Mikey Rinaldo

My name is Mikey Rinaldo. I was born in Indonesia, but currently live in Chicago, USA. I am the roaster/founder of New Math Coffee, a roastery focused on Asian producers.

Probably around 2011-2012. When I was a graduate student, I often hung out and did my school work at a newly opened specialty cafe. I didn’t even drink coffee then. One of the baristas eventually taught me how to brew coffee manually, which kickstarted my long term fascination with it. 

Like many people who got into coffee during the 2010s, it was a blueberry-forward natural process Ethiopia that gave me the aha moment. It was an Ethiopian Ardi roasted by Anthology Coffee in Detroit. 

The quiet, modest deliciousness of the first cup. I find the first daily coffee often most enjoyable since that’s when my body craves caffeine, but often in a half-asleep brewing ritual. It makes me think of this line by the American environmentalist Aldo Leopold: “The coffee pot, from its first soft gurgle, underclaims the virtues of what simmers within.” 

I prefer anything with a paper filter for drip. By default, at home I’ve just been using my beat-up metal V60 for so long now.

Oof I prefer not to answer this : ) In all earnestness, I’ve had many outstanding and memorable cups, some due to taste, others due to circumstances or people I shared them with.

Not currently. I say this because I see quite a few farmers and roasters from various producing countries redefining the taste profiles we usually consider typical of those regions. So my taste runs pretty catholic these days and I want to keep an open attitude to different regions/flavor profiles. 

Most recently, I’ve been liking Silverbird from Minneapolis. It’s the roastery started by Tony Querio, former longtime roaster of Spyhouse Coffee, another Minneapolis-based roastery. 

This year I also got to travel to Vietnam. I was really digging 96B roastery in Ho Chi Minh City as well as Cafe Le J’ in Dalat. I love the work they both do with different Robusta farmers planting and processing newly developed cultivars.

That it’s super humbling and important to have a hospitality mindset. A cafe owner/manager can curate the types of coffees or syrup flavors you offer. But it’s become especially important to me never to belittle or begrudge a customer for requesting sugary, milky drinks. 

I was fortunate that my roastery started during the pandemic as a mostly online-only business. So I did not have a cafe lease. 

I don’t know if I can predict the scene per se, but I personally would love to see specialty roasters and consumers being much more open to finding quality in other coffee species besides Arabica

Tough question. I may still be involved in coffee, but I’m also at peace with the possibility that I may be done with it by then.

The one advice I would give to those wanting to pursue coffee—one I wish I had received myself—is to not let your passion for it be exploited by employers, particularly when it comes to compensation. I’ve also worked at enough places and seen enough cafes/roasteries that have “cool” branding but poor workplace culture and communication.  

@Mikey Rinaldo