Cherrydale Has a New Coffee Shop: Good Trouble Roasters

For the past two years, that heady aroma wafting from Michael Greiner’s Douglas Park home has been the smell of roasting coffee beans. Call it research. In September, the entrepreneur, who previously founded a salsa company in Albuquerque, launched Good Trouble Roasters, a roastery and coffee shop in Cherrydale serving house-blended coffee and espresso drinks, plus baked goods from Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe. We chatted with him about his aspirations for the new venture.

Where does the name Good Trouble come from? 
My salsa company was named Black Market Salsa, but there was already a company called Black Market Coffee. I wanted a name that seemed edgy—maybe rebellious for the sake of good. The phrase coined by the late congressman John Lewis felt right. This coffee shop is for the community. I want to be giving back. 

How will you give back?
We’ll create a series of coffee blends for area nonprofits and shares of the sales will go to the nonprofits. It’s visibility for everybody.

How else will you appeal to the coffee-curious?
We are looking to do tasting classes. We have the roaster on site, and roasting coffee doesn’t take a terribly long time—it’s 15 minutes max. We can do single source beans, roasted three different ways, and talk about how the flavor develops between the three. Or we can do, say, three different sources, roasted all to the same temperature, and talk about the differences in origins. If the tasters agree on a profile or source they enjoy, I can go roast it and they can walk out with fresh-roasted coffee. 

What’s your go-to roast?
Personally, I prefer a lighter roast. I’m a year-round cold brew drinker, and I prefer more caffeine and fruitier flavors. I also enjoy blending coffees as a fun form of experimentation. If you take, say, Ethiopian coffee, which is very fruity, and you roast that very lightly so you still maintain a lot of that flavor, and then you blend that with medium or dark roast to bring out that richer, roasted flavor, you get a pretty great cup of coffee.

Any similarities between small-batch salsa and coffee roasting?
They’re both simple processes. I think it’s about sourcing quality ingredients and taking care in the preparation. When you care about something and you put in the time and effort, people understand that immediately when they taste it. Creating a quality product is important.