Cuvee Coffee

Eno's Pizza Tavern (Dallas Texas) and Local Coffee (San Antonio) travel with Cuvee Coffee.

I love Top Chef, Iron Chef and the Food Network. This was where I first saw Chef John Besh. I remember avidly rooting for him to win. The reason was simple, his personality. I have never had the pleasure of eating at one of his restaurants and all of the chefs were very talented, but I could totally relate to his humor. Rashelle makes fun of me and calls it a “man crush”, but the reality is that I found his personality to be similar to my own. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to serve coffee at an event for Mr. Besh, here in Austin, Texas. The event was at Parkside (another great restaurant) and there were about 75 people in attendance. I had the opportunity to meet John in person and I have to say that he was no different in person than he was on T.V. He was friendly, funny and extremely approachable. I admit that I was a bit nervous as most of the celebrity-type folks (and particularly chefs) that I have met in the past have been borderline arrogant and left me disappointed. Chef John Besh was the exception to my previous experiences. We chatted about coffee and he mentioned his interest in specialty coffee and “chasing the perfect cup.” I was super impressed with him and his business partner and can say with all certainty that next time I make it to New Orleans (which unfortunately is not very often) I will be making a reservation at one or two of his restaurants!

It was Christmas Eve and Clancy and I were invited to do a very short segment about some holiday coffee drinks. All in all, we had a great time, but we encountered a few "obsticles" along the way.

I carried in the La Marzocco GS3. While Clancy was carrying in the Mahlkonig K30 grinder, the hopper came off and the coffee (that was in the hopper) spilled out onto the ground. Not a big deal except that was all the coffee I had.

Once we got inside, there was a table set up. Unfortunately, the table was going to be in some of the shots, so we moved it into a back room to get everything hooked up. The espresso machine needed to be plugged in as did the grinder. Once we got settled, Clancy ran to pick up Lorenzo Perkins so that they could get some coffee from Caffe Medici. This turned out to be a huge blessing. The thought was that we would set everything up, then move the table from the back room to the studio before our live broadcast. What we did not realize is that by the time we set the table down, it was nearly time to go live and we did not have any power to the equipment. Lorenzo jumped to action and grabbed an extension cord. Rashelle crawled on her hands and knees over to the table, being careful to stay out of the view of the camera. She handed Clancy the cord so he could plug in the espresso machine. Then he told her that he needed another for the grinder. She ran and got another cord that Connor ran over to Clancy and he got the grinder plugged in right before he needed to start pouring espresso. It was total chaos and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do, since 2 of our 3 drinks were espresso drinks.

All in all, it was a great experience. It was fun to watch the crew interact when they were not on the air. They were all very interested in what we did and made us feel very welcome. Kate Wiedaw, Shawn Rutherford, Debra Wynn (hope you got your espresso machine for Christmas), Kipp McCubbin, Chric Wilderson and John Thomas were all awesome and help keep me from loosing my mind while I fumbled our way through. Here is the youtube video.

We all hear the buzz words…green, sustainable, organic, etc, over and over. These terms were created to describe a new idea. A new way of doing something, different, better. A word with a mission and a meaning. It seems to me that these words have been used so much and have now turned into a marketing tactic and lost their original intention.

In the world of coffee roasting, I am observing the same thing. Words like “direct” and “relationship” were created to describe the purchasing of some pioneering, specialty coffee roasters (Counter Culture Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee, and Stumptown Coffee). These companies supported a new way of sourcing coffee. One with a mission and a meaning. Now it seems that these words start to ring hollow as many coffee roasters are using them as nothing more than a marketing tactic. My observation is that some roasters are using the term with no understanding what it means; while others are shamelessly trying to mislead the consumer into thinking they are something they are not. Justifying (in sketchy ways) words like “direct” or “relationship” to describe sourcing coffee is now minimizing the terms original intent. One example is the SCAA Roasters Guild Origin Trip. This trip (and I have been on a few as part of the Roasters Guild Executive Council) is by all means an incredible way to experience coffee origins in an organized and controlled environment. The trip is full of learning and interacting with farmers and other roasters. This by itself is wonderful, but here is how it gets warped. Joe Roaster goes on an RG origin trip and visits a farm. He learns about the farm, the processing, and the farmer and snaps some photos. Maybe even one with him and the farmer together. Now he goes home and asks Jane Importer if he can buy a couple bags of coffee from that farm. Voila, the marketing machine is in place and that coffee is now a “direct trade, farm direct or direct relationship.” Total (insert expletive)! That is not at all what those words were created to describe. It is sad to see a new breed of dishonest coffee roasters popping up all over the place. And it is quite disrespectful to the people that blazed a trail for the next generation of specialty coffee roasters.

In all fairness, there are a handful of specialty coffee roasters that are following the lead of the 3 pioneers, and I am not referring to them. The rest know who they are. Here at Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company, these terms and words mean something. It takes a substantial investment of time and money to build a business based on working directly with farmers. It also takes an infrastructure to allow someone to be out of the office a total of several months over the course of the year. I know from my own experience that until I had a few people working for me, I would have never been able to spend 4 out of 6 weeks in Peru and Brazil, like I did this past summer.

One of our stronger, and constantly developing relationships, is with Jose Antonio Salaverria in El Salvador. We have been buying his coffee for the past 3 years, and he was kind enough to visit us 2 weeks ago, here at our Austin, Texas coffee roasting and training facility. We are currently working on a couple of processing and lot sorting projects with him. As I write this, I am preparing to book my flight to El Salvador. I will be spending several days with Jose Antonio between Thanksgiving and Christmas in order to plan for the upcoming harvest.

Cameron, from Caffe Medici, was kind enough to put together a short video montage of Jose Antonio’s recent trip. Once again, just more proof that when we say direct and/or relationship, we mean it!

A good friend stopped in yesterday. His name is Justin Sinclair and he is a kick-ass sound guy and tour manager. He came to see us at our old place in Houston one day and we developed a friendship over the last couple years. He comes in telling us stories about his tours, and the bands are the who’s who of rock…Red, Seether, Three Doors Down, Thriving Ivory, Trapt, and Creed. The band he is working with now is Like a Storm. The guys are from New Zeeland and two band members are brothers who used to own a coffee shop in NZ. Anyway, Justin used to catch grief from the bands because he carries a “coffee kit” complete with press pot, Baratza grinder, scale and of course some specialty coffee from Cuvee Coffee. Even though the guys make fun of Justin, they always drink his coffee so I guess he gets the last laugh. I bet the band is drinking a press pot as I write this. Justin always visits the great coffee shops while he is on tour and relays his experience to us. The band stayed the night in Austin and the guys from Like a Storm were kind enough to autograph some CD’s for me and Clancy. The 10:00am trek to the Cuvee roasting plant was a bit early for them so we did not get to meet in person. Apparently the boys prefer the crack of noon, but I guess that is the life of a rock star! Clancy and I are heading to the Scout Bar in San Antonio to see Like a Storm rock on Sunday night. Maybe I will have Clancy autograph a copy of Barista Magazine for the band…