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…

Early morning flight today: 6:00 A.M. from Chicago to Los Angeles. That only means that I am already here at O’Hare at 4:30 A.M. Not much good about that. As you may or may not know, I am the founder and CEO of Intelligentsia Coffee. The purpose of this blog is to hopefully illuminate (for even just one person) the challenges, frustration and satisfaction that one finds in running and growing a high-end (boutique?) coffee roasting company with both wholesale customers and one’s own coffee bars/retail stores. Along the way there may (or may not) be some commentary on restaurants, inevitable ramblings about my daughter (Scarlet, now 5) and wife Emily, as well as general commentary on Chicago and Los Angeles, two cities that I enjoy for rather different reasons, perhaps beyond the obvious.

As it stands, we have three coffee bars in Chicago and a roasting facility (Roasting Works) in Chicago. We have been working on opening a coffee bar in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and a Roasting Works in the Glassell Park neighborhood. The process of opening in Los Angeles has been a bloodletting in terms of both time and cost. To say that getting through the licensing process in Chicago is comparatively easy, only reflects on how achingly slow and disorganized the various public departments are in L.A. Each should open in the next 30-60 days, power and permits, ahem, permitting. We have been working on them for almost a year. But as they say, hopefully the juice will be worth the squeeze. I think it will be.