2021 Manager of the Year

Tai Ayers

Ohori’s Coffee Roasters – Santa Fe

2021’s Manager of the Year winner has been in the industry for years. Starting at 15 at Santa Fe’s Haagen-Dazs. She moved up, including managing the Student Café in college. 20 years ago, she began Barista work at began Barista work at Ohori’s Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, and became the General Manager in 2006. She gained partial ownership and continued as general manager for what is now Ohori’s Coffee Roasters in 2017.

She has shown extraordinary management skills in listening and training staff, provides a safe environment for staff and customers and continues to run a thriving local business in a truly difficult time. At the same time she was juggling new rules, she was expanding Ohori’s online presence and capabilities and a local delivery program. This “Management Superhero” showed powers of empathy, leadership, and outreach. She also provided her staff with private therapy sessions, when requested, to connect them with what they needed to be better baristas as well as better people. She models racial and cultural sensitivity both with her customers and her staff. This dedicated manager sticks by Ohori’s “North Star” – the aspiration to provide the normality of getting coffee (with a side of kindness) to all of their customers during the pandemic.

NMRA is proud to honor our 2021 Manager of the year, Tai Ayers of Ohori’s Coffee Roasters.

About Ohori’s Coffee Rosters

Our beans are roasted in the same vintage Probat UG15 we began with; that’s over 35 years of continuous seasoning, just like cooking in your favorite pan. Our roasting craft has descended, master to pupil, to our current roasters, Sam Brinegar and Christopher Strauss, who meticulously roast and test each batch of Ohori’s coffee. As heirs of rich, fully developed roasting, we are masters of the dark roast universe and love lighter coffees, too; we have coffee for every taste. Roasted into that sweet zone before the second crack, beans burst with fruit and candy notes. Prefer a smooth cup reminiscent of molasses and dark chocolate? We’ve got you covered. Looking for a hot mess of citrus, nuts, and flowers? We’ve got that bean, too.