Aziz Jones of Royal Coffee

I recently sat down with Aziz Jones, the head roaster at Royal Coffee, to discuss his rather quick entrance into the world of coffee. And when I say quick, this man drank his first cup in March of 2016 only to begin roasting coffee in January of 2017. Wow!

Aziz is based in Phoenix, AZ - my hometown. And it was our mutual friends that drew him into the world of coffee.

“It was Perry and Shaunté, it was all their fault! It was not my thing and interesting fact, I was straight edge, I didn’t drink caffeine, no alcohol, drugs. I just hopped into coffee.”

In 2015, Perry Czopp and Shaunté Glover (his roommate at the time) embarked on a month-long road trip across the states to shoot their video series, Coffee Scene. "It was seeing them going to shops - and then there was this coffee event at Kitchen Sink Studios. They were talking about sustainability...and I had this idea that I want to be an importer. I want to go down to farms, work with them, get their beans up here."

Aziz quickly realized that he was not meant to be an importer, deciding to pursue roasting, "since you're still part of the process." He planned to get a job as a barista, then move into roasting. That all changed, though, with a visit to Royal Coffee.

"I had a list of coffee shops that I was going to go to see about getting a job. I came into Royal in Jan 2017, Hector the owner was sitting over there, someone behind the counter said to email the owner, but Hector came up and asked what I wanted to do, and I said, well, I want to roast. And he said, my roaster is moving, so I need someone. I said, I'm ready, and then two weeks after that I started."

Our conversation reminded me of a TED Talk by Bill Gross. He had done research into why so many businesses fail. He looked at hundreds of companies and factored in their funding, their team, and their business models as to reasons they would either succeed/fail. The main factor he found was - timing.

Aziz not only had timing on his side, seeing as Royal was in an immediate need of training a new roaster. He had another critical factor that I feel determines success, intention. He went from having had his first coffee - a vanilla latte from Giant Coffee - only 10 months earlier to having his eyes opened to the world of specialty coffee, leading to him become a roaster.

"I'm further than I thought I would be (2.5 years later), but there is still a whole lot that I have to learn that I believe that should already know now, but I don't, so I'm still working on that."

Aziz hopes to eventually rost for himself and has a multi-year plan. One that is taking a bit longer to implement because, as he puts it, "my girlfriend and friends were all just like, we should travel and I was like, hell yeah! So coffee can wait." Side Note: I am more than jealous of his recent travels to the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion National Parks, to name a few.

Since my visit to Phoenix a few months back, both Aziz and Shaunté has started hosting an invite-only, cupping session called Floral Cuppings. They're targeting everyday coffee drinkers who have never heard of cuppings - over the standard coffee pro crowd that would usually attend an event of that nature.

I love seeing the PHX coffee scene there mature. It's come a long way since my days as a barista way back in the freakin' day. And it's people like Aziz and others that I've recently featured that will continue to push it forward.