Tony overseeing a roast in progress.

Bow Truss is pleased to welcome the newest addition to our team, Tony Grewing! Tony is a new Chicago transplant, most currently from Seattle, where he roasted coffee for specialty coffee luminary Stumptown Coffee. Tony will be joining Dennis, our Master Roaster at the controls of the Probat. We asked Tony a few questions about himself:

What do you believe good coffee should taste like? I think good cup of coffee should have a balanced and integrated profile in a way that fully represents that particular coffee.  Not balanced as in, all coffees need to have equal levels of sweetness, acidity, and body, but all three should at least be present and working together to fully express everything the coffee has to offer. 

What’s your favorite brew method and why? Recently I’ve been using an AeroPress, its quick, simple and travels well(it’s especially nice for camping). Chemex is a close second though, because I consistently get great, well-balanced coffee out of it without a painstaking brew process.

Why do you think you and Dennis will make a great team? I think we have fairly different histories and experiences with roasting and with coffee in general, and I think that that will help prevent us from only approaching coffees from single mindset, which can happen occasionally. Basically, roasting will be more of a conversation with both of us working with the coffees and roast profiles everyday.

What do you hope to bring to Bow Truss as a growing roasting company? I’ve worked at a new small coffee company before and just left a larger, more established, company, and I think I have a good perspective on where we’re coming from and, generally speaking, where we want to be. I hope I can take my past experience and apply it in a way that helps keep things going as smoothly as possible as Bow Truss continues to grow and expand.

What excites you most about living in Chicago? Probably the variety and quality of food, followed by the sheer amount of stuff there is to do. There was always stuff going on in Seattle for sure, but I’m excited to see what Chicago has to offer being a bigger city and all. Also I just recently found out Liverpool is supposedly going to be playing a friendly [exhibition soccer/football match] here this summer, so that would be pretty awesome too.

What must-have albums do we need in our record collection at Bow Truss? My answer to this question changes pretty frequently, but right now I’d say the top 5 must-haves are: Bob Dylan: Desire, Radiohead: Kid A,  Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Black Keys: Rubber Factory and… the last pick is always the toughest… I’ll go with Led Zeppelin: III.

Don’t say hi to Tony if you see him roasting—it’s an intense process requiring lots of concentration. But if you see him around town, welcome him to Chicago!