I have been at this awhile now, with many gray hairs among those still left to tussle each morning. I see photos of myself these days and ask, “Is that really me?” I look a bit weary as a lot has passed in this last twelve months (and the 42 years before that) and we have certainly gotten to places I never expected or even dreamed of. As much as I ask,” Is that really me?” when I show up for some of the things we do and events we put on, I also sometimes feel as if I am outside of myself. I ask myself “is this my life?” and “when did all of this transpire?” and “how is it possible that we got here?”

Such were my feelings as last week’s event unfolded in Colombia. The Extraordinary Coffee Workshop was utterly remarkable in so many ways. The coffee growers we work alongside of in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala all flew in to Cali, Colombia to attend the three-day event. (Some of the fine folks from some quality exporters were there, too.) We shuttled between Cali, Popayan and Finca Santuario in the Cauca Valley in Colombia. We spent time discussing a wide range of topics from how quality assurance works at Intelligentsia, to fertilization, to how the producers’ coffees will be marketed and sold, to a very engaged home brewing seminar that everybody seemed to absolutely love (it doesn’t hurt to have the vim and vigor of Sarah Kluth’s presentation style either), as well as a walking tour of the farm that left everyone soaked after a drenching rain. Some of wandered off the path on that tour, got lost and even more soaked, but were then found and redirected by a stoic (but later smiling) soldier from the Colombian army. All of this was marvelous and gratifying, but really only (at best) half of what was great about this event.

Like most everyone who goes off to university or travels extensively around the world will tell you, the most interesting stuff happens not when things are planned but when they just happen. At meals, over drinks or a game of sappo, you could see the growers connecting and sharing excitement and knowledge in a way that I’ve never seen before. We always wondered why producers seem so glad to see us when a farm visit is made. It is because they are seldom, if ever, visited by others in coffee. It is because they are largely isolated, toiling for the most part in obscurity, never really connecting with anyone like them. They finally got to talk shop and work on their “game” with others. They may have started the week out as strangers, but they certainly left as friends looking forward to picking up where they left off next time they see each other. A number of questions were answered. A lot more were asked. With each step forward we learn how much we know and more importantly how much more there is to know.

The void, the gap between where coffee is grown and where it is sold just got a little bit smaller. Next year in El Salvador during harvest with this same group of growers and hopefully a few more, all friends, another tiny piece of the void will disappear.

If you read this on Sunday June 7th, I am somewhere in the air heading toward Cali, Colombia to the 1st Annual Extraordinary Coffee Workshop. The event will be held in both Cali proper and at Finca Santuario in the Cauca Valley. Twenty Direct Trade growers from around the world are joining us for an Intelligentsia hosted four-day event to foster better coffee through workshops, seminars (including home brewing and espresso), farm tours, a cupping competition (with their coffees), and of course through the many conversations that will be had over meals and a few beers. This is the first event of its kind put on by a roaster, and we are very excited about where it might lead. While Finca Santuario is hosting this year’s event, it will move to another country and farm or cooperative each successive year.

In other breaking news, I know I didn’t get it quite right on my last guess on the opening of our new Venice coffeebar. Well, this time I will. We will finally be opening in Venice (at 1331 Abbot Kinney) on Monday June 8th at high noon! Typical hours thereafter will be Sunday – Thursday 6am- 10pm, Friday 6am – 11pm, and Saturday 7am – 11pm. The place is looking beautiful and it really should provide a coffee experience unlike you’ve had before. I hope to see you there.