The quality of your coffee starts with us

about us

Join expert instructors at the world-class BOOT COFFEE CAMPUS to earn your Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) certificates in coffee tasting, coffee roasting, green coffee buying, and barista skills – eventually leading the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma. SCA Coffee Skills Program courses provide the hands-on experience and knowledge to pursue a successful career in the specialty coffee industry. Willem Boot and lead trainer Valerian Hrala will personally share with you their extensive knowledge; from the intricate design of roasting profiles to roasting techniques of truly exotic coffees, like Willem’s award winning Geisha. Boot Coffee Campus Pathway courses provide solid hands-on training on a variety of equipment and offer many opportunities to taste coffees, develop sensory skills, master coffee business concepts, and understand coffee contracts and processing. We allow for sufficient one-one-one interaction with the trainers, who have combined more than 30 years of expertise.

Coffee training & consulting

what do we do

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

Nelson Mandela

SCA CERTIFIED COFFEE TRAINING

Training Coffee Professionals since 1995

Learn new skills and advance your your coffee career at Boot Coffees Campus (near San Francisco) with personalized education or the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Skills Program in Roasting, Sensory Skills, Barista Skills, Brewing, Green Coffee, Business Management, and coffee production (with courses at our farms in Panama and partner farms in Ethiopia).

Credits earned in the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Skills Program apply towards the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma.

online coffee education

The most comprehensive online coffee education since 2012

Over 24 hours of video content in the art and science of coffee tasting, roasting, quality management, green coffee production, brewing, barista skills and enjoying coffee.

With online courses, you can learn on your own terms from the comfort of your home.

Since 2012 over 3,000 coffee professionals from all over the world have chosen coffeecourses.com.

We are very excited to welcome you too!

COFFEE INDUSTRY CONSULTING

Training Coffee Professionals since 1995

Consider our consulting services as a valuable investment in your business. Boot Coffee Consulting combines decades of coffee expertise with effective quality management programs.

We developed a unique methodology to analyze the market positioning of coffee producing entities and countries. Email us for a free consultation to review your specific needs and program requirements.

COFFEE FARMING

The most comprehensive online coffee education since 2012

Learn new skills and advance your coffee career at Boot Coffees Campus (near San Francisco) with personalized education or the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Skills Program in Roasting, Sensory Skills, Barista Skills, Brewing, Green Coffee, Business Management, and coffee production (with courses at our farms in Panama and partner farms in Ethiopia). Credits earned in the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Skills Program apply to the SCA Coffee Skills Diploma.

Doing coffee worldwide

our team

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

henry ford

Willem Boot

Founder & CEO

Since I was 14 years old I have worked as a roaster, cupper, roastery owner and in 1998 I founded Boot Coffee. My mission: advising roasting companies and coffee producers on quality improvement strategies. Over the years we developed an impressive portfolio of clients, from super-quality specialty start-ups to renowned coffee producing countries. My passion: the Geisha coffee farms I started in Panama and Ethiopia and my quest to find the mother-source of Geisha in Ethiopia. I’m a licensed Q grader and Q Arabica instructor.

Valerian Hrala

Campus Director

I grew up in Central Europe, studying political science and working in human rights across Slovakia and the former Yugoslavia. My coffee journey started in 2001 with Green Plantation Coffee, bringing single-origin beans to Slovakia. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve lived, worked, and written about coffee, co-creating coffeecourses.com with the Boot team and co-founding Unleashed Coffee, a true farm-to-consumer company. To give back to the community that’s given me so much, I started the CoffeeIs.ME podcast for coffee professionals.

Favorite activity outside work:

Family & Road biking 🔥

What We’d Be Without Coffee?

Behavioral economist 📈

Superpower?

Badass Neapolitan style pizza 🍕

Right now Listening to:

Odezenne 🇫🇷

Marcus Young

Senior External Consultant

My love of coffee began as a teenager while spending nights in coffee shops socializing and tasting coffee with friends. 18 years ago I became hooked on coffee. While working on a masters degree in education I also developed a passion for training. I have shared my experience as an SCA Certified Instructor, author of various coffee industry publications, I lectured about coffee, and volunteered as a world barista competition judge. My passion for tasting led me to earn my Q license, work as a barista, coffee importer and finally as a quality advisor helping Rwandan farmers bring their specialty coffee to market. I co-founded a micro-roastery, have sourced green coffees, and developed blends for major roasting companies.

K. C. O'KEEFE

Senior Consultant Specialty Coffee Value Chains

In 1997 a small group of coffee farmers in the Alto Mayo of Northern Perú asked me to assist in exporting their coffee. 20 years later I am the only person in my family of five without a Peruvian passport, and continue to strive to contribute to the economic development of Peruvian coffee farmers. I love Café Verde, our roaster retailer in Miraflores Lima and coffee farm in Moyobamba. I’m fortunate to have been able to work throughout Latin America, East Africa and Asia as a Q Instructor and specialty coffee export supply chain developer. Economic development on behalf of micro farmers remains my driving curiosity, and I’m thrilled to have encountered that quality coffee blended with quality people is the central answer.

JAIME DUQUE

Senior Consultant Specialty Coffee Value Chains

I am an agronomy engineer with a specialization in business administration. Most of my life, I have been working in different segments of the coffee value chain; from farming to processing to roasting to barista preparation. Specifically, I have been focusing on the aspect of quality assurance at the farm and at the level of the roastery. It is my passion to share knowledge and to support the coffee industry in Colombia and beyond. I am the founder of the training laboratory and café Catación Publica in Bogota en the coffee brand Jaime Duque.

David Pohl

Senior Consultant International Trade & Quality

While I have cherished coffee since high school, my career in coffee really started after graduate school when I took a job with Fair Trade USA. While there I delved into the meaning and significance of sustainability in the coffee industry, a call to action which remains a driving force for me today. As a lifelong chef and “man of the kitchen” my interest in coffee soon turned to quality, where I explored the magical transformation of the green coffee bean first as a home roaster and then as an apprentice. Since then I have had the pleasure of serving in various roles in the coffee industry, with small and large companies, growing, sourcing, blending, roasting and selling coffee to a wide variety of customers, all the while continuing to push the boundaries of quality and sustainability.

Kelly Hartman

Coffee Farming Specialist

I started working at my family’s coffee farm (Finca Hartmann) at the age of 16. Since 2008, I have been working with Boot Coffee in Panama, managing the award winning Geisha farms Finca Sophia, Finca La Mula and the newly planted Finca La Cabra. In Panama I supervise a team of nine Ngobe-Bugle indigenous workers and a larger team of seasonal employees. I take personal pride in motivating my staff to take meticulous care of our precious Geisha trees. Farming at ultra high elevations (1700 to 2100 meters) is a challenging task, which -in the end- is rewarded through the quality in the cup. Over the years I developed a unique specialization in the cultivation of Geisha trees. My career highlights: winning the ultra challenging Best of Panama Competition with the natural process Finca La Mula in 2014 and the washed process Finca Sophia

Kees Kraakman

European Lead Trainer Specialty Coffee

I started my coffee career at a young age. My initial coffee mentor was Jacob Boot, father of Willem Boot, who taught me about cupping and roasting techniques. For 11 years I have worked for The Golden Coffee Box, a small coffee importer and coffee roastery owned by Barend Boot (Willem’s brother). Over the past years I have worked as a trainer and consultant with roasting companies and upscale cafés throughout Europe. In 2017, I co-founded Café Keppler, a roastery café and and restaurant in the heart of Amsterdam.