What is your position in the coffee industry?

barista, coffee enthusiast, industry professional

Where are you located? ( City and Country )

Portland, Oregon, USA

How many years have you been in the industry?

8

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.

I've been a barista at many shops, though currently, the barista thing has been sort of put on the back-burner. I'm currently working with Mr. Green Beans, a supplier of home roasters and brew systems and other things, here in Portland doing retail and web content. Currently the main content I'm working on is origin profiling by country and region. I am still an on-call barista at Backspace in Old Town/Chinatown as well.

What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?

Everywhere. Especially anywhere in Afrika.

About Me:

I play the drums and bass guitar, and I love music to death. I hope to later be able to have music more at the fore in my life, as it has been in the past, though currently that is not really an option. I'm a Senior at Portland State University majoring in International Studies with a regional focus on East Africa and minoring in Writing and Black Studies. As such, I speak Kiswahili near fluently, and after I graduate I plan to head to Dar es Salaam for and undetermined amount of time to view the coffee auction process and farming practices there and in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and perhaps Malawi. What else can I say? I commute by bicycle? Though you probably assumes as much, I am in Portland, Oregon, USA, after all. Oh yeah, I also do news writing for a PSU publication called the Rearguard. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Google+.

About My Company:

Backspace is a hodgepodge of everything awesome. It is a venue hosting excellent local and touring acts, a cafe, we offer 19 beers and six wines, we have a lan room for PC gaming, have a full vegan/vegetarian kitchen and promote being neat.
Mr. Green Beans is a retail and educational shop that caters to DIY (Do It Yourself) food culture, especially home roasting and home brewing. We offer, usually, a couple dozen green coffees at any given moment for small or bulk purchase, we also sell numerous brew systems, equipment for cheese, yogurt, soap making, things of that sort, as well as some supplies for kombucha brewing, and a few other things. We also offer classes on most of those things.

What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?

People. Easily. I love them. I appreciate the hard work they put into their craft, from growers to baristas. I love it when people enjoy what we all work so hard for, as well. Go coffee.

Website:

http://N/A