Int. Coffee Database
TX-Coffee Flickr Group
Barista Hubris: Brewing in Arrogance
I am pleased to introduce Graham Sample, a new contributor to Texas Coffee People. Graham is a barista at Palace Coffee Company in Canyon, TX, and is working to bring quality coffee to northern West Texas in an approachable manner. In addition to coffee, he apparently loves to write.
Graham has submitted the following article :
by Brad Singley via Seattle Times
“Hi, my name is Graham and it has been 3 years since I started working in the coffee world.”
(Does that remind you of a certain meeting (hopefully not from personal experience)?)
What’s sad is that this analogy is not too far off of the mark at times. Working in the industry I have met some of the nicest, most humble, knowledgeable barista and roasters that you could imagine. You know what else? They are approachable and seem human. However, I have also met some of the most arrogant, unapproachable humans that the world has seen since the hipster movement. My question is this, why?
Why is it that when a person thinks that he, or she, knows how to pull the “perfect” shot that they suddenly become the god of the universe whose glory is too bright to be approached? Why have baristas become so addicted to the pursuit of all things sophisticated?
There are many philosophical reasons that could attempt to explain this, but I will leave that to those who are schooled in this train of thought. Where I wish to go with this is merely, we are killing the accessibility to our industry that we love.
image by 'jgrimm' via Flickr
When the mere peasant walks into a coffee shop and feels less than simply because they don’t know what the difference between a full city or an American roast is, we aren’t doing our jobs. We were all there once. That starry eyed teenager or twenty something, with a portafilter awkwardly held in one hand and a tamper in the other. There was a point in all of our lives when it didn’t matter whether or not you tapped and then tamped, or overdosed, or surfed then whirlpooled as opposed to whirlpooling then surfing the milk. There was a point when you just wanted to learn; and if you can remember back even farther than that, there was a pointed when all you wanted to do was drink. Try to think back to then.
The next time someone comes into your shop and orders a macchiato, don’t sneer because they meant a caramel macchiato. Explain with a smile. We are slowly (maybe even quickly) becoming an industry that is less and less approachable as time goes on. We don’t want that. We should always be trying to grow our experience, our knowledge and our culture. However, this shouldn’t be done at the expense of closing people out.
More From Texas Coffee People
Texas Coffee People Recommends
- It’s time we rate the quality of the coffee (Arizona Coffee)
- The Coffee Shop, In Gilbert (Arizona Coffee)
- ACNE FREE IN THREE DAYS (stanfieldsk)
Finally A Use for Instant Coffee: Film Developer
(via - Engadget)
Caffenol turns Folgers into DIY film developer — decaf won’t do (video)
We knew instant coffee was good for something. The folks atMake just demoed a rather novel method for developing negatives from a roll of black and white film — you remember film, don’t you? Known as Caffenol, the process involves a smattering of household substances, including Vitamin C powder, instant coffee (caffeinated only), good ole H2O, and Cascade. Of course, it’s not as simple as throwing this stuff in a slosh bucket with a roll of film and mixing it up, but it’s not that complicated, either. If you’re looking for something to do with those instant crystals, and still have a non-digital camera laying around, hop on past the break for a homebrew tutorial.
More From Texas Coffee People
Texas Coffee People Recommends
- It’s time we rate the quality of the coffee (Arizona Coffee)
- Grand Opening for Cartel Coffee Lab Downtown Phoenix (Arizona Coffee)
- For New Readers: The Compendium to Arizona Coffee (Arizona Coffee)
News: “Revival Market is the toast of the town”
Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/7632653.html
Revival Market is the toast of the town
Coffee bar is an example of grocery’s push for local goods
By GREG MORAGO FOOD WRITER
June 29, 2011, 5:26PM
Michael Paulsen Houston Chronicle Barista, Fabio Pontes, makes an espresso behind the coffee bar at Revival Market in the Heights. The grocery is one of the few places in town where you can get locally roasted coffee from a handful of the city's top roasters.
“…
Revival continues to explore ways to distinguish itself as both a market and a marketplace, thanks to the efforts of co-owners Morgan Weber and Ryan Pera. Revival’s coffee program is a good example. Java fans will be happy to know that Revival is the only place in town where you can buy beans from three of Houston’s small-batch roasters: Amaya Roasting Co., Greenway Coffee Co. and Fusion Beans. Those boutique purveyors have joined the store’s coffee stock, which also includes Katz’s Coffee and Fontana Coffee Roasters.
With top-notch Houston-roasted beans available, expanded offerings at its coffee bar and serious bean-head baristas working behind the counter, Revival is the city’s new coffee mecca.
“A lot of people who know coffee already know about it, so they come,” said barista Fabio Pontes.
But those who aren’t in the know might be surprised to learn that the coffee bar occasionally has local coffee masters pouring as guest baristas. Recently Max Gonzalez of Catalina Coffee (which features Amaya beans) rocked Revival’s coffee bar. Coffee sales doubled that day.
Revival’s coffee bar also is unique in that it is serving an espresso tasting “flight” that includes strong plain espresso, an Americano (espresso with water) and cappuccino (espresso with milk). The bar also cold steeps its coffee for iced coffee, as opposed to brewed coffee that is iced. The difference in flavors is astonishing.
The coffee program is, like its food offerings, Revival’s way of supporting the best of local purveyors and food artisans. The store already has become the place where the best locally sourced products can be found…”
More From Texas Coffee People
Texas Coffee People Recommends
- It’s time we rate the quality of the coffee (Arizona Coffee)
- Out of the Darkness and Into the Light: Appreciating Coffee for What it is (Arizona Coffee)
- The enemy of fresh roasted coffee is oxygen (Arizona Coffee)
TX-Coffee Sponsors
-
Get Social
Advertisement
TX-Coffee Rulez
