Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Yoshawn Smith, The Pour Up LA & Califia Farms

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Yoshawn Smith, The Pour Up LA & Califia Farms · Coffee People Podcast

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Now on to the show. Hey, everyone, welcome back to
1:13
the Coffee People podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Wolt, and
1:17
this is the very first episode of season freaking 12.
1:22
This show is presented by Roast, Our Coffee packaging, and is
1:26
part of the Roast West Coast Coffee Network.
1:28
Go to roastwestcoast.com to find recaps of these episodes and our
1:32
Coffee Smarter podcast, and frankly, so much more.
1:36
For four years, I've been using this show to connect with guests
1:40
who have some sort of connection to the coffee industry.
1:43
We've shared the stories of roasters, baristas, farmers,
1:46
scientists, artists, tech entrepreneurs, and more.
1:50
When people ask me to describe the show, I say it's an
1:53
exploration of entrepreneurship and motivation with a dash of
1:57
inspiration that's all wrapped up in coffee.
2:00
Somehow, the coffee is what connects us.
2:03
Our first guest of Season 12 is Yoshan Smith, who has an
2:07
inherently cool title as Barista in Residence at Caliphia Farms.
2:11
He's also the coffee educator behind the Poor Up LA and the
2:15
founder of the South Central Blade Club, which is bringing
2:17
rollerblading and skating back to South Central.
2:21
I've run into Yoshan at several coffee festivals and have never
2:24
been less than wildly impressed by how he and the Khalifia team
2:27
handled their business as baristas in what can only be
2:31
described as a chaotic environment.
2:33
I'm glad he's here on the pod. And while you're listening
2:35
today, be sure to click on the links in this podcast, show
2:38
notes and follow at the Pour Up LA on Instagram.
2:41
You'll also find linksinournewsletter@rosewestcoast.com,
2:45
which you should sign up for. Our newsletter comes once a
2:48
week, and you can listen to this show right there in the e-mail
2:51
if you're not already on Apple or Spotify.
2:53
Like everyone else, today I'm drinking a cup of coffee that I
2:57
brewed as AV60 Pour Over. It's a blend of Columbia and
3:00
Ethiopia from our friends of the show and new collaborators,
3:04
Relative Coffee Company based in Minneapolis, MN.
3:08
More on that collab coming in upcoming episodes.
3:11
And wherever you are today, I hope you have a fine cup of
3:13
coffee, a cold brew, a cappuccino, or if you're lucky,
3:17
all three to enjoy while you listen to this Coffee People
3:20
podcast feature Yoshan Smith of the Poor Up LA.
3:34
My name is Yoshan. At the moment, I am the barista
3:38
in resident at Kalafia Farms headquarters in Los Angeles and
3:45
like the mission right now and coffee for me, it's just to
3:48
bring the coffee aesthetic inequality to places where
3:54
people wouldn't normally think of to have that same quality
3:58
like within Los Angeles. So basically like looking at the
4:01
places where there's like 4 Starbucks within the model of
4:06
each other, right? And it's always a question like,
4:08
why can't we have a better option here, You know?
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So I'm showing people that the better option can either be you
4:15
as as a as a single person or us as a collective to bring that
4:21
better quality to everyone knows, you know?
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That's actually a really interesting way to look at it,
4:27
that you as the consumer or as somebody wanting to start a
4:31
business in coffee, have agency in your community to say I want
4:35
to make something better, even if it's just in my house.
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Yeah. I would like to point out that
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I've met you a couple times in passing at various coffee
4:45
conventions and for my money, you have made the single best
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coffee drinks I've had at any convention.
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I know the convention space is chaotic and hectic and it's not
4:57
a place I would necessarily think of as there's somebody
5:02
here who's got a lot of time to prepare and exact, but you
5:05
somehow make it work and make it seem seamless.
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So I just, I really appreciate that.
5:09
Thank you. You're welcome.
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It's it's noticeable. I wouldn't say it if I didn't
5:13
believe that. You mentioned Buriston
5:16
residents, which is a very cool title.
5:18
I hope they give you business cards of some kind.
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They did. You also have this other thing
5:26
called the Pour Up LA, where I see that you do like barista
5:30
training and kind of take that role further into the community.
5:35
I'm wondering if you could tell us how that got started.
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Yeah. So that was due to like the lack
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of trying to find Barista's to work well at the shop that was
5:48
working at before. And then I've realized it was a
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problem for like almost every shop I knew people that, you
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know, it was always like, hey, do you know someone who wants to
5:58
be a barista or want someone who wants like a job and coffee?
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And the only people I was able to contact were the same 10
6:05
people I know who already have jobs at coffee shops, you know,
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So I, I narrowed it down to like, the reason why we can't
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find anyone, it's because during the pandemic, people got paid to
6:17
stay home, right? A lot of the service workers at
6:20
the time were like, why would I go back to doing that job?
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Why not have an opportunity to do something else?
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So now this, the shutdown is over, people are back to their
6:29
lives. There's not enough baristas out
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there, enough social like service workers out there who
6:35
actually want to do the job or people who are willing to like
6:39
learn how to do it. Because due to like intimidation
6:44
of shops, because you go to a small shop, it would be busy due
6:48
to like failure to like multitask, which is a big deal
6:53
in the service industry, especially like behind the bar
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and like the lack of ability to socialize while working, which
7:01
is also falls into like the multitask.
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So I took it into my hands like, well, what's the problem, right?
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There's not proper barista training out there.
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I mean, there is, but the price is out of reach for most people,
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you know? And also, like, you have to
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travel if you're in South Central, like I am, we have to
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travel to North Hollywood, right, to get any kind of like
7:24
barista training. And that's, again, out of reach
7:27
for people, especially for people who work.
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So I just asked the questions like, hey, well, what would
7:34
people be down to? Like, come to some classes if I
7:37
teach them, you know, and I'll just have some homies show up,
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we'll teach it together. Could we all have different
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perspectives of what's going on? Because in the end, everything
7:46
is subjective. As long as people have a grasp
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on what to look for, they can get it and do it well on their
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own. And if they want to enter a shop
7:56
atmosphere, they can do that, too, you know, because now you
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have 4:00 to 5:00. Professionals who've been doing
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this for a while to vouch for them, you know, like, yeah, they
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did. Then they get into class.
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They pulled Gray shots of espresso.
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They understand what they're looking for.
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The latte art needs some work, but most shops.
8:14
Lots of our new work, you know. Is this something where coffee
8:20
shops themselves should be offering this type of training
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or hiring out you to send people to?
8:26
Or yes. Yes, hire, hire me.
8:29
Absolutely. The the first thing I thought of
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was like when I was a younger person, which is a long time
8:37
now, I would start a restaurant or hospitality job and there'd
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be quite a bit of training. And then as the years went on
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and expenses got more or costs got cut, that training sort of
8:49
went away. And it's always been important
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to me to provide, to create a situation for employees who
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where they can succeed. But I think now it's more common
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for people to, on their first day to kind of get thrown to the
9:03
wolves. Yeah.
9:04
See how you how you handle it. But then they never really build
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a foundation. Is that something you think
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coffee shops should be doing? Yeah.
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And is it reasonable? To sorry, sorry to interrupt,
9:14
but is is it reasonable financially to ask them that?
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Oh yeah, definitely. Because how I mainly learned was
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I was just thrown to the wolves like most of the people that I
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know, with the exception of like 2.
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And that sucks. So when I had people come into
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the shop where I work, they were like, oh, you're training this
9:35
person. I was like, OK, well I can't
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teach you anything right now 'cause there's 20 people walking
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through the door. So just watch what I do and keep
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up. And that's hard.
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That's hard to do, you know? So right now, like having
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something, having an opportunity like this to be able to consult
9:51
and train people is a great idea for shops.
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And what I'm looking at right now through Kalafia is to
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initiate a training program, which shops are already used
10:01
their product. So it's just like, hey, if you
10:04
think your baristas need more training, right, they can come
10:07
to, they could come here to the headquarters on these days and
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train with me or I can go out to your shop and train them on
10:15
site. You know, and it benefits
10:18
everybody 'cause in the long run, it's like clientele can go
10:22
up, right? People can get more excited
10:25
about going to the coffee shop and experiencing this whole new
10:29
array of, of talent there, you know, or someone might discover
10:33
something new about themselves was like, I don't know, I can do
10:35
this, you know, or like, like a lot of baristas now I, I see it,
10:41
they like get the job. Like, oh, of course the job,
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whatever. No minimum labor job.
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That's what they expect until they get behind bar where it's
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like, you're the only person there.
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There's 10 people at that door. You got 20 drinks on the bar.
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You can't call for help. No, you got to freak out and
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cry. Or you can work through it and
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get it done like a boss. No, anybody.
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Yep, I can do this now, you know, but that.
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But that only comes with like training.
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You know, if you know your if you know your way around the
11:14
bar, you know the bar flow, you know how to handle multiple
11:17
drinks at a time and stuff like that.
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You know what to look for. You know your espressos on
11:21
point. Your batch brew is like done
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already. You gotta keep that flow going.
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But I just can't happen on the fly anymore because it's not,
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it's not the atmosphere for that time is over.
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So now like training is something that should happen for
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most shops because it would help out.
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Now, like I said, not only the shop, but the baristas as well.
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You can also offer it to people, to customers, right as a public
11:47
event. That way you can find new people
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to work in the industry or be a part of the industry.
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Makes finding help a lot easier that way.
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It's just something to engage with people more when it comes
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to events, you know, here in LA, like we have throw downs, Same
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people have to throw downs, you know, and it's like we'll see
12:05
like a couple of new faces, but you know, it's like usually the
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same people. So having more people showing up
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and knowing about this world that we do live in for coffee,
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they're like, oh, what? I had known that.
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It's like, oh, how did you find out?
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I went to a pour up a coffee class and I told us about it,
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you know, and it'll just be amazing.
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Like right now I train people, mainly friends.
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They're always asking questions, always have answers.
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If I don't have the answer, someone else I know has the
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answer, you know, but and they like, they see that and they
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appreciate that a lot because it helps them out and it helps them
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grow as baristas in this industry.
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Like even though they're independent, they're constantly
12:45
asking questions and growing. That kind of makes me want to
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rewind a little bit and ask a little bit more about you,
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Yashan, you know, did you have a first experience with coffee
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that you kind of remember or got you started down this path?
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Yeah, surprisingly enough, I was working at the Pie Hole here in
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the Arts District. Yeah, dude, I was working at the
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Pie Hole and they had their coffee program through Clatch.
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You know, the Clatch was like a well known name at the time.
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And I remember the manager making herself a pour of her and
13:23
she left, she drank it, left her cup there.
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It was there for like 2 days. And I was like, why isn't this
13:27
cup washed? But it just smelled like sugar,
13:32
right? And me and a couple other people
13:34
were confused like why is this cup smell like sugar?
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She explained it to us and I was like, oh OK, that makes sense.
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So, and a lot of people are going to laugh at this, but this
13:46
is also the time right before a handsome coffee close.
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So I went to handsome coffee and my friend was like looking for
13:56
sugar and cream. He has they're like, no, no
13:58
sugar, no cream. You have to drink the coffee
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like that. And their face is like, I don't
14:03
want to drink this coffee like, like how it is.
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So I took a sip and I was like, yo, this is, this is pretty
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good. Now I want to, I want to know
14:13
more about this, you know, 'cause I come to this pie shop
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to serve pie and wash dishes. No, I came to learn some stuff.
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So I'm going to learn what I can about this coffee stuff.
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And that's why I started benching out more to it from
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like those two little experiences, you know?
14:28
That's an interesting customer service thing too, where they
14:31
refuse to give you the thing you want because they think they
14:33
know better. And in this case they kind of
14:35
do. But also they're forcing you
14:38
into a tough spot that that first coffee drink without, you
14:42
know, that you drink raw, as I guess you could say.
14:45
So you start there, you're at the pie hole, you taste a couple
14:49
of coffees. You think I'm going to learn
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more. What's the path?
14:53
Where does that take you to eventually you become barista in
14:56
residence. Yeah, like, well, after that it
14:59
was just finding others who are also out to do this, you know,
15:04
And that came with the second or third wave of employees I worked
15:12
with at the Pie Hole where they actually cared more about the
15:16
coffee then like trying to look cute behind like a bar with the
15:21
apron on, you know. So we're like, alright, let's
15:23
figure this out, let's figure this out.
15:25
Let's dial in the espresso. Let's see what what drinks work
15:30
best with what milks. So we were like doing the
15:33
experiments before before like we were even told to do.
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So, you know, that's when I offered the training at class.
15:39
Oh, Clash does training for $400.
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And of course the question came like, are you all going to pay
15:45
for us to go? No, you're not OK, cool.
15:48
We're going to do it here when we get paid to work and do what
15:51
we do best. And then after that I was good
15:58
friends with some of the people at Tierra Mia and downtown as
16:02
well, which Tierra me is another like big coffee Starbucks style
16:07
company, but they started off as like a specialty coffee coffee
16:12
company, you know, start getting to know people at Tierra Mia
16:16
trying stuff out. Then when I started working
16:19
there, it was like, OK, what can we do now?
16:23
You know, it was the question was why do, why do I go to
16:26
another Tierra Mia? This pour of it doesn't taste
16:29
the same as the one we make here.
16:31
This, this small milk drink doesn't taste the same as it
16:35
does here. Like, why is that?
16:37
You know, then we see people taking the easy route and people
16:40
like the people I was working with actually taking their time
16:43
to care more about the drinks. Well, alright, cool, let's
16:47
figure this out. Let's do this more.
16:48
And we got people coming in now excited because their drinks are
16:52
tasting better. They get this whole experience.
16:54
No, I'm sorry, talk to people down the street at Verve and
16:58
other local coffee shops. We're sharing recipes and stuff,
17:02
you know, So our poor risk became more unique.
17:05
Our cappuccinos became more unique.
17:08
We stopped putting. We stopped putting like hella
17:11
sugar and drinks, you know, like we just started leaning towards
17:15
flavor and less and less sweetness.
17:17
Started making funky little drinks for people that if you
17:21
hear it, it wouldn't make sense. But we put in the cup and drink
17:24
it. You're like, damn, this is nice.
17:26
You know, like green tea. It was a shot of Express on top.
17:31
That's tight. People don't know about that,
17:33
but that's really good. Like, yeah, so it was there and
17:36
then it goes down. Just finding those ways to just
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help people out, you know, and just like, keep this coffee
17:42
thing going in a way where it makes sense for not only me, but
17:46
for everyone I'm around. What happened when you hit
17:51
roadblocks, I mean, or you came to a skill set that you were
17:55
like, I don't know how to learn this.
17:57
It sounds like you guys were you in particular, you were
18:00
intrinsically motivated. You're, you're driving yourself
18:03
to do this without necessarily a guaranteed reward from say, your
18:08
boss or your job. At that point, you're just,
18:10
you're trying to uplift this thing.
18:12
When you hit a point where you were like, I don't know what to
18:15
do next or this is a skill that I, that nobody's here to teach
18:19
me. Where did you go?
18:21
How did you push through that? Oh man, that's that happens.
18:26
That happened a lot. We'll just sit back, sit back
18:31
and wait it out, you know, because my thing is like, if
18:35
it's not happening now, don't force it could then it wouldn't
18:38
happen the right way. So yeah, we'll just take our
18:40
time. Wait until like the universe
18:43
says, all right, let's fix this for you, you know, and lo and
18:47
behold, we had a problem with dialing and one espresso at
18:52
battery, I think. And it was just like, you know
18:54
what? We can't figure this out.
18:58
Espressos not dialing in, the grinders clogging up the batch,
19:03
brew tastes like shit. So let's figure this out.
19:07
Take a step back, chill out for a minute.
19:10
And I was like, you know what, we're going to figure this shit
19:14
out ourselves. Looked on YouTube no, and
19:19
figured out the grinder situation.
19:21
Got a different coffee for everything.
19:23
Switched everything up in like 20 minutes, got everything going
19:26
like a tip, like a Band-Aid on stuff.
19:28
So just when nothing goes through or it looks like it's
19:32
not going through, we just take a step back, let it do what it
19:35
does. You know, either it's going to
19:37
happen, it's not going to happen, but if it doesn't
19:40
happen, then it's going to happen later regardless.
19:42
No, there's never like a plan A through B.
19:46
We have a plan A through Z and like one through 100.
19:49
No, there's always a backup for something.
19:51
But if something I, I personally can't do, I'm glad now I have a
19:56
network of people who know what to do if I can't do it.
20:01
And they, I think they know as, as I feel the same way about
20:04
them. If they can't do it and they had
20:06
to ask me, then it's a real issue, you know?
20:10
But we're going to get through it together.
20:12
The Festival Experience Coffee Festival is you're setting up a
20:17
new bar essentially every every event that you go to.
20:21
You're in particular, it's noticeable at the at the
20:25
Caliphia, Caliphia, Caliphia. I never know which way to say.
20:30
Caliphia. Caliphia at the booth.
20:34
I feel like you're known for latte art.
20:36
How do you keep that consistent time after time after time when
20:40
you're essentially working in a temporary space?
20:44
We treat it like a shop. So I've only worked the high
20:48
volume like settings. And to me it's never, it's never
20:57
OK to take a shortcut with service stuff, right?
21:00
Food and drinks, no shortcuts. Because that's one, that's how
21:05
you lose clientele. And two, it's like it's the easy
21:07
way for someone, something really bad to happen, you know,
21:12
always imagine, like imagine the cook in the back taking
21:15
shortcuts to prepare your meal. That's how you get sick.
21:19
Like no matter how busy it is, no, that's not OK.
21:23
So even with drinks, it's like if we if we're slammed that
21:27
we're going just keep it going, you know, But it's also the
21:31
baristas I work with those three, Nick, Tyler and Kat at
21:37
they were anyone else. We would not be too.
21:42
It would not be where we were. And I, I know that like there's
21:45
a few other baristas I know, yes, she does.
21:48
A lot of the reasons I know here in LA that can like handle it
21:52
and they're always down to help too.
21:54
But us 4, we do get it going really well.
21:57
We know our stations, we know what to do.
22:00
Like right after you left LA, like the booth at La Coffee Fest
22:04
on that first day, we got like 8 drinks up and man, they could
22:08
just bam left and right slamming them out, you know, consistent
22:12
pours, consistent shots. Even if we didn't mess up on the
22:15
poor, we just redo it, you know, and something like to
22:19
communicate as well to the customer.
22:21
Oh, it wasn't right. Let me redo it.
22:23
Oh, it's OK. Like, no, it's not OK for me.
22:25
You know, that's what it's all about.
22:27
Like we, we're mainly doing for us to keep ourselves in check,
22:32
but we also want the, the Expo gore, the customer to have a
22:35
good experience too, you know, being an Expo, whether it's at
22:39
an Expo the size of like SCA or like Expo West or smaller ones
22:45
like Coffee Fest or like a Shamrock show, it's gonna be the
22:49
same thing. Like I'm going, we're going to
22:51
push out that quality because that's what we will want, you
22:54
know, and that's what we're going to give the Expo gore of
22:57
the customer because it just makes more sense for us, you
23:00
know. The name the Pora?
23:03
Where does that come from? What does that mean?
23:06
You know, just coffee pouring up those lattes, pouring up them
23:10
drinks something one of my good friends at at the last shop I
23:15
worked at bought you a coffee. He always said no.
23:19
He's like, oh, yo, Sean with the pour up.
23:23
Oh, on the drinks. Alright, cool.
23:25
That's what it is. You know, it's gonna be that
23:28
that's that's I love it. I love that.
23:30
Like it makes more sense. You know, the original design
23:33
for it too was like a pitcher, like a milk pitcher.
23:36
But you know what? Let's just take that out, put
23:38
the words you know, and it works out and people see it and they,
23:42
they know what's up now. They recognize that I, you know,
23:47
I'm thinking back just a moment ago when you're talking about
23:50
your partnership with the with the other baristas.
23:52
And there's this. When you're on a team or when
23:56
you are working in hospitality, I have always found that there
24:01
is this kind of dance between employees and you start to learn
24:03
each other's movements and how they move.
24:06
And even you kind of referred to it.
24:08
But if you bring someone else in who's just as good, but they
24:11
move in a different way, it can throw everything off.
24:14
How do you work? With somebody to develop that
24:18
sort of relationship, is it just like time and effort or is it is
24:22
it a natural chemistry that you think you have with some of your
24:25
colleagues? To be honest, like I think the
24:32
people like the way it works is just like trash talking, right?
24:40
Like if you are on the bar with somebody, y'all can trash talk
24:43
each other without someone getting upset.
24:46
It works, you know, and like that plays into like just having
24:50
a conversation with somebody while working.
24:52
If you can do that, you got it. But we just manage.
24:56
Could we? We just know what's going on.
24:57
It's like it's like a sixth sense in a way, you know, and it
25:02
works out. If someone's like hey, I just
25:04
want to pull shots, that's cool. No, just keep it going.
25:07
But I know once they walk away, like if I walk away for a second
25:10
or they walk away for a second, I know they're going to steam
25:13
that milk and I'm going to pull that shot if we need to and
25:16
we'll just hop right back into it and keep it going.
25:19
There has been times where we'll have someone like the the
25:23
salespeople for the booth hop in and I just be like, don't worry,
25:27
I got it. Like, we got this, you know?
25:31
It's like when the boss shows up and wants to help out and you're
25:33
like, you know, it's just easier if you don't.
25:36
Just stay on register bro. It's OK.
25:38
We don't need you anywhere near this machine.
25:40
Just stay on the register. When I was getting ready for
25:43
this conversation, I saw that you have this other world, this
25:48
other life in skate culture. It's skate culture, LA.
25:53
I'm one the South Central Blade Club, which I was kind of
25:58
watching some videos and you as part of that, you you have this
26:01
whole series where you ask people what you know skate means
26:05
to them and you kind of delve into a little bit about mental
26:07
health. How do those two things overlap
26:09
for you? What is you know?
26:10
What is being a skater mean to you?
26:13
It means a lot to me. Skating as a kid was away from
26:18
me. Just go outside.
26:20
No, sometimes either with my friends or by myself, you know,
26:25
But every time I was out skating, like I never had a bad
26:32
moment, like per SE, like I can, I can fall, get hurt, but at the
26:37
end of the day, like I felt good about it, you know?
26:40
It was never something to take away.
26:43
I never knew it. I never knew it as something to
26:45
take away stress from me. It's just like a way to relax
26:49
really, you know? And it was always great.
26:53
So I was asking those questions. It was during mental health
26:58
awareness month and it's during the time of like, like skating
27:04
is one of the sports where people don't talk about stuff
27:06
like that. You know, it's always like, hey,
27:08
what's up? How you doing?
27:09
As in put most things that I'm good, whatever, but no one
27:12
stops. Like are you alright?
27:14
You're not scanning, not scanning as good as you should
27:17
today, you know, as you usually do everything good, you're good.
27:21
You know, you mess up on the warm up trick.
27:24
What's going on? You want to talk about it?
27:27
You know, we could do some push ups, have a conversation, figure
27:30
it out. You know, RF like when I like
27:35
when I have the classes, why have the outside class and when
27:38
we just having skate sessions, people be like, oh man, oh, now
27:42
I'm just it's just a hard day. No, I just got to go skate.
27:46
Let's go skate. You know, we'll go skate, talk
27:49
about it, get some tricks in, chill.
27:53
No day goes better. You know, it's a therapy session
27:56
for everyone. You know, having that freedom to
28:00
have wheels on your feet and just glide around is tight.
28:05
I would never. I would I want to trade in for
28:06
anything else really. You mentioned classes, skate
28:11
classes. I haven't been on a pair of
28:14
roller skates since like 7th grade and even then I was only
28:17
doing it to try to like give a paper flower to another girl in
28:20
the client. Can a beginner show up to a
28:24
skate class and get started enough that they think they can
28:28
do it a second time and a third time?
28:30
You know what's what's a skate class like?
28:34
Oh yeah. So most of our classes are that
28:38
it's just beginners, you know, I'll put a call out for days.
28:42
We are having skate classes and the times and stuff like that.
28:46
And people like if you need skates, let me know.
28:48
What if we have a size for you? We have a size if we don't, so
28:51
come hang out, see what's going on, you know, but most people
28:54
are either people who haven't skated in a long time, salt
28:58
skating on the Internet when they get into it, but then know
29:01
how to or where to go are people who are just at the park not at
29:06
the moment like, oh, I want to try cool, got skates.
29:09
If you got if we got your size, you can skate with us.
29:11
We're running through the paces. We'll do the basics and stuff
29:14
like that. I always let people know you
29:16
will fall and it will not feel good, but you can't let the
29:21
concrete win, you know, because if you do that, just stay home
29:27
because like, it falls apart of it.
29:28
And people see me as like this professional skater by telling
29:35
even you can be the best pro in the world, you still fall, you
29:38
know, you still get hurt. And that's just a part of the
29:42
whole sport. That's any sport really now.
29:45
I mean, you get hurt walking, but you still keep walking.
29:49
Well, there's something to be said for falling and knowing
29:52
that you can get back up. You know, it's, I'm not not
29:56
encouraging violence in any case, but you know, if you get,
30:00
if you get, if you get hit by the concrete or you get hit by a
30:02
punch once and you get back up, you know that you can.
30:05
And once you have that knowledge, it makes it a lot
30:07
easier to go further, go bigger, because you know that you've got
30:12
some grit in you that you're willing to do that and get up.
30:15
Yeah. I saw that you did a toy drive
30:18
as part of the skate group. Are you going to be doing
30:20
something like that again this year?
30:21
We're just as we're getting into the fall, I suppose.
30:25
Yeah, we hope so. Right now we've been dealing
30:28
with a lot of like red tape with this new newly like designed
30:35
skate track at our local park because I don't know, we don't
30:39
know why. It's just been a hassle, but we
30:41
finally, we finally got it open. No.
30:44
So skate classes can happen again.
30:45
So skate classes this Saturday at Kernel Leon Washington Park
30:51
from 4:00 to 6:00. Yeah, we finally got it open.
30:54
So, like, the thing now is since we have a designated area, we
30:58
can have a toy drive there rather than having it at a skate
31:01
park. You know, that was always the
31:05
idea, like the whole point of the classes at this park, we're
31:10
to bring more the community out and see what's capable at the
31:14
park. And with this, like with this
31:17
like roadblock, like you're saying earlier, with this
31:19
roadblock, we just let it ride out.
31:21
It was going to figure itself out.
31:22
It did because other people were pissed off.
31:25
And now we can have the toy drive there, we can have back to
31:28
school drives there. We can have little like
31:32
barbecues there. You know, it's open space now
31:35
and now the community come out and enjoy it, No.
31:38
So yeah, we will be doing another one.
31:39
We're going to partner up with our good friends PC Pico, a
31:44
skateboard brand, and hopefully some other rollerblade brands,
31:50
Item clothing, Intuition Skate Shop and probably Dim Skates.
31:55
What do you want to try to make it make it a nice one this time,
31:57
you know. Is this something that you are,
32:03
it's just something you do? Or is this like, are you trying
32:06
to make a living both in coffee and in skate?
32:09
I mean, there's this like something that you you see as
32:12
your future career. Coffee is the career.
32:16
Skating is something I've done since I was 11, for the last 22
32:24
years. I'm 33 now, yeah.
32:25
So 11. Skating for me has never been
32:28
something I was looking forward to.
32:30
Like I can make money off of this 'cause I think that would
32:33
be something to take the fun out of it, you know?
32:35
But it'd be nice to get paid. But at the same time, it's like
32:42
I don't have, I don't have much time to just go skate like that,
32:45
you know? And yeah, so like this, the
32:49
coffee thing will always be the career, but the rollerblade
32:51
thing, it's something I just love doing.
32:54
And I want other people to see that there's join that sport
32:57
too. Which is also why the classes
32:59
are free, no? Yeah, get more people involved.
33:04
Yeah, get more people involved the right way you come out,
33:06
there's no commitment. Like you don't have to show up,
33:09
you know, because you're not paying for anything, you know?
33:13
And I think that that resonates more with a lot of people.
33:16
So it's just something that's going to keep going.
33:19
We've been going four years strong now.
33:20
I'm hoping to just do it more and more, get more tracks built,
33:24
get more people outside, especially for like the summer,
33:28
not during this ridiculous heat wave we have right now, but you
33:31
know, just in general, you know, because you can do it any time
33:35
of the year. I want to roll back around to
33:38
coffee. I use the word rollback around
33:40
on purpose because of the scape. Just pointing that out to
33:43
everyone for how my brain's working.
33:45
It's called. It's called fakey.
33:49
When you look back and you saw you see your coffee experience
33:52
and how you had to kind of push through and learn on your own.
33:55
If there was somebody now who just got a job, they're behind
33:58
the counter and they're they're starting to learn coffee, what
34:03
is something you would give? Tell them what sort of advice
34:05
would you give to that person as they're considering moving
34:09
forward in their own coffee experience?
34:12
Well, first I would ask if they need help because I would jump
34:14
back there in their heartbeat to help out somebody who's trying.
34:18
Second is like don't ever be afraid to ask questions.
34:21
You know, the more questions you ask, the more answers you would
34:25
get. And I know that sounds weird for
34:29
some people because coffee is like a gate kept industry for
34:33
some reason, right? But yeah, like when someone
34:37
needs help, do I am there. Like I said, other people are
34:40
there. Don't ever stop asking questions
34:42
because there's always an answer to something, you know, and
34:48
sometimes people don't know, like why two hours after you
34:52
dial in that the espresso is going to shit because they don't
34:56
understand. Like it changes, you know,
34:58
there's things happening in that grinder and with that coffee
35:01
during that time that's not going to be the same as it was
35:04
two hours ago. You know, it's never got to
35:06
figure this out. Let's figure it out together in
35:09
that way. When I'm not there with someone
35:12
else, is there? You can figure it out by
35:13
yourself, No? So it's just those little helps
35:16
reach out of hand. No, give it, give a hand back.
35:20
Help people out one day at a time.
35:23
No, it's just that's just the best way to go about it.
35:27
I'm looking at you as the expert in using oat milks and almond
35:32
milks and the products that they're using.
35:34
Their latte art with alternative milks has traditionally been
35:38
looked at as a pain in the ass by baristas.
35:43
Any tips for baristas out there who are trying to do a better
35:47
job with their oat milks because it's a high demand product these
35:51
days? Yeah, so don't steam your
35:54
alternative milks like whole milk.
35:57
It's not the same thing. Whole milk has more fats in it.
36:01
Alternative milks have less fats.
36:03
So if you stretch it too much, you're not going to get what you
36:07
want. The idea I have for oat milk and
36:10
almond milk is don't do it from 1:50 to 160.
36:14
Do it from 1:45 to 1:55, right? You want that milk to be warm or
36:19
somewhat high enough to just drink immediately.
36:22
Bring out those natural sugars, work with it.
36:24
Pay attention to what's going on.
36:26
This is when your sight, hearing, and touch on the pitch
36:31
are all going to come in handy. Now, if you're hearing too much,
36:34
you're stretching too far. If you're not hearing enough,
36:38
you're not stretching enough, right?
36:40
And if it's getting too hot, that means either you're
36:44
touching with your fingertips and not your palm, or that's the
36:48
ones too close to the wall. So just be careful because you
36:51
can burn alternative milks. People don't know that you can
36:55
burn those milks. Those sugars were burned out
36:57
here by, oh, it just tastes like, oh, yeah, out the window,
37:01
you know? Yeah.
37:03
Mix accordingly. Like once you get it right, it's
37:06
easy. You know, I I'm Steven stuff
37:09
here where it's like this shouldn't even you shouldn't be
37:12
able to steam this stuff and it just goes.
37:16
The same method applies. Like just remember that this is
37:19
not the same as the last thing you steamed.
37:21
This is totally different. Now just figured out light
37:25
stretches, not big stretches, 'cause people would man, walk
37:31
into a shop. You hear that?
37:33
You hear that noise? You're like, Nope, what is that,
37:35
whole milk? Nah, it's oat milk.
37:37
Nah, take it away. As somebody who's done some
37:43
really impressive clouds latte art, I can't quite relate to the
37:47
skill set, but what did I not ask you today?
37:51
What? What should people know about
37:53
your efforts in coffee or in life generally?
37:56
And life and coffee, like we try and keep everybody moving
38:02
forward. And coffee, you know, I don't
38:04
know about most places, but here in LA, it's a tough industry.
38:08
You know, we, if you're in a small shop that's not in the
38:12
area where it's like saturated with coffee shops, it's tough.
38:16
You know, it's tough, but it also gives you more time to be a
38:21
better barista. Do that, like focus on what
38:24
you're doing, focusing on craft, compete more.
38:27
I think more baristas in Alay should compete more, whether it
38:30
be in a throwdown or just any other coffee competition.
38:35
You know, it can help you out if you if you win or lose, it
38:38
doesn't matter. The point is you tried, you
38:40
know, and trying is never a bad thing to do.
38:44
And also in life, like, yeah man, I'm always up to help
38:48
people. I'm always down to like see
38:49
people do better. No, trying to use my
38:52
opportunities to give other people opportunities, making
38:57
sure like shops treat their workers properly.
39:00
Let I'm always constantly letting people know, like as a
39:03
California employee, you have rights, you know, you know, So
39:06
if you ever need some like legal work advice, shoot me Adm and
39:12
I'll tell you exactly what you need to do.
39:14
No, but right now I'm just chilling.
39:17
This is my this is literally my first time not working six to
39:23
seven days a week in like the last decade, you know?
39:26
More time to skate. More time to skate, more time to
39:30
get kids on skates, more time they just hang out, you know,
39:34
and focus on everything else. Yeah, man, that's basically it
39:38
right now. Just big chilling.
39:41
When you are taking that extra day and you're you're let's say
39:45
you're out skating and you stop at a coffee shop and it's new
39:49
someplace you haven't been, but it looks like it.
39:51
You know they're doing an all right job.
39:52
What are you going to order? Oh, I get the the trio.
39:56
The trio at any new shop is always the thing they get.
39:59
That would be an espresso, a pour over or just a batch coffee
40:06
and then a cappuccino. And the reason for that is you
40:11
get that espresso, you can taste it.
40:13
OK, it's good, right? There's some things in there
40:16
could be better. That's like these are questions.
40:19
These are conversation starters for the barista pretty much.
40:23
Oh, what's on batch today? Oh, it's just not.
40:25
Oh cool. It's like a mini roast or a dark
40:28
roast, like a blend. Great, right?
40:30
That's easy espresso or what's not espresso today, you know, is
40:34
the what kind of process is natural process wash honey like,
40:38
oh, tougher questions start coming in now.
40:40
They they try to figure out the answers too.
40:43
But if it tastes, they're not now always going to end up, oh,
40:45
does it taste good? Yeah, it tastes good.
40:46
It tastes great. You know, it's a little acidic,
40:48
It's a little stringent. You know, it could be, like,
40:51
loosened up a bit. Don't let it flow a little bit
40:54
more. I was like, cool, what's the
40:55
time in that? Like, oh, I didn't time it.
40:57
You should probably time that. Yeah.
41:01
And then it goes like the cappuccino, right?
41:03
The cappuccino is the milk drink where if it's not good, anything
41:09
past that size is not going to be good without sugar.
41:12
I'm not the only one. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only
41:14
one who thinks this. But that's like at the
41:16
cappuccino is not good at a new shop.
41:20
It's not going to be like I'm just going to pass on it most of
41:23
the time, you know, or am I give it another try because it could
41:26
just be the barista having a bad day or something, you know?
41:29
Yeah, I have this policy that if I have a bad experience in a
41:33
shop, I don't, I wouldn't like write a review or do you know,
41:37
go out and say I had a bad experience because I don't know
41:40
what was happening in that shop that day.
41:43
Whereas if I have a good experience or a positive
41:45
experience, I'd like to share that because I'm optimistic.
41:49
It's pragmatic optimism that it's going to be good again.
41:53
And there's plenty of people out there that'll tear a place down
41:57
and, you know, rather be somebody bringing the place up.
42:00
What would make you go back to a shop then?
42:02
Is it just the pure quality or is it the experience?
42:05
I mean, how does that what makes you go, man?
42:08
You know what? I'm coming back.
42:11
It'll be it'll be the experience most of the time because again,
42:15
like in LA, we don't have many shops are like the wow factors
42:20
here, you know, but the places I frequent now are more like, I
42:25
know the shop owners are no people who work there.
42:29
So it's kind of like cheating in a way.
42:30
Like it's not fair. Kind of when I walk in like my
42:34
drink is probably going to be better than the last persons,
42:36
which is OK. But at the same time it's like
42:39
it's it's not, it's not fair. But if I'm going to the shop
42:42
where I know absolutely no one there, the atmosphere is great,
42:47
the presentation of the drink is great, the setting, the music
42:51
and all that stuff is on point. And my drink tastes like dirt.
42:58
I'm gonna be like, well, damn, like you almost had it.
43:03
But I will also ask the question like, hey, what express are you
43:07
using? You know, what milk are you
43:09
using? If I got opened, like what brand
43:10
are you using? You know, and I want to hear
43:14
these answers. I'm like, OK, that makes sense
43:16
now. So then I wouldn't be upset.
43:18
But for her like oh, it's a medium Guatemala, whatever.
43:24
We're using Calafia oat milk and this now like oh OK, do you need
43:30
some help? I can help fix this Cause the
43:33
drink wasn't that great you know?
43:35
That sounds to me like the perfect customer for the pour up
43:39
right there. Yep, that's the thing I can help
43:42
with. But other than that, like
43:45
certain places I would go, I don't, I don't drink ice drinks,
43:48
you know, in certain places I would go and if I like the
43:52
coffee, I would get ice drink. I would get like an espresso
43:55
tonic or something like, oh damn, this is nice, you know, So
43:59
that would really make me go back or just like, like I said,
44:02
if it's not for the aesthetic or the mood of the place where it
44:05
feels more welcoming, I would definitely go back for the
44:08
quality of the drinks, you know? I want to say thank you for
44:12
spending this time with me, especially in the middle of the
44:14
day. I certainly appreciate it.
44:17
I also appreciate, as I mentioned, you know, the
44:19
excellence that you show at at the events that I've seen you
44:22
at. And it sounds very clear to me
44:24
that, you know, you're trying to pull that through the rest of
44:26
your life as well. And so anytime there are people
44:30
in coffee trying to uplift other people, I certainly appreciate
44:32
it. Thank you.
44:35
I appreciate that. I appreciate you checking this
44:37
time as well. This is good.
44:48
OK, some quick key takeaways from the podcast today.
44:52
Very quick actually, considering Yoshan's an inspiring guy.
44:56
I wrote 1000 words just in notes as I listened back to the show.
45:00
For starters, if you want something, you can get it, but
45:03
you're going to have to work for it.
45:04
If you're intrinsically motivated, you can achieve even
45:07
more when you reach out to collaborate.
45:09
Yoshon has been tapping into a desire to bring quality to his
45:12
community by helping educate and uplift.
45:14
Others will then also have a higher expectation for the
45:18
quality of coffee and hospitality experience right
45:21
there at home. Then, when the confidence has
45:23
risen, the experimentation begins, creating a more
45:27
well-rounded coffee experience for all of us.
45:30
Yoshon brought up socializing while working early in the list
45:33
of things he identified as challenges for baristas early in
45:36
their journey. As a former bartender, I will
45:40
vouch for the fact that it's a real skill to manage your
45:43
workflow while also engaging with the humans.
45:46
It isn't a requirement for making a great cup of coffee,
45:49
but it is the difference between creating a product and providing
45:52
a hospitality experience. Most people don't remember
45:55
service that is accurate. You remember the feeling of
45:58
connection that occurs when a barista or a bartender or a
46:01
waiter adds that dash of hospitality that leads to warm,
46:05
fuzzy emotional connections both to a business and to that cup of
46:09
coffee. Other thoughts from today's show
46:12
include that sometimes it can be valuable to pause and let a bit
46:15
of awareness seep in. It may help you decide on the
46:18
next steps. And As for mental health, we all
46:21
need outlets. We need to find that thing that
46:23
gets us into a flow state outside of work, be it skating
46:27
or cycling or crafting or brewing a cup of coffee.
46:30
Something that lets our brains relax and leave room for problem
46:33
solving and perspective shifts. Something that's going on in the
46:36
background. Sometimes for me it's riding a
46:38
bike. If I'm not riding or my bike
46:41
riding isn't bringing me joy, I know something else is off
46:44
kilter in my life. Being good and being all right
46:47
are two different things, so be sure to know where you are.
46:51
Yoshon was talking about skating when he said quote, you will
46:55
fall and it will not feel good. End Quote.
46:57
But I think that is true of so much more than skating.
47:00
Accepting falls as part of the process allows us to learn how
47:03
to get back up, making it easier and easier to push beyond where
47:07
we thought we were capable of going.
47:09
Learning to get up is just as much a scale as being good
47:12
enough to prevent the fall. That's our show for today.
47:16
You can tap into a longer recap in our newsletter at
47:18
roastwestcoast.com. And be sure to follow Yoshan at
47:21
the Pour Up LA on Instagram. All those links are in the
47:24
podcast notes. And if you're listening on Apple
47:27
or Spotify, please tap the follow button and give us as
47:30
many stars as you feel we've earned.
47:32
Or if you're like me, an analog human being, tell a friend about
47:35
the show. It really helps.
47:37
I'm always telling friends about Roast, our coffee packaging
47:40
found at rostar.com. They are this podcasts
47:43
presenting sponsor and they'll help you tell the big story of
47:46
your small business. They've been an incredible
47:49
support in enabling us to develop this platform where we
47:51
share the stories of coffee people.
47:53
We also have other great coffee industry partners including
47:56
Zumbar Coffee and Tea, Maria Coffee and Cape Horn Green
48:00
Coffee, Importers, Crossings coffee and Hisaya coffee, source
48:03
Ignite coffee company, Ascend coffee roasters, me and my uncle
48:07
Coffee craft 42 roasters, relative coffee and cozy Canine
48:12
coffee. Before I go, if you're
48:14
listening, Alvin Kim, Congrats on the new gig.
48:17
And to everyone else, thanks for being here.
48:19
More info on that relative collab is on the horizon.
48:23
Thank you for listening, for sharing this podcast, asking
48:26
questions and being coffee curious.
48:29
This show, the Coffee People podcast is part of the Roast
48:32
West Coast Coffee Network and this episode is was has been
48:36
written, produced, researched and recorded by me.
48:39
Ryan Walt, wherever you find yourself today, I hope it's with
48:42
a fine cup of coffee. Thank you for listening to us
48:45
tell the stories of Coffee people.
48:48
Cheers everyone. If you are in the early stages
49:02
of your coffee journey, we want to support you.
49:05
Check out the Coffee Smarter Education podcasts.
49:08
Coffee Smarter is designed to enable coffee drinkers to brew a
49:11
better cup of coffee at home, and Coffee Smarter Pro covers
49:16
industry specific topics for baristas, roasters, shop owners
49:19
and aspiring coffee professionals.
49:22
You'll find both shows on your favorite podcast Latforms or on
49:25
our website at coffeesmarterodcastcom.