We are a close nit bunch of coffee enthusiast.  Our collective collaboration began in 2000 and our common thread was unique and  interesting coffees.  Although our actually roasting adventure has been relatively recent our love for coffee has always been there.  Our life stories are a bit unique we feel it brings creative ideas in.   

 

I'm Chris Smith, President and sales guru, creative mentor, and master collaborator. I was born in Morocco as my father was a navy pilot stationed there and at the time. After obtaining an Electrical Engineering degree, I worked 5 years designing cock pit instrumentation. My inspiration of one day starting my own business pulled me away from Engineering. I started my first company offering office water coolers that could refill themselves with purified water. This led me to adding in coffee to the water cooler thing and I began searching out fantastic coffees from around the world. My passion in the search for delicious beans grew enormously and I began thinking about roasting coffee for myself. I was truly in love with coffee at this point and the idea of CoffeeXperts was beginning to form. Besides my passion for that supreme bean I enjoy golfing, traveling, playing on my digital piano, a good game of cribbage and my newest hobby of photography.

 

 

I'm Jason Burkum, Master Roaster here at CoffeeXperts since early 2008. I'm 35 years old, married for nearly nine years to my wife Marcy, and have a hilarious 3 year old daughter named Everly Scout. I recently moved my family back to the Omaha area after spending the previous 12 years in Nashville, TN, where I was heavily involved in the Christian music industry as a record producer, songwriter, and session bass player. Many a long night spent hermetically sealed in a recording studio started my long term relationship with coffee, so when I was offered the opportunity to become a roaster I jumped in head first and have discovered a real passion for roasting. When I'm not roasting coffee you can find me still producing records here in the Omaha area, leading worship at my church, or hanging out with my family - probably boring them with details about coffee roasting.

Jason Burkum