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:
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.
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.
If you read this on Sunday June 7th, I am somewhere in the air heading toward Cali, Colombia to the 1st Annual Extraordinary Coffee Workshop. The event will be held in both Cali proper and at Finca Santuario in the Cauca Valley.
As with any small business, a large part of our early efforts here at Intelligentsia were spent on establishing our name and associating it with excellence. We’ve spent the last 14 years trying to let the public know that we offer something a bit different from the chain on their corner.
"On the brink" is a place I'm not much good at. I cannot stand limbo and would prefer to just get on with things. Most often this has served me well, but occasionally it can get me into trouble.
Mike Phillips, the recently crowned 2009 United States Barista Champion, is the first to show up and the last to leave. His work ethic is admirable. Mike wasn't supposed to win. He embodies what it is to be an American in the best possible way. He does not feel entitled to anything, nor does he take anything for granted.
Winter has most certainly made up its mind to stay in Chicago. Having grown up in the Midwest, I have a particular fondness for snow. In our family, a cancelled day of school meant time outside. I learned to bundle up and take advantage of the iced-over streams that were normally un-traversable, and I discovered remarkable beauty in a land saturated with winter.
Earlier this week we held an event at our Roasting Works that was designed to explore the ways in which different brewing methods impact coffee taste. It was pretty rockin'. The entire Chicago staff came out and we spent a couple hours playing around with three coffees: Los Inmortales, El Salvador Micro-Lot: Finca Matalapa; Kurimi, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe; and our 2008 Celebration Blend.
The energy in NYC spills out onto every street. There is a feeling of constant activity, a rhythmic breathing that makes me want to DO something. Very cool indeed.
Tick, tock. Another Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) show has passed. Like other years, this one was a blur, but a blur off a different kind. The show is always a time to see all those you know from the far-flung places that make up Specialty Coffee. My first SCAA show was in Minneapolis, some 12 years ago.
