My first coffee shop job was at Kidd Coffee, a small franchise in the middle of nowhere Ohio. We were forty-five minutes away from the nearest city and thirty minutes away from any other coffee shop. We offered four coffees year-round: mild coffee, bold coffee, decaf, and “Highlander Grogg,” a vanilla and hazelnut flavored coffee. We brewed them in big batches on our row of Bunn auto-brewers and let them sit for four hours, or until a customer complained that their coffee was cold, whichever came last. I had no idea where coffee came from or what it even was. Once, a customer asked me if we had any Colombian coffee. I stared back at him blankly and asked, “What is that, a flavor?”

This scene plays in my head whenever I see an auto-brewer, which has become the symbol of bad coffee since the emergence of the third wave coffee movement. Experiences like mine were the general standard for brewed coffee until forward-thinking professionals led us all into the golden era of by-the-cup brewing, an era that may be on the verge of another reformation – back to auto-brewers.

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I just happened upon a video from Dark Cloud Espresso in Chicago. The cafe looks great and they’re pulling shots by weight, which is great. Check it out here:

Also, Coffee Supreme in Melbourne Australia just finished a custom paint job on their Slayer – SWEET! Gloss Cherry red paint, white GT striping and a killer gold logo. Nice work Justin! Check out all the pics by clicking on the pic

The coffee scenes in Portland and Seattle differ more than you might think, especially considering that the two cities are less than three hours apart by train or car, and share similar demographics, climates, &  cultural attitudes.  Sam Lewontin touches on what the Seattle coffee scene could learn from Portland and what it might take to catch up.

The opening of Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon has garnered a huge amount of buzz in the Northwest coffee community, and it’s easy to understand why: It’s clear that a great deal of money and attention to detail were lavished on building out the space. It’s a polarizing design, certainly (sparse seating, cool colors, cavernous ceilings, very industrial chic), but there’s no doubt that it’s a work of care and precision. Love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny that it’s audacious and interesting.

Thing is, it’s not particularly out of the ordinary in Portland. Beautiful, well thought-out spaces have been opening left and right in the past two years: Ristretto Roasters’ café on Williams, Barista in the Pearl district, Coffeehouse Five and the Red E in North Portland—to name just a few. There’s almost no part of Portland that’s without an ambitious, forward-thinking café. It’s little wonder that the coffee scene there is widely considered to have eclipsed the scene in Seattle, long considered the birthplace of modern specialty coffee.

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Did you know that the SCAA sponsors a poetry contest each year? It’s true. I only learned this fact on the last day of SCAA Atlanta, when I happened to overhear an announcement over the din, “Best Poem of 2009 to be awarded in 15 minutes.” [Note: Turns out the winner is only announced at SCAA, but the contest is sponsored by Roast Magazine.]

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Ever notice how projects that you’ve been working on for a long time can seem to reach their conclusion in a burst?  All the elements that go into realizing that vision of the perfect espresso machine come together at last, and you are there . . .

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Are you from the Pacific Northwest or do you live here (I mean in the vicinity stretching from Seattle to Portland and surrounding areas. . .  this region is sometimes referred to as Cascadia by sociologists, marketers, and even liberal separatists)?  If your answer is yes,  then this is not for you. This is for everyone else, the people that live in the rest of the world.

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I have attached a picture of the BOSCO espresso machine now in place at the Caffe Vita in Fremont.  

This machine is a classic lever machine.  The use of a spring instead of a pump to provide brew pressure is the main difference between lever machines and conventional, traditional-style espresso machines.  The BOSCO lever has no pump and motor–so brewing is quiet.  

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Are you opening a cafe or planning to in the near future?  if you are, then I may have the perfect location for you:  right next door to Starbucks! 

Pictured here is a location that is actually available right now.  It offers the opportunity to go head-to-head with the industry’s Goliath–and your new store is smack in the heart of Seattle.  The Dragon’s lair, if you will!

At first this may seem utterly counter-intuitive.  Who in their right mind would open a competing cafe next to the biggest, most successful specialty coffee retailer in the world? A company identified as one of the most powerful brands on the planet by Brandz.  

The answer of course is You!  And especially if you plan to open a Third Wave Cafe–with a focus on quality products and training, and a hands-on approach to preparing coffee and serving customers.

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The announcement at Starbucks’ annual shareholders meeting that the company is taking over the Ballard-based Coffee Equipment Company, popularly known as Clover, is a big deal for our our industry.  From Starbucks perspective it is a brilliant, but logical move.  But does it undermine the efforts of the independent coffee roaster/retailer?   

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For me the question of affordable luxury leads down a winding, scrambling, path of discussion around the word “luxury” itself. Like any conversation about coffee this discussion is also hopelessly mired in considerations of culture and society.  The United Nations defines the “forced isolation” of human beings as a form of torture, in certain cases.  Extended periods of isolation can lead to neurosis, resulting in severe mental illness or even death.  In contrast, traditional coffee rituals are social acts.  They bring people from a community or family together in often elaborate, though usually informal, ceremonies in which the beverage is prepared and shared according to prescribed methods, sometimes handed down through generations. This does not make coffee rituals an antidote to anything.  But it does make them a key part of healthy human behavior. In this context, the word luxury doesn’t seem to fit. The type of social ritual surrounding the preparation and enjoyment of coffee — and I would argue even when coffee is prepared and served in a commercial setting – is not really optional human behavior.  It is a fundamental requirement for living well. 

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