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/59523
CAFÉ CROSSROADS continued from page 24 beans. They have a cup and then they'll grab a bag. I'm constantly tweaking and trying to brew better, but the fun part is that the experimenting never ends. Do you have any pour-over tips others could learn from? I've found it helps to not pre-infuse too much on Africans and coffees that have spectacular fruit notes. Doing so gives it more of a cooked fruit taste. But for certain Indos and Latin American coffees, I think they get way more chocolate-y and smooth. Pre-infusion is like the little smear tool in Photoshop: It kind of evens all the edges out, but it can also kill the details. Is it ever hard making and selling coffee in a city where there seem to be as many cafés as light posts? I think it's nice. There are so many different types of places and different roast profiles. I like going out and having a coffee that blows my mind and saying, "How'd they do that?" Other times I go out and have a coffee and am just like, "Meh." I used to play music here. A lot of other bands were doing really well, we were doing really well, but what was nice was that we didn't all sound the same. It's like that with coffee, and I think that's really healthy. In a town full of "coffee celebrities," you fly under the radar a bit. Why do you think that is? I guess I try to stay in here and just make good coffee. I think the coffee industry has a lot of gimmicks, or smoke and mirrors, and people can easily get their attention turned away from what's good and what's not by the landscape. I keep my eyes open and don't want to become outdated, but I want to focus on making coffee my wife and I like to drink. I'd rather do that than do something just because it's a weird sales thing. Also, I'm kind of a Luddite. I'm not online much. I'll maybe get on Facebook once every six months. That's where I might be different. I'm truly just a coffee fanatic. Your two cafés manage to feel hip yet really relaxed at the same time. Is that something you set out to do? I'm not a fancy guy, but I like nice things. I want there to be cool art and things around that are classically timeless and beautiful. But life is also full of scars and bruises. I want kids to be able to come in and run around. I want people socializing and having a good time. People are sharing part of their day with me, and that's a real privilege. I want them to come in and be comfortable. 26 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com