Episodes
Friday Oct 20, 2017
No. 91
Friday Oct 20, 2017
Friday Oct 20, 2017
We’re back this week with No. 91 and, goodness, we have quite a bit packed into this episode: we’ve got guests aplenty! We kick off with an update from the field with Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, where they’re working hard to squeeze in as much planting and preparation as possible before the harvest starts whilst also managing the impact of the recent spate of hurricanes. Ale himself is joined by a guest – Chris Lee of Café Demitasse in LA – who is spending a month on Finca Argentia to get a feel of farm life.
After a quick Argentina update, we move onto the core of this week’s podcast: Jenn is joined by Ales Pospisil, co-founder of European Coffee Trip, to talk about their journey from home-coffee-geekdom to movers and shakers of specialty coffee media. As with previous “talking about coffee” guests with a unique view of the industry, there’s lots to ponder: is there a correlation between the growth of specialty in new locations and the enthusiasm for geekery? How do you maintain or renew your own enthusiasm and passion for your work?
We also look to the future with their newest (and biggest) project: The Aeropress Movie, a feature-length documentary about specialty’s strangest (and most engaging) brewing device, currently seeking funding via kickstarter.
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Diana Johnson (Taylor St. Baristas)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Diana Johnson of Taylor St. Baristas, who placed sixth in this year’s comp. Together with Diana, the panel chats through her choice of variety, the impact of innovation and research, and her 2017 endeavour to compete in every SCA competition. This sparks a much longer conversation about career progression, competition, and the institutionalisation of barista education: what does it mean to be a career barista?
Want to see a video of Diana's performance? You can find it here, courtesey of SCA UK!
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Callum Parsons (Extract)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Callum Parsons of Extract, who placed fifth in this year’s comp. Together with Callum, the panel chats through what it means to be “sustainable” and “seasonal”, which sparks a much longer conversation about the growth of our industry, profitability, and business.
Want to see a video of Callum's performance? You can find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Jana Slamova (Baxter Storey)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by three-time UKBC finalist Jana Slamova of Baxter Storey, who placed fourth in this year’s comp. Together with Jana, the panel return to the discussion of subjectivity vs. objectivity and the impact this idea had on this year’s presentation. This sparks a much longer conversation about how we quantify creativity, what the competition currently rewards, and the impact leaps in technology could have on our current approach to coffee scoring. Is creativity always useful?
Want to see Jana's performance? You can find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Paul Ross (Origin)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Paul Ross of Origin, who placed third in this year’s comp. Together with Paul, the panel chats through Paul’s experiences as 2017 UK CIGS champion and the structure of his routine, which sparks a much longer conversation about traditional and non-traditional espresso cultures, expectations, and where the difficulty really lies when it comes to breaking through cultural barriers with coffee: is it harder to alter ingrained expectations or to create entirely new ones?
Want to see Paul's performance? You can find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Will Pitts (Sans Pere)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Will Pits of Sans Pere, who placed second in this year’s comp. Together with Will, the panel looks at what it means to offer a fun experience to the consumer, which sparks a much longer conversation about the role of service in specialty, the importance of being able to read your customers, and the language we use to communicate both internally and externally. Is the same customer always the same customer?
Want to see Will's performance? You can find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Espressofest Bristol: Dale Harris (Hasbean Coffee)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Dale Harris of Hasbean Coffee, who placed first and will go on to represent the UK at the WBC in Seoul next month. Together with Dale, the panel discusses everything from soil conditions and screen sizes to the value of competition, which sparks a much longer conversation about innovation, accessibility, objectivity vs. subjectivity, and the impact competition participation and success can have on a competitor and their business. Is the competition as strong as it once was?
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Want to see Dale's performance? You can find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
Friday Oct 06, 2017
No. 90
Friday Oct 06, 2017
Friday Oct 06, 2017
This week, we’re joined for an extra special edition of our regularly scheduled podcast by none-other-than Thompson Owen of Oakland’s Sweet Maria’s and The Coffee Shrub. A long-time hero and primary coffee inspiration of our Stephen, Thompson first started working at a coffee counter in 1985 before going on open what is now the online hub of the home roasting community.
Steve and Thompson cover lots over the hour of No. 90: the start of Sweet Marias (and subsequently of Hasbean), Bay Area coffee, origin photography and travel, and some plain ol’ reminiscing.