What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista, manager, barista trainer, coffee enthusiast, industry professional, consultant, entrepreneur

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

New York, NY; United States

How many years have you been in the industry?

Eight

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

maybe

What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?

One should never say never, but I am a New Yorker through-and-through, and--barring the most extraordinary turn-of-events--anticipate anchoring myself in the City for life. But travel--where wouldn't I like to explore? As it relates to specialty coffee, I would love to travel to origin, along with exploring great coffee cultures from Australia/New Zealand to London, Istanbul to Scandinavia--with a side-helping of Barcelona at any available opportunity.

About Me:

I am a specialty coffee enthusiast who seeks to advance coffee quality and coffee culture by leveraging artisan-caliber craftsmanship, sales/marketing savvy, operations-management experience and business acumen on behalf of my passion for this traditionally pedestrian, yet utterly transcendent, libation.

Due to revolutionary advances in sourcing practices (Direct Trade, relationship coffee, etc.) that incentivize quality rather than volume production, we now have access to coffees of unprecedented quality and character that are expanding and reshaping our understanding of this essential beverage. Coffee is no longer strictly a commodity, but a foodstuff of intrinsic value worthy of epicurean zest and discernment--yes, I'll say it, much like wine, cheese, and anything else toward which we take an artisanal behavioral approach. Despite phenomenal efforts to make artisan coffee more visible and accessible, and to properly highlight the importance of artisan coffee professionals from crop-to-cup, I feel it is time to more fully galvanize the artisan coffee community on behalf of a sweeping effort to evolve coffee culture in America.

I yearn to participate (and, hopefully, take a leading role) in this epicurean movement to reshape people's cultural and consumer attitudes towards coffee. There are a vast many people who will never view coffee as anything other than a caffeine-delivery vehicle--and that's fine. But I firmly believe there exists a considerable segment of society that is open to exploration, if only they understood and experienced what coffee can be. Working to evolve our coffee culture is the ultimate, and perhaps only, way to give artisan coffee its proper due--and, equally important, ensure the sustainability of the cost-intensive practices that make artisan coffee possible.

Trust me, I harbor no delusions of grandeur: creating a new coffee-cultural paradigm will require many years of extraordinary effort (and patience). However, I wouldn't personally and professionally commit myself to this cause if I didn't believe it were possible. I relish the opportunity to connect with any baristas/coffee professionals/enthusiasts who view their respective engagement with coffee through a similar prism, or who wish to better understand what I think coffee can become. As but a fledgling specialty-coffee professional, I know my words lack formal credibility for now, but I have to start somewhere and am eagerly seeking a functional outlet to explore/engage the ideas behind my overall vision for the artisan coffee category.

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

The "Direct Trade" model--without question. Without this revolutionary sourcing practice, truly superlative coffee would be impossible. Only by bypassing the commodities exchanges did it become possible to sustainably incentivize quality as a financially-viable alternative to volume-oriented production. The most exquisite execution and care at all other links in the supply chain are virtually worthless without quality coffee. Without quality, we would never have appreciated coffee's epicurean potential, and legitimate visions of "artisanalizing" coffee as we've done with wine would, frankly, be ridiculous..

Website:

http://none