Timberline Coffee School now offers one-on-one consulting for coffee businesses. Cafés, roasters, restaurants and hotels can book time with an experienced coffee professional and educator, online or in person at our lab in Calgary.
Companies and professionals book coffee consulting for a few common reasons:
- A café owner knows their espresso tastes different from one shift to the next and wants a system that keeps it consistent.
- A roaster is choosing new coffees for the year and wants an experienced second palate at the cupping table.
- A restaurant or hotel is adding a coffee program and wants it set up properly from the start.
In each case, a few focused hours with an experienced consultant can save weeks of trial and error.
How We Can Help
Consulting is booked by the hour, and you can use your hours on any of the areas below, in any mix.
Menu and Beverage Development. We build or review your drink menu, create signature drinks and write recipe specs, with cost and pricing for every drink.
Coffee Quality and Consistency. We set dial-in protocols, brew and water standards, and daily checks so every shift serves the same coffee.
Staff Training Programs. We design an onboarding plan, skills assessments and a training sequence that gets new baristas bar-ready faster.
Sensory and Cupping Programs. We set up a regular staff cupping and calibration routine, and give your team a shared language for describing coffee.
Coffee Sourcing and Selection. We cup roaster samples blind with you, help you choose blends and single origins, and help you decide what to ask your suppliers.
Equipment Selection. We help you choose the right espresso machine, grinder and water system for your volume and budget.
Café Workflow Design. We plan a bar layout and workflow that keeps service fast and efficient, even at your busiest times.
Starting a Coffee Business. We review your concept, menu and business plan, and help you set a launch timeline you can actually hit.
How Consulting Can Help Before You Open
Opening a coffee business involves a long list of decisions, and many of them are expensive to undo. Equipment, bar layout, menu and supplier choices are usually made once, under time pressure, before you have served a single customer. One-on-one consulting gives you an independent read on those decisions from someone with no stake in the sale. If the plan holds up, you can move ahead with more confidence. If something needs to change, you learn about it before the equipment is ordered or the bar is built.
New owners often pair consulting with the Coffee Shop Masterclass. The Masterclass covers the plan for opening a coffee shop, and consulting hours then focus on the parts that are specific to your business.
How Consulting Can Help After You Open
Many people who book consulting already run a good business. What they want is an outside view and a clear plan for what to fix first to improve the business and increase revenue.
Staff turnover, inconsistent drinks and a menu that has grown without a plan are the most common problems in operating cafés. Each one costs money through wasted coffee, slower service and the loss of regular customers. A Coffee Program Audit is the usual starting point. In about three hours we review your coffee, bar, workflow and service, and you get a written list of what to fix first.
Roasters use consulting for quality control, cupping programs and support for their wholesale café accounts. Restaurants, hotels and other businesses adding coffee use it to build a program their team can run without a full-time coffee specialist.
How Timberline Consulting Works
- Book on the consulting page. Choose hourly sessions, a prepaid pack or a monthly retainer.
- We email you within one business day to schedule your first session.
- Sessions can run online from anywhere or at your business in Calgary. On-site visits outside Calgary can be arranged too, and additional fees apply.
- Every session ends with an actionable plan for you and your team.
Meet Your Consultant
Every consulting session is with Trent Rollings, Timberline's founder and lead educator. Trent has worked in specialty coffee for more than fifteen years, including time in the Philippines and Turkey, and has run coffee shops, a roastery and training labs. He is a World Coffee Championships Representative and Certified Judge, has served as a head judge at the World Barista Championship, and head judges at the Canadian national championships. He holds current SCA Q Grader and Q Instructor licences, is an SCA Authorized Trainer, and writes curriculum for the Specialty Coffee Association.
Common Questions
Do you only work with cafés? No. We work with cafés, roasters, restaurants, hotels, bakeries and any business that serves coffee.
Are sessions online or in person? Both. Online sessions work from anywhere, and in-person sessions run in Calgary.
Can I use my hours on different topics? Yes. Hours work across every service, including written work like menus, protocols and audit reports.
How long do prepaid hours last? Packs are valid for 12 months from purchase.
How does the retainer work? You get a set number of hours each month plus direct text and email support. There is a 3-month minimum, and unused hours roll over one month.
How to Book
Book your consulting here. If you are not sure how many hours you need, email hello@timberline.coffee to book a free 20-minute call, and we will recommend the right next step. If you are planning to open a coffee shop, the Coffee Shop Masterclass runs frequently in Calgary, and the next dates are on the course page.
