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Coffee People: Charles Carpenter, Tekwani Design Co. · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:04
  The coffee. People podcast is presented by
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  In this podcast show notes. Hey, good morning everyone.
• 1:07
  Welcome to the coffee people podcast, which is part of the
• 1:10
  roast, West Coast Coffee Network.
• 1:12
  The show is presented by rho, Star Coffee packaging.
• 1:15
  You probably heard the ad at the Top, If You're roasting coffee
• 1:18
  and you want some real good looking and sustainable,
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  packaging, check out roast are.com.
• 1:23
  I'm Ryan Walt. And this is the coffee podcast
• 1:26
  where we meet really interesting.
• 1:27
  People, from all corners of the coffee industry.
• 1:30
  I often leave these conversations inspired and I
• 1:33
  hope you do too, today. You're going to hear a
• 1:36
  conversation I had with Charles Carpenter of to quani design in
• 1:39
  Denver Colorado. After I record a show, I always
• 1:43
  make sure to check in with my guests.
• 1:45
  Right. Before airing an episode, just
• 1:47
  to see if something is changed or they had another thought to
• 1:49
  share Charles, sent me this note quote I have both equal parts of
• 1:54
  love for coffee and the people who raise it.
• 1:57
  So if any of this makes that better then that's all I really
• 2:00
  want to do. I don't think anyone needs to
• 2:02
  feel guilty about this beverage. I guess, if anything a deeper
• 2:06
  love and respect for how it gets to our cup, would make its
• 2:09
  future better all around and quote, and that is why it is so
• 2:14
  easy to do this podcast. The guests are insightful,
• 2:18
  motivated and often really give a hoot about other coffee people
• 2:22
  and other. We'll just in general if you
• 2:25
  want to see some of the designs that the tick wani Team Works on
• 2:28
  while you're listening headed to quani design.com or check out to
• 2:32
  quani design on Instagram to quani is spelled Tek wa ni and
• 2:39
  the links are in the show notes while you're scrolling.
• 2:42
  Be sure to follow at roast, West, Coast on Instagram and
• 2:46
  sign up for the newsletter on roast westcoast.com.
• 2:49
  Okay, let's get into it over a good cup of coffee.
• 2:54
  I'm drinking a mug of space traveler that I brewed in the
• 2:56
  simply good coffee, automatic Brewer.
• 2:58
  It's my first ever automatic Brewer and I freely admit this
• 3:03
  week has been a little bit of a wild adventure, wherever you are
• 3:07
  out there. I hope you're having Adventures
• 3:08
  to preferably with a good cup of coffee because it is time for
• 3:13
  this coffee people. Conversation with Charles
• 3:16
  Carpenter of te quani design. So, I with fear and trepidation,
• 3:32
  I will go forward. I will spit out my coffee, if
• 3:39
  you wouldn't mind for the people, that will be listening
• 3:42
  to this. Let us know your name, the name
• 3:44
  of your company and what you do there.
• 3:47
  So my name is Charles and that depends on who I'm talking to.
• 3:52
  I have both my dad's sites Carpenter English, and my mom's
• 3:56
  side was Romero. So I have a deal Carlos.
• 3:59
  So Carlos, Carlito, I even have a friend, call me, Charlie Rose.
• 4:03
  But so Charles though, generally, unless I'm in Latin
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  America Carpenter and I am the owner and creative director of T
• 4:12
  quani design Co in Denver Colorado.
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  I'm glad you said that because I've definitely been Saying that
• 4:18
  wrong. I apologize.
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  Welcome to the coffee people podcast.
• 4:23
  I always like, when I have guests, who are kind of outside
• 4:27
  the norm of what people think for coffee people, different
• 4:30
  careers, everyone just assumes that all the guests are Baristas
• 4:33
  or coffee roasters. But it's a huge industry and
• 4:37
  there are people that touch it in all different areas.
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  So I'm really excited that you're here.
• 4:42
  I want everyone to learn a little bit more about you to get
• 4:45
  started, though, did you have kind of a first experience?
• 4:47
  Audience with coffee that. You remember that made?
• 4:50
  You think this was something that I'm interested in, or I'm
• 4:53
  going to keep trying, keep going.
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  Yeah, so I've always loved coffee.
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  My mom jokes that she would put a little coffee by bottle.
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  I don't know if that's true or not, but I think the first time
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  I actually like, especially understood and maybe fell in
• 5:11
  love a little bit with specialty.
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  Coffee was in college, there was a guy on my floor and he was
• 5:17
  From Portland. So we visited them.
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  His name was Tim and he worked at a Roastery.
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  So we did a cupping of coffees from Mostly Africa and then I
• 5:28
  think there was a Columbia and Ecuador in there and I was like
• 5:31
  seven cups and it was the first cupping I ever did and they had
• 5:35
  like the old-fashioned like gar bun that you would spit between
• 5:39
  sips and the learning the slurp, and the explanation of the
• 5:42
  coffee. Hitting the you know all of your
• 5:45
  tongue and is my first cupping ever.
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  Her. And I was seriously amazed at
• 5:51
  how different coffee could taste cup to cup 2 cup to cup.
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  It just blew my mind. I was just like, I mean, I
• 5:59
  thought I knew what coffee tasted like and it was bitter.
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  You know, I'd probably put a little bit of cream and sugar in
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  it, like it was mostly what you get at the grocery store, but I
• 6:08
  still loved it. But this was so much better and
• 6:12
  we didn't have to put anything in it and it was a flavor bomb
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  of like my brain was going crazy.
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  Z. And so that was the first time
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  that I realized that coffee from different parts of the world
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  could taste completely different.
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  I think the Second Story I had was, you know, I was a designer
• 6:32
  and I lived on, you know, lattes and unfortunately, I got into
• 6:38
  this groove with hazelnut lattes for a long time.
• 6:41
  I don't know, it was like my go-to stressed, drink was a
• 6:44
  hazelnut latte, and a chocolate chip cookie.
• 6:47
  Sounds excellent. Yeah, yeah, it was when you're
• 6:49
  stressed, it's not bad. But I went to Touro, Fazio.
• 6:54
  Natalya in again in Portland, and I asked for a latte with
• 6:59
  latte art. I thought it was beautiful.
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  And I said, can I get a little hazelnut syrup in there?
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  Like, we don't do syrups, I was like, really, and she explained
• 7:07
  how like when you steam the milk two sugars are released and it
• 7:12
  tastes, you don't need it. So I trusted her and that's when
• 7:16
  I was like, oh, it's Presto drinks.
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  Don't need sugar, if they're done properly.
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  And that was another revelation of like.
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  So I like black coffees and like, single Origins before.
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  But like, for espresso, brace drinks, I realize you don't have
• 7:30
  to have sugar, and it just took that kind of college.
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  Post college experience to understand that at a place that
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  didn't allow me to have, you know what I thought I wanted so.
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  So, anyway, I don't know that people on this show or that
• 7:44
  listen to the show know this. But I actually spent a year,
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  Working as a barista learning about coffee.
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  That's kind of how I got started in this.
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  And I remember what it was like for me, but I remember the first
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  time a customer would come in and have a coffee and we would
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  go through that same explanation that same process with them.
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  And sometimes it didn't work and they'd be like, nope, give me
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  some sugar. But a lot of times you'd see
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  this like light bulb go off. And that was such a cool
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  experience to be able to offer people.
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  You know, like oh like and and to know because I know what it
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  was like for me and how you're explaining it for you that it
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  probably Probably legitimately change the rest of their life
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  and how they engage with coffee. Yeah, I'm I'm unfortunately the
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  guy I mean I'm I love coffee and so many different forms so I'll
• 8:30
  always try something new. But yeah, I'm not I'm the bummer
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  guy who's like you know you don't need to put all that sweet
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  stuff in here. Well you mentioned at the top
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  that you are the creative director and founder owner of T.
• 8:45
  Quani. Am I saying that right?
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  Yes. Why.
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  Yeah, cool. But you, you had a career before
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  that you were in design before that can.
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  You explain to everyone what that means to be in design and
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  what you were doing before, what you're doing now?
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  Before the name change I had a co-owned a design agency that
• 9:06
  was that did graphic design and also I was a designer and my
• 9:12
  buddy Pete was a developer and so the first life of that was
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  what we called Wigwam creative and that was like a design web
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  agency. And then before that I was a, I
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  worked 15 years at a company in Denver called Ellen breasts.
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  Zayn and I was a lead creative senior designer and what that
• 9:34
  meant was we would do logo and branding for different clients
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  across all different spectrums of, you know, Hospitality
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  consumer packaged Goods, museums like business director business
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  stuff, so it was not at all coffee specific, which is where
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  T quani is leaning. Mostly, I would say 60% of what
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  we do now is to quantities. Coffee related and forty percent
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  is other industry related. Well let's let's talk about to
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  quani just a little bit before we get into a whole slew of
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  other tricks that I had sent you.
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  But what does that name mean? And you mentioned that you had a
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  previous business Wigwam with your with a partner.
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  Yeah, when that phased away, was there a point where you thought,
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  you know what, I don't want to be in charge anymore, I want to
• 10:27
  get another job and just have someone give me some cash.
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  Yeah. I think that's two totally
• 10:33
  separate questions. So let's start with a question
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  and then follow it up with you eventually decide.
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  No, I'm going to go and we're going to keep going with to
• 10:41
  quani at what, what was the impetus for that?
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  Yeah, so it was at the, you know, 2020 mid know, just when
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  we were all making life decisions universally.
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  Yeah, exactly. The question our existence.
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  Yeah, my business partner. He wanted to start a different
• 11:03
  business. Altogether, didn't want to do
• 11:05
  development anymore. And yeah, I mean I wondered
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  about that it's like that scene in The Matrix where the one
• 11:13
  character could be back in The Matrix and just be eating the
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  imaginary food and just you know and I like in that to like just
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  working for someone. They tell you what to do.
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  You do it? You go home, you're done.
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  Yeah, that probably makes more sense but with the idea of
• 11:35
  buying out the business and then renaming it and there's some
• 11:39
  different reasons for that. We can go into that in a second
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  but I had an opportunity to be like, wow, I can point this ship
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  in any direction and and or abandon ship all together. it
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  was probably getting a little older and I'm like I just you
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  know, I kind of want to just make and then also the
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  opportunity to really like Instead of coal eating and
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  honestly I'm not, I'm learning while I'm doing, I'm not the
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  business guy. I love facing clients.
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  I love talking about possibilities of projects, but
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  like the running QuickBooks and doing the whole like working
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  with the accountant and all that kind of stuff was.
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  I was aware of it, but not wearing that hat.
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  So that's still not a fun hat but I feel like it's been a good
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  and very fast education And I don't love it but it allows me
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  to do what I love and to steer the ship in any direction, I
• 12:39
  want to go and like, get some willing people to go along with
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  me to do that. I honestly a stressful as it is
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  and it is stressful. As doubtful as I can be.
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  Like, can I pull this off? Is this even possible?
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  I have a conversation with the producer and like we just had a
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  call yesterday with a Finca in Costa Rica.
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  A'. And it was so delightful and I
• 13:05
  just light up like, getting to do what I do, which is reveal
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  people's hopes and dreams and in specifically, the coffee world
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  and specifically at origin. Just, I don't know.
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  I could, I could eat off of that all day long and be very
• 13:21
  satisfied, it just makes me so incredibly happy that I feel
• 13:26
  like I'm almost supposed to do that or wired to do that.
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  All the other stuff, a fumble and Learn and get better at it.
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  But because I just love that so much it fuels and drives like
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  everything I do. What do you mean by that?
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  You know, when you say you're a designer designer, Your Design
• 13:47
  firm. And you say just got off a call
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  with a, with a finger in Costa Rica.
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  What are you, what are you doing for them?
• 13:55
  How is that work? What's the relationship there?
• 13:58
  Yeah, we have a lot of different relationships in the needs for
• 14:02
  coffee. Like you said, the coffee
• 14:03
  industry is the coffee supply chain or the circular.
• 14:09
  There's so many new words for this.
• 14:12
  Everything from Farmers and producers to importers exporters
• 14:17
  to people buying green coffee and roasting it to cafes.
• 14:21
  They all have different needs. We want to help add to the value
• 14:28
  of the coffee and design people shop with their eyes.
• 14:32
  People perceive value coffee already is a commodity that
• 14:38
  people see with their eyes before they even kept it.
• 14:41
  In fact, like the history of coffee is like, you know, the C
• 14:44
  Market was decided on just by looks for a long time before
• 14:48
  people actually got into cupping it and which makes way more
• 14:51
  sense. That perception of the value of
• 14:55
  the coffee and the story of how that coffee is the generations
• 15:01
  of people producing that coffee that is a little bit of smoke
• 15:07
  and mirrors I suppose but or or just helping using design color
• 15:13
  type, imagery photography, illustration to kind of tell
• 15:18
  that story. So that when people see this
• 15:21
  coffee from this Finca and it's like you know, the way they're
• 15:24
  doing coffee and the way that they're trying to operate
• 15:29
  Telling that story. Well, we'll add to the value of
• 15:32
  their product and help them either sell that coffee
• 15:35
  Stateside through shipping, which is now more and more and
• 15:38
  more possible. And that's what's exciting
• 15:40
  about. This is more countries of
• 15:41
  origin, have the opportunity to roasting country and Export we
• 15:44
  have another client, chica bean and Guatemala.
• 15:47
  That's what they're doing. And it's very it's working out
• 15:49
  very well for them that allows and we can dive into like the
• 15:54
  value of coffee and how it doesn't get valuable till it
• 15:57
  crosses the border and gets roasted Stateside or in Asia, or
• 16:01
  in Europe. So, in a way, it's a little bit
• 16:05
  of a trying to use some of this social Equity, we have in the
• 16:09
  states and work with producers to add to the value of their
• 16:14
  products, so that they can get more and do more in their
• 16:17
  countries of origin, where the coffee is come from.
• 16:20
  So, sure, I think there's a stereotype of what a coffee
• 16:24
  farmer might look like, or what their life might be like that.
• 16:28
  That I certainly had for a long time and I think a lot of
• 16:31
  people's images of the coffee farmer was influenced by
• 16:38
  television commercials showing a bad guy and I want Valdez and a
• 16:41
  hat and a mustache. And this idea that there are
• 16:45
  these people working and essentially they're working to
• 16:47
  create a product that is for Americans but that's not
• 16:51
  necessarily entirely true obviously, I mean, we're a big
• 16:54
  Market but we're not the only coffee drinkers in the world and
• 16:57
  I think what I want to Make clear to people, talking are
• 17:00
  listening, is you work to create branding and identity and tell
• 17:04
  stories of domestic coffee brands and Roasters and coffee
• 17:09
  shops. And then you're also working at
• 17:11
  the origin sites with those Farms to do the same thing in a
• 17:15
  way that maybe hasn't been done regularly before at least on a
• 17:19
  small scale because Instead of showing up and having this
• 17:23
  stereotype in their mind or when a roaster is buying green coffee
• 17:27
  there now, be able to see and tell and share the story of
• 17:30
  where this coffee came from which adds value to the Farmer,
• 17:34
  they can ask for more money because they're providing some
• 17:38
  social commentary, which then The Roaster can then tell their
• 17:41
  customers who are also willing to pay more because there's a
• 17:45
  connecting through line. Instead of just, here's some
• 17:48
  coffee that showed up on a boat and it's story started when I
• 17:50
  got here. Here, right?
• 17:52
  That's, that's my impression of what it is that you're doing and
• 17:55
  you're working with clients on both sides to try to create a
• 17:59
  more Universal story. Not just the first chapter.
• 18:04
  Yeah. A much more well-rounded and
• 18:06
  maybe more informed. Yeah.
• 18:09
  If people could even get a sense of, you know where the coffee
• 18:14
  comes from, you know, a lot of what you just said is used in
• 18:18
  the marketing of coffee and my mom El Salvador and my dad's
• 18:23
  Caucasian. So there's a stereotype of like
• 18:26
  the poor brown people raising the coffee and and just it's you
• 18:31
  know, in the best case I guess somewhat ignorant and the worst
• 18:34
  case, there's these narratives that are out there with and I
• 18:37
  don't want to dive too much into the world of politics because it
• 18:40
  gets messy and engrossed, right? Just to open up the conversation
• 18:46
  of the humanity that's happening in the coffee supply chain.
• 18:50
  I know when I'm stressed, and I don't know what's going to
• 18:55
  happen that next day. And I just need a minute, a cup
• 18:58
  of coffee, just calms me down. It helps me, focus.
• 19:03
  And I've seen coffee being enjoyed at origin in the same
• 19:08
  ways where people just love the communal aspects of the beverage
• 19:13
  and you see families working together and it's hard.
• 19:17
  And I just hope that by using Design and opening these stories
• 19:21
  that people can have a better sense of well, who are the
• 19:24
  people in the other side of the supply chain or oh, I didn't
• 19:27
  even know there was a supply chain.
• 19:28
  Like, you know, you know where how is coffee process, how is
• 19:32
  it, you know, how did they make decisions for the varieties or
• 19:35
  where it's grown or the elevation and all this stuff in
• 19:38
  it like take facts and figures in make them more connected to
• 19:44
  humanity and I think about way to do that.
• 19:48
  I agree. I mean Remember misremembering
• 19:52
  this right now as you're talking but when I was much younger, I
• 19:56
  took a short part time job at an Old Navy store in college just
• 20:00
  during the holidays. And I remember one morning I
• 20:04
  noticed that a bunch of the products I was folding came from
• 20:07
  different places in the world Indonesia Vietnam, wherever and
• 20:11
  I thought well that's interesting.
• 20:12
  I wonder how many places in the world.
• 20:15
  I'm connected to in this this store and I walked around
• 20:19
  picking clothes off the Elf and ultimately I found that they had
• 20:22
  closed products made in 30 some different countries and that
• 20:26
  kind of blew my mind and I didn't take that anywhere from
• 20:28
  that moment. But later in life, as I mean
• 20:31
  coffee and starting to be aware. There's another person somewhere
• 20:34
  on the other side of this thing that I'm doing, there's a bunch
• 20:37
  of other people. We actually have a show coming
• 20:39
  out detailing the supply chain will come out kind of about the
• 20:41
  same time as this will direct people to all those different
• 20:45
  levels from the farm. How many steps it takes from the
• 20:49
  farm just to get in that? Into a container is more than
• 20:52
  you'd ever imagine. Yeah, I don't want to forget
• 20:54
  about your story though and the meaning of the name to quani.
• 20:59
  Yeah. You asked a lot.
• 21:02
  Yeah, I have a tendency to ask wide big questions that take us
• 21:07
  off on tangents, that's on me. So let's get back to the meaning
• 21:10
  of tech wani and what this company enables you to do in,
• 21:14
  you know, where that came from and what that means to you.
• 21:18
  Aiko on this company before seconds to explain how I got
• 21:22
  there. I'll do a little bit of
• 21:23
  backstory on the previous so there are three owners two of
• 21:28
  us. Oddly enough were born on
• 21:32
  reservations my one other friend, rest, he was in
• 21:36
  Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and I was born in Toppenish.
• 21:40
  The Yakima. Tribal Nation, no direct
• 21:44
  affiliation with the tribal Nations.
• 21:48
  But I'll get into a little bit more of that later too.
• 21:51
  So at that time 10 years ago this kind of being in Colorado
• 21:57
  in this Romance of the West Wigwam, sounded like a good
• 22:01
  name. But as we evolved in our kind of
• 22:05
  understanding of everything a it's a, it's not even an, a
• 22:09
  native name, it's sort of a just a jargon ish.
• 22:14
  Like I don't know what else to compare to you, but it's like
• 22:17
  it. Angela fide version of tribes in
• 22:21
  New York. So it and then at the time at
• 22:25
  20:20 really was something like, you know, I have a chance to
• 22:28
  reinvent and, and about that time.
• 22:31
  I had been, I did a 23andMe test because I was really
• 22:36
  reconnecting to my mom's side of the family.
• 22:39
  That's a whole other story, I won't get into, but I was raised
• 22:42
  basically by my dad, but the last 10 years have been like, on
• 22:45
  this journey of like, connecting with my Latin roots and just
• 22:50
  more time with my mom. And and that was part of the the
• 22:52
  Tessa's and it came up that I was basically a quarter, Native
• 22:56
  American and I'm like well what's that all about?
• 22:59
  So I talked to my tlb te and she's like well it's you know
• 23:04
  that academic term is people gnawa is the more correct
• 23:10
  version in. This is an indigenous people
• 23:12
  group from Western El. Salvador effect, pupusas.
• 23:16
  If you're familiar with Salvadoran Cuisine that is a
• 23:20
  like almost like a 2,000 year old native dish.
• 23:23
  All of this is tied with the gnawa people and then as I
• 23:28
  wanted to kind of pay some homage and honor to that because
• 23:32
  there's a coffee story here. That's quite tragic based.
• 23:36
  I mean if you ever have a chance to read Coffee Land by Augustin
• 23:40
  Sedgwick, I highly recommend it. If you can't get through it,
• 23:44
  then audiobook. It it's a recounting of the 400
• 23:47
  years of coffee and El Salvador and kind of one of the other
• 23:51
  than its founding in like that. 1800 s in 1932 there was an
• 23:57
  uprising of the indigenous people who were the coffee
• 24:00
  workers and it resulted in a massacre of 30,000 in like one
• 24:05
  or two days and there's this burial site.
• 24:09
  It happened in a few different towns.
• 24:11
  But Esau Elko is where the site is and I had an opportunity when
• 24:16
  I took my second trip to El Salvador, the first was, when I
• 24:20
  was 2 for 6 months and I don't remember.
• 24:23
  But to actually go to this site and it was Heavy.
• 24:28
  I mean, it was very emotional how it to realize that parts of
• 24:34
  my family. If they hadn't survived that
• 24:38
  Uprising, I wouldn't be here. And the cost of coffee in the
• 24:43
  history of coffee, as much as I love it and El Salvador and
• 24:48
  coffee are like so intrinsically intertwined.
• 24:50
  Now, I mean it's so much part of that.
• 24:52
  At pride and identity. And that's what I love about.
• 24:55
  Coffee Culture in El Salvador is there's a lot of Pride about the
• 24:58
  product but the history is just like, people don't necessarily
• 25:02
  want to talk about it so much and that this Longmont, Anza is
• 25:08
  something that everyone knows about.
• 25:10
  It's just a footnote in history, that's horrific.
• 25:15
  Because that the language stop being spoken, people stop
• 25:18
  dressing in indigenous stress and everybody assimilated.
• 25:22
  And so I signed up to take a class and now I'm not at all
• 25:29
  proficient but most familiar tea with this culture.
• 25:33
  There are these teachers that I signed up for in this class and
• 25:39
  just observing some of the rituals and ceremony and just
• 25:42
  understanding that culture more because it's part of my Roots.
• 25:46
  So from that one. Way to answer this question D,
• 25:50
  quani, is a now outward for Jaguar.
• 25:53
  Jaguar happens to be my no Ali, which is sort of like my birth
• 25:59
  sign or spirit animal The interesting thing about the
• 26:02
  jaguar in Mayan mythology, is it was a transformational being
• 26:07
  that could travel both the Underworld, the night world and
• 26:12
  the day world. And that's why it has two spots.
• 26:14
  It likes reflective of the of the of the sky in the kitchen.
• 26:18
  So it has this ability to understand two different worlds.
• 26:21
  And I was like, this makes so much sense to me because I have
• 26:25
  this Anglo Heritage and I have this like, indigenous and
• 26:30
  Iberian. Spanish Heritage, and I'm a
• 26:33
  designer. So, I travel different worlds
• 26:35
  all the time, I dip and dive into Healthcare.
• 26:38
  I dip and dive into beauty products, or coffee or whiskey,
• 26:44
  or, you know, you name it. Like, whatever I have to absorb
• 26:47
  and understand these stories, the Jaguars also this holder and
• 26:52
  revealer of Dreams, which is also a role.
• 26:54
  I feel like designers do Hannah Who's lead designer?
• 26:58
  We worked on the design together.
• 27:01
  On the Mark, it's kind of infusing.
• 27:03
  Some of that indigenous and Mayan naming and just also when
• 27:09
  I was taking the classes I was like is it's okay cuz you know I
• 27:12
  don't want to make another Wigwam mistake and it's like
• 27:14
  well it's your story it's your roots and yeah, share this
• 27:17
  language. We were Reviving this language
• 27:19
  in El Salvador. So yeah, long answer to that
• 27:23
  question but that is why T quani you say long answer.
• 27:27
  But I think you just condensed several hundred years of History
• 27:30
  down into Put them in and a half.
• 27:32
  So not too bad at all. You're very efficient.
• 27:36
  We actually met at the specialty coffee Association Expo in
• 27:39
  Portland. You were stationed right across
• 27:41
  from the design kind of awards wall.
• 27:44
  And I noticed your design right away getting into a lot of my
• 27:47
  own background here, because we share a lot of similarities.
• 27:50
  But I went to design school and ended up working in design for a
• 27:52
  long time and was terrible at it or just not, not the best at it.
• 27:57
  But I was, I still love it and appreciate design as an art
• 28:01
  form. Then as a skill set you just
• 28:03
  said something about dipping into other worlds and how that
• 28:07
  relates to the name in the jaguar in general.
• 28:10
  How do you go about absorbing a Brand's story and then
• 28:15
  presenting it as an identity? When you can't necessarily
• 28:18
  physically, get there? You know, you're talking about
• 28:20
  working at origin and in other Industries as well, but it's not
• 28:24
  like you can go and visit every Farm, you know, just every
• 28:27
  weekend. And then come back to work,
• 28:29
  right? So how do you work with a client
• 28:32
  to say, hey, let me absorb as much of what you can, what I can
• 28:36
  about you and what you're doing so that I can then present the
• 28:39
  story that you feel represents you I feel like design is a
• 28:45
  mirror and it reflects two things to make that mirror work.
• 28:51
  We have to understand and listen a lot and ask a lot of questions
• 28:57
  to the client and what is this product?
• 29:00
  They're offering the world. And why does that matter to
• 29:04
  them? And so a lot of questions about,
• 29:07
  you know, their backstory like why are you even caring about
• 29:10
  this? Why should that matter to
• 29:11
  anybody else? But also, To try to understand
• 29:16
  the audience that are trying to reach, who are the people who
• 29:19
  are these personas that and that's like asking the client
• 29:24
  questions and then doing a lot of research about who who are
• 29:28
  these types of people that might connect with that because when
• 29:33
  what you're offering the world connects with what people really
• 29:36
  need and want that intersection is pretty magical space.
• 29:40
  If design is right, it will help.
• 29:43
  People see what you're offering with what you need and want
• 29:47
  most. So a lot of listening and I
• 29:50
  would say if at all possible go and try to be in those worlds,
• 29:56
  if you can or at least like worlds.
• 29:59
  When I made the decision, we wanted to focus more on coffee.
• 30:03
  I told Hannah at the time, we're going to origin and we can't
• 30:09
  understand what it means to brand coffee.
• 30:12
  If we don't, Seeing where coffee comes from and how it's in my
• 30:18
  natural connection was through all Salvador.
• 30:20
  So that's why we went there and we went with some other people
• 30:24
  that of like mine that just wanted to absorb The process of
• 30:31
  growing, it processing it and then I've even gone as far as to
• 30:36
  like, ask friends who own coffee shops.
• 30:38
  Like can you train me a little bit, too?
• 30:41
  Like, when you need help steamed milk and Beyond bar, and C.
• 30:44
  So, I've done that. I've dabbled with roasting not
• 30:49
  to be a roaster, because that's not what I'm going to do.
• 30:51
  But to just have an understanding of all the aspects
• 30:55
  of packaging, I understood design understood Good.
• 30:59
  But even retail environments of coffee experiences.
• 31:02
  So I would say listening when you can't be there doing a lot
• 31:08
  of research asking interview questions, Zoom calls.
• 31:14
  And then trying to really understand who the market is,
• 31:20
  and you can do a lot of this online, but you're going to get
• 31:22
  so much more information. If you do, take the effort to at
• 31:25
  least know, we can't go to Every Farm but we can go to one farm
• 31:29
  and just understand the process. And then with that Baseline, see
• 31:34
  how everybody else does it different.
• 31:35
  Because they do, we visited two wildly different Farms, Carlos,
• 31:39
  and Patty Pola, and they're like generational farmer.
• 31:44
  Sirs, who do really Innovative things with soil and the land,
• 31:48
  and the micro rhizomes, and all of that, cool stuff.
• 31:52
  But then we went to Los naranjos, which is like much
• 31:54
  bigger operation, and they've got coffee contracts with
• 31:58
  Starbucks. And just the whole gamut of,
• 32:01
  like, small farms mid-sized Farms, big farms, and all that.
• 32:04
  So, but that way coffees produced has some similarities
• 32:09
  or some, you know, Baseline similarities.
• 32:12
  It's just scales a lot different.
• 32:14
  So so, I want to take a quick step back and ask you what I
• 32:20
  think is a very complex question, but I think might have
• 32:23
  a simpler answer and I could be wrong.
• 32:26
  I apologize. You're working with origin
• 32:29
  Farmers. You're working with local coffee
• 32:31
  roasters. If I'm a coffee roaster, and I'm
• 32:35
  hiring you to design, say not just the brand, but like a
• 32:38
  package and something that people are going to take home
• 32:40
  with them. What makes a coffee big stand
• 32:43
  out on the Shelf. I mean, My I absolutely buy
• 32:46
  bottles of wine and books and things because of the label or
• 32:50
  the cover and coffees. No, I mean I buy coffee because
• 32:53
  it's what I do but I used to buy it based on the logos or The
• 32:57
  Branding. What do you think makes
• 32:59
  something stand out? There.
• 33:01
  Is that even a fair question to ask?
• 33:04
  No, I think it's a fair question to ask.
• 33:06
  I mean, you go to like Expo and they have the Design Awards and
• 33:11
  they have a lot of packages on the shelf and they're all so
• 33:13
  different and there's Trends, there's like crafty looking bags
• 33:19
  that are like brown and craft paper.
• 33:22
  Have that sort of aesthetic, I would say 90s Coffee House
• 33:27
  aesthetic. Then there's like ultra-modern
• 33:30
  and like really Sleek and sophisticated.
• 33:32
  There is one package. That was ridiculous.
• 33:34
  It was Bonkers, it was really cool.
• 33:36
  I think an NBA player, I can't remember the name of it, but I
• 33:40
  think you may have seen as like, it looked like Chrome and it was
• 33:43
  like, it was really cool. And then like everything in
• 33:47
  between. So, for me, what makes a coffee
• 33:53
  brand? Stand out is if it truly
• 33:56
  reflects why whoever it is, whether it's the farmer, Or it's
• 34:02
  a roaster or it's a coffee house.
• 34:05
  And like, one client, we have Bluegrass and they are a whiskey
• 34:14
  Kentucky, whiskey bar by night, in a coffeehouse by day.
• 34:19
  And they just they named all their coffees after Kentucky
• 34:22
  Derby winners. And it's like in Arvada
• 34:25
  Colorado. It's like this local local local
• 34:29
  Vibe. And it's so uniquely itself.
• 34:33
  It would be not appropriate for any other coffee package and
• 34:37
  people love it. They feel like it's really
• 34:40
  reflective of the Derby and the whiskey and Kentucky and all
• 34:45
  that stuff. So it needs to be 100% itself
• 34:48
  and that's going to be different than, you know, some like West
• 34:52
  Coast sophisticated coffee experience, kind of client.
• 34:57
  So the answer to that, That is it just needs to be
• 35:02
  intrinsically reflective. I mean, it just needs to be real
• 35:06
  and authentic to whatever the person is that is telling that
• 35:10
  particular coffee story. If it's not, if she's trying to
• 35:13
  look like another brand, it's like, oh, I go on to look like
• 35:17
  Onyx, because Onyx is amazing. And everybody loves Onyx and I
• 35:20
  need it to look like it's not going to go.
• 35:22
  Well, it might look cool, but it just won't have any stickiness
• 35:27
  to it. It won't have any resonance or
• 35:29
  meaning. So I think it just has to be
• 35:32
  wildly individualistic, and authentic and true to whoever it
• 35:36
  is that's putting their Blood Sweat and Tears into either
• 35:40
  roasting, that coffee or producing that coffee.
• 35:43
  Does that answer that question? Sure, I think authenticity is
• 35:47
  important and, and trending is different.
• 35:49
  I think we could say there's some hard and fast rules, no
• 35:53
  Comic Sans. It's just start there and go
• 35:55
  from there. No, I think that's an, I think
• 35:57
  that's a good way to say it. I think.
• 35:59
  What your the design won't work if the person who it's
• 36:03
  reflecting, doesn't believe in it, not only that, but there may
• 36:06
  be some real variables. Some people have a lot of
• 36:09
  resources and they can put a lot of money into that packaging,
• 36:16
  like engraved box with a custom sleeve and, you know, a whole
• 36:22
  really cool way of doing that other people.
• 36:26
  They just all they have is Sourcing a bag and like trying
• 36:31
  to put some kind of sticker on it.
• 36:33
  So part of what I think it is too is it's got to be engineered
• 36:36
  to what will work. I don't think anyone needs to
• 36:40
  get in debt for packaging and packaging, can be beautiful and
• 36:45
  successful and scalable and yeah.
• 36:48
  If it takes off, if your dream takes off and you're selling a
• 36:51
  lot of coffee and then you want to go the next level with a
• 36:54
  custom bag full of to do it. But we don't we don't want to
• 36:58
  make Anybody. You know, we just want to scale
• 37:02
  up and be with people and that I guess is the other part of the
• 37:04
  design process is understanding where clients at and their
• 37:09
  resources and working within that sandbox.
• 37:12
  And be like, you know what, once this takes off or if it's
• 37:16
  already successful and you know, you need to take it the next
• 37:19
  level, you know, we'll just going to meet people where
• 37:21
  they're at and not tell them to be someplace that they just
• 37:24
  because we think it needs to look cool.
• 37:26
  That's wildly. Irresponsible to me and not very
• 37:29
  honoring to wear there. Rat and their business.
• 37:31
  So I think you have to have a little bit of Ethics about it,
• 37:33
  too, designers. I mean, you give them carte.
• 37:36
  Blanche will go crazy will do all sorts of nutty things
• 37:39
  because we think it will look beautiful, but it has to work
• 37:43
  and has to make business sense for the client.
• 37:46
  That brings up kind of that, that concept.
• 37:48
  I mean, you're making things. Look beautiful.
• 37:50
  You're sharing a story telling a story.
• 37:53
  It's not necessarily your story, but it is the sharing of the
• 37:56
  story. How do you balance?
• 37:57
  Kind of the ethical or the environmental impacts of your
• 38:00
  work product? Because a lot of your work
• 38:02
  product is designed to be produced into something, a
• 38:05
  coffee bag, you know, brand a website or a shirt or something,
• 38:09
  right? It's creating this identity.
• 38:11
  That's sharing a story and what comes along with that is stuff?
• 38:15
  Yeah. So people won't throw away stuff
• 38:20
  that they feel is valuable. So in some ways, Designing
• 38:25
  something that is unique and and beautiful will help people not
• 38:32
  just toss it away but they see themselves in that story.
• 38:36
  So they want to like have it be part of their brand I guess by
• 38:39
  wearing it and showing off their like branded you know mug or you
• 38:46
  know, to go coffee, you know, Tumblr or whatever.
• 38:49
  And yeah, we do care and we do often suggest, you know,
• 38:53
  thankfully everyone's on board. Board and Specialty coffee about
• 38:56
  trying to do things better by the environment.
• 39:00
  But there's these things like you can get 100% compostable
• 39:04
  bags. But if you put a sticker on it,
• 39:07
  all of a sudden it's not compostable or the government or
• 39:12
  local government, won't support the recycling of this
• 39:15
  particular. So you just have to ask a lot of
• 39:18
  questions and ask like what? So yes we always want to be.
• 39:24
  Possible in like we don't want something that can't break down,
• 39:30
  but if it breaks down in 5 years, or if it breaks that like
• 39:34
  there's different decisions you can make on different products.
• 39:38
  Thankfully, the coffee space is very conscious about this at
• 39:40
  you're hard-pressed to find a printer that isn't going to have
• 39:43
  a product that is made with recyclable materials or in that
• 39:50
  regards there's other Industries where we could I guess design
• 39:53
  stuff that I Like would be, but I feel like the coffee industry
• 39:57
  is very environmental aware and also socially aware like, but
• 40:05
  it's easy to be performative in that regard and two.
• 40:10
  So I get, I guess my work around, that is relationships.
• 40:14
  Mmm, I heard this, I don't know if I read this on spread or
• 40:18
  something, but like there is people who are trying to do this
• 40:22
  like tell the story of the farmer.
• 40:24
  They had some type of country of origin and I think it was
• 40:30
  Central American coffee, but they were showing African beds
• 40:32
  drying from Africa. So like this wildly and the
• 40:37
  intention was to show where coffee comes from and but like
• 40:42
  without an understanding relationship with where who are
• 40:46
  the actors producing this coffee in, get it really wrong and
• 40:51
  you're thinking you're you want to work?
• 40:54
  Ang side and with producing countries, you don't want to
• 40:58
  like save them with your like, Conscious storytelling.
• 41:05
  So I feel like part of what will keep that from happening is
• 41:10
  really meeting and understanding and if you can't meet in person,
• 41:14
  get on a zoom call and meet the farmer and see what's going on
• 41:17
  in their Community. What are the needs?
• 41:19
  And like, and that's the other thing, programs are great.
• 41:22
  And I believe in, in supporting, like, specified programs for
• 41:25
  education and health care, but if that coffee sells, well, that
• 41:31
  Community is going to be helped. So, it's not always a service
• 41:34
  project or something good to do. Its they need to sell coffee and
• 41:39
  it's a business. So like helping that happen is
• 41:42
  going to make life better. I say that but there's some
• 41:46
  specific causes. There's a hunter's coffee that
• 41:50
  we work on for school that I believe in I'm going there June
• 41:54
  17th. Actually, that was my next
• 41:57
  question was to ask kind of about your some of your mission
• 42:00
  based work and some of your social Fact, you know, if you
• 42:03
  were to say, I want to quantity to make this sort of impact,
• 42:06
  what are some of those things that you're doing now and and
• 42:09
  hope to do in the future? Yeah.
• 42:11
  So, ideally we would, for every country we're working with, we
• 42:15
  can find a partnership or a way to like an initiative that is
• 42:22
  being run locally. Like, the only people who are
• 42:25
  going to know how to make under is better or under a nose.
• 42:28
  Same thing with El Salvador, same thing with water.
• 42:32
  Allah or wherever Africa, Kenya or or Ethiopia.
• 42:37
  So let the locals know what works best in their Community
• 42:42
  but then if sourcing and a coffee project can help add
• 42:48
  awareness and benefit then, yeah.
• 42:52
  So we have coffee project in Tegucigalpa for a school and
• 42:58
  they've been running since 1971 and they teach entrepreneurial
• 43:01
  skills too. Two boys and girls from
• 43:04
  kindergarten up through high school.
• 43:06
  I have been to the school many times and I love what they do
• 43:12
  and believe in what they do. So we have a coffee project
• 43:17
  called Esperanza Dulce that. So we Source the coffee from
• 43:21
  under his from women, producers. And there's reasons for that too
• 43:26
  because the machismo culture and it's kind of a weight of
• 43:28
  addressing that so we sourced it, right?
• 43:31
  And then we roast It with a roaster and he believes in the
• 43:35
  project as well and the proceeds go to back to the school.
• 43:40
  And we do a lot of this coffee through churches.
• 43:44
  And we're saying, like you're drinking coffee every Sunday.
• 43:49
  And so why not have this coffee? Make an impact because and the
• 43:53
  long-term impact not a one-and-done make you feel good
• 43:57
  thing but and then also get to know the school and So it works
• 44:02
  out really well. It's this school.
• 44:07
  We've been able to raise like a quarter of a million dollars
• 44:09
  over the last five years with awareness around coffee and this
• 44:14
  product. And that is a, you know, we lead
• 44:18
  trips to like have people be aware of what they're doing, but
• 44:21
  that's like helping with they have a Dentistry school now and
• 44:25
  they have students in the Dentistry school that are
• 44:28
  opening up, you know, practices and under, it's an there's so
• 44:31
  many cool things And it's just kind of connecting people with,
• 44:35
  oh I'm getting this coffee from Honduras, and it's benefiting
• 44:39
  this country. And I'm just having a
• 44:41
  relationship with it and I'm aware of where my food comes
• 44:44
  from and rather than being exploitive in these products in
• 44:47
  the past banana and that can be in any industry but you know,
• 44:51
  I'm focusing on coffee. So that's one example.
• 44:55
  Another one is this language school.
• 44:57
  I mentioned in our classes. So I took these classes so we
• 45:00
  worked on a coffee project this past.
• 45:02
  Fast for the holidays to for the language cradles in preserving
• 45:08
  and teaching this indigenous language and culture.
• 45:10
  We were able to co roast this coffee.
• 45:13
  This label here this to Tunica tune, which means hot coffee in
• 45:17
  now. Ah, it was be it was able to be
• 45:21
  roasted in El Salvador and it was a featured coffee, one of
• 45:26
  the hot coffee shops in San Salvador and it's a few
• 45:30
  different places. Sold for $10, a bag in El
• 45:35
  Salvador and 20 Stateside in. So it was Co roasted with a
• 45:40
  roaster here in Denver. And the next year, we're going
• 45:43
  to go even further with it and have it be part of our tab loan
• 45:46
  Coffee Roasters. They're going to hopefully I
• 45:51
  mean we're on board with this but like it'll be their holiday
• 45:54
  offering so it'll scale up and then that money is just going to
• 45:58
  help with new school Center that they're having.
• 46:02
  NG and educational materials. And that to me, you know, we had
• 46:08
  talked previously, but who Liana who she's announcing and there's
• 46:14
  a lot like a matriarchal culture of teachers.
• 46:18
  And when we were asking about this coffee project, she had us
• 46:21
  in the ceremony to bless the coffee.
• 46:23
  So we were on the grounds where this massacre took place.
• 46:29
  She was inviting the, it Sonic, it's on a Catholic church
• 46:33
  grounds where the field is, she would invite the priest to have
• 46:36
  some of the coffee and we were doing this mind ritual and
• 46:41
  asking for is this, okay, they called it.
• 46:44
  The seed of Discord coffee because of all of its hardship
• 46:48
  and it brings us full circle. I said is this okay?
• 46:50
  And she's like, well we love coffee and and ancestors, you
• 46:55
  know, they want to have it be a seat of Harmony instead of
• 46:58
  Discord. So those are those personal
• 47:01
  connections, those possibilities that happen when you listen, and
• 47:06
  you visit, and you build these relationships, and it's just so
• 47:09
  much more meaningful and it makes the coffee richer.
• 47:13
  You understand? Kind of the second is of the
• 47:17
  coffee industry but you also get the hope of it and how coffee
• 47:21
  does connect. It does these cool things to the
• 47:23
  human brain that you know, makes things possible.
• 47:27
  The history coffee goes along with the history of like
• 47:31
  Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment and like it's
• 47:34
  crazy. It's only been around for not
• 47:37
  even a full like thousand years. Like four to five hundred years
• 47:42
  and it's progressed, Humanity, somewhat, it's kind of weird.
• 47:45
  But so the fact that coffee could be something that brings
• 47:48
  people together. Instead of divides people is
• 47:52
  really cool. So I'm long-winded.
• 47:55
  I talk too much on these things but you ask me.
• 47:59
  I'm I'm your rock or podcast. So there you go.
• 48:02
  Yeah I'm the one who's gonna have to edit it Charles.
• 48:05
  Yeah. So we're no worries.
• 48:07
  I got the time. I'd rather get that story out.
• 48:10
  I mean I feel like I could talk to you for hours and maybe we'll
• 48:13
  do that over, you know, the time that Get a chance to do to be
• 48:17
  engaged with each other. You know, we've met over coffee
• 48:19
  and now we're having this conversation.
• 48:21
  If you if you were to say, hey these are the types of clients
• 48:27
  that I hope are listening to this and want to work with me in
• 48:30
  the, you know, in the coffee space.
• 48:31
  Who is that? You know that you that you are
• 48:34
  approaching or that? I mean, I'm assuming you're a
• 48:37
  design firm, but you have agency and who you work with especially
• 48:41
  now. Yeah, you know.
• 48:42
  Who is that client for you? That is like, the ideal.
• 48:45
  With the quani client, I'm reading this making coffee
• 48:49
  better book about how am I in farmers and third wave.
• 48:53
  Tastemakers create value. So any and and we've done a
• 48:59
  project for a roaster and Kenya. So and we thankfully we're doing
• 49:04
  these new engagements with Indonesian coffees to and some
• 49:07
  relationships we made. So I'm not like I'm, I know I
• 49:10
  come at this like strongly from a central American bent because
• 49:13
  its history and family. And all of that.
• 49:16
  But I would say if we can use design to help add value to
• 49:21
  coffee from the bottom up from the producing countries.
• 49:24
  Up a, I want to talk to you any way to make that happen.
• 49:29
  I'm totally interested. If you love coffee and I do
• 49:34
  you're passionate and you care about where your coffee comes
• 49:37
  from and how you're sourcing it, I definitely want to have a
• 49:40
  conversation and that, you know, we have a client small Roasters
• 49:43
  doing amazing things in the United States.
• 49:45
  Really working hard to create these relationships.
• 49:48
  I just talked about caring about where the coffee comes from and
• 49:51
  wanting to share that story. But if you just want to do a
• 49:54
  Dropship business about coffee will talk to you because
• 49:57
  honestly, that's going to Robin Hood.
• 49:58
  A lot of these other projects design is expensive, in the
• 50:03
  sense of to do everything we want to do, takes a lot of time
• 50:06
  and effort and oftentimes in some cases that's just not
• 50:11
  possible. So we can like, Spread rates
• 50:16
  work with clients in different ways, especially at origin, by
• 50:20
  doing a lot of coffee work in general.
• 50:23
  So I'll talk to anybody in the coffee space and Beyond but I
• 50:28
  don't know. It's more and more.
• 50:29
  It's more and more coffee. So I think that's where this is
• 50:32
  all heading and how it's been heading.
• 50:35
  So yeah, what did we not talk about today?
• 50:39
  That you want people to know about you or about your company?
• 50:43
  Or just generally speaking, if you had to say, Ears like a
• 50:45
  one-sentence lesson from what I want you to take away.
• 50:49
  What is that? I mean, I joked about a working
• 50:53
  tagline or maybe some kind of content thing, but that there
• 50:58
  really is no such thing as a cup of coffee, just a cup of coffee.
• 51:02
  And what I mean by that is like you said, there's so many hands
• 51:06
  involved in this drink and also it's a drink that we've made
• 51:15
  common. And it isn't.
• 51:19
  It's like humans. It's like You know, human
• 51:23
  resources are, it's such a special drink and there's so
• 51:28
  many different beautiful unique cultures and people in this
• 51:32
  beverage that we're doing ourselves a disservice about
• 51:36
  commoditizing it. And yeah, are you going to spend
• 51:40
  as much in a cup of coffee as you do on a fine cocktail or a
• 51:44
  really good craft whiskey, or a wine that's estate bottled?
• 51:49
  I think you should. I think it's that special.
• 51:52
  And so if design and storytelling and reconnecting
• 51:56
  helps people discover this beautiful beverage and
• 51:59
  appreciate it more. That's what I hope happens with
• 52:03
  Daquan edesign Co helping that small R small part in.
• 52:07
  That is what all of us are in this coffee to do, is we love
• 52:11
  this drink, and we want it celebrated in appreciated.
• 52:14
  So you already mentioned Bluegrass.
• 52:18
  I believe, I got their name right coffee.
• 52:20
  I'm going to be coming to Denver and a couple of weeks.
• 52:22
  What is one shop? I have to go to and if you were
• 52:25
  to go to there, what are you going to order?
• 52:29
  I would say, I'm all I always Point people towards sweet
• 52:32
  Bloom. We didn't do the branding, I
• 52:36
  love the tone there, we do that, but no, no, it's beautiful.
• 52:41
  Its top, did it with any Springer and crew and it's
• 52:44
  beautiful. It's great.
• 52:46
  It's it. I like it.
• 52:47
  But the way they Source coffee in the way they roast coffee is
• 52:51
  my favorite in. Well, I've a few favorites but
• 52:55
  yeah, for sure, sweet Bloom. And if we were to go to sleep,
• 52:58
  Umm, I would say I would just ask what, what, what are you
• 53:03
  guys into right now? And surprised me with, you know,
• 53:05
  we would get a V60. We would just sit and Savor that
• 53:13
  and like, talk about it and geek out over it.
• 53:16
  Yeah. All right.
• 53:18
  Well, I do have one last question for you today.
• 53:21
  I've never asked another guest, this question, so you're my
• 53:24
  guinea pig are you for, or against helvetica?
• 53:28
  Yeah. I am for helvetica.
• 53:37
  If you use it well and not as just a quick fast.
• 53:43
  Cheat to look cool. Well, I'm gonna link to the
• 53:48
  helvetica movie for anyone who is Love Now best movie.
• 53:51
  Yeah, it's so good. Yeah.
• 53:53
  And if you've never thought about the font, that is in a
• 53:56
  bookie read, or the newspaper or on a package, this will change
• 54:02
  your, your, you'll start seeing it everywhere.
• 54:04
  There's nothing you can do about it.
• 54:05
  Wow. Charles, I really appreciate you
• 54:09
  taking an hour. I mean we I feel like we've just
• 54:12
  scratched the surface of what you're doing and where you're
• 54:14
  going and maybe you've just scratched the surface to.
• 54:16
  This is a whole new Endeavor of last couple years and I sense a
• 54:20
  lot more coming and hopefully we can touch base.
• 54:23
  Again, thank you so much for the opportunity.
• 54:26
  It feels really good to like externally process.
• 54:29
  A lot of stuff that's in my head.
• 54:31
  And the one last thing I would say, real quick on, all of this
• 54:34
  is I'm learning by doing. II.
• 54:37
  Don't know how to do this all well and there's already people
• 54:42
  in the industry further along this path than I am.
• 54:45
  There's other sort of similar design shops like the left code
• 54:49
  that are equally minded that and we like exchanged some emails
• 54:54
  and there's plenty of space in the coffee industry to reimagine
• 54:57
  and redo this better. So we're all learning together.
• 55:00
  And by no means an expert, I am learning a ton and I'm thankful
• 55:05
  for opportunities like this. To share things that I've been
• 55:08
  learning and I was I'm self-conscious that I'm over
• 55:11
  talking but it's fine, you can. Okay, some key takeaways today,
• 55:28
  Charles AKA Carlos or Carlos's depending on the company and the
• 55:32
  Locale is learning while doing he's very open about the A
• 55:36
  reality that we all himself included, make some mistakes and
• 55:40
  it's a good lesson. We get better by constantly
• 55:42
  doing learning tweaking and doing again.
• 55:47
  One of the goals of T quani design is to uplift.
• 55:50
  Producers at origin. They do so by using the skills
• 55:54
  and connections they have in their toolbox to tell stories,
• 55:57
  hopefully, creating additional value to quote, Charles, they
• 56:01
  want to use their design efforts to reveal people's hopes and
• 56:04
  dreams. The quantity is the indigenous.
• 56:08
  Now, our word for Jaguar. I apologize if I mispronounced
• 56:11
  that according to te Kani design.com and Charles in Mayan
• 56:16
  culture, the Jaguar travels between worlds day and night as
• 56:20
  a holder and revealer of Dreams. It really fits with their
• 56:24
  design. Ethos coffee is one of the
• 56:27
  mediums Charles has been using to explore his ever evolving
• 56:30
  world view, his career and journey of self-discovery.
• 56:34
  He hopes to use his any and skills to offer Grace and
• 56:36
  Humanity to others. And although I imagine it is
• 56:39
  difficult himself to if we're doing it right?
• 56:43
  We're all continually growing as humans.
• 56:46
  If you're like me, it is with a cup of coffee in hand.
• 56:49
  You can learn more about Charles and T quality design on roast
• 56:52
  westcoast.com. And I'll make sure the important
• 56:55
  links like that link to the helvetica movie and the coffee
• 56:59
  land book are there and in this shows podcast notes so hopefully
• 57:03
  you can find them wherever you're listening.
• 57:06
  That's supply. Chain column, I mentioned will
• 57:08
  be published as part of our new Crossings coffee column on the
• 57:11
  website. Subscribe to the newsletter now,
• 57:14
  and it'll be in your feet shortly.
• 57:16
  Thank you to Charles for spending the time, sharing his
• 57:18
  story, and for turning me on to some new to me, coffee history,
• 57:22
  and for using his design skills for good and coffee.
• 57:26
  And thanks to you for listening to the stories of coffee people
• 57:29
  for being inspired by their entrepreneurial efforts and
• 57:32
  supporting this podcast. If you're in the early stages,
• 57:35
  Ages of your coffee Journey. We want to support you to season
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• 57:47
  already out search for coffee Smarter on your favorite
• 57:50
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• 57:54
  That show is geared to enable you to brew a better cup of
• 57:57
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• 58:00
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• 58:05
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• 58:20
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• 58:48
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• 58:51
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• 58:53
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• 58:58
  here, wherever you're listening. I'm about a week from now this
• 59:02
  episode of the coffee people podcast, which is part of the
• 59:06
  West Coast coffee network is was has been written produced and
• 59:10
  recorded by me Ryan Walt. I hope this episode is found you
• 59:13
  happy healthy and with at least a thread of sanity left enabling
• 59:18
  you to make it through the day, always tip your Baristas and be
• 59:22
  sure to drink a coffee.