Written by Jordan Michelman.
Interviewing cafe owners on the topic of volumetrics is deceptively interesting. Yes, you’re asking about coffee processes and how technology interacts with barista craft (la machine and la mano), but you are also implicitly asking about refined systems, scale, and growth. For Messenger Coffee of Kansas City, growth and change are part of the brand’s story across the last 11 years. As part of the Fairwave Collective, Messenger now operates three cafes across the Kansas City area, including a newly opened spot in the KC airport. Along the way, they’ve deepened their ongoing relationships and commitments at the farm level, operating as a company that’s touching coffee at nearly every step of the way, from sourcing to roasting to cafe-level service.
Volumetrics have played an unexpectedly important role in the growth of Messenger over the last few years. I spoke with Brandon Wilson, one of Messenger’s co-founders and the brand’s Creative Director, to learn more about the state of play at Messenger 11 years in and what’s changed—and stayed the same—for this seminal Kansas City coffee company.
Hi Brandon — thanks so much for talking with us. At Messenger Coffee it seems like you do a little bit of everything, from roasting to sourcing to cafes and farm level impact. At 11 years in, talk to me about what’s really exciting at Messenger right now, and what you want folks to know about the company who might be unfamiliar.
At Messenger Coffee, we’re incredibly passionate about our ongoing commitment to offering exceptional coffees that make a positive impact. We’re constantly exploring new ways to deepen our relationships with farmers, cooperatives, and importers, seeking out innovative and sustainable agricultural practices.
We’re particularly enthusiastic about the farmers we’ve partnered with in Honduras, specifically a group of farms working with a local mill and export group called San Vicente. San Vicente primarily supports farmers in the Santa Barbara region, a unique growing area. Most mountain ranges in Honduras are to the west, but there is one large mountain a bit more north and east of the main range called Santa Barbara, which rises high above Lake Yojoa, the country’s largest body of fresh water. The mountain’s height and distance from the main range create a moist microclimate in the higher regions. Howler monkeys and tropical birds thrive in the national park at its peak, and small coffee farms dot the ascent.
Marcala is the most famous and highest-quality growing region in Honduras. Due to this, many areas were delivering their coffee to the local trade, mixing it into commodity grade, and getting paid whatever the daily rates were. The farmers in Santa Barbara were especially in this boat. Two cousins, Benjamin Paz and Arturo Angel Paz, whose family has run San Vicente for generations, noticed that the coffee growing in Santa Barbara was not only higher in quality than initially considered possible from the region but was potentially some of the best in the country. They began to work with farms to isolate their top quality and find roasters to buy these micro lots. We have been purchasing coffee from the same farms in this region for several years, and they are some of our favorite offerings. The farmers we work with are Angel Paz, Jesus Sabillon, Maria Sanchez, and a farmer who is taking best practices from Santa Barbara to southern Marcala named Alex Ponce. We have offered multiple processing styles and varieties as these farmers work hard to discover how to maximize their farms’ potential. We feel that the future of this region is extraordinary.
At your 3 unique cafes, how similar are the systems for your team? What gear are you using, and do the cafes share staff or are staff members dedicated to each location?
Our goal is to provide an exceptional coffee experience across all our locations. Our flagship location at 1624 Grand is unique as it houses a local scratch bakery, Ibis Bakery, allowing us to offer a full kitchen menu alongside our coffee. Our boutique café on the Plaza features the same coffee menu, house-made syrups, and specialty Ibis pastries. At our new Kansas City Airport location, we streamline the menu to meet the efficiency needs of the airport environment while still providing a local coffee experience. Dedicated team members run each of our cafes and are committed to delivering the best service possible. In our cafes, we use La Marzocco Linea PB AV espresso machines and Mahlkönig e80 and e65 grinders.
When did you begin using volumetrics at the cafe level at your bars? What influence has it had, and how have you refined it?
We began using volumetrics about two years ago and made it a standard approach over the past year. This method has significantly improved the efficiency and consistency of our espresso extraction across all our cafes. The refining process was relatively simple. The first step was ensuring all cafe leads knew how to change volumetrics to ensure they were always accurate. Along with that, refining the number of times we weigh our espresso on a day-to-day basis, ensuring that we consistently use 19g-20g of espresso, was a game changer when it came to the consistency of volumetric extraction.
At 11 years on there’s been growth and change, but what do you think has stayed the same about what you do all this time? What has continued on as core values for your company?
While we’ve grown and evolved, our core values have remained steadfast. We’ve always been committed to the craft — whether it’s the precision in our coffee roasting, the artistry of our beverages, or the care in our food offerings.
Equally, we’ve stayed rooted in our dedication to going above and beyond for the farmers we work with and carrying the quality of the farm to our customers. Building relationships that prioritize fairness, sustainability, and mutual success has always been a cornerstone of Messenger. Our goal has never wavered: to create exceptional coffee experiences while uplifting everyone in the supply chain.
Visit Messenger Coffee’s website and follow them on Instagram.
