TL;DR
Roast magazine held its 2026 Roast Summit at The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland, drawing hundreds of coffee-industry professionals for two days of talks, tastings and equipment demonstrations. The next summit is scheduled for March 2-3, 2027, in Melbourne; attendance figures beyond “hundreds” and detailed event outcomes were not reported.
Roast magazine’s 2026 Roast Summit brought hundreds of coffee roasting, green coffee and commercial equipment professionals to The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland, Oregon, for two days of talks, tastings and live demonstrations, according to Daily Coffee News. The sold-out gathering focused on technical practice and business operations, with the next summit scheduled for March 2-3, 2027, in Melbourne.
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The report, published by Daily Coffee News on October 6, 2026, describes two sunny days of programming held the previous week. Sessions included a presentation by Nicki Amouri, Caffè Amouri’s roastmaster and head of coffee operations, about experiments examining variables such as charge temperatures and turnaround temperatures. The report does not provide the experiments’ numerical results or recommendations.
Laila Ghambari, a coffee consultant and owner of Guilder Coffee, shared strategies for improving cafe and roastery profitability. In the tasting hall, Scott Merle, senior vice president of La Minita Coffee, guided an exploration of how different processing methods affect coffee in the cup. These sessions brought together technical, sensory and business topics, rather than focusing on one part of coffee production alone.
Live roasting demonstrations took place outside using production machines from San Franciscan, Loring, Diedrich and Sivetz, alongside sample roasters from Roest, Aillio, Nucleus Link and Ikawa. Coffee breaks, lunch, an evening happy hour and a pub crawl were also part of the event. The report characterizes attendance as hundreds but gives no precise count.
Technical Skills Meet Roastery Economics
The summit’s program addressed several practical concerns for people working across coffee businesses: how roasting variables affect a process, how coffee processing shapes what tasters experience, and how cafes and roasteries can improve profitability. For attendees, the combination of technical sessions, tastings and equipment demonstrations offered ways to compare ideas and machinery in a professional setting.
The reported focus on profitability also speaks to the business side of the industry. Ghambari’s session addressed strategies for cafe and roastery economics, while the roasting experiments and equipment demonstrations covered production practice. The source does not quantify any changes in participant knowledge, company performance or industry-wide outcomes, so the event’s longer-term effects are not established.
The gathering’s sold-out status and attendance of hundreds indicate demand for an in-person industry event, though no ticket total, attendee survey or comparison with earlier summits was supplied. The account presents the event as a place for networking and sharing experience, but does not document specific business agreements or decisions made there.
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A Summit That Began in Portland
The Roast Summit began in Portland in 2020, according to the report. It has since also been held in Seattle, the Chicago area and Melbourne, giving the event a footprint beyond its Oregon starting point. The 2026 Portland gathering returned to the city at The Redd on Salmon Street, with Roast magazine identified as the host.
The format described in the report combined classroom-style presentations with tasting-hall programming and live equipment demonstrations. That mix connected discussion of roast variables and business operations with opportunities to taste coffee and see different roasters in use. The source does not provide a full session schedule, speaker list or details about how this year’s program compared with previous editions.
Daily Coffee News published a photo report featuring scenes from the event, with images credited to Howard Bryman. Its account is the basis for the reported attendance description, program highlights and next-event date; it does not include interviews with attendees or an official post-event statement from Roast magazine.
“The sold-out event drew hundreds of roasting, green coffee and commercial equipment professionals together.”
— Daily Coffee News, summarizing the event
Attendance and Outcomes Not Detailed
The source says the event was sold out and drew hundreds, but does not state the exact attendance, capacity or ticket sales. It also does not provide participant feedback, financial results, or evidence that the sessions changed business or roasting practices.
Details from some presentations remain limited. The report names roast variables covered by Nicki Amouri’s experiments but does not give the findings; it describes Ghambari’s profitability session and Merle’s tasting without listing specific recommendations or tasting conclusions. A fuller schedule and any official evaluation of the summit were not included.
The next summit is listed for March 2-3, 2027, in Melbourne. The report does not specify the venue, registration dates, ticket availability or program for that event. Those details may be announced separately.
Melbourne Hosts the 2027 Summit
The next Roast Summit is scheduled for March 2-3, 2027, in Melbourne, Australia, according to Daily Coffee News. The source gives no venue or program details, so the lineup and format for the next gathering remain unreported.
Further information about registration, speakers and demonstrations would be needed to establish how the Melbourne event will build on the Portland program. Until those details are published, the confirmed next milestone is the scheduled two-day summit in March.
Key Questions
What was the 2026 Roast Summit?
It was a two-day event hosted by Roast magazine for coffee-industry professionals, with talks, tastings and roasting demonstrations at The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland.
Who attended the Portland summit?
Daily Coffee News reported that hundreds of roasting, green coffee and commercial equipment professionals attended. It described the event as sold out but did not provide an exact attendance figure.
What topics were covered?
Sessions covered roast variables, strategies for cafe and roastery profitability, and how coffee processing methods affect the cup. Live demonstrations featured production and sample roasters from several manufacturers.
When and where is the next Roast Summit?
The next summit is scheduled for March 2-3, 2027, in Melbourne, Australia. The venue, registration details and program were not included in the report.
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