This past weekend I drove to Intelligentsia in Chicago for the Barista Jam, marking the second major coffee adventure I have taken. The first being my move to Alliance World Coffees in Muncie, Indiana from my home in Dallas, Texas. It was nice to finally visit the famous Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea Company. Sadly, I only had time to be involved in the Jam, which was held at their roasting location and never got to see the café.

I do not care much for the 3 hour drive to Chicago from Muncie or the detour along the way that made my 3 hour trip turn into a 4 hour trip. I was able to enjoy the same detour on the way back to Muncie. Oddly enough, I actually enjoyed driving through the Chicago traffic; it was much like Dallas traffic except on crack. I find it strange the things that comfort me…

The two day Jam was packed full of workshops and lectures, beginning with a short keynote speech from Doug Zell who stressed his desire for the specialty coffee industry to begin moving away from the drip brew method and moving toward French press and/or Kemex methods. He also stressed the importance of charging different prices for brewed coffee based off of how much you paid for the coffee crop. I found it a bit ironic that after Doug spoke out against the drip brew method, later that day they brought in Metropolis coffees to give a lecture on how to correctly use the drip brew method....

The most notable lecture was the Café Imports lecture on green coffee, detailing many of the current coffee transportation issues and the effects of climate change during transportation. The lecture left me feeling a little helpless and as though we don’t really have that much control over what happens to our green beans before they arrive in our roasting facilities. I’m looking forward to seeing a solution.

I was able to talk with Kurtis, a roaster for Intelligentsia regarding some of the health concerns we have had at Alliance World Coffees here in Muncie. He was gracious enough to show me the steps they take to insure a healthy roasting environment. Hopefully we will be able to implement some of their health standards soon.

The last day included a milk workshop and a latte art competition to conclude the weekend. The competition was pretty laid back, but I think it’s good that I competed to just get my feet wet. I actually did a lot better that I was expecting and actually got an average rating on the makeshift “applaus-o-meter” oh, did I forget to mention that there weren’t any official judges so everything was judged by the intensity of the barista clap.

We also got a lot of free stuff from the wonderful sponsors who helped make the event possible. I want to thank the wonderful staff at Intelligentsia for organizing and volunteering their time to hang out with us all weekend.

If yall were at the Jam, I would love to hear your thoughts.