CI sometimes doesn’t know what to say to people about coffee
September 7, 2011 – 9:58 pm
a bartop is conceived.
you don’t get very far in the previous thoughtstream on how we serve our coffee without coming to that vexing question of what you should, you know, say to people about it — and what you shouldn’t.
the newly incorporated Handsome Coffee guys seem to be making a point in media interviews of saying that they serve fine coffees without the lecture — unless you ask for it. this seems an admirable attempt at business with normal people in mind. but then, the previous post is an attempt by this blog to wrestle with the idea that knowledge about your beverage increases one’s satisfaction of it. it’s the route to pleasure.
so how much do we tell people? this blog’s first-ever public brew bar this weekend will be (partly) an experiment into this question.
we were arranging a wedding espresso gig with a woman who happened to also be the organizer of the indie craft parade — a juried expo of head-turning handmade art and goods that began last year at a true grassroots level, then met immediate and extraordinary success (the lines were insane). it made sense to suggest a “craft” coffee bar that showcased manual brew methods (no espresso) and stellar coffees. an ad hoc sponsorship was born.
we dragged coffee and crema into it. then the notorious ben helfen. the sum is that we plan to brew three coffees — two from counter culture, one roasted in this blog’s laundry room — via syphon, one-hole bonmac and kone-filtered chemex. three types of filtration. three very different baristas. three radically different visual cues that this is unusually good coffee.
one of the most personal and “handmade” aspects of the bar is la armonia hermosa, the guatemalan coffee some friends in cincinnati have helped develop in a nurturing relationship that invigorates a struggling village. six years in, it’s quite good and this blog has roasted a limited run of 10 pounds of the stuff.
still, i end up wondering: is this enough? will the mode of dress and carefully managed visuals, with eye-catching glass vessels and unmissable sensory inputs, be enough to tell friday’s VIP crowd a meaningful story? or, at some point, do you have to say things with words?
there are derivative questions: what about the predictable skepticism toward a bar without cream and sugar? will we serve much of anything on a friday night with a craft beer table adjacent?
we’ll report back on the experience. tellingly, this question doesn’t get any easier in this blog’s own house, no matter how many people walk up to the home bar for the first time and ask what it is that emanates from the devices that sit there. it’s my house, for crying out loud. this blog can say what it wants. and yet, we always hesitate a bit in trying to decide how to broach the massive subject of what makes special coffee special.
in any case, the bartop has been assembled from antique doors and panes of glass. the techniques polished. the particulars debated. and so, with a breathtaking amount of aid from both shannon’s shop and ben’s spacious honda, we’ll give it a go.
I am SO excited about the brew bar, and I know that the ICP attendees will be as well! Can’t wait to see all your wonderful hard work in action!
we should make a rule, erin. free beer *if* you’ve had a cup of coffee.
heh. #kidding.
“knowledge about your beverage increases one’s satisfaction of it”
Only if one values that knowledge, no?
agreed, nick. but then, most customers have already placed *some* value on the coffee already by paying a premium price for it. and as holders of the notion that there *is* something better about this coffee, we intrinsically want people to know what it is. (even if we don’t actively preach.)
and ultimately, the stance of assuming that lots of people simply don’t value that information seems like a fool’s bargain. i explore this more in the previous post. you can lapse into a mode where you’re willing to serve coffee without any contextual value. but i worry that’s the kind of bare transactionalism that brought us bad coffee in the first place.
all that said, it’s easy to throw around notions as a blogger unencumbered by running a coffee business. i recognize this. the bar this weekend is another way to attempt some real modes of action.
obviously, long @craftparade roasting sessions left a lot of coffee smoke in lungs. wheezed it out w/ a windy blog post: http://ow.ly/6oUdD
CI sometimes doesn’t know what to say to people about coffee: a bartop is conceived. you don’t get very far in t… http://t.co/fy0PpEB
To my mind, offering coffee to “normal” people without the option of sugar is like opening a restaurant and eliminating salt completely (even in the kitchen). Sugar in coffee can be used to “pop” the flavors or drown the coffee (much as salt does in cuisine). To not offer it altogether is just contrived and pretentious. But, any cool “third wave” coffee person is all about contrite pretense, so it’s par for that course.
After eighteen months of operating a coffee joint that offers a wide ranging variety of coffees, brewed under multiple brew methods, in an environment that is, decidedly, a departure from the typical coffee shop – where the details work in concert to subtly communicate to the guest that “this isn’t your shabby, hipster, 3W coffee place”, I’ve found that enjoyment of coffee isn’t necessarily linked to one’s knowledge of that coffees data.
But I think your choice of words on that subject is key: “knowledge about your beverage increases one’s satisfaction of it.” Yes, I would agree. One’s satisfaction with their coffee can be increased based on their knowledge of the data, but their enjoyment is based on taste and their personal preference.
It’s great to know that El Salvador you’re drinking comes from a farm whose practices contribute to the lives of its workers (never mind the fact that its really a “hacienda” system), developing new techniques, building schools (for a new generation of farm workers), new water systems and better housing (while never increasing the workers childrens futures), and that the coffee is washed this way and exposed to the sun for 72 hours before being processed that way, etc, etc – all of this from some blow-hard coffee buyer waxing on in 10pt print for two pages in an attempt to deify himself while offering two sentences on the actual taste of that coffee, demonstrating that the focus isn’t on the taste experience of the customer but rather the ego of everyone involved.
And while someone may feel great satisfaction of knowing all this about that El Salvador coffee (and really it could be any country) with its beautiful notes of orange, hibiscus, tamarind, its juicy body, high acidity and rose petal-like character, how much are they truly enjoying it if their tastes prefer the ferment-y fruitiness of an Ethiopian Natural?
At Spro, we offer a menu listing our coffees with some of that flowery and frilly language, but we don’t deliver that with pretense. Our baristas act as a guide to the coffees because you’re going to find a wide variety of coffees when visiting that are not limited to one roaster.
For many people who visit us, they just want a “coffee” or a “house coffee” – quite simply, we don’t have a “house” coffee. We have wonderful coffees in a wide spectrum of price points, ranging from $2.50 to $14 for a 12z cup – a $14 coffee by the way which we brought more mainstream regional and national attention to than anyone else in the business.
When a guest comes in, we serve them coffee without the data stream and without the pretense. We let them taste the coffee and we allow that taste experience to excite and guide them so that, hopefully, on their succeeding visits, they’re enthused enough to ask and be receptive to that data which will enhance their satisfaction with that coffee as an augment to their enjoyment.
i think for anyone who is already a coffee connoisseur a walk past your coffee bar is all that’s necessary. words come in to play for those who don’t have that natural attraction to it.
circling back around to your remarks, jay. we did offer cream and sugar, but only if asked.
i really don’t get your rambling parts about el salvador coffee (uh, i never mentioned any such thing) and the supposed blowhards who produce it. are you just making stuff up to prove a point? cause close attention to the coffee i was referring to would indicate an operation that’s anything but, in every respect.
as for your business model, whatever works for you. taste first, obviously.
i’m not for data “streams.” but see the latest post on how i’ve begun sharing contextual information.
‘knowledge about your beverage increases one’s satisfaction of it’ is true only of those who have time and interest to learn The Cuppa Co UK