A founder-led coffee brand and working commerce application. I develop and refine the customer-facing experience, connect it to Shopify catalog and cart flows, and evaluate product information, navigation, mobile usability, and AI-assisted content as the catalog changes.
E-Commerce EngineeringReact & Base44Shopify IntegrationWorkflow QAProduct Data AccuracyAI-Assisted Development
Developed and refined a working storefront while managing the evolving customer experience.
02 —
Commerce Integration
Connected branded pages and purchasing flows with Shopify product and cart information.
03 —
Risk-Based Quality Review
Reviewed critical shopping paths, inventory presentation, navigation, and product-copy consistency.
04 —
Iterative Engineering
Used code review, interface changes, build checks, and issue follow-up to improve the product.
01CONTEXT
The Challenge
Building a polished coffee storefront is only one part of the work. Product information, merchandising, cart behavior, and customer expectations need to stay aligned as the catalog changes.
Torch Republic combines two core instant coffees with rotating monthly editions, seasonal duos, and complementary merchandise. Those changes create dependencies across collections, product detail pages, search content, recommendations, and purchase paths.
The challenge was to deliver a distinctive branded experience without compromising accurate customer-facing information, usable mobile layouts, or reliable ways to shop.
02RESPONSIBILITY
My Role
Founder, Product Builder & E-Commerce Quality Lead
I lead product direction, interface design, AI-assisted development, Shopify merchandising, implementation review, defect investigation, and iteration across the live commerce application.
Rather than evaluating an isolated demo, I work with an evolving store where changes to products, messaging, or layouts can affect real customer journeys.
03PRODUCT
The Commerce Experience
The storefront combines editorial product discovery with linked commerce functionality. Its content and purchasing experiences span core coffees, monthly releases, and collectible products.
IMPLEMENTED PRODUCT AREAS
Core Instant Classic and Instant Mushroom Coffee product experiences.
Monthly special editions, seasonal duos, and related product discovery.
Collector mugs and complementary product recommendations.
A personalized Blend Advisor built around customer preferences.
Product and variant selections with Shopify-linked cart behavior.
Responsive collections, product detail pages, and navigation.
Subscription and seasonal merchandising interfaces.
Editorial product education, imagery, and discoverability content.
The presence of a shopping feature does not mean every variant, subscription state, or external checkout scenario has completed exhaustive live testing.
04VISUAL SYSTEM
Brand & UX Refinement
My design direction combines rich midnight blue, deep espresso, warm gold accents, and cinematic coffee imagery. The visual language supports a recognizable boutique brand while keeping product details and purchase actions straightforward.
SELECTED DESIGN DECISIONS
A cinematic midnight-blue, champagne, and warm-espresso brand direction.
A recognizable mountain-sunrise hero and clear shopping destinations.
Editorial typography combined with high-contrast product information.
Larger and more consistent product imagery on smaller screens.
Refined mobile spacing, product-page hierarchy, and prominent cart actions.
Consistent seasonal visual language without losing the core coffee lineup.
Design changes are evaluated through usability and consistency, rather than visual preference alone.
05ENGINEERING
Technical Implementation
The application uses a React/JavaScript interface developed with Base44 and connects customer-facing shopping interactions to Shopify commerce systems.
ENGINEERING & INTEGRATION SCOPE
React and JavaScript storefront development.
Component-based pages, styling, and responsive layout maintenance.
Base44 application development and iterative troubleshooting.
Shopify product, variant, availability, and cart integration work.
Product discovery and Blend Advisor interaction logic.
Collection and product routing with changing seasonal inventory.
Error investigation, build verification, and versioned project changes.
Content and structured-data review for product discoverability.
06QUALITY PRACTICES
Quality Assurance & Integration Review
My approach prioritizes the shopping paths where inconsistency can confuse visitors or interrupt purchasing: source data, navigation, variants, product state, mobile presentation, and cart feedback.
Catalog accuracy
Compare product names, formats, ingredients, serving counts, pricing, and imagery against current Shopify and approved product sources.
Purchase-path integrity
Inspect product selection, cart interactions, direct product routes, and the transition into Shopify checkout.
Availability & variants
Review sold-out messaging, selected options, and whether recommendations point to purchasable catalog items.
Review seasonal releases and collector mugs across product pages, collections, homepage features, and linked promotions.
Change verification
Check builds and revisit affected paths after edits; distinguish code verification from complete live transactional retesting.
Scope note: these are applied review areas and implementation checks, not a claim of comprehensive payment processing certification, automated Playwright coverage, or a measured conversion uplift. Some historical defects have implementation evidence while complete production retests remain to be documented.
07SELECTED ISSUES
From Defect to Improvement
Real storefront work also means identifying and correcting details that polished mockups can hide.
Product presentation
Reviewed stale or broken image references and inconsistent product information across multiple display contexts; standardized sources and revisited affected views.
Changing catalog
Investigated legacy product naming and outdated seasonal routes, then refined data and navigation paths to reduce conflicts with current listings.
Mobile product experience
Adjusted hierarchy, typography, image treatment, and CTA placement where small-screen layouts made key purchase details harder to find.
Shopping-link integrity
Recorded a reported shopping-link issue for investigation; a complete verified retest record for that specific issue has not yet been established.
These examples describe observed or previously recorded implementation work. They should not be read as a claim that every production checkout path has passed an independently witnessed test.
08TECHNICAL EVIDENCE
Technical Skills Applied
Tools and methods connected to the actual Torch Republic product work, rather than unrelated résumé keywords.
These are existing screenshots of the real Torch Republic application, not AI-generated interface illustrations. The supporting captures are from an earlier design iteration and may differ from today's live storefront.
Storefront & mobile identityAn authentic storefront capture already used in the portfolio project preview.Lifestyle storytellingEarlier live capture (September 2026): brand storytelling in the mobile experience.Product informationEarlier live capture (September 2026): information hierarchy and product education.
Captures document appearance at specific points in development; they do not demonstrate live order completion, inventory synchronization, or performance metrics.
09OUTCOME
What This Project Demonstrates
Torch Republic demonstrates the combination of hands-on product ownership, React-based implementation, Shopify-connected commerce workflows, and practical quality review in a changing business environment.
It also demonstrates a transferable workflow: verify approved source information, review the affected customer journey, document observed problems, refine the implementation, and recheck what changed.
This project is ongoing. No unverified sales growth, conversion lift, automated test coverage, or exhaustive checkout certification is claimed.
EXPLORE THE LIVE STORE
A real product. An evolving quality process.
Visit Torch Republic to see the current published storefront and customer-facing experience.