All That I Am

I am often asked why I do what I do. Not normally by everyday customers but more by the ones I’ve gotten to know over time.

Anyone who knows me knows what an important part of my life coffee is. They know that it’s practically all I do and think about. Whether I am at work or at home coffee is on my mind. It’s bad to mix business and pleasure but I do it anyways. At times this can be stressful but most of the time I can realize it’s what I love and that’s why I do it.

It’s hard to break through in this industry at this point in time. People are close minded and set in their ways even though we are at the beginning stages of everything. Coffee still has a lot of development to do and still has a long way to go as an industry.

It’s even harder to be a female in an industry mainly dominated by men. I am lucky enough to work in a shop with almost all girls though. I am even luckier to work in a shop with phenomenal baristas of both genders. Constantly pushing me to do better and learning from one another along the way.

Worst of all we are in the Midwest. When people think coffee they think Portland, Seattle, New York, Chicago. Springfield, MO is not the first place you think of when thinking of great coffee.

Or at least not yet.

That’s why I do what I do though. I want to break these molds, to push the boundaries, and to push myself.

I try to improve and learn everyday. Just to be in check with this industry you have to be one step ahead. Even then though you’re normally one step behind.

The coffee industry is changing every day. Learning more about what goes into our craft. Developing new skills and changing old ones. I hope this is what coffee is always like for me. That is why I got into it and why I am sticking to it.

Does it really get better than doing something that you can never know enough about? In my opinion: no. That’s why I do what I do.

Hell of a Life

Coffee is something I battle with every day as a barista. Sometimes I get lucky and it decides to love me back but most days we fight one another. An ongoing battle and challenge. One that I love and reminds me why I chose to do this with my life.

I knew when I started to delve into the dark world of coffee that I had 2 paths to choose. The first one is just skimming the surface but never getting into the inner workings of coffee. The second is a never ending battle of me vs coffee. It is a path of daily learning, frustration, and, if I am lucky, accomplishment. I chose the latter and haven’t looked back since.

Anyone that knows me can tell you that my life practically revolves around coffee. It’s something I always want to know more about and the more I know the less I feel like I know. I guess that’s why I do this. I hate getting caught up in the mundane work of a craft that is never growing.

Coffee is on the forefront. We are at the beginning of this journey. There is so much information out there for us to learn and that fascinates me.

Another thing I love about this craft is the community. The need and desire to share and encourage one another. Something I get to experience everyday at TCE. I get the opportunity to work with some great baristas on a daily basis. I am constantly being challenged and encouraged by them and there is nothing that I love more than making coffee with them every day. It really is an honor to work where I do along side some bad ass baristas. My shop is just one spot where I encounter this but it also comes from other shops. Around the country there are baristas I have gotten the opportunity to know and learn from. Coffee really is like one giant happy and extremely dysfunctional family.

I am in this for the long haul and that is strange for me at times. To think I got this opportunity at such a young age amazes me. To find a craft that I love and want to put all my efforts into for a long time.

I can’t wait to see what this industry can do together.

It’s beautiful and I am so happy to be a part of it.

Behind The Beans

This is my first post on here. As I am sure anyone reading this can assume it’s going to be about coffee.

I had this thought the other day while I was sitting in the shop I work at sipping a double espresso. It is something I think about a lot but never have written it down. I decided it though because it really does mean a lot to me.

I was thinking about how much work goes into the beans in our espresso grinder’s hopper. People entire lives go into growing and harvesting coffee. There is so much work put into it by the farmers. It is truly and art.

As I sat their and thought about it a swarm of emotions came over me. I was mad, sad, and happy all at the same time. It made me mad that people don’t care about that. They look at their cup as a pick me up and nothing more. If you don’t care about what went into your cup I would rather you go to Dillion’s and get a Red Bull. It saddened me that people have to risk their lives and well being to produce great coffee. People who have so much less than us. Yet the produce this beautiful product that I get the honor to present. Which is why I was happy. I am the last step in the production line. I get to present all of this to a customer on a daily basis. It is my new goal to show customers the same dedication and love that went on in the rest of the process when I push their drink across the counter. There is nothing better than that.

It is all an artistic expression. Not just how we, the barista’s, grind, dose, and pull the shot, but how it got to that point. There are so many steps before that getting overlooked by the customer. It’s something I want to express to them. The dedication that has gone into the coffee before it’s even reached the roaster. Who again puts an amazing deal of care into roasting it so that it can be presented to me, the barista, to present to the customer with the same amount of love.

It’s so amazing to me to think about it that way. For me showing that off is the best feeling ever.

Take that into account next time you see the beans in our hopper or on the shelf of single origins. It is truly a beautiful thing to realize.