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Evan Gilman
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Evan Gilman

Evan Gilman is an avid generalist and coffee lover. His 20+ years in the coffee industry have taken him from barista, to trainer, to Q Instructor, and SCA-Licensed AST. Evan has spent time in Southeast Asia getting to know the specialty coffee supply chain, throughout Indonesia to the Philippines. His writing has been published in Sprudge, Standart, Roast Magazine, and other publications. You can find interviews with him on East Bay Yesterday, Keys to the Shop, and here on Royal's blog. As Creative Director, he edits Royal's Blog, teaches certified content for coffee professionals, designs for print and web, buys green coffee from Southeast Asia, and curates the Gallery at The Crown. Evan's passions range from Balinese gamelan to heavy metal, from photography to communications design, and from baking to brewing.

Articles by Evan Gilman

  • We’re all in the Same Boat

    Shipping is just like the coffee industry – the closer you look, the more complex it seems. Royal is currently experiencing some delays in shipping, and although delays on imports are not a rare occurrence, wait times and frequency of delays are increasing for some very interesting reasons. The economics of the last few years […]

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  • Behmor 1600 Plus

    Roasting on the Behmor 1600 Plus

    Roasting on the Behmor 1600 Plus    The home roasting community is familiar with – and enamored of – the Behmor roaster. Look around on home roasting forums and the blogs of hobbyist roasters and you’re liable to find a Behmor machine or two. For some, this machine is the start of an obsession. […]

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  • Catracha Pre-Ships are Here: A Cupping Report

    Catracha Pre-Ships are Here: A Cupping Report Here in Emeryville, we are starting out on another exciting season of coffee arrivals. Aside from promising pre-shipments and early arrivals from Ethiopia, our friends in Honduras are sending us some very special coffees. As part of our ongoing relationship with the Santa Elena department in Honduras, Catracha […]

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  • Fresh Crop Ethiopian Coffees – First Impressions

    My first time cupping at Royal was right around this time of year; the weather was becoming gentler, and my nose was still sensitive to the ubiquitous jasmine vines in the Bay Area. I was a full-time barista, and used to tasting coffees that made it all the way through various levels of quality control […]

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  • Royal Coffee Ethiopia Origin Trip 2017

    Royal Coffee Ethiopia Origin Trip 2017

    Royal Coffee recently took a trip to Ethiopia, where we met with various exporters and producers, and explored the country from bustling Addis Ababa to remote Gedeb. We visited the production facilities that have brought us such wonderful Ethiopian coffee over the years, and our customers were able to shake the hands of the people […]

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  • purchasing wholesale green coffee beans

    What You Need To Know About LTL Freight

    Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the July/August 2022 edition of Roast Magazine under the Column “Technically Speaking” and is reprinted here with permission TL;DR – Key Takeaways for Saving on Coffee Shipping 🚛 Leverage Your Supplier’s Freight Rates – They often have better LTL rates than you can negotiate alone. 📦 Choose the Right […]
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  • jf1

    The Crown Gallery Artist Interviews: Joshua Farr

    The Crown seeks to give exposure to local and international artists through The Crown Gallery, and hosts new artists each quarter. The Crown Gallery is currently accepting submissions for the Winter of 2022, and is seeking artists who approach issues related to environmental sustainability, intersectionality, the City of Oakland, and of course, coffee. Contact us […]
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  • aricha

    Consent and Participation: On Photography at Origin

    Editor’s note: A different version of this article originally appeared in Daily Coffee News on August 4, 2020.   Consent and Participation: On Photography at Origin Consent in photography is a complex topic, and one that has been explored in great depth by anthropologists, philosophers, legal minds, and academics of all casts. It is also […]
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  • DSC_0141

    Imagine: A Trip to Burundi and Rwanda

    Imagine. Two countries ravaged for generations with the threat of violence and disorder, where even neighbors may have had long histories fraught with conflict. First under German colonists, then under the Belgian colonial regime, those who had been neighbors for generations were played against each other to the benefit of the ruling class. Unfortunately, I […]
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  • Hambela: A New Ethiopian Origin by Evan Gilman

    Hambela: A New Ethiopian Origin by Evan Gilman

    Hambela: A New Ethiopian Origin by Evan Gilman Aman and Michael Adinew of METAD Agricultural Development have spent many years improving the coffee business in Ethiopia.  Their family farm, Hambela, produces some of the best naturally processed coffee we have tasted, and is an example of great infrastructure and attention to detail. Previously blended into […]

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  • The Blend Supply Chain

    The Blend Supply Chain

    When building a blend, having a set of goals is key. What is the ideal blend for your particular situation, and what is your situation, exactly? For green buyers, constant maintenance of one’s position is a necessity, and some blends are built out of this necessity. Coffee is an agricultural product that has a shelf […]

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  • Susan White/USFWS

    Plastic Rules Everything Around Me

    Plastic surrounds us. There’s no two ways about it – just look around you right now and you’ll see how many objects contain plastic. My phone is plastic, that cup is plastic, and my pants probably have some synthetic fibers in them as well. My sandwich is in a plastic bag, and the lettuce I […]

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