90+ Profiles: Getting to Know Sarah Allen
Who are you and what do you do in coffee? My name is Sarah Allen and I’m the editor and co-founder of Barista Magazine. How and when did you get started in the coffee business? After earning my master’s in journalism, and working as a music critic on staff at two major daily newspapers, I …
Portfolio | Issue No. 6 | Full Service
You Can Get What You Want: Visions Full Service Plus • Full cafe equipment set-ups with support • Customized water filtration systems • Barista and technical training in our state- of-the-art lab or offsite location • Plus, tested and approved smallwares visionsespresso.com Twitter: …
Portfolio | Issue No. 6 | Education
SCAA is Increasing Local Education Opportunities We heard you! You want more classes throughout the year, in more locations near you—and we want to provide that. Our members have told us that access to SCAA education programs at a regional level will help reduce some of the travel-based costs associated with the current options, and …
Portfolio | Issue No. 6 | Reports
SCAA Member Driven Research: Coffee Staling Report Maintaining the freshness of coffee is critical to preserving taste, especially as coffee is often sent home with customers. This fact led SCAA to acknowledge a need for sensory testing within the coffee industry as well as with customers. This work was conducted as a joint effort between …
Portfolio | Issue No. 6 | Craft
Caffe Ladro originated in 1994 with a combined cafe and bakery on top of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Our focus was to provide a quality cup of coffee and a venue for our neighbors to gather and forge local community relationships. Our growth began with our second cafe just down the hill, followed soon …
Learning About Peru: A Trip to Origin
Last month, I was fortunate enough to lead the Roasters Guild Origin Trip to Peru on behalf of the RG Executive Council. Our trip began in Lima where we were invited to participate at the ExpoCafe 2014, which gathered almost 5,000 people together, comprised of farmers, fertilizer suppliers, and processing equipment manufacturers. We had the …
SCAA Announces Addition of New Members to Board of Directors and Slate for 2014
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) announced today that Willem Boot has stepped down from the SCAA Board of Directors and thanks him for his efforts and significant contributions to the industry. Aida Batlle, a notable coffee producer from El Salvador with SCAA member company Everest S.A., will fill this open spot on the …
Questions and Answers | Being a Good Mentor for Coffee Lovers
By Sarah Leslie, Regional Manager and Trainer, Gimme! Coffee “The Specialty Coffee Experience” is a topic that I find very exciting—but also overwhelming. With each new barista I train or coffee that I taste, I am always thinking: How can I ensure that specialty coffee is attainable and approachable? How can I provide opportunities for …
Atmosphere and Other Uses of the Built Environment
By Sam Lewontin, Cafe Manager, Everyman Espresso, New York, NY During the last decade, the preparation and service elements of specialty coffee in the United States have developed at a dizzying rate. Thanks to the care and intentionality of professionals at all stages of the game, the coffee that we’re drinking and serving now is leaps …
Creating the Coffee Shop Brand Experience: a Designer’s View
By John Barnett and Anna Burles, JB | AB Design Designing a coffee shop isn’t just about getting the right look. Or serving the best coffee. It’s about creating an experience which not only shouts about the amazingness of your coffee, and how that makes people feel good, but also an experience which gives a …
Show and Tell | Why and How You Should Talk to Consumers About Roasting
By Christopher Schooley, Coffee Shrub How do you talk about roasting with your customers? This is a question I’ve asked a number of coffee roasters over the years. Some roasters talk about profiles and development of flavors, some talk about the roasting machine and technology, and some simply don’t talk about it and focus more …
Atmospherics: Delivering More than a Cup
By Emma Sage Scientifically speaking, drinking a cup of coffee is what is called a multimodal sensory experience. This means that it’s the interaction of our five senses, and all the external factors influencing them (called “multisensory interactions”), which underlie our perception of flavor (Auvray and Spence 2008). There is also research (and lots of anecdotal …