Oh-Nine in Review
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.
The Next Movement
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:
Rigorous
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.
Location Confusion
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.
The Barista Exam
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.
Playground of Coffee
There was a ride at my childhood park. I believe it was a merry-go-round. You'd hop on and your sibling would spin and spin and spin with all their might. The world would rush past, swirling colors and trees, the ground would shift, your ears would ring and your tummy would navigate upwards into your chest.
NRA redux
I am the National Sales Manager for Intelligentsia and my team sells coffee to restaurants, coffeebars, and hotels. On Monday I made my annual visit to the National Restaurant Association Show.
How do you like your coffee processed?
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.
Coffee and Computing
Almost all of the builds for our Central American coffees have been solidified this year. From what I know of previous years, this is the fastest it has ever come together. I’ve enjoyed tasting these coffees; the freshness, the snap and character are all unrivaled when a coffee is just out of harvest. Any lemon note is juicier, plum note deeper, chocolate note sustained.
11:00PM: Sunday, March 15th, 2009.
I am sitting under a cloudless sky, filled with stars, somewhere south of Cuba. It smells like the tropics. I can taste the tropics. (Rum anyone?) I can hear the gentle waves of the Caribbean and the whoosh of the palm trees. Earlier today, I dove into the bluest, clearest, warmest ocean I have ever felt or seen (and I’ve seen a lot).
Effort.
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.
Happy Inauguration!
I don't know about you, but I am gushing with excitement - an anchored excitement, if that exists. I know that our president has a lot of work in front of him, but by golly, he can do it. It's interesting to hear all of the people interviewed by NPR talking about their hopes and dreams and newfound sense of pride in being an American.