I'm here in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia. I arrived on Sunday evening, after spending a week in Kenya visiting the farmers of the Gikanda and Thiriku cooperatives in Nyeri and attending the 10th annual EAFCA (East African Fine Coffee Association) conference in Mombasa.
After providing a state of the state in Specialty Coffee for the upcoming decade in my previous blog post, I thought that a 2009 Intelligentsia recap was in order.
A new decade is arrived. Are you ready for it? Is the world of Specialty Coffee ready for it?
Just to help ease the transition I put together a little list of things to look forward to in coffee, along with some things I hope get left behind as artifacts, as we flip the pages of the calendar.
Things I hope become historical footnotes:
It's my first time in the Land of Oz. I'm quite happy to have come here, and it's not just because of the fuzzy koalas, the Jocko memorabilia, or the vegemite sandwiches. The Aussies have been making a lot of noise in recent years within the Specialty Coffee industry and the opportunity to have a first-hand look at what's going on was too hard to pass up.
As I write this, I am on a quick train ride out of Manhattan. My travel schedule for today and the next eight days will have me in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Sonoma County, and San Francisco. It requires many meetings, being “on” frequently, and the inevitably late nights and early mornings.
Earlier this August roasters from all over the United States convened at the Skamania lodge in Stevenson, Washington for the 2009 Roasters Guild Retreat. The Roasters Guild is an organization committed to supporting community and education in the trade of Specialty Coffee roasting.
On August 13th, Intelligentsia participated in the Taste of the Nation Event held here in Chicago. Taste of the Nation is actually a series of events held around the country and hosted by a charitable group called Share Our Strength. The goal of Share our Strength is to raise enough awareness and money to end childhood hunger in the US by 2015.
I recently had the opportunity to visit our newest location in lovely Venice. It was great to finally see it open since this really is the first time Intelligentsia has been able to offer a near perfect tea experience. I would like to thank Kyle Glanville for the opportunity to do something revolutionary and unique with the tea preparation.
As usual summer in Chicago seems to slip by so quickly that by the time you notice it is here, it is gone. I realize that we only have five weeks left, then school starts up, the seasons proceed, and another year passes. I guess there is something to be said for being immortal.
Okay, I have to admit I'm jealous. A number of Intelligentsia folks gathered in Colombia this last week at our first annual Extraordinary Coffee Workshop… my NYC sales colleague, Steve Mierisch, included. You'll no doubt be hearing a lot about this event here on the blog, so I won't go into detail. Let's just say, I'll be attending next year's workshop without question.
I'm always excited when Americans start to embrace the customs and habits of other cultures. With the influence of Mexican culture growing over time, I've noticed a surprisingly large number of Mexican eateries focusing on regional Mexican cuisine that was previously unheard of in this country.
While there is very little of the craft of coffee that we take lightly here at Intelligentsia, there are some things that on occasion we take a bit more seriously than some would imagine. The training of our shop staff is one of those things. We have long held high standards for how we prepare our drinks, what we ask our staff to know about coffee and the level of service we offer.