Boss Barista

What do you do when you begin to feel powerless in your cafe? When ten folks are competing for one or two higher-paying positions in a business, how do you build trust and accountability? These were questions that Sarah Hewett-Ball wanted to answer. 

In most cafes, baristas are powerless. Promotions can be slow to come, and decision-making is usually left to managers and owners, who maybe don't spend all that much time working on the floor—and the decisions they make often affect the lowest-paid members of the group disproportionally. 

Sarah and her friends wanted to change that power dynamic, so she started working on a cooperatively-based coffee shop in Louisville, Kentucky. The cafe, Full Stop Station, has been up and running for the last six months, and we talked to Sarah about what it means to distribute responsibilities and money evenly across the board. The team at Full Stop all make the same amount of money, and trade off managerial duties every two weeks, along with coming together to make big decisions and putting issues to a vote. I learned so much about how to communicate and the power a cooperative can give baristas—if this is an idea you've had for your business, I urge you to take a listen. 

What is it like being a working parent? I imagine most of you would say it’s not easy. Now, what’s it like being a working parent in the service industry, where many folks make minimum wage, and considerations for working parents, like paid parental leave or schedules to accommodate childcare, are often seen as a nuisance? 

Hannah Craig is a barista in Louisville, Kentucky, and has a toddler named Luna. In this interview, we talk to Hannah about what it’s been like being a working mother in the coffee industry. From having to fight for your job after taking parental leave to demanding a space to pump, she has had to constantly work to make her voice heard. 

Hannah’s stories—both at work and at industry events—speak for themselves. If you own a business, I urge you to listen carefully to Hannah, and work on how you can make your workspace friendlier for working parents. 

How often do you say you’re busy? It’s pretty much an automatic response: “How are you?” “Oh, I’m good…busy!” But are you? 

Melissa Stinson is the owner of Everybody’s Busy, a coffee pop up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Melissa features coffees from some of the best roasters in the world, but Everybody’s Busy is much more than that. 

In a way, Everybody’s Busy is a reflection of Melissa herself. She designed the logo and all the brand assets, the menu uses hip hop artists as names for common drinks, and even the name of the shop itself—Everybody’s Busy—reflects the dark, sarcastic humor that Melissa is drawn to. Because really, are you that busy? And why do we find comfort in hiding behind that response? 

Instead, shouldn’t we be doing the things we like? The things we’re excited about? That’s one of the things that makes Melissa’s pop-up so compelling—it’s a reflection of her. In an age where every coffee shop looks and feels the same, Everybody’s Busy feels distinctly like Melissa—like no one else could have imagined it into being. Melissa is a visionary, she’s smarter about branding than anyone I’ve ever seen in coffee, and she’s truly one of a kind—and she’s the first to admit she’s not sure what she’s going to say from moment to moment, which is what makes this conversation with her so fascinating and fun. 

Here’s my conversation with Melissa Stinson, owner and creator of Everybody’s Busy. 

This episode was made in collaboration with Good Beer Hunting. We originally aired this on their podcast on Saturday, May 18, 2019. This podcast was made in the style of a GBH podcast, so it might sound a little different than what you're used to! 

There’s a big problem in coffee—we’re not paying enough for it. With every clickbait article talking about how much you can save by cutting out your daily latte habit, you might be wondering how that’s possible. But coffee, much like other agricultural products like sugar or bananas, has relied on colonialist structures to survive—meaning that while we can buy and sell coffee in consuming countries for $3.00 a cup, most of the folks who actually farm and grow coffee see less than a dollar per pound for the coffee they produce. 

Coffee is in a crisis—because coffee is traded as a commodity, its price depends on the market, which means that, right now, many farmers are forced to sell their coffee for less than what it cost to produce. Farmers are actively losing money when they produce coffee, and many have been forced to lay off workers, sell their farms, and encourage their children to abandon the farm and look for more lucrative work elsewhere. 

So what are we doing about this? Ric Rhinehart is the head of the Coffee Price Crisis Response Initiative, and the former head of the Specialty Coffee Association. In this episode, we talk about how the crisis began, and what his group is looking to do to change the trajectory of coffee farming and selling. 

In light of current events, we decided to rerelease two episodes we did about coffee folks and abortion—the second story will come out tomorrow. These stories only capture a narrow window of the experiences of folks who have gotten abortions, so I encourage you to donate to places like The Yellowhammer Fund and Planned Parenthood. Keep calling your representatives and elected officials, and questioning what these restrictions say about not just sexism, but about class and race. 

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We continue with the abortion series, a storytelling project normalizing abortion amongst coffee professionals. Today, Jennifer tells her story of tumultuous relationships and finding ways to communicate with her coworkers and superiors. Jennifer's story shines a light on the sometimes destructive way we force employees to separate their personal lives from their work lives, and will force you to consider opening your ears and eyes to the stories of others. And for those of you who feel the need to throw shade, Jennifer welcomes your DMs.

In light of current events, we decided to rerelease two episodes we did about coffee folks and abortion—the second story will come out tomorrow. These stories only capture a narrow window of the experiences of folks who have gotten abortions, so I encourage you to donate to places like The Yellowhammer Fund and Planned Parenthood. Keep calling your representatives and elected officials, and questioning what these restrictions say about not just sexism, but about class and race. 

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Boss Barista is proud to present The Abortion Series, a collection of stories about abortion while working in coffee. Today, we meet Katie, a barista in the midwest who talks about scheduling her abortion around her work schedule, keeping quiet about liberal ideas in a conservative space, and ponders if she's told her mom yet. We hope to launch a mini-series and collection of stories around abortion in an attempt to normalize it. These stories are both unique and unremarkable and we hope they resonate with you and make you rethink how you approach safety, politics, and the needs of others in your coffeeshop.

I remember the first tax bill I got as a freelancer. I remember being so proud of myself for having this side hustle, and finally being able to save money, and then I got my tax bill—and there went all my savings. I told a friend of mine about it, and they laughed, and asked why I didn’t know that the IRS would claim almost a third of my income. 

Freelancing is fucking hard. It sounds fun and exciting—I don’t have to report to a boss everyday, I get to work from home, I get to make my own schedule—but there have been times where I’ve really considered if this is something I’m cut out for. 

I see more of my friends and colleagues take up creative pursuits, and dabble in the world of side hustles and part time consulting work, and I think there’s still a lot to the freelance world that still feels clouded in mystery. 

How do you pitch an idea? How do you know how much money to charge for a project? The government is taking what in taxes? There’s no easy guide—especially in the coffee world—to how to navigate setting a rate for yourself, or how to balance your work and your life, or how to get paid when people are avoiding the fuck out of you. 

I wanted to talk more about these things, so I invited my friend, Ashley Elander, to sit and swap stories about what it means to be a freelancer and how to truly advocate for yourself and your worth as a creative professional. Ashley is a freelance illustrator, and we try to be as candid as possible with both the ups—and the downs—of working for yourself. 

CW: Mental health, eating disorders

We run the gambit of emotions in this episode. T. Ben Fischer, founder of the Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp, sits down with us in his friend's home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to talk hash browns, social media, and learning to be open about past trauma. On paper, T. Ben has had a super successful year — Glitter Cat, a program which provides training and financial assistance to baristas of marginalized identities to compete in coffee competitions, went from idea to reality in just a few short months, he placed third at this year's United States Barista Championships, and his newfound spotlight has afforded him new avenues to advocate for the needs of baristas who are often left behind. 

And yet, there's more to T. Ben's story. In this episode, we explore the differences between what we project and what we're actually feeling and struggling with. T. Ben opens up about his mental health journey in a way that's real — he's still working things out, and has learned that being open (when your ready) can facilitate healing. 

Coffee prices have hit astronomical lows, with farmers on average receiving less than a dollar per pound of coffee. In response, specialty roasters around the world have began publishing how much they pay for coffee. While many are paying higher than a dollar per pound, that number sort of doesn't mean anything if farmers aren't covering their basic costs—perhaps the $2.50 per pound your local roaster promises to pay their farmers only helps a farmer break even. We need to answer a fundamental question: "How much does it cost to produce a pound of coffee?" 

Caryn and Mike Nelson of Junior's Roasted Coffee in Portland, Oregon, decided to answer that question. Coming to you live from Nightshift Brewery in Everett, Mass., in partnership with the Boston Intersectional Coffee Collective (BICC), we present "The Cost of Production," a event series that looks at what it costs to produce coffee and what it means to pay farmers fairly. The speakers at this event present information and findings not seen anywhere else, so if you care about coffee pricing and farmer sustainability, this episode is a must-listen. 

Thank you to Caryn and Mike Nelson for putting this event series on, to Kristina Jackson and everyone at the BICC, to Rob Rodriguez and Rose Woodard over at Nightshift Brewery, and to all the amazing speakers at this event. I learned more about coffee than I have at any other event I've attended. 

A few weeks ago, I was staying in Paris with my friend, Mihaela Iordache, Head Roaster for Belleville Coffee. Originally from Romania, Mihaela came to Paris to pursue music, and is now one of the most distinguished, disciplined, and talented coffee pros in the game. After dinner and drinks one night, we decided to have a conversation about coffee, knowing ourselves, and the things you only talk about late at night over a few glasses of wine. 

These are the types of conversations I live for—intimate, funny, and personal, and I hope you enjoy listening to it.