Get To Know Scott!

Over a 30 year career in coffee, Scott McMartin has vast experience managing global coffee supply relationships, leading teams of coffee quality managers, and developing coffee blends for Fortune 500 companies.

Much of Scott’s work has involved meeting specific client needs from a flavor profile perspective, while other work has focused on innovation and the creation of new products and line extensions. Among Scott’s projects during his career, he created dozens of coffee blends, ready to drink coffee and tea beverages, developed a line of coffee infused chocolates, and even created a line of coffee ice cream.

In Scott’s early experience with coffee, roasting came from time spent on a four- barrel sample roaster with his mentor Alfred Peet. Scott describes Alfred as a “very thorough and regimented teacher” and learned the art, science, and philosophy of roasting through hours spent practicing. Each session ended with tasting roasted batches and detailing the effect of the roast on the resulting cup.

Throughout his career, Scott remained involved with the roasting process and determined roast levels and ranges for each coffee roasted by global roasting operations. This skill ultimately led to him to starting his own coffee company, Fundamental Coffee.

Scott has traveled to over twenty origin countries in his quest for the world’s best coffees. These adventures have allowed Scott to learn about many cultures –both ancient and modern – and about growing and processing techniques.  The thread that ties it all together is the people Scott has met, all of whom share a common passion for coffee and appreciate how much effort goes into growing the great beans required to make a perfect cup of coffee. As Scott says, “Our partners in coffee-growing countries are the true heroes who make what we do possible. Our job is to take their great raw materials and through blending, roasting and brewing, let their coffee express its character with as much purity as possible.”

“I’ve been very fortunate to see coffee flowering on volcanic mountainsides in Guatemala, to see what goes into harvesting perfectly ripe, red cherry,” says Scott, “and being able to share that with others is a responsibility I feel I owe to every coffee grower.”