Jalisa’s passion was obvious from the get-go. She began her path with Wyndhams in the packaging department, but jumped at every opportunity to learn something new about coffee. As the roastery grew, it was evident that she would make a great Roaster. The first ingredient in roasting good coffee is the desire to drink good coffee. Developing her palette over months and now years of learning, experimenting and training under the watchful eye of Wyndhams owner and roaster, Dominic, as well as the wonderful guidance of Phil Hand, a certified Q-Grader from California, Jalisa is a total rockstar. She has recently gained her certification in intermediate level roasting from the Specialty Coffee Association, making her the most highly qualified female Caribbean coffee roaster.
She says of roasting: "I am super proud when people love what I have created. I love experimenting with different Origins, taking on the challenges of learning how to manipulate that bean to bring out sugars, fruit, chocolate. This is the most challenging part of my job - I have to know the attributes of each bean type, anticipate the way it will behave under different roasting techniques, and perfect the flavours each time. Tasting the final product and finding out I have made the perfect cup of coffee is the most fulfilling part of my job. It would be my dream to go to the source and visit some Ethiopian coffee farms!”
“Tasting the final product and finding out I have made the perfect cup of coffee is the most fulfilling part of my job.”
