Cuvee Coffee

My recent travel schedule has been pretty intense lately. After my time in El Salvador, I hopped the bus over to Guatemala where I caught up with the Roasters Guild Origin Trip (a blog and video are currently in the works). I got home on Thursday and had 4 days to catch up with my family before hitting the road again. I had some work to do and our washing machine was broken, but Connor and Cole wanted to play baseball so I set aside time to do that. Rashelle came down with a cold which made leaving again tough, but I made a commitment.

So now it is 4:00 am in Taiwan and my sleep schedule is obviously off right now. I am here to support my friend, Silence Huang, as he prepares to launch his coffee house and barista training center. Silence and I have known each other three years now. We have shared and learned about coffee and I am honored that he invited Cuvee Coffee to participate at the Ugly Duckling grand opening on Friday.

Today, we visited 3 specialty coffee shops in Taipei. It is a magical time here right now. Even though the weather is rainy and cold, it is the New Year and people are out and about all over the city. Every shop we visit, I am immediately greeted with a cheerful, “happy new year.” I have learned some very basic Chinese, but my teacher (Silence) is so good that when I meet and greet someone, they think that I speak the language and are quickly disappointed that I only have 3 sentences in my vocabulary. The shops were all very pleasant experiences. I was prepared for some very bad coffee (based on what I have been told), but I have been pleasantly surprised so far. Don’t get me wrong, there is still much room for improvement just like in the U.S. but so far I have had some great coffee. The highlights have been a very skillfully crafted pour over tasting of 5 different specialty coffees and a stellar shot of espresso from the 2007 Taiwanese Barista Champion.

The night ended with a visit to Eason’s family owned restaurant where we feasted on noodles, fish, crab, lobster, beer and cognac. Silence’s parents and two brothers where there along with Eason’s parents. The night was magical with everyone welcoming me to Taiwan by hoisting their glasses of cognac and wishing me wealth and happiness in the New Year.

I just woke up and I am not able to get back to sleep, but as I check email and catch up on work I am reminded how important and valuable family time can be. I will have been on the road just over 3 weeks by the time I get home. February will nearly be over and I will have slept in my own bed a grand total of about 8 days the entire month. This is family time that I can never recapture. I know that my family loves and supports me, but one of the things that really drove this home was the look on Connor’s face when he opened the office door last Thursday. I was sitting with Rashelle, at here desk, catching up on the previous 2 weeks when the door opened and I saw the most beautiful, excited, happy expression that I have ever seen. Connor did not expect to see me, but when he did he light up and ran to me for a huge hug. It was a moment that I will never forget.

I am building a business and there are times that require difficult decisions. There are sacrifices and I will need to choose them wisely, but I am constantly reminded that my decisions must be made with purpose. I stumbled across this video and as I watched it, my eyes welled up with tears. I love my work and have goals for my business. I am making a positive impact in other parts of the world and in my own community, but every once in a while I am given a gentle reminder of what is most important.

This past week has been great. I am in El Salvador with 3 friends who have never visited a coffee farm. Robby Grubbs, from Local Coffee in San Antonio, Matt Spillars and Stacey from Enos Pizza Tavern in Dallas Texas. We spent the last 3 days visiting coffee farms and processing plants in several regions of El Salvador. I remember my first trip to a coffee farm, what I learned and the feeling I had discovering how coffee is grown, havested and processed. It has been great watching Robby, Matt and Stacey discover this for themselves. We have had some really great discussions and I am looking forward to bringing more customers to visit the coffee growers that Cuvee Coffee is working with.

This morning we did a marathon cupping of specialty coffees with different processing methods, different varietals, and different forms of fertelizer. The highligts of todays cupping was the Pacamara and the Orange Bourbon. These coffees were something special and I am looking forward to their arrival at our Texas roasting plant.

After the cupping, we headed down from the mountains to the coast. We ate seafood at a beautiful restaurant right on the beach. Then we stopped in to grab some coffee at Viva Espresso. We have been staying at the Las Cruces processing mill, but everyone is departing early in the morning so we are staying in San Salvador tonight. Matt, Stacey and Robby all have to catch a flight at 7:45 am to head home. I am jumping on a bus at 6:45 and heading to Guatemala for the next 10 days. I will be visiting some regions that I have never seen so I am very excited about that.

I always see a bunch of stuff online, blogs and such, from people who claim to want to increase awareness of specialty coffee and to create a coffee culture in Texas. What I have learned over the years is that lots of people talk and are quick to criticize, but few take action. I started this business, in Texas, in 1998 and have kept a consistent message for the past 12 years. What others talk about, we do. In the past, I have just ignored the BS from these people. This year the gloves are off. If you are a poser, be prepared to be exposed. For the people that are walking the walk, our doors are always open and Cuvee Coffee supports you.

Sorry for the rant, but it was on my mind this morning...now back the original story. Clancy and I went to Caffe Tazza in Tyler, Texas last week, to be guest baristas. We spent 2 days working with and talking to the owners, employees, customers and reporters to help increase awareness and educate. See the video from the local CBS here

Price increases are a fact of life. From our end, we are paying more for specialty coffee than ever before, but we are securing our long term supply of quality while having a positive impact on the people we do business with, from the coffee farmer to the consumer.

This article is not all that interesting, but I love the very end where it shows the price of a triple grande, soy, vanilla latte is $6.25. No offense to my friends that drink Starbucks, but if people will pay $6+ for a crappy cup of coffee, what would they pay for an amazing cup?

Don't be afraid to charge what your coffee is worth and be proud of it!

When I decided to compete at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s South Central Regional Barista Competition, most people were curious, some in disbelief, but all in all everyone was supportive. I am very fortunate because I have been actively involved in the SCAA for several years. In that time I have formed professional and personal relationships with some very smart, talented and accomplished coffee professionals. I also have the privilege of working next to some of them. The week leading up to SCRBC was a non stop buzz. People were coming and going all hours of the day and night. They were using my training center to practice their performances. Another huge benefit for me. I got to watch and learn from some of the best barista competitors in the South Central Region. Mainly Clancy Rose and Lorenzo Perkins. Watching these guys, learning from them and listening to them was like a masters course in competing at SCRBC.

A brief history of the SCRBC…3 years ago we had about 8 competitors. This was the first SCRBC. 2008 was our second competition and we had about 16 give or take a couple. Last weekend was 26 in all and I must say that this was easily the most skilled group of baristas yet.

Now, back to the point. As I prepared (and I use that term loosely) I worked on my speech, presentation, making drinks, etc. Dan Streetman is a very accomplished judge and he gave me some guidance and suggestions. As did Clancy. I talked on the phone with Ellie Matuszak and got her input. You would think that this alone would ensure a solid performance…assuming a reasonable amount of practice, right? I mean, I make espresso every morning at work. At least 3 a day. I even pour a cappuccino about once a week. The reality is that I am not, nor have I ever been a professional barista. This is a very big disadvantage and one I took for granted. The other huge mistake was in all my practice runs, I never practiced my set up time. I mean, for real? Can it take 15 minutes to put on a table cloth and set up some glasses? The answer is yes, if you don’t have a plan and have not practiced. The end result was no time to pour shots and I ended up serving ¼ ounce espressos…uuugggghhh! The judges kept it real and scored my performance very accurately…not pretty. So other than the horrid drinks, everything went well. All the stuff I practiced worked out so in the end. If I would have practiced the whole package, I might have eked my way into the finals, but all in all, I am not at all unhappy with my 7th place finish. The only thing that really bothers me still is that I did not present this amazing coffee properly. Fortunatley for me, there were plenty of other competitors, using Cuvee, who did a much better job. Including finalist Clancy Rose and the champion Lorenzo Perkins. This leads me to the thing that I am most proud of. Out of the 9 winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd each of the 3 competitions) 6 were using Cuvee Coffee and all 3 first place finishers used our coffee. So what I learned is that it was not the tool, it was the carpenter. If I do this again, I will absolutely practice the whole routine, start to finish and make sure that I represent the coffee as it deserves to be represented.