Buffalo Brewing is a blog about the coffee and coffee-house scene in Western New York. I'm based out ofBuffalo. I want to encourage the growth of specialty coffee and goodthird places in my city and beyond, by encouraging education and asense of community on both sides of the counter. I also want a placeto put my thoughts/rants/opinions/questions about coffee and cafésdown where they can, in theory, be publicly ridiculed.
Full disclaimer! I'm Jake Casella. From the sticks in PA, I moved to Buffalo in 2006. I work for SpotCoffee, a small chain and roaster based out of Buffalo. I've beenworking for Spot for 4 years, as a barista, store manager, and headof barista training/coffee quality. Given how many hours I'm atwork, it's inevitable that this blog will be a little Spot-centric attimes. And I'm not above making a shameless self-promotional plugonce in a while.
That said, this blog should not be considered to represent the opinions etc. of Spot Coffee, inc. Justme! Nor is its purpose only to advertise for Spot, though do I hopeyou get a good impression of my shop. I want to promote quality,education, and community in the region as a whole, not just asconnected to the cafés I work at. I think it's worthwhile for itsown sake; I also think that cafés should shoot for “good”competition.
It's my theory, not backed up by peer-reviewed statistics or anything, that coffee shops and theircommunities are a non-zero-sum game. The more educated coffeedrinkers we have, who like quality and great atmosphere, the betterall quality cafés in the city will do.
More disclaimer! I don't claim to be an expert on all things coffee, though I am working on it. Don'ttake my word as gospel, and please jump in to comment on anything Iam totally wrong about—I'll appreciate the feedback. LikeSocrates, I try to maintain a good balance of being a didactic jerkand loudly professing my own ignorance.
The format! I will be putting up my own rants and thoughts about coffee as they come to me. I will alsostart visiting various coffee-related businesses and writing upsomething little about them, hopefully interviewing a barista orowner or something at each. I'd like to tie this in to a resourcespage and a Facebook group eventually.
The rules!
Stay positive! I am never going to post a negative review, as my goal is to help a community form,and I want the attitude to be open. Constructive criticism isgreat, but if my first interaction with someone focuses on somethingI think they're doing wrong, I can't imagine they'll want to getinvolved. I will not be bad-mouthing chains like Starbucks, TimHortons, etc.--they are a part of the coffee scene here, and theirimpact on coffee drinkers cannot be denied. If I think there issomething negative worth talking about so that, as a community, wecan think about it and find some solutions, I will do so in a mannergeared to be anonymous, focusing on the problem rather than thelocation where I noticed it.
Keep it friendly! I'm not out to post your trade secrets on the internet. I want to make sure thatanyone I talk to, any shop I feature, feels completely comfortableabout our conversation making its way onto the web.
Encourage quality! By highlighting people who are doing things right, and by linking totrends and resources, and by talking about things I love in coffee.
Encourage education! Particularly for the coffee drinker who is just starting to explore this crazyworld.
Encourage community! On both sides of the counter. One of my favorite things is going to othercafés and talking to the baristas, seeing regulars from my own caféand getting a second to talk to them, not as their barista, but as afellow café-lover. I come from the sticks, I mean really, andsince moving to the city I have completely fallen in love with goodpublic spaces. Coffee shops are one of my favorite types of “TheThird Place.” I think I have a high standard of living, notbecause of how much money I make, but because of the presence andquality of the neighborhood I live in. That's what I want tocelebrate and promote.
In addition to posting this blog at http://buffalobrewing.blogspot.com,I'll also be posting it on Barista Exchange, where I hope I can getsome feedback from the larger coffee community. That's it, wish meluck!
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