Scott Stouffer

Expertise: coffee roasting technology, roasting equipment design, sustainability in coffee roasting, thermal processing systems.

Coffee insight: The US has twice as much production capacity for coffee as it does consumer demand.

Coffee fun fact: Coffee is the most valuable commodity on the plant behind crude oil, and the coffee industry is the largest nongovernmental employer.

Scott says he grew up a “Midwestern coffee drinker”—brewing pre-ground, canned coffees. After he graduated college with a degree in chemical engineering, he worked as a research engineer at Kraft Foods. When his wife decided to pursue graduate work at University of Washington in Seattle, Scott found a position as a process engineer in what was then a “little expanding startup company”—Starbucks.

Today Scott is the Chief Sales Officer for PROBAT, the leading global manufacturer of high-quality roasters, and he’s proud to be part of the company’s 155-year legacy of excellence. An owner-managed, family-owned business, PROBAT is considered by many roasters to produce the gold standard in equipment. Scott estimates that PROBAT roasting machines account for 30–40% of shop roasters and 60–70% of commercial roasting machines in use today worldwide.

Scott says PROBAT is committed to building enduring machines that not only stand the test of time but also adapt to the ever-evolving needs of coffee roasters. By investing in innovation and supporting their customers, they aim to help their customers produce consistently delicious roasted whole bean coffee. “We’re increasingly getting the ability to do things like remotely join you and watch you roast and help you improve the situation, fix something, diagnose errors,” he says. “We’re becoming as much a technology company as we are a roasting company, because it takes technology to run these pieces of equipment.”

“I get really excited about helping customers get the product at the quality and cost that they want and being environmentally compliant and being labor compliant and all the other things they need to do,” Scott explains. This passion for supporting coffee roasters drives his work at PROBAT, and Scott is especially proud of the company’s reputation for producing roasters that stand the test of time and for their sustainability efforts.

Despite the coffee roasting process contributing only 2-4% of the industry’s carbon footprint, PROBAT has taken proactive steps to minimize its impact. They’ve set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 and have implemented initiatives like shifting to solar-powered manufacturing at their German plant and pioneering recirculating roasters.

We should celebrate coffee’s ability to unite people and make their days better. As Scott puts it, “[Coffee] brings you joy, a little bit of comfort, a little bit of relaxation. It brings people together. … I am really happy to be working for a company in an industry that brings people together in a positive way.”

And while specialty coffee is gaining traction in the market, Scott thinks it’s important to remember that all coffee has value when viewed from this perspective. Scott points out that “90% of the people on the planet are getting their daily joy out of not specialty coffee. … There’s a place in the whole value chain of coffee.” Whether you’re indulging in a single-origin gesha or a packet of instant, Scott says the most important thing is that it makes you happy: “If that’s where coffee goes, and that’s what brings that person joy, then that’s great.”

Scott’s dedication to mentoring future engineers is a cornerstone of his commitment to fostering a vibrant coffee community. He regularly visits high schools and universities to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering by highlighting the diverse career opportunities available. Scott explains, “There is no kid in school that has a clue what a coffee process engineer is, right? And of course, I want to create more coffee process engineers, but mostly I also want to create engineers that want to create things.”

Scott’s role at PROBAT offers students a unique opportunity to explore their interests through paid internships, and PROBAT’s partnership with the UC Davis Coffee Center allows him to mentor future engineers and help support innovative research that can inspire more students to pursue engineering careers. That not only creates opportunities for students to further their research, Scott explains, it also advances the coffee industry as a whole: “When we seed entities like UC Davis and they develop this knowledge, sometimes we sit in their research presentations and go, ‘Wow, that has some amazing commercial applications. What kind of further seed money can I give you in order to tie that up?'”

PROBAT website: www.probat.com

Scott’s PROBAT page: https://www.probat.com/en/company/about-us/management/scott-stouffer/

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