Fresh Cup

MAY 2014

Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.

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freshcup.com | May 2014 57 the entrepreneurial bug already nib- bling Melody hard, this scene inspired the long-time barista to move to Hawaii (where she'd flown on a one- way ticket a few years before) and start her first shop in 2004—on a budget of only eight grand. With a huge amount of hard work, it suc- ceeded, and Melody sold the business two years later to fund her next Asian trip, this one a yearlong wander. Melody's not a contentious per- son, but she doesn't hesitate to give industry expectations a star-tattooed middle finger. "The pressure is huge— it makes you want to collapse and fall over. It's like a fashion show out there—gear, bling, money—but all people really want is a great product, made with care." She started her sec- ond coffee business, Coffee Slingers, in Oklahoma City, where she came for a month visit en route from Asia to Hawaii and eventually stayed. Opening in that city, where there was almost no specialty coffee culture, was a gamble based on several years working there as a barista, observing its culture, and building faith in her adopted city. While it was tough going, the company just celebrated its sixth anniversary with a strong—and growing—follow- ing. The rise of several other quality- centric cafés and roasters is proof of the power of her vision. Where once she would work as a barista to save for her long trans- continental rambles, now Melody travels to origin on behalf of Coffee Slingers, building relationships with coffee producers and involving her customers through social media and straight-up storytelling. She sees her role as shifting into mentorship of her staff, leaving the day-to-day café operations to others, and stewarding her coffee passion and knowledge to pass along to everyone in her sphere of influence. y now, Joe Marroco's russet mustache and gentle, confident demeanor have made him an industry icon as he travels the country and the world as sale associate and director of education for Café Imports. But he didn't always feel so confident about life. "I was working in churches, very much theologically minded, but eventually I got really jaded in the US church establishments," he says. "I went back to school to study philoso- phy to gain a different perspective on life. Finally, I decided I needed to get serious about my life—and whatever I did, it had to make money." Joe had been working part-time in a café in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and when the owners of Kaldi's Coffee Saint Louis', who knew about his constant study of coffee excellence, offered him a job as a roaster, he took it. The team at Kaldi's excels in equip- ping employees with skills, knowledge, and opportunities to pursue their cof- fee passions, which made Joe's hungry mind a good fit for the growing com- pany. Hired as a roaster and initially struggling with the clash between the romantic image of "artisan roaster" and the common reality of "replicator- of-profiles," Joe came to find fulfill- ment in the position. He also explored barista work and competitions, becom- ing South Central Barista Champion in 2011. "The devotion to doing things extremely well was already built into me," he says, "and it was a natural C H A D M O R T O N B "The pressure is huge . . . but all people really want is a great product, made with care." —Melody Harwell, Coffee Slingers May14_magazine.indd 57 4/18/14 10:45 AM

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