So I wanted to set the record straight on a few things. Not because I need to strengthen my ego (really it’s ok) and not to boast, but because we live in a world that at times seems to be controlled by the Ministry of Misinformation, full of those that actively wish to deceive and those that are well practiced at the sin of omission (deadly, right?).

Over the past decade Intelligentsia has introduced a number of ideas, concepts and practices to the Specialty Coffee Industry. It is my hope to illuminate when and where each of these things began.

Direct Trade

We were the first of any roaster in the world to codify the system of Direct Trade as a purchasing model with clear guidelines that reward quality and pay increasingly better prices to coffee growers around the world in a clear, transparent, traceable, model. Our first coffee purchased this way was La Maravilla from Huehuetenango, Guatemala in 2003. The vast majority of our coffee is now purchased this way. Other roasters in the US and around the world have adopted this model. Most of them call it Direct Trade too, some with good intentions and execution and others without (see Ministry of Misinformation above). We hope those doing it right continue to do so and those doing it wrong decide to do it right.

Seasonality

We first introduced our In Season initiative to the world of Specialty Coffee in 2008 at the SCAA show in Minneapolis. We were the first roaster in the world to have a clear set of parameters that defined green coffee seasonality as it relates to how far a coffee is off its harvest. Since that time a lot of other roasters have introduced seasonality into their offerings or are considering doing so. If this is done effectively, consumers will no longer perceive coffee as a commoditized “box of cereal” but rather as the marvelous, valuable, seasonal produce that it really is. This can only increase the perceived value of the coffee as well as the actual value of the coffee and will reverberate from source in the form of better prices to the producer all the way to the consumer who will be willing to pay for freshly harvested in season coffee.

The Micro-Lot

We introduced the term and the concept of the Micro-lot to the Specialty Coffee industry public for the first time in November of 2005 with our Colombia Cauca Almaguer Micro Lot produced by Alciabiades Garcia. This revolutionized the industry on many fronts from the specificity of lot separation, to the prices that a grower would be paid for a coffee to what the consumer would be willing to pay for coffee. Although Cup of Excellence offered this idea in the form of an auction, we pioneered it as an ongoing part of a successful Direct Trade buying model. Many roasters, exporters, and importers worldwide now offer Micro-lots on a regular basis.

Latte Art Throwdown

For a $1 entry fee on a rambunctious Friday afternoon in our lunchroom in Chicago the idea of the Latte Art Throwdown was born. Andy Wickstrom took my money that winter day. We sprung the idea of one pour, under pressure, for prize money during the SCAA show in Long Beach in May of 2007 at our Los Angeles Roasting Works amidst a lot of wine and beer and Taco Zone tacos. Since that time the concept of the throwdown has taken on many forms worldwide, but certainly hearkens back to an evening that is hard to forget in some ways and hard to remember in others.

Each of these except for the throwdown have the potential to change in a very positive way how growers are remunerated for their coffee as well as how the consumer perceives and values and in turn is willing to pay for coffee. Not a bad record for the past decade. Lookout next decade.

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.

“On the brink” is a place I’m not much good at. I cannot stand limbo and would prefer to just get on with things. Most often this has served me well, but occasionally it can get me into trouble.

The opening event for our Venice coffeebar was this past Friday and we are (ahem) on the brink of opening the store. The party overwhelmed all of us as the line to get in stretched to a block long. (I must say I am thrilled that this many people were curious enough to check things out.) In order to open, we need to pass our final inspections and the Department of Water and Power (it is ominous-sounding for good reason) needs to provide the necessary power. Exactly when this will be, no one can quite say. It’s soon, that’s for sure, but not soon enough. The last week or so has been absolutely infuriating for reasons that I will not disclose here. (Please ask me privately. If I have seemed a bit gruff, you now know why.) The crew for Venice looks to be spectacular and they appear ready to go. Check ‘em out at intelli.la.

There are a few other things on the brink. Stay tuned. It may be a bit. I think I can wait.

Our new crop Direct Trade coffees are now no longer on the brink. With El Machete, Panama and La Tortuga, Honduras both released and many more to shortly follow, they are off to an absolutely flying start, landing sooner and fresher than ever. We have begun importing our coffee ourselves and thus far it has gone swimmingly well. Not only are we guaranteeing our growers great prices for great coffees through our pioneering Direct Trade program, but importing and financing our coffee ourselves provides an even greater degree of transparency and logistical control that allows us to land carefully selected Direct Trade coffees months sooner than if we were using outside importers. This work ultimately delivers real seasonality to as reflected in our Intelligentsia In Season program.

What does this mean to you? You will see our new crop Direct Trade coffees landing months sooner than before. Roasters that are still reliant upon importers are in many cases still offering last year’s Centrals.

Intelligentsia Imports is another decisive step in the right direction.

On a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles…

Tick, tock. Another Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) show has passed. Like other years, this one was a blur, but a blur off a different kind. The show is always a time to see all those you know from the far-flung places that make up Specialty Coffee. My first SCAA show was in Minneapolis, some 12 years ago. It is odd to go from wide-eyed observer to (perhaps overly) seasoned observer in this span of time. It is refreshing to see the Barista culture and youth (including an always positively restless George Howell, demonstrating that youth is not a reflection of chronological age, but spirit) driving change. I remember being awed by the big names in the industry and wondering how we as a start up would find our way. Lately, it seems we are beginning to.

For the first time I feel like we really executed on what promise we have as a coffee company. There was a knowing, positive fruition of our efforts from the way our coffee and espresso (Black Cat and the Single Origins) tasted at our booth to the way we presented our new Black Cat Project and Intelligentsia In Season initiatives to how we fared at the United States Barista Championship. The only other person that has seen this process from then until now is my trusty compadre Geoff Watts (and my wife Emily who founded the company with me but as of late has moved onto an endeavor much more charming than our business and her name is Scarlet). Clarity of purpose is nice and like any other business owner can tell you, we have made our fair share of mistakes. Some of them twice.

Geoff (Intelligentsia’s Coffee Buyer) and I had some nice talks during the show, which we rarely have given the rigor of his travel schedule outside of the country and my time between the different pieces of what we do in the United States. I happen to like Geoff. In our work together I am confident we have both found times that we have been thrilled to be working together and others when we have been incredibly frustrated with each other. Lately it has been the former. In both of our cases we have been figuring it out as we go along, and I finally think we are getting to the point of being the professionals we had always hoped to be.

I remember our first trip to origin together, and I must say where he has taken things with our work at source is far beyond what I (and I think he) imagined possible. That said, I think we both know we are just getting started.

And to everybody that helped to get us to where we are now, I am deeply grateful. I have watched a lot of you grow up (some quite quickly in the past couple of years) and it has been immensely gratifying watching your efforts shape an industry. It hasn’t been easy. But man, it sure has been fun.

I hope I can stay I can be as invigorated about it as George Howell is now for 20 more years. That could be nice.

I’ve just returned from a buying/information gathering trip to Brazil. With our trusty sidekick (or were we his?), we traveled about 1,000 car-miles to meet various producers and to visit their farms and mills. We also patronized some original and booming coffee bars in Sao Paulo. (Oh my.) It has been too long (over a year) since I traveled to a producing country, and I can say without reservation that it is the most rewarding work we do. The potential in Brazil seems to be virtually endless… so much coffee with so many different profiles that it could take a lifetime to sort through it all. When the process of finding what we are looking for is complete, I truly believe that it will revolutionize what is possible in a particularly finicky segment of Specialty Coffee. The ability to craft coffees in Brazil from the ground up through our Direct Trade model, as we have in so many other countries, will again change the course of possibility. Let the digging in begin.

It’s hard to believe it is upon us… The World Barista Championship. I am heading out to Tokyo on Friday and will be there for a week. I am sure I will have some stories to tell. (I may even bring my camera, who knows?) I return on Friday and then head to the opening of our Silver Lake coffeebar, which is slated to open at 6:00 A.M. on Tuesday August, 7th. I am looking forward to the dream-like haze that the jet lag will supply.

For the most part, I love being on airplanes as in today’s completely connected world, air travel seems to be the only place in society where you are allowed to be legitimately out of touch (with the possible exception of being off the grid somewhere at source). I’ll certainly get some reading done on a flight that is only 13 hours and 21 minutes direct from Chicago O’Hare. I am also eager to reconnect with the great people that define this industry in a place that I have heard pleasantly described as otherworldly and fantastic.

In other coffee news, our new crop Direct Trade Centrals are arriving (and thus far have been stellar) and we have a Yirgy in our midst that I scored a 97 and averaged a 95 from our Quality Control Team. It is Direct Trade in transition and will be Direct Trade next year. It is perhaps one of the best coffees I have ever tasted (honestly). It is a coffee that is intellectual yet, eminently drinkable. We should see it, and all of the Centrals, in our stores in the next couple of weeks. We have also been tinkering (= constant, ceaseless improvement) with Black Cat Espresso formulas recently and I think you will soon see something that will be utterly remarkable. More on that as it develops…