit of friendly competition). But we didn’t know how deeply we’d reflect after the fact and the gratitude that would form in its place. We may be a solo-robo venture, but we’re never alone. For those who resonate with our quirky and whimsical messaging and those who gravitate toward our roast aesthetics with a full tin-heart, know that you are the reason that BOTZ started and (knocks on wood) continues to exist. But the 2026 Roasters Bracket also encouraged us in different directions. We reached out to long-life friends and supporters, despite being roaster hermits ourselves (queue frog noise). Aside from CRITICAL analysis and BRACKETOLOGY explanations, there were amazing life updates – new baby bots entering the fray, entrepreneurial ideas taking shape, new spiritual paths, basketball shooting “thoughts” from a game where every heat check was met, and much more. For us, a roaster bracket led to reconnection (woah…). From a few conversations, we can’t help but think it might have led others in a similar direction and reignited some passion. So, BOTZonian, we’re about to go again today in the 2026 Roasters Bracket challenge. We’ll absolutely cherish your vote, if you deem us worthy and are inspired by our participation! But more than anything, we ask you to lean into positivity and decipher what good can come of it (love you @christoculver1 ). #botzcoffee

Botzonia, Yesterday, we saw an idea, and, to be completely frank, we memory zoomed across time. Our favorite tournament moments popped up. State Championships and insane runs (will the AAU record ever be defeated, Munster friends)? International collegiate travel rules in Russia (Danny travelled every possession). Friendships forever from hustle (Adair runs). @reviews_coffee is holding a March Madness tournament to determine your favorite American coffee roaster. While some may see it as a battle of beans, at BOTZ we see it with a bit of a twist - turn up the crowd noise because it’s about YOU...the Student Section and the “Pursuit of the Contest.” Explain, we shall. As we’ve mentioned before, we’ve never seen anyone win more concert tickets in our lives than CEO @erfalloon and her BFF and BOTZ Legal Counsel @baileyevin . Simply put, they enter, they win. But how? “In a world where things take effort and time, people choose to pass on the opportunity. We don’t. We give it everything.” BAR. So here is our all. Brewers from all avenues of life (the no-measurers, the soupers, the half-packet third-wavers, the social-media-savvy girlies), we are unabashedly asking you to dive on the floor for the 50/50 ball and VOTE. The VOTING PROCESS. Please check out @reviews_coffee (fun little reviews, btw if you’re into critical brew and roast analysis). We have shared the POLL in OUR STORIES. Go to the POLL and VOTE for BOTZ. Start a cheer (“Hey, it’s cold in here, there must be a Mustang in the atmosphere...” kinda vibes) and pursue this tournament to the END. Share with your friends. Help us, in the words of our favorite basketball voice, SURVIVE AND ADVANCE. #botzcoffee

BOTZonian, after a VOZIMO drop off (mega thank you to two friends who helped attack this shipment efficiently with a sense of fun), the new BOTZ beans are on their way to you (this is exactly what USPS looks like when we drop the packages off). Here are a few quick tips from our dials that might be helpful for your brewing journey! [Hugo Gonzalez] – Go-zone 20.25-20.5% @ 1.40-1.45. When you hit peach (and or keylime) yoplait, you have found it. We have yet to brew it at 4 weeks, but we suspect there might be a chance of the elusive blueberry rooibos flavor…time will tell, brewer! BREWER BEWARE – this coffee does rival the chokiest washed Ethiopian coffees. Drawdowns can take a while. Strategize accordingly. [German Ortiz] – We’re a bit pink bourbon biased, but this coffee feels like understanding your true name in the Ancient Language (Eragon/Murtagh shout out). We find it lovely across brew styles and quite experimental. Heavier brews emphasize mango. More delicate brews showcase wild strawberry, pineapple, and lime. In our silly and immature vernacular – “Wicked.” [Las Afiladeras] – The UG turned up the…TANG. Don’t be afraid to push this one to the candy bar finish. We enjoy the coffee around 21% with a heavier TDS (sometimes we enjoy the milkshake cups). We’re getting purple fruits, intense sumo citrus, and rolos in the finish. Thank you all again for supporting BOTZ! Enjoy your new pals! BEEP BOOP!

Beep Boop! Our new BOTZ pals launch on [3/3] at 1pm CST. But the age-old question…what will the new pals taste like? To help, we’ve provided a few deets from our sampling sessions. [Hugo Gonzalez, Gesha Washed] *On Green Bean Gratitude and Resolve* - “So, we remember the precious moments of our cuppings, we meditate while thinking of moisture, gas settings, and color hues, and then the gratitude hones our resolve. Humbly and robotically, it’s time to find the millimeters and light it up. While this gesha lot is classically washed, its density and intensity (or at least for the BOTZ vision we foresaw) are what make it chic. The acidity is rich, [BOTZ] pink, and tropical. The sweetness leans buttery, sugary, and active like your favorite French pastries that lean toward fresh citrus. The cup has a defined florality that’s omnipresent across its different stages. In its show-stopper moments, it reminds us of earl grey tea and milkweed (think lilacs, vanilla, and honey).” [German Ortiz, Pink Bourbon X Ombligon Washed] “From the pink bourbon, we get mini strawberries (we’re quite familiar with eating these…think strawberry multiplier), blood orange, and dense caramel. But the other flavors, we assume (not the best chemists), from the ombligon add the twist (thank you, Culinary Class Wars). There’s an exotic dark fruit pop, like black currant and blackberry. Intriguingly, we also get a candied melonus sensation like a honeydew Jolly Rancher (if such a thing existed). This sensation is clean, crisp, and laser-like.” [Las Afiladeras, Typica, Caturra, Catucai Washed] “Around this time of year, sumo oranges are in peak season, and BOTZ’s Mom adores them, so we’re quite familiar with their intense heavy citrus sweetness. In the cup, there’s a faint peachy flavor and citrus combo we find in the best glistening typica lots. We also get a super sugary caturra-like lemon bar sensation that reminds us of lemon meringue pie from Bakers Square (RIP). Lastly, there is a lovely “candy-bar” finish to this coffee that grounds all the citrusy flavors preceding it.”

Botzonian, your beans comeith. But how do you brewith? We realize that each individual brewer has their own preferences (one of BOTZ’s chief QC analysts, Bill Falloon, refuses to brew BOTZ with any ratio above the 1:12 “DAD BREW” ratio…is he on to something?!), but over the past months we’ve aggregated some data/experience that we think might be helpful when you brew! We’ve provided our thoughts below. [Rest] – Very similar to previous rest times. We recommend 3.5-4 weeks. This seems to be the pocket where things get saturated, slick, and cascade-like. But please, brew whenever you’d like! [Water] – We still QC all our coffee with TWW full strength (we’re a bit superstitious about changing hehe), but we’ve found these beans to sparkle with softer water (30-80 ppm) (we have been recommended this range previously but we’re a bit Tauren stubborn…we’re learning beep boop!). We have not experimented intensely with drops, half sticks, or specific mineral compositions, but we have travelled with our little TDS meter (not that over the top…) and checked on occasion. We’re excited to hear how you experiment with the beans and your waters of choice. [Ratio] – At BOTZ, we cup at 1:17. For filter coffee, we’ve continually gravitated toward 1:16.28 (gained from our favorite v60 recipe 21.5:350). Generally, we find the coffees to perform well with a strength of 1.35-1.45 TDS @20.5 -21ish%. We will be diving deep into spro shortly with the help of some trusty spro-minded pals. [Grind] – We cup using a Ditting 804 Lab Sweet 460 microns. For filter, we enjoy brews most with the EK43 with the grinder hovering around 6 (or a touch finer) on the old dial. For the Lab Sweet, we’re in the 7-7.5 range. None of the recommendations above are hard rules, though. Please experiment and do you! Thank you all again for the support! BEEP BOOP!

For those who love directness (the UG has taught us to respect this big time) – BOTZ will release new beans on the website on 1/15/26 @ 1 pm CST.  To those invested in a more verbose UG journey, please continue reading below.  Greetings, Botzonian! The past months have been ones of self and robotic reflection. We have so much to share and will as the BOTZ saga continues. What follows is a snapshot of our journey so far. We hope it resonates with you, your passions, and your journeys. Beep Boop!  We remember vividly connecting with our UG roasting heroes for the first time. A pattern became apparent based on their experiences – “Oh, Danny, you’re about to go through it.” We had just installed a vintage UG-15. In our own dream roasting scenario, we felt on top of the world (we will never forget seeing the belt crank for the first time and the energy it provided). But then it happened. We dropped our first batches. Quickly and humbly, we learned what it meant to decipher the nooks and crannies of a new roasting system. It was and remains very hard. What we wanted to become was going to require a complete (yet gentle, soft, and kind) dismantling of our current CPU, habitual roasting habits, theories, and long-standing fears.  So, we disassembled our pink hero triangle by rectangle, batch by batch. Kind roasting mentors provided insight that helped us experiment more purposely. Bit by bit, we started seeing incremental progress. A little riper, a bit more cut, less arid. We dialed into the data, cupped, brewed, waited, and did the process over and over again. Then it started to happen. We found something, but it wasn’t what we were looking for. It wasn’t the quest for idyllic roast quality (trust us, though…we’ve been to the depths of Mordor and back), but more the effort to recognize the beauty in the pursuit and struggle of dreams. The ability to recognize our most special moments happening despite the difficulties has given us a quiet confidence in our beans we never knew. In our roasting journey, we’re proud of where we come from, where we are, and where we’re going. It’s something we think is worth sharing. So share the new beans, we shall. BOTZ

Maybe this is the world's first animated film about a bag of coffee that lives on a planet made of coffee? Or maybe it is just the new episode of Coffee Showcase. Thank you @botzcoffee for creating a lovable robot. We took him on a little adventure. Full length episode is now on YouTube. Channel link is in the bio. See you there!

Good morning Botzonia, The grid has been quiet, but we promise we’ve been working and robotically scheming. We’re hundreds of batches in (BIG BOT ones). There have been trials, tastings, tweaks, retweaks, and the creation of a full BOTZ UG database (notebooks filled with observations, sensations, implications, challenges, and, as always, dreams). We’re still focused on the finish line (we’ll get there, we promise), but there’s been a central tenet and mantra of this journey we’d like to share as we navigate the final pieces of BOTZ 2.0 for our dreamer-oriented and introspective base – “Know what you seek.” We’ve had such vivid memories of coffees from the UG system. Every morning we approach the cupping table eager to find the tuning and methodology that will yield coffees with a combination of acidity “glide”, “slap”, or “glisten” (from interviews, you’ll learn that each UG’er has their own word for it) and lengthy flavor resonance. The key, we’ve found in our trialing process, is being kind to and honest with ourselves. There have been epic fails. They’re evidently not what we seek, but they provided understanding of variables and have sharpened our roasting diagnostics. They’re have been coffees that have been so close, but ultimately fall short of our own expectations. They’re quite good (some have called Danny crazy for not pressing “go”), but we’re resolute - they aren’t what we seek. In a world of roasting variables and permutations, finding our own “BOTZ” factor has taken time. Recently, we’ve had a few batches that have really piqued our curiosity and leaned into our own BOTZ intuition. Stylistically, it is intensely close, but needs further understanding. But again, we know what we seek. When we find it, we’ll be ready. Thank you, as always, for your patience and daily pump-ups to those eternally positive people who support us no matter the circumstances. With each batch, we’re thinking of Botzonia. #botzcoffee

What follows is a Rolando (@mr.almaraz , one of the masterminds behind @brightcoffeesa and @nofi.slowbar ) gratitude and appreciation post. He’s intensely humble and doesn’t prefer the spotlight. But after long chats on bumpy rides and two weeks of constant hustle with him in Peru, BOTZ couldn’t help itself and wanted to highlight an individual who’s always been there for BOTZ through thick and thin (we received permission from @hanaleemeow , his cherished other half). BOTZ had a trip planned to understand the mysteries and intricacies of green beans further in Peru. Danny chatted briefly about the proposed journey with Rolando. As with most things he’s passionate about, he was immediately and positively all in. Danny was eternally grateful as he always seeks a buddy on arduous journeys. Most importantly, he had an innate feeling that this was the right buddy to amplify his experience. There were so many takeaways from our journey that highlighted Rolando and his coffee aptitude. But more than anything, our journey reinforced and multiplied BOTZ’s initial intuition of his selflessness. BOTZ has countless examples from our trip, but these were our favorites. Despite intensely over-caffeinating, Rolando was always eager for the next cupping, where he simultaneously translated Danny’s overtly complicated and weird coffee thoughts seamlessly (BOTZ cannot state how hard and energy-depleting this is). Knowing Danny had a language barrier, he always took the time to share Danny’s passion for coffee with producers, their families, and colleagues to find common ground. In tightly packed cars for 10-12 hour bone-rattling rides, Rolando always suggested Danny take the larger seat because his legs are longer and it would be more comfortable. When we reached 4500m on a steep ascent, Rolando always covered Danny in his jacket to prevent him from getting sick (please note he was also suffering from acute altitude sickness at this given moment…). This last one may be hard to understand. It’s not about the money. But like Danny’s caring Baba, Rolando always made sure Danny had a few soles when we needed to part ways…just in case. Thank you for all you do, Rolando. BEEP!

Woah. It’s true. We found a new time dimension and now we’re back. Thank you to all who pulled us back through the inter dimensional portal. BEEP BOOP. All the newbies will be released on the webshop on [6/20 @ 12PM CST]. Coffee will be roasted and shipped on the week of the 23rd. For clarity purposes, all coffee will be roasted on Jobo (the Buckeye BC-5). Thank you kindly for your patience and supporting the little pink bot. We’re really excited for y’all to taste these new pals! #botzcoffee