THE COFFEE MAGICIAN

EARNED, NOT INVENTED

Cody is a Tri-Cities native and the co-owner and master roaster of Houdini Coffee Roasters. He got his start in coffee in 2014. It was supposed to be a job.

Within a year he was roasting, and not long after that he was the one taking the espresso machines apart when they went down — something most roasters never learn and most techs never taste. Doing both changes how you think about a cup.

The nickname came before the coffee. Cody played hockey, and teammates started calling him Houdini for the way he could make a play appear out of nothing on the ice. Then it followed him to work. Once he was the one roasting the coffee and bringing back the machines nobody else could fix, shop owners picked it up on their own — Houdini, the coffee magician — and it stuck hard enough that when it came time to name a company, there wasn't much of a decision left. He didn't pick the name. It got handed to him.

Ten-plus years since: coffee programs built at Roasters Coffee, Resilient Coffee Roasters and Black Rock Coffee Bar. Wholesale programs and quality-control systems written from scratch. A trip to Brazil with importers, a stack of SCA and Coffee Fest shows, and a run at Best Espresso at the SCA in 2019.

Now it goes on his own bag. Small-batch, roasted to order, and tested behind a real espresso bar before it ever reaches yours — because he's stood behind that bar, and he's fixed the machine sitting on it.