Roast House to unveil Modbar

Roast House is remodeling its warehouse to accommodate an ultra-modern brewing system.

It’s the same technology used in the new Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room, which opened late last year in Seattle. That’s the closest Modbar has come to Spokane – until now.

“We are it. Nobody has it here,” said Roast House owner Deborah Di Bernardo. “The wow factor is going to be huge. This is what a high-end coffee bar looks like.”

Roast House is installing the only Modbar in Eastern Washington. The award-winning boutique coffee roaster and wholesaler will showcase as well as sell the high-end brewing system, which will also be used for complimentary coffee cuppings and education.

“It’s going to be a teaching tool,” Di Bernardo said. “I love the flexibility the system offers you and the control. It really lets you take espresso to the next level.”

She plans to use the new system to train baristas who work for her wholesale clients as well as offer free tastings for customers, something Roast House has done since it opened. She also plans to host a weeklong open house in early April to debut the new tasting bar and brewing system. Eventually, she wants to hold coffee competitions.

Di Bernardo learned about Modbar at a trade show shortly after the system came on the market. Started in 2013 and based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Modbar uses minimal space, tucking most machinery under the counter but making visible its sleek chrome taps and wands.

Traditional systems typically feature hulking, boxy equipment, which can act as barriers between baristas and customers. Modbar’s elegant and open design helps create more connection, said Aaron Jordan, head coffee roaster at Roast House.

“It’s really accessible,” he said. “In my opinion, coffee is about hospitality. You’re able to be more hospitable with this set-up.”

The design also makes the brewing process seem more transparent, he said – and that’s one of Roast House’s values. The small-batch roaster opened in 2010 with the aim of offering only organic, fairly traded and shade- and sustainably grown coffees – and be upfront about it.

“It’s good coffee,” Jordan said. “Why not feature it the best we can? Good coffee is good coffee; good coffee and good machinery is even better.”

Modbar machinery is controlled by a cellphone-sized, 3.2-inch touch screen. Jordan and Di Bernardo both said they believe the high-tech system offers baristas more control – particularly when it comes to time, temperature and pressure. That control, in turn, helps them hone their craft, be more precise and reduce mistakes, they said.

“You can take one coffee and make it taste 20 different ways because of the control,” said Jordan, who was recently trained on the new equipment in Seattle. “There’s a sort of ‘Star Trek’ geekiness to it. It has a thumb drive on it. This is 21st century technology.”

Plus, he said, “It looks cool.”

That kind of technology and elegant design doesn’t come cheap. Modbar retails at about double the cost of traditional brewing systems.

“It’s priced as it’s made: modularly,” Kelly Traw, the Seattle-based marketing and sales director for Modbar, explained in a recent email.

Espresso systems are $5,465. Steam systems are $4,425 and adding a second steam tap costs another $685. Pour-over systems are $4,250.

“Modbar’s averaging about three systems per store, so it adds up to about $15,000 per store,” Traw said.

Di Bernardo said she spent about $7,000 on the traditional espresso machine she had been using at Roast House. That compares to the “$20,000-plus” she said she spent on her customized Modbar system.

“If you’re a coffee business and that is what you do, you should have the best equipment you can get,” Di Bernardo said. Alternative brewing methods are the new wave of coffee.”

In Spokane and the Inland Northwest, Di Bernardo said, “We’re behind the times.”

So far, there are 125 Modbar systems – with more than 350 modules – around the United States. But there aren’t many in the Pacific Northwest. There are two in Seattle – at the new Starbucks facility as well as Ghost Alley Espresso near Pike Place Market. Those were the only ones in Washington until Roast House installed its system.

There are – or will be soon – two Modbar systems in Oregon. Portland Roasting Coffee uses Modbar’s pour-over system in its trade-show booth. Modbar is also slated to be used at Stackhouse Coffee, opening soon in Bend.

No coffee shops in Idaho nor Montana use Modbar – yet. Little Red Wagon Coffee Roasters in Bozeman is slated to install its Modbar system soon, Traw said.

Otherwise, there are a few places in and around Los Angeles that use the system. And there’s a Modbar in the new Whole Foods mega-store, which opened in Boston in January.

At Roast House, a wall was torn down to accommodate the new tasting bar. Renovating the entryway allows Jordan more space for roasting. It also helps keep customers in the lobby and out of the roasting and storage areas in the warehouse.

A 7-foot chalkboard will list the coffees that are available for daily tasting. But the new tasting bar won’t have free Wi-Fi or stools or chairs.

“It’s a tasting-teaching facility,” Di Bernardo said – not a coffee shop. “We’ll take you through different methods and different coffees and let you stand here and watch.”

Jordan said he’s excited to show it off.

“It’s not like Modbar is the first (high-tech brewing system),” he said. “But I don’t think anybody does it with as much finesse as Modbar as far as aesthetics. This allows us to be a leading example of specialty coffee here in Spokane, which is what we’re all about anyway.”