Chris Herman recently celebrated the third anniversary of going full-time with his coffee roasting business, 4th Level Roasters. Photo by Mick Jeffries
In the face of one adversity after another, Chris Herman has managed to turn a passion into a career with the Lexington-based coffee roasting venture 4th Level Roasters.
Herman first began roasting coffee beans in the winter of 2020, as a hobby and distraction from the cancer treatments he was undergoing at the time. The following summer, he was still working full-time as a pharmaceutical sales rep when he set up a booth at the Berea Farmers Market to sell his coffee for the first time.
“We sold out on the first day,” he said.
In 2022, after unexpectedly losing his job after 20 years in the industry, Herman and his wife, Stacie Wallas, decided they’d “do this for real,” and he began roasting coffee full time. Celebrating the third anniversary of going full-time this past April, Herman and Wallas haven’t looked back since.
So what does “4th Level” mean? When Wallas was diagnosed with cancer, and then Herman the next year, they were looking for answers — life lessons — and Wallas coined the phrase.
“4th Level is a vantage point,” Herman explained. “A higher viewpoint.”
After their diagnoses, Herman understandably had a different perspective on life.
A longtime coffee lover, Herman was first introduced to the idea of roasting his own beans by a neighbor about 20 years ago — it was something that had always stuck in his head that he wanted to try. He dove into the research on where to get beans and different methods of roasting them, moving from hobbyist into side hustle in about six months. Herman describing the experience of acquiring beans from different parts of the world as akin to being an escape — an opportunity to experience flavors from all over the world. Roasting the beans himself has been a way to expand upon the experience.
4th Level is located in a Palumbo Drive storefront that it shares with the artisan cheese company Boone Creek Creamery. The front room is a retail center, and Herman roasts beans behind the store with a gas grill and a stainless-steel rotisserie drum produced by RK Drums. While Herman says the process of “putting heat to bean” is not overly complicated, it is a lot of work.
However, if you’re passionate about, he added, it’s all fun — even though he jokes that he smells “like burnt popcorn, all the time.”
Herman learned his roasting method from the manufacturer of the drum. He recently traveled to Guatemala and visited coffee farms to see the whole process. Herman says it was a full-circle moment, because both his first 150-pound bag of coffee beans and his first roast were from Guatemala. He describes Guatemalan coffee as “a good learning bean,” because it tastes good at every roast level.
Blends — a combination of beans from different sources — are trial-and-error, he said, but he gets to mix flavors like a chef would, creating his own unique flavors. He has developed unique special blends for his mother’s business, Cleo’s Bakery in Newburgh, Indiana, as well as for the local bakery Wild Lab, located on National Avenue.
When it comes to roast levels, flavor profiles, and blends, there is much to learn — but Herman readily divulges his near-encyclopedic knowledge of coffee and even has some green coffee beans on hand to show customers.
“Everything I’d ever wanted to do — I wanted to try it,” he said.
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Acquiring beans from different parts of the country and exploring the differences in their flavor profiles and other qualities is one of Herman's favorite parts about running a coffee roasting business. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Acquiring beans from different parts of the country and exploring the differences in their flavor profiles and other qualities is one of Herman's favorite parts about running a coffee roasting business. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Acquiring beans from different parts of the country and exploring the differences in their flavor profiles and other qualities is one of Herman's favorite parts about running a coffee roasting business. Photo by Mick Jeffries
Located at 2416 Palumbo Drive, 4th Level Roasters carries over a dozen varieties of coffee and is open to the public and available for private events. Their coffee is also sold through their website, and the business offers a fundraising program for local organizations.
4th Level sets up booths at the Lexington Farmers’ Market and the Chevy Chase Farmers’ Market and hosts its own public events on occasion.
The company also makes its own cold brew, which won first place for Best Cold Brew in a blind taste test at Lexington’s 2024 Cold Brew Coffee Festival. They recently began selling kegs of cold brew and concentrate to use in cocktails to local bars.
People have asked Herman for advice when it comes to taking the leap to start your own business, and one suggestion he makes is to get a mentor if you don’t consider yourself business-minded. He met Stu Utgaard from Stuarto's Olive Oil Company through the Lexington Farmers’ Market and was grateful for his practical tips about running a business.
But ultimately, he said, you just have to do it — there is no substitute for experience.
“The more you do something you’re afraid to do, the easier it gets,” he said.
University of Kentucky student Karsten VanMeter created a poignant short film that illustrates the mindset shift alongside footage of Herman at work on the coffee roaster. It was awarded best documentary at the University of Kentucky Film Festival. (Find a link to the video at 4thlevelroasters.com.)
Spill the Beans
A few fun facts about coffee, from 4th Level Roasters’ Chris Herman:
• Coffee is naturally acidic, so pests (and therefore pesticides) are not as big a problem as they are for other crops
• Higher altitudes produce coffee with less caffeine
• While African coffees tend to be more acidic and bright, the volcanic soil found in the Caribbean islands produces a different, milder flavor of coffee bean.