Will Shurtz- Methodical Coffee- Part I

In first part of two episodes, we sit down with barista, roaster, and co-founder of Methodical Coffee, Will Shurtz. You'll hear the details behind the very beginnings of Will's journey into the world of coffee, how he took the road less traveled, and so much more. Stay tuned for part II! 

Transcript

Ashley Sage (00:05):

This is discovering the dubs and inspirational podcast about people's journeys to revealing, uncovering, and discovering their life's purpose and the truth trials and triumphs along the way. I'm your host, Ashley Sage.

Will Shurtz (00:22):

I would walk up and down main street downtown, and I would just look at every business that I walked by and write their business name down. And then I would go and sit down and I would email somewhat someone. If I could find an email for these businesses, I would just email them and say, say who I am and what I'm doing. And I would see if I could somehow brew coffee for them.

Ashley Sage (00:46):

The gurgling sound of an espresso machine pulling a shot is like music to the ears, waking up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee. Oh, and that delectable indescribable first sip really it's like a reawakening for the soul each and every morning. My love for coffee has grown to such a magnitude over the years that I get why wars were one started over this magical bean. Now in this episode, you'll hear from someone who understands those sentiments better than almost anyone. Will Shurtz is one of three co-founders of the wildly popular methodical coffee, whose first shop opening in 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina really set the stage and a very high bar for specialty coffee. And one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, they've been named one of the best coffee shops locally and nationally by food and wine magazine, Vogue, bone Appetit, and USA today.

Sage (01:43):

And now with three locations, a roasting operation and an international expansion on the horizon, we'll reflect on how his passion for coffee really got started. And we actually had such a great conversation that had to split this episode into two different parts. So in this first part, we'll dive into why, for Will, finishing high school and the traditional fashion, just wasn't for him, where his love for coffee really began and how a chance friendship ended up changing the course of his life. And I just have to tell you guys how truly excited I am to finally be getting this first real episode of discovering the dubs off the ground and out there into the world for you guys. The morning of recording this episode, I woke up and took my dogs for a sunrise walk. And I just remember, as I was watching the sun come up, my eyes were filling with tears because I felt so aligned with my purpose on what I'm about to embark on and everything about this journey and, and what's to come.

Sage (02:49):

Um, I truly feel like I was put on earth to find amazing stories about amazing people and share them with the world. And so I hope that this is just, um, the very start of a very magical, um, expedition. And I'm so excited that you guys are here. I know I keep saying that, but I'm just so excited to bring other people along. I can't wait to hear what you think about this episode. You should just know that the entire time I was talking to well, I was absolutely geeking out with excitement. He would tell you that too, while I was sipping on my own milk latte, um, roasted with beans out of Columbia and we'll get into all the bean stuff in these episodes too. It's just also fascinating. And I truly cannot say enough good things about Will. He is such a great guy, such a smart businessman, and an overall, just amazing human being. So enough about all of this let's get into it.

Sage (03:50):

I told you this from the second that I walked in the door, that I am just so giddy to be talking to you because ever since I had an idea of starting up a podcast, I was like, I want to talk to Will Shurtz because full disclosure for people listening too. So we went to middle school together. We went to high school together briefly. Um, and I just always remember you being like the quiet, cool dude in band class.

Shurtz (04:15):

Maybe just quiet, not cool. Definitely. Cool. Definitely cool. And so,

Sage (04:21):

So, um, being from Greenville, I and lover of coffee, I've just watched methodical blossom and grow and really kind of be the groundbreaking, um, coffee spot in Greenville. I feel like you guys were the line leader and everyone else followed,

Shurtz (04:40):

I think. Okay. It's cool to think that for me, but I feel like we're always kind of like standing on, you know, some other giant shoulders. So there's like a story of that, which is kind of how I got into coffee in the first place. Okay.

Sage (04:52):

So before we get to that, I want to know about young Will, what, what was child Will like?

Shurtz (05:00):

Well, that's the thing is I, like, I feel like, like when, when I look back at growing up, you know, I grew up here in Greenville and I just had, I had an amazing life. I had great friends and, um, you know, I love going to school to, to see my friends and my older sister and I were really good friends and had all the same friends. And so I just had a great time growing up, you know, nothing, no, no true hardships, really, you know, you know, parents are divorced. That was like, that was like the only downside of my, my whole childhood growing up. So I'm pretty lucky, you know, and I looked back and I, I think I've kind of always had it, um, really easy in a way. And that's just like, you know, nothing that I did it just your circumstances. Yeah. Yeah.

Sage (05:50):

Okay. So then take us into high school. You had a different experience than most

Shurtz (05:55):

So in high school. So in middle school, I was, I was very into sports, you know, like basketball and I really wanted to just be on all these different sports teams and, and all my friends were were into it, but moving into high school, I don't know what happened, but in the ninth grade I started to play more music and just be more in tune with the artistic side of my brain, I guess. And I, when was it? I think it was, it was yeah. Going into the ninth grade. I decided I wanted to do the fine arts center. And so I would go to Riverside high for part of the day. And then I would go to the fine arts center for the other part of the day. And that's when I really got into music and started to get getting into jazz performance at the fine arts center.

Shurtz (06:45):

And I started getting into my head that I was going to go to school for some sort of like music degree or something. Wow. Yeah. But things kind of turned a different way. Where did that, where did, what was the change for you? So I think it was after, after my 10th grade year, during that summer, like going into the 11th grade, I started playing music for this, uh, urban gospel band and, and all these guys, like they were, they were in their mid thirties and I was like going into the 11th grade and they were, that's all they did. Like that was their career is, was being in this urban gospel band. And so I started playing music with them and I really wanted to go to all the shows that they were playing and, and play music with them. But I couldn't if I stayed in school.

Shurtz (07:39):

And so that was like the 11th grade, my 11th grade year, I went in to Riverside. And I think I stayed for maybe, maybe like a month or so, but one of my friends had started to do provost Academy was just like online school. They would send you a laptop and, and you could just do school wherever you had wifi. And so, because I wanted to travel with these guys playing music, I left Riverside and started doing everything on a laptop. And so I would like go out and play music with them. And, and when I, when I came back home, I would just do my school, which, which I could do, like a whole, whole day's worth of school in like three hours. So what were your parents, were your parents on board with this? Did you have to convince them? My mom, it's easier to convince them.

Shurtz (08:25):

My dad, um, she, you know, she was like, yeah, sounds good. And she was a little bit worried, but when I told my dad, I wanted to, basically what I had to do is drop out of, of public school and re-enroll in this provost Academy. So just like, even though it wasn't really dropping out, it was just that term. Like I have to do this. It's very scary. Yeah. It was scary. And so I, I think I had to write some kind of like essay for my dad, like talking about why it would be a good decision for me to leave public school and start doing everything online. And I wasn't like, I wasn't getting terrible grades, but, but I never liked the academic side of school. And I was never super great at it unless I had to get my grade up from like a, a D to a beer a or something, I would do it, but like, I didn't, I didn't like it.

Shurtz (09:14):

And so he was nervous about it because I wasn't even good at going to school at a public school where teachers were just watching me letting you accountable. Yeah. And with this new school, I was in charge of my own schedule and I had to, it was just up to me, you know, whether I finished high school or not. And, um, that's why earlier I told you, I forgot what year we were. We graduated. Cause I don't know. I think I graduated a little bit late, but 2011, 2011. Okay. That's great. Good to know. Right. But when I was playing music and then getting home and doing school, I ended up doing a lot of my schoolwork at cafes and I would drive downtown and I'd have my backpack with my laptop and I would go and sit in the cafe and do my high school. And it was just like hanging out. It was the craziest experience. Cause I was literally like on a Tuesday at 11:00 AM. I was sitting on main street downtown doing, doing, um, history. Well,

Sage (10:14):

All of your other peers are stuck inside this building and the high school that we went to, the new one that they built. Remember it looked very, very, um, prison-esque.

Shurtz (10:25):

So yeah.

Sage (10:26):

And what freedom, what amazing freedom to have, especially at that age and to be in control completely of your own destiny and what you're doing. And I'm sure that that probably even fueled the fire that was already going on inside of you where you were thinking I'm going to take a different path.

Shurtz (10:45):

Yeah. And at the time, at the very beginning, I thought my different path was going to be music. So, um, what was, it was 11th grade. That's also when I started working, part-time at a coffee shop. And so when I wasn't going out and like playing music somewhere, I would be, I would go to work at a coffee shop and I would open. So I'd get there at like six in the morning and I would work until, you know, 12 or one or something like that. And then I finished my shift and then I would stay at the coffee shop and finish my day's work of school. And that was kind of like my whole life from 11th to 12th grade. What shop was it? My first coffee shop I worked out was liquid highway. It was just on main street, you know? And, um, it was fun, you know, I, at the time I got that job and I didn't think I was like passionate about coffee or anything.

Shurtz (11:35):

It was just, it was just like a fun job to have. And I liked hanging out in coffee shops. And then I got a job when I was going into the 12th grade. I got a job at this place called coffee and crema and you know, coffee crema. Wow. So I got a job there and that was like the serious coffee in Greenville and I was nervous and, and it was like a big deal. It, and I was kind of getting into coffee then, um, being at coffin crema, like showed me how serious some people take it, you know? And, and how, how it's like a, a real thing. What intrigued you? Do you remember? So Shannon, he is, he was like the, the owner operator and he was this guy. He was in his mid forties. And, um, he was a nice guy, but he was very witty and not necessarily nice in the Southern hospitality kind of way.

Shurtz (12:29):

He was kind of like, I don't know. He was, he made me nervous. He made me nervous. He was, he didn't, he didn't like smile all that much. And he was super serious about his work. And if you were going to work for him at the coffee shop, like you had to take it serious, you know, like, you know, you're wearing a collared shirt to work. If you showed up, if you showed up on time, that was considered late. If you, if you showed up three time, if you showed up like three times you were fired and he was like very serious, he sent you through all this education about coffee and you couldn't touch the espresso machine until he trained you to the point where he felt like you could make good coffee for people. So it was just this whole different life. I had no idea about, you know, and that's kinda what got me in there.

Shurtz (13:16):

And so, and so then I took my schedules working in a coffee shop and finishing up school, uh, just over, over the coffee crema. And I finished my last class on line at coffin creme. And I was like sitting in the shop, drinking, drinking coffee this moment. Yeah. Yeah. Oh it really was. But before I graduated high school, you know, I'd been accepted to, um, to NCSU in Tennessee for recording engineering. And I was going to go to college for music stuff. Um, but I started feeling like I started really loving coffee, you know, just because the interactions with people and the community that it develops. And just as like the whole sense of the coffee community and the coffee industry was fascinating to me and I, before I graduated high school, I realized I wanted to do that for a living.

Sage (14:07):

Wow. Yeah. Which is remarkable because most kids yeah. As seniors in high school, or just, you know, trying to check the boxes of what they need to do to get their high school diploma and then, you know, probably partying on the side and they're out. So thinking that you are already had a clear vision of your career path and what direction you wanted to take is wild that, you know, you were so set apart from the rest of your peers. Was there any moment when you were making those decisions that you had any kind of fear or doubt? Um,

Shurtz (14:44):

Yeah. And I think, I mean that fear and doubt, I don't think it really went away until I'm maybe until 2016, not too long ago. Um, but at the beginning, like when I was working at coffin crema, I was like 18 years old and I decided I wanted to be in the coffee industry, like for my career path, moving forward, instead of going and doing music stuff, that was kind of scary because I think when you're, when you're checking the boxes and like going from high school, and then you got your summer break and you know, you're going into college and, and you're, you're in that herd mentality, you know, and you have, you have your peers around you, it feels safer just because, you know, everyone's doing it with you and they're with you on it. And you're just together. And so I think the main fear at the start was knowing that like, I wasn't even going to public school and I hadn't seen those public school friends for awhile.

Shurtz (15:45):

Cause I was like working and then doing school. And while I loved it, it was kind of this feeling of being separated from the, the path that I was like, so clear, so clear on, you know, like I knew exactly what was going on, but then when I decided I wanted to do this online school, everything kind of changed, but I knew that I wanted to do coffee. And I knew that, um, like being a barista at a cafe, you're making minimum wage. So being a barista in a cafe, you make them a minimum wage and you can't make a living off of that. It was just like no money in it. So I knew that I had to do something. And so my manager and the owner, Shannon, he told me that if I was going to make a living in coffee, I had to do something creative. And so my first thing that I did is I set up, um, I set up vagabond barista, which is, uh, a little traveling coffee bar and I would go, I just had my brewing equipment and I'd pack it up in my car and I go anywhere.

Sage (16:42):

So really, really quick. So what was your brewing equipment? Because I'm just sort of, I'm imagining I haven't seen a photo or anything, but I'm imagining like a bicycle with a cooler on the back or something. I mean, what did that look like?

Shurtz (16:57):

Yeah. So there's this like, you know, I had a little coffee grinder and there are these manual brewing methods. So I mainly just did pour overs. And, um, is this contraption called a Chemex? You know, Kevin's yes. Hourglass shape. Yep. Yeah. So I had one of those, I had a siphon, which is like this crazy contraption that had to do with a flame and this like bold and all this, it looks like a chemistry set really.

Sage (17:23):

And this was really, this was kind of like on the edge stuff at the time, right? Yeah.

Shurtz (17:28):

Yeah. And it was like at the time, the thought of manually brewing coffee, like cut back up by hand. It's funny because it used to be the way people did it a long time ago, like a way long time ago. And then you had coffee brewers that came out. And so it basically went away. But the reason why the, this, this part of the coffee industry started brewing coffee by hand again, is because with the, you know, a lot of people hear the term specialty coffee or third wave coffee or craft coffee. And those are all the new, the new coffee shops that are popping up. They're all say their specialty coffee. And what that mean is most of the time, what they mean is you're just, you're paying more attention to coffee and its origin and the quality of those, um, the coffee cherries that these farmers are producing, treating it a lot more like wine. And that's kind of like, I think some coffee people would say that I shouldn't say it's being treated like wine because you're, we want coffee to be separate and its own thing. But it is when you're, when you're focusing on different types of coffee varieties and how it's farmed.

Sage (18:36):

They're both products that are coming out of the earth that are so influenced by their environments and landscapes. Um, so I can see the similarities. So with all that in mind,

Shurtz (18:49):

You brew coffee by hand is because you can control all of the different variables. And it was just the idea of, of being able to make a cup of coffee tastes better because you're controlling the water temperature and how the water is being brewed with the coffee and all the different, like time temperature, amount of coffee, all that stuff.

Sage (19:08):

And was this all knowledge that you'd acquired from the training that Shannon had put you through?

Shurtz (19:12):

Exactly. Yeah. Cool. I learned it all from Shannon.

Sage (19:15):

So the, for the beans, I mean, what were you, where were you sourcing your coffee from at the time? 

Shurtz (19:22):

I Started doing that and now I'm 28 now. So it was like 10 years ago, I guess when I started doing that wild. Yeah, that's crazy. Um, counter-culture was like the main coffee roaster in the area they're out based out of Durham, North Carolina, and they were in, are doing some amazing coffee. And so I would mainly use counterculture. I would also use ceremony, coffee roasters up, up North.

Sage (19:48):

So why, I mean, were you just doing research online?

Shurtz (19:52):

Word of mouth. Like I would hear it, we use counterculture. So I knew them really well. And a lot of the people that worked at counter-culture were my mentors kind of like in the coffee industry and, and some of these people, I still talk to on a weekly basis and they're still kind of my mentors and, um, they've kind of, some of them are still counter-culture. Some of them kind of moved on to other companies, but developed great relationships there. And then, um, just being in that environment, I got, you hear what by word of mouth, the roasters that are kind of producing good coffee. And so you had verb I'm from California Stumptown that was out in Portland at the time counter-culture and those are like the big coffee roasters now, because since then in the past 10 years, there's just hundreds of coffee verses that have opened up around the country that are doing amazing stuff.

Sage (20:44):

So at the time when you're 18, you're sourcing these from across the country, you're getting the equipment that you need. Where were you? Were you just saving up the money that you'd made in the cafe? Where did you get the funds from for those?

Shurtz (20:57):

Yeah. Well, that's the funny part is when I decided I wanted to start this traveling coffee bar, vagabond, barista, I mean, I didn't have any money. And so I had acquired, I had like one brewing contraption and I had a coffee grinder. It was just from what I've saved up in my year, working at coffee and crema and kind of getting into coffee, being a, being a little coffee geek that I, I purchased some equipment just for fun. And so I just, I just used what I had. I didn't really purchase anything. I, the only thing I purchased was glassware because when I went to these events, which is another kind of funny thing is I wouldn't serve coffee in like to go cups at these events. I would serve it in glassware special. Yeah. So it was like this whole experience, you know, and I would just say, bring the cup back when you're done. And hopefully they did. Yeah. And so that's kind of the only thing that I actually purchased was, was glassware. And that is used what I, what I could. So there's like, I think I had some pictures that are my first setup and it was just like glass way or some coffee, coffee grinder, and like a Chemex. And that was it. I would just set up where I could and I did that on and off for like three years, maybe three or four years.

Sage (22:14):

So take me through what, what did a regular ish day look like for you with vagabond barista?

Shurtz (22:21):

So with Vagabond barista, it was funny. I mean, I thought it was a lot of work back then, and now I have perspective and I was just relaxing, but I would maybe work. I would have three, maybe four events in a week and sometime like some weeks I wouldn't have any events, so I would, I would wake up and if I didn't have a event, all I work on is, is finding people to reach out, to, to see if I could come and set up and, and brew coffee for their event or their office or their wedding.

Sage (22:54):

Do you remember how you were finding these events? Was it like newspapers or?

Shurtz (22:58):

Yeah, so I would, I would walk up and down main street downtown, and I would just look at every business that I walked by and write their business name down, and then I would go and sit down and I would email somewhat someone, if I could find an email for these businesses, I would just email them and say, say who I am and what I'm doing. And I would see if I could somehow brew coffee for them. And then slowly, like I found his coworking office that let me come and brew coffee once or twice a week. And then they would let me, then they told me I could just come and brew coffee whenever I want. And so that kind of turned into my home base and that was right downtown. It was called, um, what was it called at the time? I can't remember.

Shurtz (23:40):

It was a long time ago, but I would set up at this spot off of Washington street downtown. Um, anytime I didn't have a event, I would go and I'd sit up there and if I was busy, that would be great. I'm gonna make off of people. And if I wasn't busy, I would have my list of businesses and I would just reach out to people constantly. And so slowly the community of Greenville kind of started to take note of what I was doing. And every once in a while, like I would get a shout out and, you know, um, town magazine or in the, you know, upset business journal,

Sage (24:17):

Because it was so different. I mean, who, who was doing traveling coffee bars

Shurtz (24:23):

At the time, I had never heard about anyone doing it. I just did it out of necessity because I knew I couldn't make a living, being a barista making minimum wage. So I knew I had to like do something else. And this way I was able to, you know, essentially have a coffee shop, but I didn't have the money to make, to start a coffee shop. So this was my version of, of what I could do at the time. So

Sage (24:45):

What were you selling a cup of coffee for?

Shurtz (24:48):

That's kind of why it worked is because I would, I asked wedding planners, what like bartenders and different folks that would set up and cater to weddings, like what they would charge for their services. And they kind of let me in on, on how it all works. And you know, when you're setting up at an event brewing coffee for people, most of the time you discharge the whoever's coordinating the event, you just charge them a flat fee of, you know, say $4 a head or $2 a head or what it kind of depends on the amount of people, but I would just charge a flat fee and I would set up and everyone would get free coffee. And so worked out for them. And for me, I was able to kind of play in my well, I was about to say plan my finances, but to this day, I'm not going to finances, but I was able to make more money that way, because it was like a service instead of a product.

Shurtz (25:40):

And so slowly but surely word got out. And I ended up, um, doing an event. I went with a guy out to Los Angeles and, um, no, no, I'll say just Las Vegas. And we set up at this carpet market and we would just brew coffee for them. And then my friend, Alex and I, so Alex owns Junto coffee now, here in here in, well, he's in Taylor's South Carolina, hero's coffee. So him and I, we took a tour all the way up the East coast and we went and brewed coffee at schools and just schools, I think. Yeah, universities, we brew coffee at universities all up and down

Sage (26:15):

The whole experience like for you. I mean, do you feel like you just learned so much about yourself and what you wanted through that?

Shurtz (26:24):

Well, I think I learned what I wanted was to be in the coffee industry, but I didn't want to do it alone. And that was like probably doing faculty embrace. It was probably the hardest time I've ever had kind of doing anything. It worked, it was a success, you know, it worked well for me at the time, but I remember I would get home every day and it would be nighttime. And I came in and I would be done for the day. And that is when, like when I get home after doing an event by myself and that's when it would kind of sink in. And, um, and I would either be nervous or maybe I'd be sad or scared for the future because there was no path. You know, I was kind of creating this path for myself, but there was no, like there were no directions or anything, and I didn't know what I was going to do in the future. You know? And so

Sage (27:15):

One who was doing anything similar to what you were doing, so it's not like you could reach out to phone a friend and say, Hey, how are you handling this normal life circumstance?

Shurtz (27:25):

Exactly. And so that was like, even though I say it was a tough time for me, I was like, I guess in comparison to some people, it was nothing, but I would get home. And I remember I would, I would put my stuff up and I'd go on. I'll just go on a walk every night and try to like, think about future and what I want and where I'm going. And I really didn't have like an idea of what my future was going to look like until, um, my friend Marco reached out to me one day, I was, I was walking downtown and he texted me and asked me if I'd want to start up a coffee shop with him. And he's in the tech industry, he's a designer like an amazing designer. And I knew him because he worked at the coworking office that I would set up at every day, ruined coffee. He did my braining for Baghwan barista and we became friends. And so one day he texted me. He was like, Hey, I kind of want to like get out of this virtual world, like doing design for websites all the time and do something tangible. You think you'd want to start a coffee shop with me.

Sage (28:29):

And this is where we leave off Will's journey for now, come back next week for part two. And you'll hear more about how methodical coffee was lifted up off the ground and the business and life lessons that we'll learn along the way. There's so much more good stuff to come. So stay tuned. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of discovering the dubs. And if you like what you've heard so far, be sure to subscribe. So you don't miss out on a single future episode of DTD. And if the dubs really resonated with you, feel free to leave a review, share it with your friends. You can also follow along on the DTD journey on Instagram at discovering the dubs until next time. Cheers.