Roastery & Education Manager

Bryan has a decade of experience in the coffee industry under his belt, but his favorite roles have involved roasting and cupping coffee. He’s worked with 400 pound batches and 50 gram sample roasters, both drum and fluid bed machines, and every kind of coffee you can imagine. He brings this experience to CoRo as Roastery and Education Manager. He works with our roaster members to ensure safety, cleanliness, and efficiency in the roastery. In his role as Education Manager, he teaches everything from coffee basics to the intricacies of roast profiling using each machine in our space.

In his spare time, you can find him baking and cooking various vegan goods; hiking and camping in the backcountry in various national parks; trying to figure out his next tattoo; visiting the local record shop; or hitting up a punk show somewhere.

Coffee Room Manager

Christopher has been working in coffee since 2008. After focusing on music and education as an undergraduate they found themselves wanting to combine their passions and co-opened an event space where they hosted donations based dinners, concerts, guest speakers, and other events for the community. The coffee industry has grown a lot in the last decade and Christopher has grown right along with it. Continuing their work as a barista they have worked with many well known roasters and restaurants specializing in barista training, coffee education, menu development, catering, and event organization. They work to ensure that our cafe is a place that is welcoming to people of all backgrounds to come together and enjoy the offerings from our roasters and hopes to showcase what is possible through community and collaboration. On their off days they can usually be found working on music, hiking in the woods, or collaborating on a dinner party with friends and family.

COO

Certified Q Grader

Lily jumped into the specialty coffee scene at Beacon Coffee in her hometown of Ojai and Ventura California. After starting as a barista she quickly hopped in on production and roasting days. After relocating to the East Bay in 2015 for a degree in Women and Gender Studies at UC Berkeley, Lily reignited her coffee career with Blue Bottle working as a barista, roast apprentice, and production roaster.

As the Chief Operating Officer at CoRo, Lily works closely with our entire team. She manages our roastery and café managers, leads event coordination, develops education programing, and inspires her team to execute those big dreams and stay silly.

When she’s not at CoRo you can catch her listening to Kate Bush, pleading her cat to NOT eat her indoor plants (trendy), and last minute buying a frozen pizza to pair with a cocktail that she spent 6 hours preparing.

CoFounder

Tim, a CoFounder, is a long-time coffee enthusiast.  He learned to roast in 2012 and along with Paul installed the company’s first roaster, a Loring Merlin, which was replaced by our first Loring Kestrel. Since then he’s had a strong hand in equipping the business and shaping its direction. Over the years he’s been the Executive Director of the Julia Morgan Theater, served on Berkeley’s Landmarks Commission and Energy Commission, and the board of Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  He is also a past president of the Hillside Club.

Chairman of CoRo Board of Directors

Paul Goldstone is Chairman of the CoRo Board of Directors and its primary funder.  He has been a coffee lover and roaster for years. In addition to CoRo, he owns and manages a number of interests in the Bay Area and is currently developing a new state-of-the-art Market Hall in downtown San Rafael.