Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Brianna Stefano, Brewing With Brianna Coffee Consultant

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Brianna Stefano, Brewing With Brianna Coffee Consultant · Coffee People Podcast

• 0:26
  OK. I mean, we can see it's
• 0:29
  everything seems to be functioning.
• 0:31
  Hi. Nice to meet you formally.
• 0:34
  Welcome to the Coffee People podcast.
• 0:36
  Thank you. My name is Ryan.
• 0:39
  Would you mind telling everyone? It's the only time I'll ask you
• 0:41
  to look at the the cameras, Tell them who you are and why you're
• 0:46
  here. What?
• 0:46
  You were just telling me about the Connecticut coffee.
• 0:48
  Go. OK, so my name is Brianna
• 0:50
  Stefano. I am a consultant in the state
• 0:53
  of Connecticut. We are a small but mighty state.
• 0:55
  We formed a coffee collaborative for this past year where we're
• 0:59
  really trying to get all of the roasters, baristas, educators,
• 1:03
  everybody involved in the Connecticut coffee industry to
• 1:05
  come together in one space. We really believe in
• 1:08
  collaboration. We don't want gatekeeping.
• 1:10
  We want affordability in this industry where people can get
• 1:13
  the training that they need and not feel like, Oh my God, it's
• 1:16
  so much money, I can't afford it, can't get these fancy
• 1:19
  trainings. I am also a professor, so it
• 1:21
  really helps on the forefront of education.
• 1:24
  I teach at University of Bridgeport and I firmly believe
• 1:27
  that this coffee industry in Connecticut can grow into this
• 1:31
  amazing group. OK.
• 1:34
  I just want to clarify, professor.
• 1:37
  Yep. Connecticut What's the name of?
• 1:40
  The Connecticut, The Connecticut Coffee Collaborative.
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  I'm the vice president. Vice President, Consultants,
• 1:45
  Yes. What else?
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  I am a coffee roaster. There was.
• 1:48
  Something else there's. Everybody's like, oh, what do
• 1:50
  you do? And I'm like, OK, so like, which
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  one do I start with? There's about four, and five is
• 1:54
  my life. Do you?
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  Have one business card or do you keep one for each depending on
• 1:58
  the situation? So this this exact conference.
• 2:01
  I have my own personal business cards and then I'm using the QR
• 2:04
  code for the roast streaks. I roast for a coffee in
• 2:07
  Connecticut. Hartford, CT.
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  We specialize in Jamaica, Blue Mountain, so we have a direct
• 2:11
  trade relationship with Clydesdale Estate.
• 2:14
  So the thing that we were talking about right before we
• 2:17
  turn this on, you were talking about the Connecticut
• 2:20
  Collective, Coffee Collective, and you mentioned that coffee
• 2:23
  education is something that's important to you and to the
• 2:26
  group. Why?
• 2:27
  Why is that important to you? Why do we need to learn more,
• 2:30
  and why is there room for it in Connecticut?
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  So across the entire state, we have a very wide variety of
• 2:37
  different roasters, baristas at different skill levels, owners
• 2:41
  that are opening new shops and they want to be involved, but
• 2:44
  they don't necessarily always have the tools.
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  So they don't always have the resources and the tools because
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  we're a small state. So they seek outside.
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  So they're looking on these podcasts.
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  They're looking up to like some of the consultants that are
• 2:55
  online, even the coffee carts that are being established.
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  I know a couple people who are seeking outside counsel.
• 3:01
  Well, guess what? In Connecticut, we do have
• 3:04
  people that specialize in a lot of these things.
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  So how do we show it off? How do we get the attention and
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  be like, OK, hey, you can open a successful coffee shop and you
• 3:12
  can have the support and the backing.
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  So for example, when we have new coffee shops, I have one that's
• 3:18
  opening right now in Manchester. I provided them with wholesale
• 3:22
  options for roasters, beverages, all of the products that are
• 3:25
  here. But also, okay guys, you don't
• 3:28
  have an espresso machine yet. Well, let's get you some
• 3:30
  equipment. I have people that can source
• 3:32
  equipment for you in Connecticut, creating a
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  resource. We have people that can provide
• 3:37
  latte art classes. We have everybody under the sun
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  that can support them into opening a great business.
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  And then after they open the business or people that are a
• 3:45
  couple years in and they're like, where's the revenue?
• 3:47
  Where's my income? I'm like, OK, well here, let's
• 3:49
  look at the numbers. Are you hemorrhaging labor?
• 3:52
  Are you checking your bank accounts?
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  Are you looking at your COGS every single month and they're
• 3:56
  not? The thing is, is there's a lot
• 4:00
  to do. I, I think anyone who starts a
• 4:03
  coffee shop or restaurant, any of that, the list of things to
• 4:06
  do will never end. There's never a point where you
• 4:09
  go, oh, it's on auto fine. It's just always the thing you
• 4:12
  forgot to do before and it's now catching up to you.
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  It's cool that you have How do you manage for your personal
• 4:20
  life the balance where your focus goes?
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  So the balance, I found a way to get everything to all encompass
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  into one word, which is really just support.
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  I find different ways in my life to support different people,
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  whether it be the people in my life like my personal life, my
• 4:42
  friends, my family, but my friends that are in the coffee
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  industry, I make sure that I talk to them, I reach out to
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  them and I'm just checking in. I check in with them on a
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  regular basis and then I find ways to support business owners.
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  But at the end of the day, to support myself, I do not make a
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  lot of money off of any of this financially.
• 5:01
  I just support myself through helping other people.
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  Well, that was my question. Who is support?
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  Who supports you? Well, that's an amazing
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  question. Behind the camera we have my
• 5:11
  Ryan. My Ryan is my partner and is
• 5:14
  very special to me and believes in me and everything that I do,
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  supports this, supports our household.
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  We have two amazing dogs and then my family, I'm looking at a
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  lot of different business options right now.
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  And they were like, if you want to go into something, we will
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  back you because you've been doing this for 15 years.
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  You deserve to have a stake in something.
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  And I've supported so many people in opening their shops
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  and just providing education and it's just like, when's my time?
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  And it never felt right, but I think we're getting close.
• 5:44
  Now is that? Time.
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  I think we're getting close. What are your dogs names and do
• 5:47
  you have pictures of that? I do have pictures of my dogs.
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  I actually will do that often. But their names are Dodger and
• 5:54
  Pixel. They're both first one, Dodgers,
• 5:57
  purebred border collie. Second one we got in January.
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  We rescued her and we were like, wow, she really looks like a
• 6:03
  border crawly. She looks like her brother
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  Genetic test. I think she's got 20 different
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  genes in her predominantly German Shepherd.
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  And those paws are big, so. But it's a delight and I love
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  taking care of them. But Ryan actually is a creative
• 6:18
  director, stays at home and gets to spend a lot of time with them
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  while I'm on my coffee adventures.
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  That's my that's this Ryan's story, too.
• 6:25
  Maybe that's a thing. I stay at home with the dog.
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  It works out well. And my wife goes out and
• 6:30
  dominates the world and you know everything she does.
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  Oh, OK. Well, that sounds very like
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  relatable, Yeah. When you and your Ryan, which I
• 6:39
  didn't actually know there was another one until just now, when
• 6:42
  you're out in the world, you leave Coffee Fest and you're
• 6:45
  just like, man, I need a cup of coffee for me.
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  What do you order when you walk into a coffee shop?
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  Wow, phenomenal question. So I am jokingly not my own
• 6:55
  name. People kind of started it.
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  I'm the Cortado Queen of Connecticut.
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  I do a lot of Connecticut education and beyond about how
• 7:04
  cortado's should be made. And they're just the perfect
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  balance and why it's just why it's such an important beverage
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  to offer in your coffee shop, especially at a specialty level.
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  It's not a pretentious thing. It's not like we're going in
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  there to like Judge. It's we want that beverage, but
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  we want to get the good taste of your espresso, what you put into
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  it, how you brood it. I am a cortado person first and
• 7:26
  foremost, and I have a really cute hat.
• 7:29
  It literally just says cortado I and then one to one because that
• 7:33
  one to one ratio, that balance is super important and it's an
• 7:36
  education opportunity. So I actually get a lot of
• 7:38
  people who will be like, oh, what is, what's a cortado?
• 7:41
  And then I get them on that. So it's just a one way for me to
• 7:45
  inform maybe one person. Well, Brianna, thank you for
• 7:49
  spending 7 minutes and 30 seconds with us.
• 7:52
  Thank you for having me. This is a really.
• 7:54
  Great experience. Yeah, I'm excited to learn more
• 7:56
  about Connecticut coffee, which I can't say I know a ton about.
• 7:59
  There's a lot. There is a lot to it.
• 8:01
  A great reference is the Instagram coffee in Connecticut.
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  Wonderful woman Caitlin started it on her page.
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  The very first thing that's pinned by county is every single
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  coffee shop, an entire roaster list, a list for all of our
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  local vendors. So any kind of coffee carts, pop
• 8:20
  ups so that everybody can access that and then you can be like,
• 8:23
  oh, you know what, I'm in Hartford, CT, I'm in New Britain
• 8:27
  in New Britain. Let's check out the garage
• 8:28
  coffee lounge. The president of the Connecticut
• 8:30
  Coffee Collaborative, Taki Taki Tanaka, he owns and like runs
• 8:35
  the garage coffee lounge part and he's actually competing in
• 8:39
  the Latte Art Championship because he got in as an
• 8:42
  alternate yesterday 1 and is on his sixth his second day today
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  we'll. Have to check that out and I
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  almost forgot if you people wanted to find you or connect
• 8:51
  with you. Best way to do that?
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  Best way to do that is my Instagram, so brewing with
• 8:56
  Brianna, that's my company name, that's how I consult.
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  And then if you want to find my coffee, I roast Jamaica Blue at
• 9:02
  Obelle Coffee in Hartford, CT. I feel like you come into a
• 9:06
  place as a consultant and it's a whirlwind and when you leave,
• 9:09
  people are like what just happened.
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  Maybe that's just me, but I feel like there's like an emotional,
• 9:15
  like something happened here and it's going to take time to
• 9:18
  figure out exactly what. That's why follow up is
• 9:21
  important. I'll get those texts or it's
• 9:23
  like, Oh my God, I love talking to you today.
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  Can we catch up? And that's how we start the
• 9:27
  conversation. And you know what, I sit down
• 9:30
  with the person first time. I'm not someone who's like, oh,
• 9:32
  I'm charging you for this. I'm literally like, hey, no,
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  what can I do to support you? If you have goals, if you have a
• 9:37
  vision, I can open up the world and your eyes to everything that
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  I have available to me from my experience.
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  And if I do not have that experience or I don't have
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  acknowledge or I don't know something, I will find out for
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  you because I have resources that I can communicate with.
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  It's about communication and just providing that support.
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  Brianna, thank you so much for joining the show.
• 9:58
  Thank you, Ryan. I.
• 9:59
  Thank you author Ryan for supporting Brianna for being on
• 10:02
  the show. I'm very grateful, so thank you.
• 10:57
  Music, hopefully that was. All it's nice.
• 11:02
  I'm seeing all of these Cortado. Oh my gosh, my car, my car
• 11:05
  license plate. That was my mom.
• 11:07
  She's highly supportive of what I do.
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  So she was like vanity plate Cortado.
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  And I was like, I don't like vanity plates because I don't
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  want people to easily be able to identify me, you know?
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  Should we not include that on the show?
• 11:20
  You. Can totally do it.
• 11:21
  No one knows what my car looks like.