Chemically Imbalanced (espresso-jogged screeds)

cfest vii: nagging remainders

it’s not ignorant … it’s journalistic! asking questions, that is.

* where were those reputedly gonzo alterra kids? you know, the ones who “make everything more fun” and bring that effusive dedication to latte art? this blog was among the very first to arrive at saturday’s que-and-brew (as a public service to readers), and among the last to leave with its brains intact after the latte art pour-down — a five-hour span and nary a sign of teisl, colin, tasha.

* is there any working barista of repute on the eastern starboard not being snarfed up by counter culture coffee? as has been noted, it’s temptingly fun to envision juggernaut-ish plots involving intelligentsia, unsaturated urban hubs and whoever happens to be out of a job at the moment. in these parts, it’s ccc hiring the likes of chris owens, formerly of gimme!, phil proteau, formerly of helios coffee, and now lem butler, formerly of unc’s daily grind espresso, who started yesterday.

at the very least, such a staff helped make the ccc booth on the trade show floor the place to be. is expansion like this what it takes to move the needle on quality coffee? (it occurs to this blog that it weren’t no indie outpost that dropped $20,000 on its latte art champion, shelled out $130 a pound on the world’s most deified green coffee or is opening dedicated espresso training centers up and down the coast.) is this the model? the market way to raise the profile and pay for a barista and his coffee? what will be the effect on barista competitions? and most urgently … when can we turn on ‘em as borg-like world dominators?

* you’re sick of yakking about the latte art purse, yes. that could be because you’ve heard so much about it already. but ask a candidate for office what’s so bad about that phenomenon. what does it take to generate this kind of publicity? and do we snobs really know how to make something special? to get it on people’s radar? to raise its profile in a hurry? just askin’!

* what IS hoffmann doing in the u.s.? and in what way is it advantageous to come a month after the national convention? (UPDATE: make that hoffmann and his u.k. near-island cohort stephen morrissey).

thus ends our fitful stint channeling jay cigaragay with loaded, rhetorical and disturbingly verbose questions on the State of Things.

UPDATE: the blogwife makes an excellent point — you can’t really turn on counter culture. they’re so doggone nice, so southern. it’s like having your coffee with a sedative …