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, owner of CoffeeXperts. 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 aspiration of one day starting my own business was inspired by my family and being involved in a family business. This ultimately pulled me away from Engineering to a entirely new direction. My first go at operating a company involved bottleless water coolers that could refill themselves with purified water. This venture led me to adding in coffee to the water cooler service 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 realized there was a lot of not so great coffee being distributed and wanted something better for myself and those who I offered coffee to. I was truly in love with coffee at this point and the idea of running and operating a coffee roasting company 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.
I'm Graham Burkum, Graphic Artist and Packager here at CoffeeXperts.
I've been working for CoffeeXperts since November of 2009. I'm 22 years old and have a degree in Audio Recording. I am also the lead singer and guitarist for the band "Skypiper" (www.skypiper.net). We released our debut record 'Lay Low and Pretty" in the summer of 2008 and are currently vigorously writing and doing pre-production for our sophomore record. We hope to be in the studio around early fall 2010. I'm currently creating all the new design for CX. I wouldn't say I'm an "Xpert" on coffee by any means, but I will tell you that I love it and I'm getting a little bit closer every day!