Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Michael Acosta, Story And Soil Coffee

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Michael Acosta, Story And Soil Coffee · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everyone, thank you for checking out Coffee People
• 0:03
  today. We hope to see you at our Coffee
• 0:05
  Smarter Live podcast featuring some great Coffee Smarter
• 0:08
  experts over the years. That's going to be Thursday
• 0:11
  night, April 9th at 6:00 PM at Coffee Cycle Roasting in Ocean
• 0:15
  Beach. It's kind of a thank you to the
• 0:17
  Socal coffee industry who helped us get our start.
• 0:20
  We appreciate you and hope to see you there.
• 0:22
  And if not there, then let's share a cup of coffee at the
• 0:25
  World of Coffee Expo. Welcome to the Coffee People
• 1:01
  podcast. Michael Nice.
• 1:03
  To meet you. Nice to meet you.
• 1:04
  Yeah. We're here at Coffee Fest New
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  York 2026. You have a coffee shop.
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  What's the story? What's the name?
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  Where is it? Why did you do it?
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  Name is Story Soil Coffee in Hartford, CT OK.
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  I'm born and raised in New York, but I went to College in
• 1:24
  Connecticut. I worked at my college cafe, and
• 1:28
  then I ran that cafe as a graduate assistant.
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  I fell in love with coffee, got involved with the industry, had
• 1:35
  the opportunity to go to Origin, had an opportunity to judge at
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  different events. And I got more and more involved
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  and I found out, you know, the specific niche of coffee that I
• 1:49
  loved. And I ended up really enjoying
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  the multi roaster style of cafe that was just really
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  purposefully curating just incredible roasters from across
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  the country and across the world that was maybe focused a little
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  more on like a Nordic approach. And so when I had the
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  opportunity to open a cafe, the name came from actually, it's
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  really difficult to name any business, not to mention a cafe.
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  And and so we wanted something that was going to be
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  interesting, you know, an instant hook and story in soil
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  came from initially a Bright Eyes album called Lifted or keep
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  your ears to the ground. The story's in the soil.
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  And personally, I thought it fit because it spoke to the valley
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  chain of coffee, all the hands coffee goes through truly
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  appreciating all the labor and the work that goes into
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  producing all of this incredible coffee that we get access to.
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  And then also the intention in which roasters and and buyers
• 3:00
  and then baristas at the end of that chain, you know, we're able
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  to be stewards of that product. And so from the very beginning,
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  we always focused on very small roasters, those that we
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  connected with as far as their quality as well as just their
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  sourcing practices, the kind of stories that they were telling
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  to allow us to then bring a great product and celebrate both
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  the industry, but also from our community.
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  And so that's really the intention and I think of of any
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  coffee shop and we've been, you know, grateful to do that for
• 3:38
  the last eight years. Wet Connecticut.
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  I've never been one of the few states I haven't been to yet.
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  I'm not sure why, actually. What is the coffee community
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  like that people know of cities like Portland's a coffee city?
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  Like people think of New York as a coffee city.
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  What's Connecticut? So Connecticut right now is a
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  very booming coffee city in that we have had in the greater
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  Hartford region where in Hartford proper, we've had over
• 4:12
  30 shops open in the last five years.
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  The majority of the shops have opened in the last three years.
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  And so we saw it really all from the very beginning.
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  We were the first like hyper specialty shop that open in
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  downtown Hartford and you know, we were able to see the growth
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  of both the clientele, but also just the local business
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  ecosystem. At the point where we are now,
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  we have our mayor calling Hartford the the, the, the
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  coffee capital of Connecticut. Part of that came from the like
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  this really this, this boom of all these cafes opening within
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  just this one mile radius, but also storing soil.
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  We were awarded one of the 100 best coffee shops in the world
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  for the first time last year, and we got it again this year,
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  which is an awesome honor. Truly came out of nowhere
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  initially. They don't tell you up front
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  you're up for this or like what they're looking for.
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  So the so last year was the first year and there was Unguino
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  Sue us, a nomination process as well as a careful selection that
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  then went through numerous different judges and what they
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  were doing as they were looking at just business practices,
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  quality hospitality knowledge, general impact on the local
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  coffee community as well as the sort of presence it had in kind
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  of a more kind of global presence.
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  So it was an immense surprise when we saw it on social media.
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  And then last April we were told that we were on the list and the
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  award ceremony was in Madrid. Sadly I wasn't able to go, but
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  this year I was so made that trip.
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  It was a lot of fun. That's awesome.
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  It's. True.
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  You know, like first was Onyx Coffee Lab, second was Tim
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  Wendelbo. You know, on the list of top 20
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  is Arcane, which is this super small cafe that opened up in,
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  in, in the city that just focuses on small estate
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  Panamanian coffees. And so there's just truly an
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  incredible mix of cafes. It's including those who I've
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  looked up to, you know, for the last, you know, 15 years of
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  winning coffee, like Tim on the Bow and Onyx.
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  Be a nice like just to see your name on that list is pretty
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  cool. It's an honor.
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  And so for the last year we we've really tried to live up to
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  that. And for us, what that's meant
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  is, you know, improving the customer experience, truly
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  investing in even better coffees, improving workflow
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  practices, all that. So what?
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  That's actually a really good point.
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  I think being on that list didn't make you feel like, oh,
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  we're already doing it, we don't have to do anything else.
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  It motivated you, Yeah, to get better.
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  Absolutely, because you know, when I first opened the, the
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  model that I was going, you know, we're, we were the first
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  obviously. But in, in order to achieve
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  coffee at, you know, a certain level, you need to invest in
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  equipment, you need to invest in training, you need to invest in
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  truly spectacular but also expensive coffee.
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  And so as a result, you need to run a good business so that
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  you're reducing waste. You're in.
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  You're building the kind of business culture that keeps
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  talent, especially in a tiny city like Hartford, CT.
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  Easier to jump from job to job if you're good at it, yeah.
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  And also it's easy to lose folks to bigger cities, Boston, New
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  York City. And so really always my focus
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  was like, I love coffee. I love this industry and I, I,
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  I, I really value the relationships that I'm able to
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  build through coffee. And I also love the experience
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  of meeting people who are doing cool things and going, I can
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  serve your coffee. And, and so it's this mutual,
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  you know, of course it's, it's, it's symbiotic, but it's a, it's
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  a, it's a mutual appreciation society, you know, And so you're
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  the better you do, the better they do.
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  We have two hometown heroes. One of them is a long time
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  partner and my coffee mentor give coffee.
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  They're like 30 minutes from us in Canton.
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  And the other one is Elsa. They're in Keenan.
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  And they've also blown up over the last six years.
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  And they're, they just have a fantastic roster of coffee and
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  they're always improving. And I love to be able to live up
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  to all of the work that they're doing.
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  And you know, I, I feel like enthusiasm in this industry can
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  be infectious. And so if you're leading with
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  this real love for this product and you're treating it like an
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  accessible luxury, you know, like treat it like a luxury
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  because it truly is. And if you speak to any coffee
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  producer and anyone who's on the ground, they just want to know
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  how people are appreciating and loving their coffee.
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  And so, you know, we're not exactly on that side of things,
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  but, you know, being able to at least play some part in sharing
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  these coffees is, is always been an honor for me, even when I was
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  a 18 year old barista in on my college campus.
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  And yeah, it it, it really is always been a passion project.
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  And I really believe in leading with your heart.
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  None of us do this for money. So, but you need, but you do
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  need to have a solid financial foundation, particularly when
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  you're talking about the seasonality of coffee, making it
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  through COVID, the wake of COVID.
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  So how long is Story and so have been open?
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  Reopened in 2017. Oh, OK, longer than I thought
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  actually. Yeah, just ignorant of me not to
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  ask that right up front. And to clarify, multi roaster,
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  you're serving coffees when you're out, when you're
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  sourcing, do you have like trusted places that you go to
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  try things or are you like, no, I'm going to just open
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  open-ended, see what's available and like, is it, are you tasting
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  and like serving what you like or are you thinking this is what
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  the customer likes? Yes, I'm, I'm always serving
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  what I see as, as I always start from a place of like non
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  negotiables. So the size of the business, the
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  the ratio of their size of the impact that they're having, how
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  big is their team? Do I have a good contact point?
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  Am I talking to a person? Are we able to build some sort
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  of foundation and relationship that that's always going to be
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  sort of like the baseline? Because I'm just a person and I,
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  I'm looking for great coffee yet, but I'm also looking to
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  support businesses that are aligned with those values.
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  And then I'm looking at who are they're buying from?
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  What are their buying practices? Are they buying from them this
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  year and the next year, you know, like are they investing in
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  the places that they're buying from?
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  Do they have this gigantic portfolio or are they focused
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  and are they looking to grow along with certain partners?
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  I know that's you can't do that with everyone you buy from, but
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  are you only buying from really big names or are you also taking
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  a chance on smaller producers that you know have something
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  really great to offer? Are you only buying wash
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  coffees? Are you only buying natural
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  coffees? Are you trying your hands at,
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  you know, different like hyper niche processes?
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  Like the menu for me is I want to be able to have all those
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  touch points and when you're talking about like, sure, I had
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  my preferences. I don't always want to drink a
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  crazy Co fermented coffee, but those fly off the shelves and
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  they're a such a great touch point for the new specialty
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  consumer to be able to tell a story of flavour and of
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  innovation and really get them in.
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  You know, it used to be the natural Ethiopian coffee that
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  like that blueberry really brought people in and we still
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  have that. But we can do that in a
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  multitude of ways. And so yeah, I, I want to bring
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  in different processes, different producers, different
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  origins, and have a selection that just really stands out and
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  it's fun. And then for me, I'm always
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  getting new samples or discovering new things.
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  And so there's so many small roasters from all over the
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  world. Maybe it's harder to get stuff
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  now with tariffs and you don't know if DHL is going to lose it,
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  but I love trying new coffees and I love going around to
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  different multi roasters and seeing what they have on and
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  just tasting the coffee, bring it home, seeing how they brew,
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  how soluble they are, what their roast.
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  Style is that's my closing question for you.
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  You're out of you're out of Hartford today.
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  I'm assuming when you get a chance, you go to these other
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  coffee shops. What do you order?
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  I will usually do a little flight situation, so I will get
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  if they have a core over menu, I will usually tend towards one of
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  those options. I love filter, so sometimes I'll
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  just get their batch and then depending on the plans for the
• 14:31
  day, I'll also get a shout at this present and that's
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  typically what I get. If I'm going with my wife, we'll
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  probably get like a flat white and share like a little Milky
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  treat as well. I love going to get copy of my
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  wife because she's always going to order something.
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  I wouldn't. Yes, but I get to try it.
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  Yeah. And that's the.
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  Best Yes, yes, yes we have a big focus on seasonal kind of fun
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  specialty drinks as well and it's we put so much effort into
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  those and it's normally not what I order.
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  So when I go with a friend or my wife who's going to order them,
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  I love it because then it's like a reminder to me, like, oh,
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  they've put a lot of effort into those drinks.
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  You should probably try those as.
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  Well, yeah, tell us again, how can we find story and soil,
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  either in real life or online? Sure, if you're driving through
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  Connecticut, we're right off of Route 84.
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  And if you want to find us online, we're on Instagram.
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  We're very active on Instagram, usually sharing what's going on
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  a little behind the scenes. We usually have a lot of events
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  and yeah, we have a website, but.
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  But you're here in real life. I'm glad for it.
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  Thank you for being on the coffee, people.
• 15:44
  Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks.
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  Fun opportunity to talk. That's it.
• 15:49
  Thank you, dude. That was fun.
• 15:51
  Thank you.