What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista, manager, coffee shop owner

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

Brighton, England

How many years have you been in the industry?

Restaurants and Catering = 15 years; Coffee specifically = 2 years

If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?

maybe

Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.

Our shop is called 'Ground.' We opened in August, 2009, with a focus on finely crafted espresso drinks, industrial design, quality food, and attentive, engaging service. We use three grinders, one for our workhorse house blend, called Brightnote, from Union Hand-Roasted (Brazil and Guatemala), one for decaffeinated (awesome Somalia), and one for our guest single-origin coffee, which we change every week and advertise on the counter, charging an extra 10p to cover the cost of dialing it in. As we are perfectionists, both Matthew (my business partner) and I have focused on producing the finest espresso our La Marzocco FB-80 can produce, which has really paid off in terms of establishing a base of committed regulars. Our espresso looks beautiful and our milk is pretty damn silky. The coffeehouse carries a unique selection of magazines (Wire, Little White Lies, Shook, Adbusters, Art Review, etc.) and books (e.g.The History of Salt, Black Gold, The Devil's Cup, Theory in Anthropology), which is often commented on by our customers. Ethics-wise, we've signed up to 'Good Energy' for our electricity, who provide us with carbon neutral energy and whose offices are solar and wind powered. Our lights are all energy efficient, low wattage bulbs, too. Our ISP is 'Green Isp,' who also adhere to strict environmental standards, and as soon as our Website goes up we'll be using a suitably green Web host, as well. We're making an effort to use as many local resources as possible before calling on the supermarket chains, so we have our milk delivered by a dairy called Northiam, in Kent (about one hour away) and we use a local produce stand called Proto who provide us with the excellent rocket (arugula for you folks who are stateside), tomatoes and fresh mint (for our fresh mint tea). Aesthetically, we had the walls freshly plastered before we opened and we left them unfinished because we think it looks pretty cool. The artwork hangs from steel conduit poles that we have secured to the walls. We have a ceiling made from cork that has black mottled bits throughout, and we managed to suspend it by making six huge panels that we hung with marine hooks and carabiners. The benefits of the cork ceiling are threefold (at least): it insulates in both summer and winter, helping the shop maintain a constant temperature; it provides acoustic dampening; it looks hot and people like to look at it. Oh, and it's naturally fireproof, too. The floor is hardwood, kinda crappy because it has been reworked so many times, but it has a charm about it. We play awesome music in the shop and people love it.
The shop has been a huge success, which we attribute to our drive for quality and value.

What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?

I want to get back to Portland, Oregon, where I last lived before moving to England, because I know the coffee scene has advanced to much since I was last there (2002). I'd also like to go to Copenhagen and check out the coffee scene there, especially The Coffee Collective, Cafe Europa, and The Royal Cafe.

About Me:

I'm American, married to a Brit, son is Theo
(7 yrs). That's all I'll say for now because this feels a bit too much like a personal ad.

About My Company:

I've said it already, above. Website coming soon but not ready yet. I've submitted it nonetheless for future reference.

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

The people and the potential for community building.

Website:

http://coffee-at-ground.co.uk