Coffee Roasting week at Boot Roasting with Valerian was a fantastic experience. He is incredibly knowledgeable about roasting coffee, and the coffee business. As a seasoned coffee, roaster professional, Valerian taught the course, adding a personal touch coming from his experience as a roast master. He made sure that student always had enough time To practice and experience roasting coffee. Boot Campus It’s also well equipped with enough roaster to have plenty of time of practice for each student. I recommend taking courses and classes at Boot and with Valerian as instructor.

I attended Boot Coffee for Intro to Coffee, Intro to Sensory, Roasting Foundation and Intermediate course, and follow-on business seminar. I attended Boot Coffee for the Introduction to Coffee, Introduction to Sensory, Roasting Foundation and Intermediate course (including certifications) and the business prep seminar. I truly enjoyed all the courses and found our instructor, Valerian Hrala to be extremely personable and knowledgeable; He made sure we were well prepared to take the SCA certifications and provided significant information based on his wealth of experience in the Specialty Coffee Industry including his time as an instructor. Whether we were working on roast profiles, company branding, brew methods, or discussing technological advances in the Specialty Coffee Industry, Valerian presented current, relevant information. He used fun and creative teaching methods to make the classes interesting, and prepared amazing specialty coffees from all over the world throughout each day, including Finca La Mula Panama Geisha, a delicious and highly rated coffee. Each specialty coffee he prepared included a brief history of the coffee, its farming location, its origins and/or a brief anecdote from his experiences in the Specialty Coffee Industry. The courses opened my eyes to the Specialty Coffee Community and the intricacies involved in evaluation and tasting of what I previously considered a "simple cup of coffee." I look forward to future classes with Valerian and highly recommend his classes to beginner roasters whether they are entrepreneurs or hobbyists. A side note for beginner roasters, take the accompanying sensory course (if offered). The cupping experience is well worth it and can only benefit your journey as a roaster.

Up to my elbows in chocolate! I signed up for a week long hands-on course in making bean to bar craft chocolate. We learned about sensory analysis and chocolate tasting, about roasting, cracking, winnowing, roasting, grinding/melanging, conching, tempering and molding. A lot of effort goes into making a chocolate bar and that's not including all the work that the farmer does at origin. Valerian made the work fun but also made sure we learned. We made six different kinds of bars and had plenty to take home with us. We also tasted an infinity of craft chocolate bars from around the world and had an in depth visit to the Dandelion Chocolate Factory in San Francisco. All in all well worth it and I came away with the knowledge I needed to get into trouble making chocolate at home. Recommended.

If you looking to up your coffee… If you looking to up your coffee knowledge I would highly recommend boot coffee campus. The atmosphere was warm and inviting and the staff was very knowledgeable. I will definitely go back for more courses.

Excellent experience upping my coffee skills! The courses have just the right mix of core information/theory, practice, and fun. And also time for networking, which is important in this type of setting. I Look forward to exploring more advanced courses very soon.