About

Well Roasted Everyday Specialty

I started New Math in 2020 to focus on specialty Asian coffee. Over the years we've sourced wonderful coffees by various Asian producers, including rare special process microlots like Rani Mayasari's Luwak Enzymatic.

Good microlots are lovely, but nothing pleases me more than finding nuance and sweetness in what I call everyday specialty coffees. This was something I realized when New Math began expanding our sourcing beyond Asia in 2024. I forgot how much I enjoy roasting and offering core coffees like washed Ethiopias and Colombias as well as, to pick an Asian example, balanced lots produced by the co-ops like East Timor’s Cafe Brisa Serena.

With the above in mind, reframing our mission statement seems in order. While New Math will always feature Asian arabicas and non-arabicas, I also want to celebrate classic everyday specialty lots from East Africa and Latin America. Part of the reason is pragmatic, which is to allow New Math more flexibility and variety in its offerings. The other part is more personal, namely contemplating what sustains me long term as a coffee roaster.

From exploring Asia as a producing region, I've learned how to roast non-arabicas from origins like Vietnam and India, which requires an approach distinct from arabica roasting. But roasting 83-85 point African and Latin American arabicas feels like a homecoming. It brings me back to my homeroasting days in 2015, learning not to bake or underdevelop light roasts while admiring roasters like Intelligentsia and Heart.

Our sourcing expansion and reframing of our mission to highlight well roasted everyday specialty coffee then didn't strike me as a compromise. It feels rather like a more holistic view of where I am as a roaster and where New Math is as a roastery going forward.

-Mikey, Roaster/Founder