7 Coffee Industry Podcasts Every Shop Owner Should Be Listening To
Running a coffee shop means wearing a dozen hats — operator, manager, buyer, marketer, barista, therapist, and more. Podcasts are one of the easiest ways to keep learning without carving out time you don't have.
Here are seven of the best podcasts for cafe owners and operators right now.
1. Keys to the Shop If you only subscribe to one podcast on this list, make it this one. Host Chris Deferio has logged hundreds of episodes specifically for coffee shop leaders, covering everything from hiring and training to menu strategy, leadership, and the unglamorous mechanics of running a profitable cafe. It's the closest thing the industry has to an MBA program for shop owners.
2. Cat & Cloud Podcast Hosted by Jared Truby and Chris Baca — both former barista competitors turned multi-shop owners — Cat & Cloud feels like eavesdropping on two friends who happen to know everything about running cafes. Expect candid conversations on team culture, the boss-employee relationship, and the philosophical side of building a business in coffee. Great for owners who want their thinking challenged, not just their checklist filled.
3. The Sprudge Podcast From the team behind Sprudge — the closest thing specialty coffee has to a daily newspaper — co-founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen interview the industry's most interesting people. It's less of a how-to and more of a "what's happening in coffee right now" listen. Useful for staying current on trends, new openings, and the broader cultural conversation your customers are tuned into.
4. The Specialty Coffee Podcast (SCA) Produced by the Specialty Coffee Association, this is the industry's official record. Episodes pull from SCA lectures, debates, and global events, often featuring researchers, sourcing experts, and seasoned operators. If you want to understand the bigger forces shaping coffee — from green pricing to sustainability to consumer behavior — this is your show.
5. Coffee is ME — Start Your Coffee Business A more practical, interview-driven show where host Valerian sits down with coffee professionals at every stage to dig into the actual mechanics of starting and growing a coffee business. If you're earlier in your journey — or thinking about a second location — there's a lot to take from each episode.
6. Ristretto Time A focused show about the realities of opening and running your own coffee shop. Less philosophical than Cat & Cloud, more tactical than Sprudge. Worth subscribing to even if you're already up and running — there's always something to learn from how others are solving the same problems.
7. Roast Magazine Podcast The audio companion to Roast Magazine, the long-running technical trade publication. This one leans more toward roasters and technical operators, but if you roast in-house — or want to have smarter conversations with the roaster you buy from — it's a goldmine. Equal parts art, science, and business.
How to actually use this list Don't try to subscribe to all seven. Pick one operations-focused show (Keys to the Shop or Cat & Cloud), one industry-news show (Sprudge or SCA), and one wildcard based on what you're working on right now — opening a second location, refining your roast program, building team culture. Three feeds is plenty to keep you sharp without drowning in episodes you'll never get to.
An hour of someone else's hard-won lessons in your ear during prep can change how you make decisions for the rest of the week. Happy listening!
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