If you work in the coffee industry, you might have heard of the coffee price crisis . To put it simply, we are not paying farmers enough money to grow coffee. And it’s not a little bit of money—we’re not even paying enough for farmers to cover their costs to produce coffee. It’s not just that farmers aren’t making money, but actively losing it by continuing to grow and produce coffee. This is a problem of dignity—who do we respect, whose labor is valued, where is value created—but this is also a...
Nov 01, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Speaking in generalizations or platitudes is annoying. Really annoying. But sometimes easy or necessary. Think of phrases like, “go with the flow,” or “everything happens for a reason.” These statements mean NOTHING—they can even go so far as to be insulting in the wrong context. When folks ask what this podcast is, I end up relying on some—even though I want to tell them how complex and fascinating and weird the world is, I usually end up saying something like, “this podcast is about feminism a...
Oct 26, 2019•49 min•Season 4Ep. 26
Sometimes I wonder what you folks think about interviews. What you think about the guests, what you think about the questions, what you internalize and take with you as you put your headphones away and think about what you’ve just heard. This interview with Sasha Wheeler is one of the most nuanced interviews I’ve ever aired. Sasha is a trans woman based in New Orleans—she built her first roaster when she was 15 from an aluminum can. As I re-listened to this episode, which I have to admit I don’t...
Oct 18, 2019•41 min•Season 4Ep. 25
Do you know that feeling when one memory sparks another? I was in Austin, Texas, recently, at a brewery called Austin Beerworks. I went to the bathroom and there, in a small basket, were tampons, pads, and hand sanitizer. Then, I went to another brewery—I was there for my day job as a producer of podcasts for a beer website—and there was the same set up. Tampons, pads, hand sanitizer. Seeing these reminded me of this one time I was working behind the bar. It was 2014, and I was working with this...
Sep 07, 2019•35 min•Season 4Ep. 24
This summer, Rancilio set out to host the Ramp Up Tour , which featured sessions on espresso tech, espresso theory, and a community panel about careers for baristas at every date. The tour kicked off in Chicago, and Rancilio reached out to have me host a Boss Barista session, so obviously I said yes. This event let me put together a short presentation about how baristas can become their own advocates in the workplace, regardless of how positive or toxic your work environment may be. To round out...
Aug 31, 2019•40 min•Season 4Ep. 23
I can't say enough good things about Anita Tam. She's the owner of Slow Pour Supply in Houston, Texas and has made social justice and advocacy for baristas part of her business model. Anita is a musician by training and is keen on tools. What are the tools you need to be successful and how can tools help you get better at your craft? After making the switch from music to coffee, she noticed that she was hitting a plateau with her latte art, so she went abroad to learn more and noticed the best l...
Aug 17, 2019•46 min•Season 4Ep. 22
I studied Sociology in college. Sociology is basically just a fun way to say I studied people and why social structures exist. And the biggest thing I learned is that nothing is pre-ordained. Everything in the world is based on complex social structures, but none of them are necessarily good or bad—they’re good or bad based on the meaning we assign them. This mode of thinking would sometimes get me in a rabbit hole of nihilist thinking—if nothing matters then what’s the point of anything, really...
Aug 07, 2019•48 min•Season 4Ep. 20
Have you ever felt invisible? Gyalene Torres, who goes by Gya, is a barista living in Carmel, Indiana, and in this episode, we talk about what it means to feel overlooked, and the challenges she's faced emigrating from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to the United States. Self-reflection, rebuilding your life, and dealing with feeling lost or overlooked are all touched upon in this intimate and candid episode—if you don't know Gya, this episode gives a beautiful glimpse into her life. @invisib...
Jul 20, 2019•44 min•Season 4Ep. 20
A few weeks ago, I was honored to attend Re:co, a coffee convention that invites speakers from all over the world to talk about these big ideas in coffee. This year's conversation was focused on coffee prices and the crisis that we face as the price of coffee dips lower and lower. I talked to the head of the Coffee Price Crisis Response Initiative a few weeks ago. If you want more context on that, listen to the Ric Rhinehart episode, a couple of episodes back. But at one of the lunches during th...
Jul 03, 2019•48 min•Season 4Ep. 19
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 ...
Jun 21, 2019•44 min•Season 4Ep. 18
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 c...
Jun 06, 2019•29 min•Season 4Ep. 17
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 fo...
May 31, 2019•47 min•Season 4Ep. 16
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 agricultura...
May 23, 2019•59 min•Season 4Ep. 15
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. - We continue wi...
May 18, 2019•33 min•Season 4Ep. 14
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. - Boss Barista i...
May 17, 2019•32 min•Season 4Ep. 13
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 schedul...
May 09, 2019•52 min•Season 4Ep. 12
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 t...
May 02, 2019•45 min•Season 4Ep. 11
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 q...
Apr 25, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 10
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—intima...
Apr 05, 2019•45 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Ildi Revi is the teacher you wish you had. She's the Director of Learning for Ally Coffee, and in this episode talks about how adults process information, what leaders need to do to recognize the skills of their teams, and highlights the specialness of baristas. Ildi has been in the coffee industry for over 20 years, and she generously shares her ups and downs with our audience.
Mar 22, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Along with 30 past and present employees of Ristretto Roasters, Camila Coddou signed a letter highlighting the problematic #meneither YouTube channel. The channel, co-hosted by Nancy Rommelman, wife of RR's owner, touted itself as a channel addressing 'toxic femininity' and poised itself to question the legitimacy of victims of sexual violence and harassment. In the letter, the co-signers described the channel as a signal that their concerns were not going to be taken seriously and their safety ...
Mar 08, 2019•45 min•Season 4Ep. 7
When the 2015 United States Brewers Cup champion Sarah Andersen was announced as the winner, Tom Jones' "She's A Lady," started playing. It was a strange and confusing moment in the competition - because no weirdly gendered anthem played for any of the other competitors. Sabine Parrish decided to study this phenomenon - why are women treated differently at coffee competitions. In her essay, cheekingly called, "She's A Lady," she explores how women are marginalized in the coffee industry. She did...
Mar 01, 2019•51 min•Season 4Ep. 6
"I realized I hadn't lived as myself for the last five years." Christina Snyder is a roaster for Deeper Roots Coffee in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in this interview, they talk about creating space for others, the constant code switching of customer service, and honoring one's boundaries and mental capacity. In this deeply personal episode, Christina answers some difficult questions about the self, taking care of your team, and the power of a simple check in. If you're reading this, I encourage you to...
Feb 21, 2019•38 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Last year, eight women came forward with allegations against the San Francisco-based roaster Four Barrel and its owner, Jeremy Tooker. They filed suit against Tooker and the business, citing multiple instances of sexual abuse and harassment. SF Chronicle Reporter Justin Phillips diligently reported this story and the subsequent fall out, backlash, and unfortunate return to the status quo on the part of Four Barrel. In this episode, I talk to Justin about what it was like to follow this story, an...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 4
It can sometimes seem like our coffee heroes have always been successful—but nothing could be further from the truth. Alicia Adams is the Director of Coffee for Red Bay Coffee in Oakland, Calif., and she talks about her journey to this position. Alicia shares how she learned from others around her, how she stays focused, and shares her approach to tasting and evaluating coffee. Alicia is also the kindest, most thoughtful person and one of the best sensory analysts I've ever met. If you want a ca...
Jan 25, 2019•55 min•Season 4Ep. 3
“I’m kinda a cowboy in my cooking,” shares Preeti Mistry, Chef, Entrepreneur & Author of The Juhu Beach Club Cookbook: Indian Spice, Oakland Soul. Preeti is also kind of a cowboy in the culinary world—she’ll share her thoughts and call bullshit on the antics of the fine dining world. In this episode, Preeti talks about speaking your mind, watching other folks get thanked for the food you made them, and how language and attitudes change when you inhabit a certain identity. Here’s a hint: peop...
Jan 17, 2019•57 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Erna Knutsen had been a secretary for over thirty years before she was given a seat at the cupping table. Once she found her love and passion for small lots of coffee, what she called 'specialty coffees,' she upended people's notions of what women could do in the industry. She bought the company she worked at, and fired all the men—but there's more to her story than just getting rid of the 'unimpressive men around her.' Without Erna, our industry would look radically different than it is today. ...
Jan 10, 2019•47 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Get ready for life lessons, intensive personality breakdowns, and yelling at your significant other in this interview with Erica Escalante, owner of The Arrow Coffeehouse in Portland. Learn what it's like to own a coffeeshop at 21, what it means to be an Ennegram 8, and how to reckon with your personal power and platform. Erica is one of the most dynamic and candid guests we have—we promise you'll learn a lot from the self-described 'mom of the baristas.'
Dec 28, 2018•55 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Have you ever wondered what the judges are looking for during coffee competitions? Emily Orendorff placed third in the barista competition at the Denver CoffeeChamps Qualifying Event—and we break down her scores one by one. We talk about her successes, where she lost points, and talk about the tricks and techniques that score well and those that don't. This is a rare peek into how judges determine the scores for barista competitors, so if you've ever wondered how barista competitions are scored,...
Dec 14, 2018•57 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Carolina Ibarra Garay is the 2018 World Aeropress Champion! In this interview, Carolina tells us her coffee story—from growing up in Colombia to bouncing around different jobs to entering her first coffee competition this year. She also talks about the responsibility that her win brings, and hopes to pass on information to others and promote women and other underrepresented groups in the competition circuit. If you want to be inspired by a true champion, this is the interview to listen to.
Nov 29, 2018•49 min•Season 3Ep. 20
