I’m too close to the trade ’cause I’m in the trade. By that fact alone, I’m biased. For what it’s worth, I’ve always appreciated the critical comment on our industry from this blog exactly because it’s a third-party viewpoint. Our own coffee media fails to deliver on critical coverage so I’m looking for perspective.

And true, I’m always hesitant to write about the trade on my blog because the trade isn’t my life. Coffee allows me to have a life but, unlike many of my colleagues, it isn’t “my life.” The blog is my focus on what I find fascinating and important in the world – and coffee industry bullshit just isn’t that important when you get right down to it.

no, seriously. part of being an outsider is NOT tuning into every insider drama. indeed, i intend to ignore more of them. they’re irrelevant to the real world, and recent debates show that my attempt at reasoned viewpoint doesn’t budge the intelligentsia anyway. pun not intended.

after being literally without internet for weeks, on a long and awesome sabbatical, i came back to an e-mail tip that the usual suspects were in the middle of it again. very deliberately, i walked the other way. why? because rabble-rousing from the inside still loses the connection to real people and real life.

in some hack, two-bit way, this blog has always been about excellent brew in the real world. this includes satire and mockery of insiders — but sometimes it means ignoring them and carrying on with the good life.

eh?

Or has the outsider become the insider and is now willing to give all the bullshit a pass so as not to anger the self-appointed coffee deities?