Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/131835
11111111111111111111 A LOOK AT WHAT THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN READING—AND WRITING by Dan Leif CONTINUING EDUCATION, IN YOUR CUSTOMER'S POCKET I n the independent café community, customer education often ends when the conversation does. A barista might explain to a waiting patron across the counter the factors that go into a well-made brew or briefly tell the story of a particular farm—but then the transaction ends and the customer walks away. It's unlikely that the everyday consumer will continue the process and delve into an industry tome like Mark Pendergrast's "Uncommon Grounds" or chat up coffee pros on message boards online. Recently, however, a handful of simple but elegant coffee chapbooks (for lack of a better term) have entered the picture, and, intentional or not, these slices of industry info may be just what quality shops need to help push their curious regulars to the next level of Arabica knowledge. Take, for instance, "A-Z COFFEE," a slim paper-bound publication from Norway-based illustrator Lars Huse that started making its way into the specialty community last summer. The text breezily covers 26 coffee concepts and connoisseurs (one for each letter of the alphabet), bringing ideas like water temperature and Yirgacheffe flavor notes into a form that customers can easily appreciate and digest as they sip. The hand-drawn illustrations and well-plucked movie references help keep readers' attention. A bit more technical in nature—but even more customer-focused— is "THE CRAFT OF ESPRESSO," which feels like a cross between a zine and a product manual. It's produced by the Portland homeenthusiast store Clive Coffee, and the company brought on seasoned coffee writer Hanna Neuschwander (author of "Left Coast Roast") and illustrator Ben Blake to provide content. The 39-page creation gives consumers straightforward instructions on finding home machines and grinders that can yield quality espresso, and then offers up the info they need to make those shots a reality. Neuschwander's prose is stripped-down and informative, but she also slides in deeper meaning to the espresso process (it's a gateway to pleasure and playfulness, she asserts), without getting too pretentious. Perhaps the precursor to "A-Z Coffee" and "The Craft of Espresso" was "33 CUPS OF COFFEE," a pocket-sized publication that made its debut in 2010 and continues to be sold by cafés and roasters the world over. It gives taste-conscious folks a format to rate and note the attributes of each premium cup they consume. Like its more recent coffee chapbook brethren, the publication feels at home in the DIY environments fostered by many independent shops. These are nice-looking objects that fit well on a café counter and help customers continue to engage with coffee, even after the barista turns to whoever is next in line. Fresh Cup Magazine • freshcup.com 27