MK

Mark Kutrovski

Things Mark Says on Podcasts

Co-founder of Mirror Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee roaster in Bellingham, Washington, which he runs with his brother Sergei. Talks about roasting, brewing gear and the practical side of running a roastery. Co-hosts Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions with Sergei, a show on extraction, roast levels, home brewing and the coffee business. Also appeared as a guest on Keys To The Shop.

Where to Find Them

Mark Kutrovski hosts Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions . They have also been a guest on Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders .

Recently: “261 | Why flavor notes don't tell the full story” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (November 2026); “260 | Why brewing recipes don't make you better at brewing” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (November 2026); “259 | Finding a new space for our coffee roastery” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (October 2026); “258 | What are underdeveloped and over developed coffees” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (October 2026); “257 | Finding the perfect style of coffee for you ( Part 2/2 )” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (October 2026); “256 | Finding the perfect style of coffee for you ( Part 1 )” on Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions (September 2026).

What They Said

“For a long time we coffee professionals were calibrated. Now, with the rise of all kinds of different processing and variables, we've kind of lost a calibrated idea of quality. Now somebody can say, hey, that's an 86, and somebody else says, what do you mean, that's an 87? But between an 86 and an 87 is a world of difference.” — Mark Kutrovski, Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions

Kutrovski is explaining why flavor notes can't stand in for quality. He argues coffee professionals used to share a common sense of what scores like 86 or 87 meant, and that new processing methods have eroded that shared calibration.

Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions · 2026-11-08 Permalink → Listen →
Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions Around 12:16 into the episode
Mark Kutrovski

You know what I mean? It's not a correlation of like these flavor notes mean this. It's actually almost a combination of like clarity, complexity, sweetness, acidity, balance, all this stuff that goes that plays a role into the scoring.

Speaker 2

Yep.

Mark Kutrovski

And so the reason why I'm bringing that up is because I think lately over maybe like the last, I don't know, four years, five years maybe, our standards of what quality, I think for a long time, we were pretty coffee professionals were calibrated. And then now I think with the rise of all kinds of different processing, all kinds of different variables and all this stuff, we've kind of lost almost a calibrated idea of quality. So now somebody can say, hey, that's an 86. And for somebody, that's like, what do you mean? That's an 87. But man, between an 86 and an 87 is a world of a difference.

Speaker 2

Yep.

Mark Kutrovski

It's, it's, it's a huge difference. And, you know, this is just a part of the conversation, which I'll end my ramp, my rant here, is that I think that we, I think many people confuse cup score with flavor notes.

Speaker 2

Yep.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“I think many people confuse cup score with flavor notes. Especially with natural processing, where flavor notes can be over-accentuated, many people assume that's automatically a high-scoring coffee.” — Mark Kutrovski, Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions

Kutrovski draws the line between flavor notes and cup score, the core claim of the episode. Wild, intense flavor notes, common in natural-processed coffees, lead buyers to assume a high-quality coffee when that isn't necessarily so.

Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions · 2026-11-08 Permalink → Listen →
Coffee Roaster Warm Up Sessions Around 12:51 into the episode
Mark Kutrovski

…different processing, all kinds of different variables and all this stuff, we've kind of lost almost a calibrated idea of quality. So now somebody can say, hey, that's an 86. And for somebody, that's like, what do you mean? That's an 87. But man, between an 86 and an 87 is a world of a difference.

Speaker 2

Yep.

Mark Kutrovski

It's, it's, it's a huge difference. And, you know, this is just a part of the conversation, which I'll end my ramp, my rant here, is that I think that we, I think many people confuse cup score with flavor notes.

Speaker 2

Yep.

Mark Kutrovski

And especially when it comes to like natural processing processes where flavor notes can be over accentuated and highlighted, many people, I think, assume that that's automatically a high-scoring coffee.

Speaker 2

Right, right.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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