Tamper Tantrum Audio

No. 74 is here and, guess what! Steve isn’t just talking to himself this week—Jenn’s managed to wrangle her way back onto the podcast only to accidentally lead the conversation down an unanticipated path. Obviously certification is a hot topic right now – we’ve announced an event with The Barista League in Gothenburg this March on that very subject – but this definitely wasn’t meant to turn into the newly written “Trusted Trade” manifesto, a dissection of coffee buying narratives, or a laundry list of transparency report frustrations. Ooops?

Find tickets & more information about The Barista League: Sideline in Gothenburg, "Cracking Certifications", here. 

This week, we return to Manchester with our second instalment of “The Business of Brewing”, featuring Timothy Bosworth (Hoxton North), Peter Gibson (Grindsmiths), and Alison Bell (BLK Coffee Heaton), each of whom have had very different experiences opening their own shops. From setting up pre-trend outside of London (Tim) to opening doors at the height of the trend (Alison) and from semi-permanent premises to brick-and-mortar shops (Pete), these three guests showcase vast differences in approach to build a specialty coffee business in the UK. Together, they consider how their initial business plan and model has changed since they first opened their doors, why just saying “yes” and figuring out “how” afterwards can lead to bigger and better things, the invaluable contribution of family and community support, how to roll with disappointments, the importance of letting some things go, and why “customer service” needs to be replaced with “customer engagement” if we want to maintain successful businesses.

This time of the year is always full of origin travel for green buyers, and Steve’s diary is no different—he’s just completed a two week jaunt to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Most will be familiar with the impact of leaf rust in Central America, but new pressures—significantly popular demand for particular varietals—stand to impact production and coffee quality long term. Like all of these origin monologues so far, the rough goes with the smooth—whilst there are good things happening in every corner, there are also a lot of red flags to heed as we enter a critical juncture for the future of specialty coffee.

Another week, another Tamper Tantrum first: Nick Cho brought some structure to Colin & Steve’s bickering at the end of our day in New York by moderating a full-on debate on the subject of barista competitions. Colin & Matt Perger argue for the motion “barista competitions are dead”; Steve and Jenn, against. Stakes are high as both sides try to win the audience over and avoid embarrassment: the losing side has to read real-life yelp reviews in their best non-native accent.  

What do you think? Are barista competitions dead?

Another week, another Tamper Tantrum first: Nick Cho brought some structure to Colin & Steve’s bickering at the end of our day in New York by moderating a full-on debate on the subject of barista competitions. Colin & Matt Perger argue for the motion “barista competitions are dead”; Steve and Jenn, against. Stakes are high as both sides try to win the audience over and avoid embarrassment: the losing side has to read real-life yelp reviews in their best non-native accent.  

What do you think? Are barista competitions dead?

Surprisingly, despite having recorded podcasts since 2009, No. 72 is a Tamper Tantrum first: coffee celebs in cars! Or, rather, Steve recording and reminiscing with 2012 World Barista Champion Raul Rodas whilst they drive back to Guatemala City. Chatting with the (over-) familiarity of old friends, Steve & Raul revisit Raul’s road to World Barista Champ—how he got into coffee, his motivations for competing, taking a year off—as well as the opportunities afforded to the champs and how they’ve influenced the development of Paradigma Coffee Roasters.

Last, but most decidedly not least, to the stage in New York was our guest host, long-time twitter friend (/adversary), and fellow podcaster, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee. With near-trademark provocativeness, Nick tackles what he feels is “the biggest problem in specialty coffee today”—and no, it’s not actually climate change. Our biggest problem, according to Nick, is that we’re simply not very good at what we do. As he breaks this idea down in order to build a solution, Nick makes some astute observations about the current state of our industry and asks some big questions about what we need to do (and whether or not it’s even possible) for us to move forwards from our current position.

Nick has served as a director on the Barista Guild of America’s Executive Council, on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Board of Directors, on the World Barista Championship Board of Directors, and as the chairman of the United States Barista Championship. He was also the 2006 South East Regional Barista Champion and has served on the SCAA Standards Committee. He also created the World Brewers Cup competition in 2011.

Nick has been a guest lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, Dartmouth College, University of California Davis, and a speaker at various events around the world including SCAA/Re:co Symposium. He started the Portafilter Podcast in 2005, and is proudly Tamper Tantrum Podcast's 42nd biggest fan.

Last, but most decidedly not least, to the stage in New York was our guest host, long-time twitter friend (/adversary), and fellow podcaster, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee. With near-trademark provocativeness, Nick tackles what he feels is “the biggest problem in specialty coffee today”—and no, it’s not actually climate change. Our biggest problem, according to Nick, is that we’re simply not very good at what we do. As he breaks this idea down in order to build a solution, Nick makes some astute observations about the current state of our industry and asks some big questions about what we need to do (and whether or not it’s even possible) for us to move forwards from our current position.

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Nick founded murky coffee in Washington DC in 2002, which emerged as one of the pioneering third-wave cafes on the east coast, winning barista competitions and recognition around the specialty coffee industry. In 2011, he and his wife Trish Rothgeb co-founded Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, where they work and reside.

Nick has served as a director on the Barista Guild of America’s Executive Council, on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Board of Directors, on the World Barista Championship Board of Directors, and as the chairman of the United States Barista Championship. He was also the 2006 South East Regional Barista Champion and has served on the SCAA Standards Committee. He also created the World Brewers Cup competition in 2011.

Nick has been a guest lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, Dartmouth College, University of California Davis, and a speaker at various events around the world including SCAA/Re:co Symposium. He started the Portafilter Podcast in 2005, and is proudly Tamper Tantrum Podcast's 42nd biggest fan.

We’re kicking off this year’s podcast series with a monologue: Kenya believe it? Recorded from a balcony overlooking the Aberdare national park on the last day of a week-long, Steve recounts what he and his traveling companions—roasters Roland (HasBean) and Simon (3FE)—have seen during their visits to eight co-ops, dry mills, and washing stations. Despite witnessing some exciting ingenuity and inspiring farming techniques, there’s still a disheartening and all-too-familiar downward trend when it comes to overall yields.

In “Beyond Quality”, Colleen Anunu asks us to rethink what matters to the future of specialty coffee and shares her personal answer: ensuring coffee is profitable in the long run, reducing the negative social and environmental impacts, and engaging with other actors in the coffee value chain. Whilst these may sound fairly straightforward, Colleen explains how our current mythologizing of the industry—amongst other things—is getting in the way of us having a real conversation about what it means for coffee producers to profit and sustain. Colleen’s talk ends with some positive steps we can take to not only facilitate these conversations, but build a better, stronger industry together—a perfect way to kick off 2017.

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