Our Purpose
I’ll never forget that rainy Thursday morning in 2019 when I found myself staring at my coffee maker, fighting back tears after another $6 disappointing café experience. My bank account was hemorrhaging from daily coffee shop visits, but the alternative – that bitter, flat stuff from my kitchen – felt like settling for defeat. That’s when it hit me: why should amazing coffee be either expensive OR impossible to make at home?
That breakdown became our breakthrough. We realized millions of coffee lovers were stuck in the same frustrating cycle – overpaying for inconsistent café drinks or giving up on home brewing entirely. The Yum Flavors was born not in some fancy boardroom, but in Emily’s cluttered Portland kitchen, surrounded by failed espresso shots and a determination to crack the code on accessible, incredible coffee.
Our Mission
Every single day, we’re in our kitchens testing, tasting, and (yes) spitting out a lot of coffee that doesn’t make the cut. Emily burns through Portland’s bean supply like it’s her job (because it is), Jessica turns her Austin home into a brewing laboratory that would make chemists jealous, and Kelly travels to farms across three continents to find beans that taste as good as they treat farmers.
We do this because 75,000 coffee lovers trust us with their morning ritual, and honestly? That responsibility keeps us caffeinated late into the night. We’re not just sharing recipes and reviews – we’re helping you create that perfect moment when your first sip makes everything else fade away, right there in your own kitchen.
Our Vision
Picture this: Sunday morning, you wake up naturally (no jarring alarm), wander to your kitchen in pajamas, and within five minutes you’re holding a cup of coffee that rivals anything from that fancy place downtown. Your partner actually asks for the recipe. Your guests start showing up early just for the coffee. Your kitchen becomes the gathering place where real conversations happen over truly exceptional cups.
We’re working toward a world where incredible coffee isn’t a luxury or a mystery – it’s just Tuesday morning in your actual kitchen. Where ethical sourcing isn’t a premium add-on but the standard. Where every coffee lover has the skills, knowledge, and access to beans that make every day start perfectly.
Our Core Values
Coffee First, Everything Else Second: When Emily’s 12-year-old nephew rejected our “kid-friendly” coffee explanation because we used too much jargon, we rewrote everything. If someone who loves chocolate milk can’t understand why we’re excited about a bean, we’re doing it wrong. Real coffee passion should be contagious, not intimidating.
Honesty About Failures: We’ll tell you when experiments flop spectacularly (looking at you, lavender-cardamom cold brew disaster of 2022) because learning from our mistakes saves you from yours. Jessica once spent $200 on a brewing method that produced coffee so bad her dog wouldn’t drink it. You’ll hear those stories because they’re part of the journey.
Ethical Everything: If Kelly can’t visit the farm where our featured beans grow, or if farmers aren’t getting paid fairly, we don’t promote it. Period. This rule cost us some profitable partnerships, but you deserve coffee with a clean conscience. Every recommendation comes with the full story of how it got to your cup.
Kitchen-Tested Reality: Every technique survives what we call “the Monday morning test” – pre-caffeine brain, 6 AM start, maybe you forgot to prep the night before. If it requires perfect timing or impossible-to-find ingredients, we start over. Your real life is our testing ground.
Community Over Competition: When local coffee shops started asking us for advice instead of seeing us as competition, we knew we were doing something right. Great coffee creates community, it doesn’t hoard secrets. We share everything because rising tides lift all cups.
Meet Our Expert Team (The Humans Behind the Screen)
Emily Peterson – Head Coffee Consultant & Chief Bean Obsessive (Plus Recovering Perfectionist)
Portland, Oregon | emily@theyumflavors.com
My coffee journey started with a $2,000 mistake – an espresso machine I was convinced would solve all my problems. Six months later, I was still making terrible shots and questioning my life choices. That humbling experience taught me that great coffee isn’t about expensive equipment; it’s about understanding the fundamentals and having the patience to practice.
Professional Background: 12 years in specialty coffee, including 4 years as head roaster at Portland’s beloved Stumptown subsidiary. Certified by the Specialty Coffee Association in both brewing and roasting. Published researcher on extraction science with articles in Coffee Review Magazine and Bean Business Quarterly.
The Real Story: I’ve personally taste-tested over 3,000 different coffee preparations (yes, I keep a spreadsheet), failed at latte art 847 times before creating anything Instagram-worthy, and once got so excited about a new Ethiopian variety that I called my mom at midnight to describe the flavor profile. My neighbors know Tuesday is roasting day because the whole block smells like heaven.
What I Bring to Your Cup: Every recommendation comes from months of testing in my actual kitchen, with my actual equipment, during actual busy mornings. I translate the science into steps that work when you’re running late, half-asleep, or just want consistently great coffee without becoming a barista.
Jessica Monroe – Coffee Educator & Home Brewing Expert (And Former Coffee Disaster Specialist)
Austin, Texas | jessica@theyumflavors.com
Three years ago, I was the person who thought coffee was supposed to be bitter and that good flavor was just luck. My “signature drink” was whatever happened when I pressed the button on my automatic drip maker. Then I tasted what coffee could actually be, and everything changed. Now I help people discover that same revelation in their own kitchens.
Professional Background: Certified Coffee Quality Institute Q Grader, Specialty Coffee Association Brewing Professional, and former technical trainer for Counter Culture Coffee. I’ve taught over 2,500 people how to brew better coffee at home, from complete beginners to frustrated intermediate brewers.
The Real Story: I’ve broken more equipment than I care to admit (RIP to three French presses and one very expensive pour-over setup), turned my garage into a cupping lab that my HOA definitely doesn’t know about, and once drove 6 hours to try a single-origin Ethiopian that changed how I think about fruit notes in coffee.
What I Bring to Your Cup: I remember what it’s like to feel overwhelmed by conflicting advice and intimidated by coffee snobs. My teaching style assumes you have a life outside coffee but want your 10 minutes of morning brewing to produce something genuinely delicious. I translate expert techniques into foolproof methods that work with whatever equipment you have.
Kelly Morgan – Coffee Sommelier & Ethical Sourcing Expert (And Relentless Farm Visitor)
Denver, Colorado | kelly@theyumflavors.com
I became obsessed with coffee ethics the hard way – by accidentally supporting farms that were exploiting workers while charging premium prices. That uncomfortable awakening led me to completely rebuild how I source, taste, and recommend coffee. Now I won’t promote beans unless I know the full story of how they got to market.
Professional Background: 8 years in direct-trade relationships with coffee farms across Central and South America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. Certified Specialty Coffee Association Sensory Judge and member of the International Coffee Organization’s sustainability committee. Published expert on fair trade certification and direct farmer relationships.
The Real Story: I’ve visited 47 coffee farms across 12 countries, learned to cup coffee in four languages, and once spent three weeks living with a farming family in Guatemala to understand their challenges firsthand. My passport has more coffee-related stamps than vacation ones, and I can tell you not just how a coffee tastes, but whether the farmer’s kids are going to school because of it.
What I Bring to Your Cup: Every bean recommendation comes with the complete ethical story – from fair wages to environmental practices to community impact. I taste for both exceptional flavor and clean conscience, because great coffee should make you feel good about more than just the flavor. When I say a coffee is worth buying, I mean it’s worth supporting.
How We Actually Do This Work
Here’s what happens behind the scenes at The Yum Flavors: Every Monday, we receive 12-15 new coffee samples from roasters, farms, and distributors worldwide. Kelly tastes them all using professional cupping protocols, but then we do something different – we brew them exactly like our readers would. Emily tests each coffee in three different home brewing methods, Jessica creates beginner-friendly recipes, and I document everything that doesn’t work (spoiler: it’s a lot).
We spend about 40 hours per week actually drinking coffee, but only about 20% of what we taste makes it to recommendations. The failures teach us as much as the successes – like when we discovered that Ethiopian beans from higher altitudes need 30 seconds longer bloom time, or when Jessica’s “revolutionary” brewing technique produced coffee so acidic it could clean pennies.
Our testing kitchen looks like a science lab exploded in a coffee shop. We have pH meters next to French presses, refractometers sharing counter space with regular home coffee makers, and enough brewing equipment to supply a small café. But the real magic happens when we translate professional-level insights into instructions that work in your regular kitchen, with your regular schedule.
Why Trust Us? (Fair Question!)
We’ve made every coffee mistake you can imagine, and several you probably haven’t thought of yet. Emily once ruined $300 worth of green beans by roasting them during a Denver thunderstorm (altitude + pressure changes = disaster). Jessica famously created a brewing method so complicated it required a flow chart (it didn’t make the blog). Kelly has been served coffee made from beans stored next to diesel fuel (she politely finished the cup).
Our Track Record: 75,000 coffee lovers get our weekly recommendations, with a 94% satisfaction rate on featured beans and brewing methods. We’ve been featured in Food & Wine, Coffee Review, and Roast Magazine. Our sustainable sourcing guide has been downloaded over 250,000 times, and three different farming cooperatives have credited us with helping them reach direct-trade agreements.
Reader Proof: Sarah from Michigan sent us a photo of her first successful pour-over with the caption “I actually canceled my coffee shop subscription!” Marcus in Seattle credits our Ethiopian brewing guide with converting his entire office to better coffee. Linda from Phoenix says our equipment recommendations saved her from buying a $2,000 espresso machine that would have been totally wrong for her needs.
But the real proof is simpler: we drink what we recommend. Every single day. In our own kitchens, with our own equipment, during our own rushed mornings and leisurely weekends.
Our Community (That’s You!)
You’ve taught us more about coffee than any textbook ever could. When thousands of you told us that our original French press guide was too complicated, we rewrote it entirely. When you asked for budget-friendly alternatives to our premium recommendations, we created our “Great Coffee Under $15” series. When you shared photos of your coffee setups, we realized that most advice assumes everyone has unlimited counter space and perfect lighting (they don’t).
Your questions shape every article we write. “What if I only have 5 minutes?” led to our speed brewing series. “My husband thinks all coffee tastes the same” inspired our conversion techniques guide. “I live in a small town with limited options” created our mail-order sourcing recommendations.
We read every single comment and email (seriously – Jessica has a whole system for tracking reader feedback). Your success stories become our motivation, your struggles become our next article topics, and your recommendations often become our new favorite discoveries.
Our Promise to You
Editorial Standards: Every coffee recommendation goes through a minimum 3-week testing period across all three team members’ kitchens. We never recommend anything we haven’t personally brewed at least 10 times. If we receive free samples (which happens), we clearly disclose that relationship and test even more rigorously.
Fact-Checking: All technical information is verified through peer-reviewed research or direct consultation with certified experts. Kelly personally verifies every claim about farming practices, Emily confirms all brewing science through professional associations, and Jessica tests every technique with at least 5 different coffee varieties.
Updates & Corrections: When we’re wrong, we say so quickly and clearly. When better information becomes available, we update existing content and notify our email subscribers. When reader experiences contradict our recommendations, we investigate and adjust our advice accordingly.
No Fake Reviews: We don’t review coffee we haven’t purchased and tested ourselves. We don’t accept payment for positive reviews. If we have financial relationships with roasters or equipment companies, we disclose them prominently and hold those products to even higher standards.
Let’s Stay Connected (We Actually Read Our Emails)
General Questions & Coffee Chat: contact@theyumflavors.com
We love talking coffee! Emily usually responds within 24 hours, often with follow-up questions because she gets genuinely excited about your brewing challenges. Don’t be surprised if she asks for photos of your setup or shares a story about a similar experience.
Social Media: Find us on Instagram @theyumflavors for daily coffee moments, behind-the-scenes disasters, and reader shout-outs. Jessica posts brewing videos every Tuesday, and we share reader success stories every Friday.
Newsletter: Our Sunday morning newsletter goes out to 75,000+ coffee lovers with weekly recommendations, exclusive brewing tips, and first access to new content. It’s like having coffee with friends who happen to be really obsessed with beans.
