Ashley and Nick start 2017 by answering some of your emails. Topics include: Is coffee media too insider? How do baristas work under a Trump administration? What's your green coffee buying philosophy? What's up with that barista competitors' association idea?

A very special episode where Ashley goes on a quest to discover the origins of GrainPro bags, and we learn a bunch of other stuff along the way.

Ashley and Nick spend this hour-plus talking through a few hot topics: Cultivating a coffee workplace, a bit about gender in coffee, and some recent developments around the US Coffee Championships. Be sure to let us know if you have any thoughts or questions!

Part two with Specialty Coffee Association of America Executive Director Ric Rhinehart. This hour is all about the planned unification of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE). WARNING: A good conversation to listen to if you're engaged with or interested in SCAA-SCAE matters. If you aren't, this one might not be for you.

Specialty Coffee Association of America Executive Director Ric Rhinehart stops by the Portafilter Podcast studios in this first of a two-parter, where we go to school about some of the realities of coffee production and consumer outreach beyond what most of the industry is talking about. WARNING: Some of this is intensely technical and may not appeal to every listener, but we were engrossed!

Fresh from the 2016 US Barista Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, Ashley and Nick hear from some competitors who competed for the first time this year. We discuss barista competitions through that fresh perspective, including a chat with Becky Reeves from Portland, Oregon.

A conversation with Colin Gasko, founder of Rogue Chocolatier, and Carla D. Martin, founder and executive director of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute. Oh, and the Portafilter Podcast is BACK, and with a new team! Meet Ashley and Bigmatt!

Oliver Strand, freelance writer with a book about coffee due in 2014.

Peter Giuliano, Director of Symposium at the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

First in our interview series, Ric Rhinehart, Executive Director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Hope you enjoy these new shows!