Pressing Press Pot

Well, 2008's SCAA conference is over; I returned in one (somewhat harried, frazzled, exhausted and pensive) piece last Monday night. If I hadn't had to hit the ground running in terms of my Mon–Fri job, I would have provided this update sooner. My apologies to any Press Pot groupies who were champing at the bit for my particular take on the whole business. (That "groupies" part was a joke.)

The short version is that amazing people were met; informative lectures were attended; copious notes were taken in now-completely-illegible handwriting; blog posts were written on the fly; Prince was listened to in semifancy hotel rooms with no free Wi-Fi; local bars were scandalized and conquered; the USBC was thoroughly photographed; Scott Rao's book was read on the plane ride home; and Ecco Caffé's Konga–co-operative Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was lovingly consumed at my day job the day after returning (and the day after that, and the day after that…).



Now we're in reflective mode (we meaning me).

I came away from this conference with my head absolutely spinning. Having never been, I had no idea what to expect; having gone, I have no idea what to think. The event was, to me personally, many things at once: inspiring, overwhelming, thrilling, disheartening, motivating, difficult, social, alienating, enlightening, frustrating, wonderful. I hope you don't mind if I work through some of the more complex feelings here.

To be honest, when I first said goodbye to the Minneapolis convention center, I thought it meant I was shelving my tamper for good. I said as much to some friends, and to my husband when I got home. Not because I don't love coffee, but almost because I love it too much, and I love the industry too much. So much so that, like a big family full of tons of eccentric people, it can be incredibly rewarding and incredibly maddening at almost the exact same time. There were a lot of personalities under that roof: A lot of unsavory things were said, a lot of disappointing actions were taken (I'm looking at you, rude guy who was manning the Mazzer booth—consider yourself On Notice) and a lot of proverbial dicks were wagged. But I also saw unbelievable kindnesses, people giddily teaching and learning from other people, shop talked and shots shared, amazing camaraderie, truly inspiring professionalism. Of course, it's the latter list that stands out in my memory, but it's the former list that is, strangely, more motivating.

And the reason this was so overwhelming (and still is, even as I begin to process it) is that I feel so on the outside. I'm not slaving away in a shop, at a roastery, at origin: I work a day job and I make coffee mostly on the weekends. All the books are still in my living room; they're all still thumbed-through and dog-eared. But I don't spend my days asking and answering questions about coffee, and I'm never more aware of how little I know about it than when I'm surrounded by people who know so much.

I want to know more; I want to do more. But I don't know how. That's why I am feeling overwhelmed. In that car, on the way to the airport, I thought, "Either I will have to leave coffee altogether, or I will have to finally dedicate my life to it." It's like someone you've dated on and off for years but haven't fully committed to because the timing hasn't been right. Either do it or don't, but make up your mind, son!

So now I'm taking my time, thinking it through. What in the world am I going to do with myself? Is this a mini existential crisis? Am I being super dramatic? Can I really ever be good enough or smart enough about coffee to make a difference in the ways I would want to? G-d, I love coffee and coffee people so much. This is hard! Any and all advice and reflections welcome, encouraged, begged for.

And beyond all else, of course, a long-overdue congratulations (joining a million other laudatory Internet voices) go out to Kyle Glanville for winning this year's USBC, as well as just for being such a swell guy.



Also big ups to second-placer Pete Licata and third-placer Heather Perry, as well as to all of the finalists, semifinalists and anyone who entered any of this year's contests. It takes some real guts and confidence and love of the craft to go out there, and I'm impressed by all of you. You have so much to teach us.

(Remember, you can still watch all the finalists' performances here.)

Thanks to everyone I got to meet and talk with, who graciously shared their time and energy with me either as a blogger or as a coffee professional. Thank you to my fellow blog-team members, who were patient and funny and fascinating and bold. Thank you to Nick Cho for putting us together. Thank you to the SCAA for existing, and for looking to better itself. Thank you to Minneapolis for letting us crash your party. Thanks to Torani and the BGA for the free photobooth.



And thanks to you for reading, and I am really serious about the advice and information—I need all the help I can get.

You guys are all, seriously, the best.

Unstoppable

Still blogging!



Check us out. It's hot. (As hot as this James Hoffmann–taken photograph, in which I am giving Zachary a sassy look.)

Metablog

Here I am, blogging about a blog! How cool is that?

Check out the live blog of the SCAA Conference in Minneapolis here. It's wild, it's crazy, it's caffeinated!

Edited to Add: Because of a technical glitch (you never know how many they'll be until you get thurr), it might be easier to see the blog in its full glory here. And, of course, the full live stream of the US Barista Competish is here.

Christmas card from a blogger (almost) in Minneapolis

Great things that are in Minneapolis:

• Prince.
• lakes.
• Adrian Peterson (YES!).
• and, most exciting of all (okay, Adrian Peterson is pretty exciting), the 2008 SCAA convention.

That means that as of tomorrow evening, the great city will enjoy a barrage of coffee nuts, lovers, producers, makers, brokers, educators, photographers, bloggers and just about every other thing under the sun. Myself included, camera(s), laptop and hand-held tape recorder in tow.



Look out, Prince!

Compost with the most

You know what I love? Worms. You know what worms love? Digesting organic material and making it into compost. Isn't that awesome? Worms are so great.



When I was a kid, we had a huge compost pile in the back yard (putting a bunch of organic crap in a pile and letting it sit and marinate over a period of years is called "passive composting"; we were big into "passive" I think, there in suburban New Jersey), and there was something so wild and exotic about it to a young me. It seemed like such a Dad thing.

Later, I dated someone whose family kept a small ventilated compost bin in their kitchen, filled with egg shells and banana peels—more recognizable everyday things than my childhood Mount Kilimantrasho ever had on it. It seemed like such a cool your-parents-used-to-be-hippies-didn't-they thing.

Personally, I haven't kept compost myself since I reached double digits, even though I know its benefits outweigh its relative inconvenience (and I fully cop to this "relative inconvenience" being a BS excuse, since most major cities are actively making it easier and easier for individuals to manage their waste effectively). Recycling, reusing and reducing has always seemed like a more easily achieved sort of lifestyle, and one my husband and I actively maintain. But surely there must be more we can do…

And then Joe started a composting program, and my eyes were really opened.

When I first heard about the plan, I was skeptical for sure; how can already-overwhelmed baristas in a busy shop be expected to effectively and efficiently compost roughly 75% of a day's basic rubbish output? But it is as natural as though we had been doing it for years, and after a few times of having to fish Post-it notes out of the compost bin, even I got the hang of it.

Commercial composting can be so amazing, especially in an industry that naturally produces so much organic waste. Not only is composting coffee grounds and foodstuffs in one large, wheeled container that gets emptied nearly nightly by a professional crew vastly better for the environment than tossing roughly 200lbs of plastic-bagged trash every evening, but it also makes the actual rubbish so much more manageable and less messy. Win-win!

Here is some more information about composting on a small scale in New York, and how the Department of Sanitation can help residents be more earth-aware.

On the topic of the environment, get a load of these little beauties:


Available for purchase here, $20. (NB: back-ordered until mid May)

(Also, I'd like to say that I never, ever recommend doing a Google Image Search for "worm," even when writing a blog post about composting. The results are profoundly unpleasant.)