History alum makes waves in the coffee industry
Born in Klamath Falls but raised in Medford, Sam Sabori ’09, graduated South Medford HS then started his collegiate career at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Sam enrolled in multiple history and music courses but found that his core classes were too big, often having more than 100-200 students in each class. So, Sam found his way back to the Rogue Valley and transferred his credits to SOU in Ashland.
At SOU, Sam found his focus in the smaller class sizes and set his attention to music and history. “I actually spent more time earning my minor in music than my BA in history. I spent a lot of time in a practice room, understanding music at a higher level, and I am fortunate to have professors like Terry Longshore who were patient with me and extremely knowledgeable,” he said. Sabori’s coursework in history included classes with Jay Mullen, a former CIA officer. “Professor Mullen pushed us to understand the details within our area of focus, but also encouraged us to see what it was like to live and make decisions in the areas of history we were studying,” he added.
After graduation June of 2009 with his bachelors in history and a music minor, it was a former teacher at South Medford HS who had a tremendous influence on his career track; Jared Rennie ’99 MAT ’00. Jared built a new coffee roasting company in Ashland, Noble Coffee. Sabori worked for Noble for two years, starting as a barista, and eventually promoting to production roaster. After two years with Noble, in 2011, he was recruited to work for Intelligentsia Coffee as a Quality Control Specialist and Production Roaster. Sabori has been growing within Intelligentsia for 14 years, taking on more responsibility, from National Lead Roaster, to Head of Quality Control, to Director of Coffee, to his current position, Senior Director of Coffee and Operations. In 2014, he got to participate in a hilarious Conan O’Brien episode at Intelligentsia. The YouTube version of that episode now has over 23 million views!
As Sabori’s career has taken off with Intelligentsia, he’s been able to move into different positions withinthe company that requires him to travel to other countries and he’s come to appreciate different cultures and standards of living overseas because of it. He’s now working out of Chicago. “We roast around four million pounds of coffee annually and have shops in Chicago, LA, Austin, New York, Boston and South Korea,” said Sabori.
“For me, I love understanding the story of coffee and maximizing the potential of the product alongside those that grow it. Going to some parts of the world is similar to a coffee pilgrimage. I’m thankful for SOU mentors like Terry Longshore and Jay Mullen and Jared Rennie at Noble Coffee and the leadership here at Intelligentsia who have provided me the opportunity to have a fulfilling career.”
Learn more: Intelligentsia Coffee
