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Friday, January 05, 2007
Searching for a french press...
I forget how hard it is to get good coffee when out traveling. No french press. No coffee(period)
I recently made my way down the East coast.
No stop off in New York this time. Honestly, I won't visit there much anymore. At least until something new opens or there is a reason to go. Too expensive to travel right now.
It got me thinking about this concept of community and how fickle it is in this online forum when compared to our small Boston community. Yeah, there is the weird angry kid we'd rather not be associated with but the rest of us are pretty tight. I started thinking about if it is worth posting on the forums when the focus is flavor.
I'm not sure.
So, I gave up posting in the coffee focused forums and largely unplugged from that medium. It wasn't for negativity or perceived criticism. In fact it happened largely for the reasons brinsky is not posting.
We got tired.
I realized until I can sit down with peers and 'cup things out' then there is little to say in those forums. Arguing my apples to your oranges is nearly futile.
We are not nearly content with the coffee we are drinking but we see hints of some really cool stuff ahead. That's the problem though, it's ahead instead of right now. I had a long talk with Judson and I really want to get back and get things moving again but we are in limbo for now.
I will have updates from the trip to Finca Vista Hermosa at the end of the month.
The North East Regional Barista Competition looks like a wash right now. The combination of several things made me decide it's not worth entering. That means Judson and I will attend with the gang but no competitors. Simon is not sending Ben either so it's a complete wash. We will all go and cheer on Judson's friend Andrew assuming he competes.
Oh and here is an interview I did for a film school project courtesy of Jason via HB.
I forget how hard it is to get good coffee when out traveling. No french press. No coffee(period)
I recently made my way down the East coast.
No stop off in New York this time. Honestly, I won't visit there much anymore. At least until something new opens or there is a reason to go. Too expensive to travel right now.
It got me thinking about this concept of community and how fickle it is in this online forum when compared to our small Boston community. Yeah, there is the weird angry kid we'd rather not be associated with but the rest of us are pretty tight. I started thinking about if it is worth posting on the forums when the focus is flavor.
I'm not sure.
So, I gave up posting in the coffee focused forums and largely unplugged from that medium. It wasn't for negativity or perceived criticism. In fact it happened largely for the reasons brinsky is not posting.
We got tired.
I realized until I can sit down with peers and 'cup things out' then there is little to say in those forums. Arguing my apples to your oranges is nearly futile.
We are not nearly content with the coffee we are drinking but we see hints of some really cool stuff ahead. That's the problem though, it's ahead instead of right now. I had a long talk with Judson and I really want to get back and get things moving again but we are in limbo for now.
I will have updates from the trip to Finca Vista Hermosa at the end of the month.
The North East Regional Barista Competition looks like a wash right now. The combination of several things made me decide it's not worth entering. That means Judson and I will attend with the gang but no competitors. Simon is not sending Ben either so it's a complete wash. We will all go and cheer on Judson's friend Andrew assuming he competes.
Oh and here is an interview I did for a film school project courtesy of Jason via HB.
Labels: boston, cambridge, musings
¶ Jaime van Schyndel 11:02 AM
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I've been noticing this myself as well.
I don't post half as much as I used to. I don't update my own blog as much as I used to, though that's changing a bit.
I had associated both to my island-like status here in Lubbock, and my lack of work in the industry, where I could at least be active about helping to solve the problem.
Now that I don't feel as down about it anymore, I find myself updating my blog, but still not posting nearly as often as I used to.
I think you're right. There was a large wave of excitement over the past year. At some point, it's gotta come down.
I don't post half as much as I used to. I don't update my own blog as much as I used to, though that's changing a bit.
I had associated both to my island-like status here in Lubbock, and my lack of work in the industry, where I could at least be active about helping to solve the problem.
Now that I don't feel as down about it anymore, I find myself updating my blog, but still not posting nearly as often as I used to.
I think you're right. There was a large wave of excitement over the past year. At some point, it's gotta come down.
I don't post much anymore either... but that's mostly because my ThinkPad died.
Seriously, it seems that most topics worthy of a lot of discussion have been discussed to death. Seems many of the topics at coffeed keep recirculating.
Also, as an owner, I'd add that there's a growing gap between the truly blessed and shops like ours. Many of us can't run out and buy a Clover or Synesso so we can't play around with different blends and SOs like Nick or Alistair or others can. It's simply not good business sense from where we sit. So we can't contribute to those discussions.
We can, however, do a lot with soup. We've filled the quality coffee gap bere in Pgh as well as we can at the moment. The market just doesn't care much about going farther than we have. So now we're going after soup, where there's a considerable local opportunity. So that's what I'm talking about these days.
We'll likely move onto tea shortly and I was interested in a lot of what you guys were talking about in that regard.
Seriously, it seems that most topics worthy of a lot of discussion have been discussed to death. Seems many of the topics at coffeed keep recirculating.
Also, as an owner, I'd add that there's a growing gap between the truly blessed and shops like ours. Many of us can't run out and buy a Clover or Synesso so we can't play around with different blends and SOs like Nick or Alistair or others can. It's simply not good business sense from where we sit. So we can't contribute to those discussions.
We can, however, do a lot with soup. We've filled the quality coffee gap bere in Pgh as well as we can at the moment. The market just doesn't care much about going farther than we have. So now we're going after soup, where there's a considerable local opportunity. So that's what I'm talking about these days.
We'll likely move onto tea shortly and I was interested in a lot of what you guys were talking about in that regard.
It's the slowest time of year, but as new crops trickle in, there is more to discuss for the cuppers out there.
It's the rampant negativity and flaming that really makes it hard to follow any forum conversation right now.
I think, at a certain point, all the techie equipment/modding stuff will come to a point in the forums where there is not much to talk about. We may be getting to that critical mass where there are no real groundbreaking changes in the equipment, only tiny upgrades.
I think the focus must come to green quality at some point.
It's the rampant negativity and flaming that really makes it hard to follow any forum conversation right now.
I think, at a certain point, all the techie equipment/modding stuff will come to a point in the forums where there is not much to talk about. We may be getting to that critical mass where there are no real groundbreaking changes in the equipment, only tiny upgrades.
I think the focus must come to green quality at some point.
i think we're already effectively at that point, where every tiny mod or pimp out gets hacked to death in the forums by nitpickers or tech gurus.
there are a few people who are dominating the most popular forum(s) these days and, some recent evidence to the contrary aside, their domination is one of opinionated taste making. if you don't somehow agree with their opinions you are simply not worth engaging, except as a flame target.
but oh well. i don't lose much sleep over it. it's just part of the confirmation why i don't generally join organized industry communities. they are almost always petty and political.
just do your thing. quality will attract quality without the need for external industry affirmation.
there are a few people who are dominating the most popular forum(s) these days and, some recent evidence to the contrary aside, their domination is one of opinionated taste making. if you don't somehow agree with their opinions you are simply not worth engaging, except as a flame target.
but oh well. i don't lose much sleep over it. it's just part of the confirmation why i don't generally join organized industry communities. they are almost always petty and political.
just do your thing. quality will attract quality without the need for external industry affirmation.
I think we all are in a slow period now, and it's even harder to get motivated when there are no new/great coffee to drink at the moment. But like Jaime said, big things are coming. I look forward to his trip to Guatemala as well as mine to Taiwan. I believe both of us will bring back some goodies to play with for the next few months to come. Stay tuned! =)
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