He had the guts and the audacity to open up across the street from Starbucks
Roasted: A Coffee Documentary is centered around Chuck Patton and his pursuit to create a coffee community not just in Bird Rock, San Diego but also a community with the farmers in the different parts of the world.
Chuck was a go-getter and some people thought he was crazy when he opened up a cafe in the dying business district. But eventually, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (BRCR) would become the center of social gatherings for the area’s locals. This documentary is like BRCR itself, for the community and by the community. It has a sense of authenticity and genuineness to it that draws you in even if there are some creative aspects that could have been more polished.
On the technical side, there are a number of scenes which have music, and people chatting in the background while subjects were talking. It was enough noise that interviews became hard to understand. A few shots were also a bit too washed out and became rather flat, while some scenes are a little dark.
However, if you do manage to get past all that, there is a great message in this film. So stick with it.
We give this film 3.9 out of 5 stars.
Chuck transforms BRCR into a destination and not just a stopover, becoming the USA’s Micro Roaster of 2012. For the longest time, Bird Rock was just a place people pass through on the way to somewhere but now it’s where people go to talk over coffee and share ideas and develop relationships and not just to sit in front of their computer for six hours.
Chuck Patton and Bird Rock Coffee Roaster is something many in the coffee industry aspire to be. We watch as he singlehandedly operates bird rock coffee roasters from dawn to dusk. He wasn’t always a morning person, but he had to become one and adjust his entire psyche to be able to get things going in the market he found himself in. This film is ideal for those who are starting a business or are planning to.
WATCH “Roasted: A Coffee Documentary” Here:
This review is part of “ROAST,” Part 4 of 6 in the 2020 Mini Coffee Film Fest. See the other part, “Roasting Concepts” here: