Today we’d like to introduce you to Weihong Zhang.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in China. When I was young, I often wondered about what kind of life I wanted to live. Although I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do for a long time, I knew two things without a doubt: I wanted to bring happiness and fulfillment to people while enjoying what I do. And I wanted to see the world.
In finding my answer, I came to the United States for my Ph.D. in Biochemistry in the summer of 2009. In graduate school, I was drinking coffee every day in a coffee corner across the parking lot from my lab. At that time, coffee was simply a bitter energy drink for me until I participated in a coffee cupping event by chance. The coffees on the cupping table opened my eyes. I never thought coffee could be so tasteful and full of personality, from the bright floral tune to pleasant fruity flavor to chocolaty and nutty richness.
I started to learn about coffee.
As I learned to savor the subtleties in coffee, I found my life much more enjoyable in every aspect. I realized that great coffee can make people happy and coffee was the answer that I had been searching for. So after 7 years of scientific research, I left academia and founded BlendIn. I really want to provide the best coffee experience possible and to appreciate the little, beautiful and surprising details in coffee and of course, in life.
To ensure the quality of our coffee, I personally visit most of the coffee farms before purchasing. Living with the farmers, understanding their environment, and tasting the freshly harvested coffee is the best way to select the highest quality coffee. I also want to invite you to join us and taste our coffee candidates and help us make purchasing decisions.
My Ph.D. advisor taught me to treat everything in life, not just research, with a scientific perspective. With a logical mind and a strong chemistry/physics background, I developed each coffee’s unique roasting profile to highlight its characteristics. All BlendIn coffee beans are roasted freshly in store. The brewing is also tightly controlled to meet Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)’s golden cup standard.
All in all, I want to provide the very best tree-to-cup coffee experience by controlling the quality all the way from the coffee trees to the cup in your hand.
Opening a coffee house doesn’t offer one the opportunity to see the world. Opening a coffee house that brings the world to its customers does. I have been enjoying traveling to many countries, seeing different cultures and people, tasting different coffees. Life is too short to drink bad coffee, let us start pursuing the best cup together.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There is a steep learning curve working at BlendIn Coffee Club. I set up the coffee program at BlendIn. Every brewing method has detailed recipe to ensure the excellent cup quality. Half of our barista team members are coffee lovers without previous barista experience. It takes some time for them to get to high proficiency.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BlendIn Coffee Club story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a specialty coffee house. Our mission is to provide the best experience we can to every person along the coffee’s tree-to-cup adventure, from our customers to our employees, and finally to the individual farmers. Each coffee is traceable back to a specific country, region, farm, even a specific lot. The un-roasted coffee beans are evaluated before arriving at BlendIn, where they are roasted freshly in-store and brewed with love.
We are also a certified training venue for Specialty Coffee Association. As an Authorized SCA Trainer, I am licensed to teach all coffee skills program courses including Introduction to Coffee, Barista, Brewing, Sensory, Roasting and Green Coffee. Upon completion of the course, the students can get certification from SCA. They will also get the credits from the courses. When the students have earned enough credits, they will be awarded a SCA Coffee Diploma.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I am lucky that I learned all my coffee knowledge from the best teacher Patrick O’Malley. He is the owner of a specialty coffee house called Infusion Coffee & Tea in Tempe, Arizona.
Pricing:
- Public Cupping Events — Free
- Single Origin Coffee Manual Brew (12 different coffees, 7 brewing methods) : $3.25 — $22
Contact Info:
- Address: 8410 Highway 90A, Building B, Sugar Land, TX 77478
- Website: www.blendincoffeeclub.com
- Phone: (346) 368-2895
- Email: info@blendincoffeeclub.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blendincoffeeclub/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blendincoffeeclub/
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