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Bonus: Nick And Ryan Drink Coffee In April · Coffee People Podcast

0:01
Yeah, good morning. I can hear you just fine.
0:03
Sweet. I decided to wear sunglasses
0:06
today because last time it was cold and it was winter and I was
0:09
bundled up, but now it's April and it's summer in California.
0:17
Sliding into your screen is not just any coffee can, it's a
0:20
Rostar coffee can. You don't need thousands
0:24
Personalize, just one in Rostar's design lab.
0:27
No design experience needed. Choose a pattern, add your logo
0:31
and text, or create something memorable.
0:35
With AI being made in the Midwest, you can expect it on
0:39
your doorstep in no time. Now that was smooth.
0:46
Hey there everyone. I'm Ryan Wolf, the host of the
0:48
Coffee People and Coffee Smarter podcasts.
0:50
Both shows are part of our Roast West Coast Coffee Network and
0:54
presented by our collaborative partners at Roast, Our coffee
0:56
packaging. You can find them online at
0:59
rostar.com. You'll also find that link in
1:01
our show notes or on our newsletter at
1:03
roastwestcoast.com. Every so often, my friend Nick
1:07
Schmidt and I connect on a video chat and have a cup of coffee.
1:11
Nick is the specialty coffee ambassador over at Rostar, and
1:14
we're often catching up when he's either out exploring the
1:17
world of coffee or has just arrived home.
1:20
We catch up on company business, share some of our favorite
1:23
recent coffee shop experiences. We talk about the coffee
1:26
industry at large and generally just have a casual coffee hang.
1:31
It's fun and we decided to start recording them, mostly because I
1:35
was forgetting to make notes about our actual work stuff.
1:39
So if you haven't poured yourself a fine cup of coffee
1:41
yet, how is the time? I've got mine.
1:46
Thanks for watching and welcome to Nick and Ryan Drink Coffee.
2:14
How's your morning today? Good.
2:16
Yeah, I just had a coffee with Mike and Renee from Fire Dancer
2:20
Coffee Educators. I don't know them.
2:24
Oh, they're, they're another education partner of ours.
2:26
They're in like the Chicago area.
2:28
Wait, you have other partners? Hurtful, but OK.
2:35
They're fun. You'll you'll get to meet them
2:36
at they'll be at SCA. You mean the world coffee?
2:41
Something, something, something that was in the press release I
2:45
received this week? Yeah.
2:47
Not changed for this year, but I think changed for next year in
2:51
San Diego, which first of all, it feels a little personal that
2:55
as soon as I'm getting ready to move, they announced that
2:58
they're going to have next year's Expo here when I won't be
3:02
here. I don't know if that was because
3:04
of me. I don't know what the motivation
3:06
was, but selfishly I feel like it was my because of me and now
3:11
I won't be around. I have a feeling you'll you'll
3:14
find your way back there for the show.
3:17
I hope so. Is that a mint?
3:20
No, it's my breakfast. It's a dark chocolate peanut
3:22
buttercup. Oh.
3:24
I have one with my coffee every morning.
3:26
Is that the Trader Joe's sunflower one?
3:29
No, I'm being sugar conscious. So it's from a brand called
3:34
Skinny Dipped. Unsolicited shout out.
3:36
Maybe I'll have to beep it out or see if they'll send us some
3:39
free dark chocolate peanut butter cups.
3:42
I saw the name change and I thought it was just kind of an
3:45
interesting, an interesting timing to drop that like a month
3:49
before or a few weeks before Expo as it's known now,
3:55
especially when there's kind of all this, there's all this.
4:01
I don't want to say it's not backlash.
4:03
It's just there are people who have started to cancel their
4:06
trips to Texas for Expo this year.
4:09
You're seeing a lot of social media content.
4:11
Now, whether that'll bear out in reality, but like the idea that
4:16
some people are unhappy about the Houston location because of
4:19
Texas's history with certain groups of people or their
4:24
political environment. Now the tariff situation causing
4:29
a lot of people to really look at their expenses and reconsider
4:34
maybe taking a trip in the middle of of the spring.
4:39
It seemed kind of like, hey, here's some news that is not
4:42
that and we're going to drop it and see if people pick it up.
4:47
Whether that worked or not, I would say as suspect, but it
4:51
kind of felt like that to me. Yeah, I've, I don't know, I
4:56
honestly, the name change, I don't think that's bad news at
5:00
all. I I mean, it's a pretty global
5:03
thing already, at least to my US brain.
5:06
It feels very global compared to other coffee events too.
5:10
I mean, there are, you know, there are a lot of times when
5:12
you run into somebody and you're like using a translator app just
5:15
to have a conversation like if it feels appropriate, but you
5:20
have the timing. Yeah, no issues with the with
5:23
the name change at all. Just the timing of it kind of
5:26
felt like it felt like something they might have announced at SCA
5:29
or at Expo or right after. But they seem to maybe push it
5:33
out to at least for a minute, stop a new cycle of people
5:37
going, hey, we don't know about Texas or we don't know about
5:41
this event at this time in history, which is, I think,
5:45
valid and and fair. But you don't just know all the
5:50
different languages. I just kind of assumed.
5:55
I've got one language that I speak really well, and then bits
6:02
and pieces of other languages that I when I try to make a
6:05
sentence, I'll turn into one multilingual sentence with nouns
6:12
from nouns from French. Just no.
6:18
I worked really hard taking some Spanish lessons before last
6:22
year's Expo and in hopes that I would be able to use a little
6:26
bit more of it, you know, when talking to people and in
6:29
particular from Mexico. And obviously I live here in
6:31
Southern California, although my need for Spanish is much less
6:35
than I would have guessed. And then I, when I talk to
6:40
someone who's a native speaker, I just immediate like it's like
6:44
my brain shuts off like immediately.
6:46
Like if you're not telling it to me the way the owl does and
6:49
Duolingo, it's I'm not processing.
6:52
I'm getting like every 10th or 15th word.
6:55
The pace is just so much faster and harder to keep up with.
6:59
That stupid owl just haunts me in my dreams.
7:02
And like right now I'm kind of in a, I'm in a middle period
7:05
where I'm not, not as aggressive every day.
7:07
So he's getting mad at me and it's just, it's brutal.
7:13
Oh boy. But I'm trying.
7:15
So for when I make that next that next trip somewhere Spanish
7:21
speaking country, hopefully for coffee, I'll at least have some
7:23
basics down. You mean like 20 minutes?
7:25
SI guess it's a little further up where?
7:29
You are. It's like, yeah, depending on
7:31
traffic, it's either 35 minutes or six hours or just kind of
7:34
depends on the situation. It's like going to I, I live
7:37
like kind of in that middle place between Tijuana and Los
7:41
Angeles. And so no matter which direction
7:43
I go, it's either 45 minutes or six hours.
7:47
You just, and you won't know until you're on the road.
7:51
When we get back from Expo, I'm judging the Hussea Roast Wars
7:56
competition, which is in Anaheim, which with no traffic,
8:01
4550 minutes, easy drive up to 5.
8:05
I have to drive up and back three days in a row from my
8:08
house. And if last year was any
8:13
indicator, two of those days, it'll be great.
8:16
I'll make it in about an hour each way, no problem.
8:19
But on one of those days, and I don't get to pick which one,
8:21
it's going to take four and there's just nothing I can do
8:24
about it. So that means you have to
8:26
prepare for the four hour day every day, every day because you
8:30
don't you, I can't be late. I got to be there on time.
8:33
You kind of figure it out, kind of make sure the dog is taken
8:35
care of. And so that is just part of of
8:39
traffic. When my brother moved here to
8:41
Encinitas, which is only 10 miles from my house, he would
8:46
call me up like, randomly on like a Friday afternoon and be
8:49
like, hey, do you want to come down and, like, play pickleball
8:51
or something at, like, 4:30? And I'd be like, no, like, it's
8:55
going to take me two hours. Like, there's no way I'm driving
8:57
at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon at the five.
9:01
It's not something I'm going to miss.
9:03
I mean, I know there's traffic everywhere, but it's one of the
9:05
few things I'll be like, yeah, I'm OK with something a little
9:09
less hectic. Yeah, I think when you and I had
9:13
our coffee, you know, we started like kind of near the San Diego
9:16
area and it was maybe 40 minutes of driving in total to get up to
9:22
like near where you live. That drive home.
9:25
I don't think I ever told you this.
9:27
Oh my gosh. It it took me a a good hour and
9:32
a half, probably closer to two hours to get back to San Diego.
9:35
It was, it was horrible. I always encourage everyone just
9:38
to take, you know, the one and drive through the small towns it
9:42
because it's gonna take the same amount of time.
9:44
There's just, I mean, even at 30 miles an hour, 15 if that's the
9:49
case and it's at least you get a nice view and you get to kind of
9:52
experience what it's like to live coastally.
9:55
We're we're right in this wonderful time of the spring
9:58
where we have beautiful weather every day and we're just sort of
10:02
waiting for that. It used to be called June Gloom,
10:07
but now it's like May Gray, that May Gray will hit and we'll just
10:10
have these foggy, foggy mornings and nights, so foggy and and
10:14
misty that it feels like you're getting rained on, you know,
10:17
when you're out. And that that'll last for about
10:20
two months. It clears up and you get, you
10:22
know, a couple hours of sunshine every day.
10:24
You know, so it's not nothing to complain about, but it's still
10:27
just a really, it's kind of like reverse summer for, you know,
10:30
everywhere else in the country. Anything new and exciting.
10:34
I saw a cool little video you did this morning with the Coffee
10:36
Chronicles. Is that your attempt to replace
10:39
Nick and Ryan? Drink coffee?
10:42
Hopefully it adds to instead of taking away.
10:46
There are there have been quite a few little videos like that,
10:49
so I actually don't even know what one you're talking about.
10:52
This one was with Wisco Joe. Oh, yeah, yeah.
10:55
That, you know, we, we had to take advantage of the beautiful
10:58
weather outside. Yeah, just a.
11:01
Few snowballs. I I laughed.
11:03
I thought, this is great. Like you should just do this all
11:06
the time. What do they need me for?
11:08
Which I shouldn't say out loud because someone might actually
11:11
agree with me. Is that something you've been
11:13
doing a lot of? You don't even know what you
11:14
said. You don't even know which one.
11:15
You have someone doing it for you, which is nice.
11:18
Like putting them out? Yeah, yeah.
11:20
I don't, I don't post them actively.
11:23
I do, I do on our Instagram. I engage with a lot of people.
11:26
Like I just keep up to date on customers and comment on things
11:30
and like things. But I don't actually post those
11:32
videos. But yeah, I, I actually just
11:35
went to to the site of SCA Houston a couple weeks ago and
11:41
did some little videos at a handful of different coffee
11:44
shops there. If you just saw that roast
11:49
magazine put out the inside. So that is kind of a like a
11:55
guide to the city. I mean, there's a lot of stuff
11:57
like restaurants, nightlife, but coffee shops is a big one.
12:01
So I went out there and I like went to not all of them, but
12:05
most of the coffee shops that are on there, their list of
12:07
recommendations. And so we'll be sprinkling out
12:11
some little coffee shop suggestions for for one year in
12:14
Houston. That's kind of fun.
12:16
You're not going to be down in Houston for the Expo.
12:19
Or you are. I'll be there.
12:20
Yep, I. Was going to say it's kind of
12:22
fun that you get to go and do it like without the crowds, you
12:25
know, without the people looking at those recommendations and
12:27
then come back and see what it's like again.
12:31
Actually, we should say Rostar has a booth at Expo.
12:35
I think it's booth 9/19, which I'm going to be doing interviews
12:40
ad every morning, Friday, Saturday.
12:42
I know you're setting those up for us, which I'm super pumped
12:44
about, but also anyone who shows up at the booth while I'm there
12:49
and is can show us that they're subscribed to Nick and Ryan
12:52
drink coffee or rose to West Coast or any of that stuff.
12:56
I'm going to have a little Santa sack of goodies to give away as
12:59
well. So if you're listening, we'll
13:01
see you at Expo. I had like this dream of coming
13:06
into today's conversation of just like winging it and like
13:09
just having fun. But then like things kept
13:11
happening and kept, I kept seeing things and I actually
13:14
made a list. But I was really thinking of you
13:17
the other day because you go to a lot of coffee shops as as many
13:24
or more than I do, which is rare because I go to a lot of
13:27
different shops. But I do have a local shop that
13:32
I've been going to for like 7 or 8 years pretty consistently.
13:37
I try to get there as often as I can when I'm home.
13:41
And the other day when I was in there, I realized this might be
13:46
the last time that I'm here. You know, unless I make a
13:49
concerted effort, I'm just not going to be around in this
13:51
neighborhood much longer. And so I felt a little weird
13:57
about it. But I, there's one particular
13:59
barista who I've, you know, become friendly with over the
14:02
years. Obviously he's working.
14:05
I'm a customer. So it's, you know, it's a little
14:07
bit of a, a barrier there. But I felt like the need to say
14:11
thank you for your service and, you know, compelled to say
14:13
goodbye. I'm wondering if you ever feel
14:16
that way or if that's something that you can relate to since,
14:21
you know, you do go to so many places, it's harder to get back
14:24
to one place over and over again.
14:27
Yeah, that's, I mean, that's definitely true that IA lot of
14:30
the shops I go to, I go to like once.
14:34
I mean, also just being in in WASA, we, we don't have like
14:40
that many options. You know, I've been to every
14:43
coffee shop that's in WASA. Yeah, I think being on the road,
14:48
it's definitely an interesting feeling like, especially when
14:51
the experience is really special and knowing like if it's, I
14:55
mean, if it's somewhere that I'm going to be back again, like in
14:57
like in Lai have one coffee shop that I go to every time just
15:03
because it's just, I don't know, something I've established
15:05
something I like doing, but I've never really had to like say
15:09
goodbye to a coffee shop except for when I worked at one, when I
15:15
worked at Starbucks really, Cuz that was, I mean, I was there
15:18
for quite a while. Like I got really intimate with
15:20
customers, you know, I knew everybody very well and I, I
15:24
experienced like customers leaving or moving away a couple
15:27
times. And it was, I mean, it's like,
15:32
it's got to be sad, like being on, on that side of it, moving
15:35
away and like leaving a place that you care about so much.
15:37
But also I think the fact that it got special in the 1st place
15:40
is cool and like knowing you'll be back to like some of them
15:45
eventually, maybe again, even if it's a year from now versus the
15:48
like weekly trip that you usually take.
15:52
I didn't even think about being on the other side of it because
15:55
I've been on that side a lot in my life as a bartender, even as
15:59
some barista where you get engaged with.
16:02
There are some customers, believe it or not, that you like
16:05
to see more than others. And if you're if you're not sure
16:11
if you're someone that the the team likes to see, maybe you
16:15
should think about a little bit more of how you're behaving in
16:18
the coffee shop. I didn't even think about it
16:22
from that side of things. And that actually makes me feel
16:24
a little bit less awkward about like saying, hey, buddy, thanks
16:29
a lot. See you later.
16:30
But I what I think the point was is that, and maybe what you were
16:35
just touching on is the coffee shop besides a place to get
16:38
coffee. Because as much as I loved the
16:40
coffee at this place all these years, you know, the busier and
16:45
the more popular it got, the harder it was for them to stay
16:47
consistent. Not every shot was perfect, you
16:51
know, the way it was in the beginning.
16:52
And that was OK because what I'm really missing is that comfort
16:58
that comes with knowing that every time I walk in, there's
17:00
going to be some great service. Likely someone will say hey,
17:03
hello and know me personally. It won't be like a hello, how
17:07
are you today, Sir? It'll be more of a hey, buddy,
17:09
you know, how's it going? And a placed away from home that
17:14
feels like home. I agree.
17:17
I I mean, at the same time, some of the, some, some of the best
17:23
shops or some of the best coffee comes from shops with the worst
17:29
service in my opinion, which it not, not that it's bad service,
17:33
but it's, you know, a different, different type.
17:36
Maybe they show care differently.
17:39
A a shop in Wasa, which I think has the best coffee in Wasa.
17:44
You know, you go there when you like, almost want like not
17:47
somebody to be rude to you, but you know, you know, like, you
17:49
want it to be like short sometimes, you know, like it.
17:52
There's there's something about the the way that you receive
17:56
service at certain shops that feels different, like not as.
18:01
It's not about you, it's about the coffee for them.
18:05
Yeah, I mean, and not not say that shop totally cares a lot
18:10
about like the people that come in, there's really good
18:12
relationships there too. But you know, it's not the same
18:14
as going to somewhere that's got, you know, big comfy chairs
18:19
and like, you get like a dark roast cup of coffee and it's
18:22
just nothing but love. Like that's like all that it's
18:24
about. And the coffee sucks.
18:27
It's it's, it's like the flip side of that.
18:30
Not that every place with big chairs and dark coffee has no
18:34
coffee, but. No, I just went to a place in
18:38
Phoenix. Oh my goodness, I'm going to
18:42
forget the name. It's downtown.
18:45
I'll find it and post it right here next to our faces.
18:48
It I think it ends in bird. But it was they had like a house
18:53
cat in these big comfy chairs that were at least 50 to 100
18:57
years old. What it was the 70s?
19:00
How many years ago was that? 60 years?
19:03
They were definitely from like pre 70s era and a little damp,
19:08
which is never great, but it was so comfortable and warm and like
19:12
the cat would sit there and like, I'm not a big cat person,
19:14
but this cat was awesome and he just kind of hang out and purr
19:17
with you while you waited for your cup of coffee.
19:19
And it's just a totally different vibe.
19:21
I went to three shops that day, that morning, you know, from
19:26
there to the next one where it was a much colder, more modern,
19:29
you know, clearly like mid 2000s, late 2000s kind of vibe.
19:33
Very simple and then from there to another place which was
19:38
entirely done in concrete, very cold and industrial.
19:41
But then with like this beautiful hurt all over the
19:43
place. And they had like a little film
19:45
studio, like film camera, like vintage, you know, they would
19:49
they would produce your film for you.
19:51
And it was just such a unique experience.
19:54
I honestly came away from it going, oh, some of my
19:58
preconceived notions about Phoenix hospitality were not
20:02
accurate. You know that.
20:03
And there was. It wasn't just like one or two
20:05
places, there were seven, you know, within a stretch that you
20:08
could hit one after another if you wanted and just get a
20:11
totally unique, interesting experience, which is good for me
20:15
to remember that like even though, and I think for you too
20:19
is some old person advice. You know, when you do this long
20:23
enough, you start to get a little jaded.
20:26
When you when a lot of your life is spent going to experience
20:29
other people's hospitality, it can be easy to like start
20:34
judging it a little bit more harshly than maybe it deserves.
20:38
And so that's something that I really Phoenix reminded me of.
20:42
And in a great time, as we're coming up on a a long summer of
20:45
free coffee, touring and traveling and and visiting
20:47
people was like, go into it knowing that like most people
20:53
don't start coffee shops just to be a mass market fast thing.
20:58
Sometimes they grow into that and you can usually tell if they
21:01
were designed that way. But for the most part, like a
21:04
lot of the indie coffee shops, if not all of them, in my
21:07
opinion, were started because somebody really loved this thing
21:10
or really wanted to share this thing with you.
21:12
And even if it's not my thing doesn't mean it's not great.
21:17
I do like my things. So I like my things too.
21:23
I didn't even ask if you were drinking coffee.
21:24
I feel like I haven't seen you drinking coffee.
21:26
Yeah, I've got a. Oh, cold.
21:29
An iced Comex I've got this morning with a This is a natural
21:34
Brazil foundutori coffee I brought back from San Francisco
21:37
last week. Did you do it on the stove?
21:42
Did you heat it up on the stove kind of like an old mocha pot?
21:45
I know people that some people that do that.
21:47
I'm guessing no just based on your response, but.
21:49
No, no, I, I mean, I just like, you know, I do my my ice in the
21:53
bottom. I think it's, I don't know.
21:55
I don't want to say it's like the Japanese iced coffee
21:57
because. Yeah, flash chilled.
21:59
About the Japanese iced coffee recipe that I doubt it was
22:02
authentic. If it's or if it's just a style,
22:04
I don't really know, but you know kind of like half the water
22:08
on top, the other half on the bottom roughly and ice.
22:13
We used to use a clever dripper to make we'd call a, a flash
22:16
chilled iced coffee Japanese style where we brew on the top
22:21
essentially a 4 minute steep in a clever dripper and then drop
22:25
it over the ice. So it was like a hot brewed
22:27
coffee that would then become cold essentially.
22:31
So it's not like a, it's not a cold brew, it's a, it's an iced
22:35
coffee, but it's chilled very quickly.
22:37
You know, when the heat and we, it was a really interesting
22:40
thing because when I first learned how to do it, it was
22:42
just don't screw this up. But then the more I, you know,
22:45
did it, the more comfortable I got with it.
22:47
The more you realize like, oh, you really have to be careful
22:49
with like your ratio of ice to the coffee because that ice is
22:53
going to become water. And then, you know, taking out,
22:56
you know, the precision of it one step further and further
22:59
kind of every every few months as I I progressed as a barista
23:03
at that point that's. It then exactly my journey when
23:07
I started out, I would do half the water and then the other
23:10
half an ice. And then I started to realize
23:13
that like not all the ice would melt right away.
23:15
So then it was like too strong, but then over time it would
23:17
melt. And so I started backing off
23:20
doing a little bit less ice. Like the I've kind of found the
23:23
right amount like about 35% of the water and ice to 40% is
23:27
where it like all melts as brewing and it comes out the
23:32
right strength. I commend you for making the
23:35
effort. I'm I'm definitely not making
23:37
the effort to do that at home. I did learn recently and I feel
23:42
felt kind of dumb, like not realizing it, but I had a bunch
23:46
of cans of cold brew leftover from an event, canned cold brew
23:50
from a local roaster. And it was great when I, you
23:52
know, when we got it And but the event was last fall.
23:58
And so I pulled a can out of the refrigerator that had been kind
24:01
of stuck in the back and I opened it up and like the first
24:03
sip immediately was like notably kind of sour.
24:07
And I went, I don't think this this isn't great.
24:11
And so I actually went on blue sky, you know, which is kind of
24:15
the the up and coming Twitter clone and just kind of asked
24:21
like, Hey, what, how long do you think your canned cold brew
24:24
lasts in the fridge? And the responses were came in
24:26
pretty fast. But there's a great copywriter,
24:29
if you don't follow him, Phil Fian Pooler.
24:31
He writes the pour over blog. He responded right away and had
24:36
done a bunch of research and interviews on this very topic.
24:39
And not only is it like kind of a shorter period than you might
24:42
guess, even canned, because it's not like it's forever.
24:45
It's not like a can of water. It's, you know, it's a living,
24:47
breathing kind of entity to some extent.
24:51
But also they can be dangerous. You know, after so long you
24:55
could viruses can develop, bacteria rather can develop and
24:59
you can get really sick. And he kind of sent me all the
25:01
stuff. And so I've, I went through and
25:03
I looked at like all the born on dates or all the Best Buy dates
25:06
and like ended up dumping out like 6 cans of Cobra that were
25:09
in my fridge just because I didn't know that.
25:12
I never would have thought. I just kind of assumed you're
25:14
like, oh, it's packaged. It's probably fine.
25:17
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what the shelf life
25:20
actually is like what they have to put on it, but I know that
25:24
yeah, canning, well, just cold brew in general is like it can
25:27
be a like a touchy health subject.
25:31
There was AI. Forget the name of the company
25:35
I. Remember where they did a recall
25:37
last year? Yeah, yeah, we posted.
25:39
About that Botulism, yeah. Yep.
25:42
Yeah. And it was, that was like a, if
25:44
I'm not, if I'm remembering right, a white labeling company.
25:46
So they actually did cold brew for a bunch of different
25:49
companies and you had to kind of look and see if your local
25:52
roaster was on that list. Yeah, yeah.
25:54
It ended up not really being too much of a thing.
25:57
It was just a, it was like a step in their process that
26:00
wasn't, didn't have paperwork or like writing around it or wasn't
26:04
approved or something, but it didn't actually lead to what it.
26:08
It could. Have which is why the recall
26:09
was, but it ended up being OK. I think they just had to set
26:13
their process in stone or something.
26:15
Well, I think that's kind of AI mean.
26:17
I appreciate that it was more aggressive than not because we
26:20
trust the food that we buy on our shelves for the most part.
26:24
And that was one of the comments in the the Port Over blog column
26:28
about I think it was Richard Anderson or Richard Armstrong
26:31
who was the, the person being interviewed wasn't that it's not
26:37
possible to do it correctly or that you should be worried.
26:39
It was that a lot of people don't realize the potential for
26:43
Botulism or other bacteria. And so there less precise.
26:48
They're not careless. That's not the right word, but
26:50
they're just not thinking about that possibility when they're
26:53
excited about they're just excited like, let's make this
26:55
and get it out and give it to people and not thinking about
26:59
like, oh, if it sits out overnight, bacteria can grow.
27:02
Like depending on your process, especially if you're really
27:05
small and you're not able to go through a larger facility or a
27:11
precise scientific facility coming from the restaurant
27:14
world, like I've certainly worked in restaurants where if
27:18
you were in the kitchen, you probably wouldn't eat there, but
27:21
somehow it's always the best tasting food.
27:25
But also like maybe don't if you, you know, if you, if you
27:29
know, you know, like restaurant people will talk about it.
27:32
But, and I'm not saying coffee is like that, but I think it's,
27:36
it's just a reminder. Like if you're out there brewing
27:39
or selling, in particular, sharing, you know, make sure
27:42
your steps are, are in place. Like this is a, it's food, you
27:46
know, it's something that we're ingesting and, you know, who
27:49
knows? Yeah, totally.
27:51
I mean, a couple years ago I had what I thought was a brilliant
27:54
idea to make cold brew and put them in like, like, you know,
27:58
like the like the juice pouches, like the Capri and the pouches.
28:01
That is actually a brilliant. Buy those to like seal them.
28:04
It's like I should do this and do it at the farmers market.
28:07
And then before I, I was about to just like buy the pouches and
28:12
just start. And then, yeah, there was a lot
28:14
more to it. And I was like, this is not
28:15
really a very good idea for where I'm at.
28:20
Some friends of mine just launched a oatmeal company, and
28:23
the first kind of photo that they posted is them like in what
28:27
looks like a lab from the movie Alien or something.
28:31
And they've got, you know, hair Nets on and lab coats and like,
28:36
and in my head, I'm like, I just make oatmeal in my blender at
28:39
home. Like, but they, but for them,
28:42
you know, they're selling it, they're putting it out there.
28:44
You got to make sure that everything is, is on point.
28:48
It's called, I think it's called blue milk, blue super, super
28:51
brained blue milk. Shout out to David and Cassidy
28:56
Elizondo, formerly partners of our My old show with the first
29:00
light whiskey. Sorry, making those connections.
29:06
I wanted to touch on this because of what I was talking
29:09
about earlier with saying goodbye to a coffee shop.
29:12
What happens when you like a coffee shop?
29:15
You become loyal to it and then the quality drops.
29:20
How long do you keep going? Especially it's harder if this,
29:22
if it's easier, if the service stops being good too.
29:25
But if the service is still good, but the coffee isn't good,
29:29
how long do you continue to support and say, well, maybe
29:32
it'll turn it around? I mean, I think it I think it
29:34
depends on how the relationship formed at first.
29:37
Like was it, was it your favorite coffee shop?
29:40
Because I mean, obviously if the service is good, that's the
29:44
reason. But did you like it because they
29:46
had great coffee or did you like it because it's where you went
29:49
on your first date? Now you keep going there or it's
29:52
the closest to you or any other number of things like why, why
29:56
is it your favorite shop? But yeah.
29:59
And I mean, if the, you know, if the quality is like whatever
30:03
level the quality is that when you become a regular there and
30:07
it's even if it's not super high, that's whatever.
30:09
But if it like noticeably declines, that's another thing.
30:14
And it's also tricky because like, I mean, 90% of the time if
30:19
the quality goes down, it's human error.
30:22
Like on on some at some point, even if it's like the roaster
30:26
that like isn't doing as good of a job or new or a new barista
30:31
that isn't taming shots or doing something correctly.
30:34
Like it's, it's a, it's a human thing that like training could
30:37
probably fix like even if like you standing on the other side
30:42
of the counter think you know what the issue is.
30:44
Like we're not as a customer, we're not in a in a position to
30:48
like try and tell them what they need to do better.
30:51
So I think it's really awkward to address.
30:54
Yeah, it's not something I would address.
30:55
I think. I mean, maybe I would if I knew
30:58
them well enough or I knew, you know, somebody in charge.
31:00
But I think the question like it's, it's harder when you do.
31:07
It would be very awkward as a customer to be like, hey, you
31:10
are not doing a good job. You used to do a good job.
31:12
Like that's not what I'm trying to say here.
31:14
I think. I think the question becomes I I
31:16
think most people wouldn't do that.
31:17
I think most people would just sort of fade away or the reality
31:22
is, is there are so many other options.
31:24
They might just find another place that is, is meeting that
31:26
need. And it's just a reminder I think
31:30
to, you know, always be tweaking and always be checking yourself
31:33
Like it's, it's easy to get into a rhythm and just do the same
31:36
thing over and over again. And, and especially if you,
31:39
you're growing, sometimes those processes fall off.
31:42
Did the new people know those processes as well as the
31:45
originals? Always tough.
31:47
You know, starting a second location is always tough for any
31:50
any cafe or restaurant because of that.
31:52
How do you keep the same level of quality?
31:55
How do you rebuild the vibe? And places like
32:00
Intelligentsia's, when they were first kind of launching and they
32:03
were still independent, they did a really good job of recognizing
32:07
that each of their locations had to be unique.
32:10
They weren't trying to replicate like a franchise model.
32:12
They were creating a space that fit the neighborhood that they
32:16
were in. And so I always found when I
32:19
would go from like the one in, in Logan Square, Chicago was the
32:22
first intelligentsia I went to, to the one in, in Pasadena,
32:25
which I think was the second totally different experience.
32:28
Coffee was the same, but the, the vibe and the feel of the
32:31
place was totally different. And I thought they did a really
32:33
good job of, of recognizing that each community is going to have
32:36
its own little niche, its own little vibe.
32:41
Did I? I've been kind of just running
32:44
this today, like I'm running a show and just talking about
32:47
anything you, you wanted to bring up this morning.
32:49
I was going to ask you what your first, if you're willing to
32:51
share, like you mentioned, like did you start becoming a regular
32:55
cause your first date was there? Do you remember what your first
32:57
date with your partner was? You've been together quite a
32:59
while. We've met at work, of course we
33:04
had a, we had like a college class, like an English class
33:06
together, but we didn't talk. And then, yeah, we started
33:10
working together at Starbucks like 6 years ago.
33:15
And, but it's not like we're going to Starbucks for dates
33:19
now. I that was just something I
33:20
said. Yeah, but you still would have
33:23
had a first date, right? Where with the first time you
33:25
connected outside of those Starbucks walls, magic that
33:28
might have been there. It it's a different experience,
33:31
right? It is, yeah.
33:33
I mean, our first real date, I would say was a chicken pot pie
33:36
at 2510 in the beach. You're outside.
33:39
I don't know if I don't know if you've had one of those.
33:41
I mean, I, I grew up going to 2510 classic, iconic local
33:47
supper club. I used to feel a sense of
33:50
competition with them as being the son of, you know, a
33:53
competing supper club, but always appreciated the what they
33:58
did there. That's food is is such a common
34:03
first date, you know, experience for people and coffee or
34:07
whatever. But food and drinking is how
34:10
people come together. I met my wife at work too.
34:13
We met at Old Navy of all places.
34:16
And on our first date, we got a pizza and we were going to watch
34:22
movies. And while we were in the grocery
34:23
store, she threw a can of Spam at me and it hit me from like 25
34:29
feet away. And as much as I love my wife,
34:32
if I gave her a baseball in a small room, she couldn't hit the
34:36
wall like that. I asked her to because she's
34:38
not, she's not a a thrower so to speak.
34:41
But somehow she picked up a can of spam and threw it at me and
34:44
hit me. And I thought, I'm in love.
34:46
This is it. So.
34:47
And then he found out she couldn't throw.
34:51
I, I, I forgave her. I, I should be a little more
34:56
that was we had technically it wasn't an official day, but we
35:00
did go and see the Lord of the Rings movie in the theater with
35:03
her parents, the first time that we were ever kind of hanging out
35:07
outside of school or outside of work.
35:10
And so if you would ever like to be extremely awkward and
35:14
uncomfortable, sit next to a girl you like with her parents
35:16
when you're 22 and watch a 3 1/2 hour Lord of the Rings marathon.
35:24
That's, yeah, that's a long time.
35:26
I was sick a few weeks ago or a couple months ago, and I turned
35:29
on Lord of the Rings and I watched quite a bit of it.
35:34
And then I took a really long nap.
35:36
And then I woke up and I watched what felt like quite a bit of
35:39
it. And then I took another long nap
35:41
and I woke up and there was still like an hour left and I
35:44
had no concept of time. I was I thought it had been all
35:48
day long and the same movie was just still.
35:51
It's possible that I was or they were just playing them on
35:53
repeat. I I've got to finish my peanut
35:59
buttercup. Anything exciting going on over
36:02
at Rostar with you guys? You got the coffee Chronicles
36:05
that you're doing? You're traveling all over the
36:07
place. SCA Expo coming up.
36:11
You know what's the good word over there?
36:13
Yeah, really excited for SCAI mean.
36:16
That's really our one like event of the year that we get to.
36:21
I think it's not as much about like bringing in new sales as it
36:24
is just like seeing people that we know, like we see, you know,
36:27
we like scan people's badges and we can kind of like breakdown
36:30
like who we met with over the show.
36:32
And at at like some of the Coffeefest shows, you know, it's
36:35
a lot more about like, you know, this is a potential new
36:37
customer, like they could be a good fit.
36:39
But at SCA, the percentage of people that are current
36:42
customers that we just chatted with is so high.
36:45
And that's that's what I'm looking forward to at the end of
36:48
this month. Are you doing any sort of vocal
36:51
exercises to get ready? I've I've learned a little bit
36:57
I've been to I think like I don't like 5 different coffee
37:01
shows Expo things since since that last year and I I've I'm
37:09
enjoying my coffee all year long instead of all at once.
37:15
And I've I learned water is a good thing to drink.
37:19
I'll probably have tea that morning before the show.
37:23
Yeah. I hope to maintain my voice all
37:25
the way throughout this year. Yeah, we should come up with a
37:28
list, A list. I don't know why that was hard
37:31
for me to say. We should come up with a list of
37:34
tips for people attending Expo. Hydrate could be one of them.
37:39
Like for me, I always bring like an extra shirt or something
37:41
because I inevitably spill coffee or, you know, something
37:44
on myself, those sort of tips or like a, a bag that you're not
37:50
afraid to get stolen. I always have like a little
37:52
cinch sack with like, you know, snacks and extra things.
37:55
And I'll toss it under a table somewhere.
37:56
And it's not that it's likely to get stolen.
37:58
It's more likely that it'll get picked up and moved or whatever
38:02
because there's so many people. But any other tips or advice you
38:06
have for maybe rookies attending this year for the first time?
38:09
Well, I'm actually writing a little bit of a, a little bit of
38:12
a piece on that already, so there will be more tips to come.
38:15
But a big one of shoes, obviously, like you wanna wear
38:18
comfortable shoes 'cause you're standing all day, but don't wear
38:21
the same pair of comfortable shoes all three days.
38:24
Like switching shoes is huge. Even if you're switching to like
38:28
a slightly less comfortable pair of shoes just like that, the
38:32
actual change is like refreshing on your feet.
38:35
That's actually really good advice.
38:36
I made the mistake of wearing not great shoes for my first
38:41
couple Expos and you definitely pay for it later.
38:45
I'll get to my hotel room and just be like once I sit down,
38:49
that's it. Like as long as I'm moving, I'm
38:50
fine. But the second I sit it's over.
38:54
Well, I'm excited to to be there.
38:55
I'm coming down. I'm going to Colorado 1st and
38:59
then driving down to Houston from there.
39:01
And so I'm going to get a chance to meet up with some coffee
39:04
people, Rainforest Alliance, we're going to do some coffee
39:09
with them in Denver and then hopefully run into Fabian at
39:12
APIs Coffee was on the show recently in Castle Rock on our
39:16
way down, explore some coffee in Fort Worth and Austin and then
39:21
eventually Houston. And then on the way back already
39:24
I, I got a hotel on my way back to California about a block or
39:29
two from Presta Coffee in Tucson.
39:31
So we'll be able to. Oh yes, I've been.
39:35
I've been wanting to go to Presta for a long time.
39:37
Yeah, it's been on my list, but I never get down to Tucson and
39:40
here I saw like an opportunity to drive right through so
39:43
figured I would I would end the day there and wake up in the
39:46
morning with Presta for the last, last push home naked.
39:51
It's always just a just a a refreshing time chatting with
39:55
you. I'm excited to see every every
39:58
time I'm watching your, your stuff, your coffee with Nick
40:01
Instagram, the stuff real star is putting out.
40:05
It's it's exciting to see your excitement or your, you know,
40:09
curiosity for what you, the people in coffee.
40:12
So I appreciate you spending time with me.
40:15
Yeah, thanks. It's always good to have a
40:17
coffee. I wasn't even, I wasn't even
40:19
sure if we were recording half the time.
40:21
And we just kind of, I just, I just joined and then immediately
40:24
started talking. And then there was no breaks.
40:26
We just kept going. There's a good chance I'm
40:28
recording all of the time just this, this camera just stays on
40:32
and I just pop in and out. No one ever sees most of it, but
40:35
it's just in case. Actually, that's something kind
40:39
of off off topic, but I noticed the you had a little mic clipped
40:45
on to a coffee bag in one of your videos, and you're using
40:47
the coffee bag as your microphone.
40:50
Freaking brilliant. I thought that was awesome.
40:52
I was like, oh, I'm gonna steal that for sure.
40:55
Actually, yeah, that, well, that morning before I went to the
40:58
'cause I kind of was like interviewing different people.
41:00
I don't know if we actually put the video up fully.
41:04
I had like went to a a dog and I like had the dog talking to the
41:07
microphone, didn't say anything. But the, the thought that
41:11
morning was I wanted to take like a like an espresso
41:14
portofilter. I thought that that was like,
41:17
isn't that like a perfect microphone?
41:19
A port of filter. Yeah, if you could figure out
41:21
how to put it in there. It would work somehow, but I was
41:27
like in the middle of San Antonio and I I guess I could
41:30
have probably found a shop to borrow one from, but the the bag
41:35
of coffee from Orguio Coffee was the best I could do.
41:38
That's actually that coffee bag you are.
41:40
You'll be sitting down with Bridget from Orguio at the show.
41:44
Yeah, I'm excited. I looked up all their stuff to
41:46
start preparing and even though we are we're going to be on
41:51
location in, in doing kind of, you know, an off the cuff
41:54
interview, I still want to kind of know who I'm talking to.
41:56
And like right away when I saw their kind of stories, like, oh,
41:59
I can see why Nick wanted to set this one up.
42:02
They got a, a good vibe and the whole focus on Honduras, you
42:06
know, is unique to them. So, so pretty excited about
42:10
that. Thanks for having a cup of
42:12
coffee, Nick. I'm going to get a refill here.
42:16
Yeah, I'm going to keep going online and maybe send an e-mail
42:19
or two and yeah, get back to work.
42:22
Cool. Well, thanks a lot, Ryan.
42:23
We'll we'll see you in a couple weeks in Houston.
42:26
See you then, buddy.