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Better Late Than…
So welcome, everybody, to Texas Coffee People. I know I’m a little late coming to the dance, but sometimes the cup has cooled a little before you start to taste the sweetness in full. (A little coffee humor you’ll forgive, I’m sure.)
Anyways, as Jason has so eloquently laid out in his first few posts, we aim to be a clearinghouse of sorts for information and networking (read: friendships) around this amazing, mysterious and beautiful thing we know as coffee. Obviously, anyone who genuinely loves coffee is welcome to visit, post comments, ask questions, get answers to coffee questions, and generally find a safe haven to geek out with other Texans (and honorary Texans) in the pursuit of the perfect cup.
And yes, I do believe there is such a thing as the perfect cup…though, no, I’m not sure I’ve quite achieved it just yet. But hey, I’m only 34.
Which I guess brings me to an introduction of myself as a founding and contributing member of this blog. My name is Aaron Blanco and I am the founder and owner of a micro mini coffee roasterie known as The Brown Coffee Company here in (what was just a few days ago refered to as) the frigid icelands of San Antonio. If you’ve ever been to San Antonio you know that “ice” and “San Antonio” are not two generally co-associated trains of thought–except insomuch as that for about nine months out of the year many here are wishing they could be sitting on a nice, cold block of ice in the South Texas heat. Nevertheless, for a couple days we were iced to a standstill: schools, businesses, even whole sections of federal interstate highways running through and around the city were crippled by what will no doubt come to be known as the “Ice Storm of ‘07.” Strange goings on, indeed.
And in that vein some may be tempted to assume that the trains of thought on which “Texas” and “great coffee” run may never run parallel, let alone on the same track. Yet here we are. And here you are. Which makes at least two of us pulling and rooting for it, working toward it, jonesin’ to wipe the subtle smirks we encounter on the faces of those we meet at the fests and conventions and competitions when we say, “I’m from Texas.”
So in a sense me arriving a little late to the Texas Coffee People party is an apt metaphor for us as a collective whole in the Lone Star State. We figured maybe the rest of the country needed a little headstart before we decided to come along and kick a little…. Heck, we were 28th into the Union and it sure didn’t take us long to get to Numero Uno. So we’ve got a bit of history on our side.
Anyways, welcome. There are many things that make coffee and espresso unique and beautiful. The same goes for Texas and its people. Here’s to a long and fruitful train running down the track together, on the never ending discovery of new ideas and vast horizons…in search of the perfect cup.
The TX Coffee Revolution Has Begun
Welcome to Texas Coffee People. The purpose of this site is to help promote a community of serious coffee people in a state which most would consider to be a coffee wasteland.
Well, I’m about sick of having that reputation in the backs of the minds of anyone when I tell them I’m from Texas, and I am positive that I’m not alone.
We’ve had a very successful Barista Jam with more attendees than I had ever hoped to see, all lovers of coffee… but not JUST coffee; Coffee as we know it. In the incarnation of the Third Wave of progress in the evolution of the seed.
With a passionate roaster in San Antonio, another in Houston, at least one shop worth noting, and several individuals tied to, and outside of those institutions, Texas is far from a desert. I believe that there are many coffee lovers who have simply not been introduced to the online community, and thus, have missed out on so much that a particular side of the industry has to offer.
I am tired of trying an independent shop and being dissappointed that I didn’t just settle for Big Green instead. I am tired of talking to shop-owners and baristas who just don’t seem to care that there is something more, something better that they’re just not getting, and that their customers are missing. I am tired of hearing that “customers can’t tell the difference”.
The best cure is to form a community in which a culture of quality can happily thrive. If we can create a national community, it should be cake to help bring together those of us present in a single state.
This is not a personal blog of just one or two people. This is a blog to represent and bring together the entire specialty coffee community in the state of Texas.
If you would like to be a contributor, don’t hesitate to say so. We’d love to talk to you about getting you on board.
Join us.
The Texas Coffee Revolution has begun.
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