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:
Taste of the Nation
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.
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.
Cementify
The snow is pouring down outside our offices in Chicago right now. Heaps of the stuff. It is very pretty, despite the knowledge that it will make getting home later today a slow and grip-less proposition. And speaking of grip-less propositions, I want to let you know that I've managed to invent a new word this week: cementify.
My Top 5 for 2009
I'm in Bogota, Colombia enjoying some time with friends and seeking to loosen up and disengage whatever stress barnacles managed to build up over 2008.
A Lifelong and Joyful Pursuit
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.
Seasonality as it Relates to Coffee
I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and may I be one of the first to wish you happy holidays and/or season's greetings. That second one seems to fit nicely, as this week's Nod is going to discuss seasonality and how it relates to coffee.