Colin Harmon and Stephen Leighton Talk Coffee and host live talks from people in the coffee community.
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Coming soon new Tamper Tantrum Videos from Ozone Coffee in Auckland New Zealand.
Friday Feb 23, 2018
Friday Feb 23, 2018
As with every speaker-focussed Tamper Tantrum event, we always try to include a speaker from outside of coffee who would be able to provide insights relatable to our industry. San Francisco’s interesting and unique culture provided us with lots of potential options, but our host partners (Wrecking Ball Coffee) presented us with a unique and exciting opportunity through their work: Chef-Owner of the Michelin-starred Khin Kao, Pim Techamuanvivit.
Following the lead from Khin Kao in how it subverts expectations, we chose instead to have our hosts, Katie Carguilo and Stephen Leighton, interview Pim to learn more about how her approach to using ingredients, building flavour combinations, and giving good service could have a positive impact on specialty.
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📷: Cris Mendoza (Saint Frank Coffee)
Pim grew up in Bangkok, was shipped off to study in other places, and somehow found herself living and loving it in the San Francisco Bay Area. She quit her Silicon Valley job in 2005 to pursue a career in food: the writing, reporting, and basically anything interesting thereof that comes her way. Her recipes, writings, and photographs have since appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, Bon Appétit magazine, and more.
She’s also moonlighted as a judge on Iron Chef America, been profiled on Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, Food(ography), and cooked Pad Thai on the Martha Stewart Show, for Martha, natch.
Pim opened her first restaurant, Kin Khao Thai Eatery, in March 2014. In September of that year, Kin Khao was included in 50 Best New Restaurants list by Bon Appetit. In 2015, it was ranked #6 in 25 Outstanding Restaurants 2015 by G.Q. Magazine. The Michelin Guide awarded Kin Khao 1 Michelin Star in 2016 and again in 2017.
Friday Feb 09, 2018
Friday Feb 09, 2018
One of the things we really enjoyed about the podcast in 2017 was the “From the Field” segment, shared by Alejandro Martinez from Finca Argentina in El Salvador. Every time we’d have an event, we’d ask ourselves: is there a way to get Ale here as a speaker?
Finally, the stars aligned and we were able to have Ale join us, in person, on stage in San Francisco. Here, Alejandro provides a personal insight into one of the issues raised in Hanna’s talk earlier that morning: coffee farming profitability. In sharing his own story, Ale calls attention to the challenges and opportunities to farmers working within the specialty model, offering some actionable advice to anyone looking to ensure the future of quality specialty coffee.
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📷: Cris Mendoza (Saint Frank Coffee)
Alejandro Martinez doesn’t have the usual “coffee producer” backstory: once a VP of Investment Banking in the Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Bank of America Securities (now Bank of America Merrill Lynch), Alejandro began his career in specialty coffee in 2008 managing a 35 hectare farm originally acquired in 1967 by his grandfather, Luis Guillermo. Today, he manages a coffee estate of approximately 70 hectares, working remotely from Ahuachapan in El Salvador with the financial planning and analysis team of a cybersecurity tech company to keep the farms afloat as he builds initiatives to secure the future of the land and its workers.
Alejandro holds an MBA from Tuck Business School at Dartmouth and a BS in Business Administration from Universidad Fidelitas in Costa Rica, but it doesn’t stop him from talking about the biodynamic gnomes.
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Think you like to get geeky with your coffee? Think again! We’re pretty sure our second speaker from our San Francisco event last September has you beat. Professor William (Bill) Ristenpart takes the idea of being “curious about coffee” to the next level in his role as the Director of the first multidisciplinary university research center in the world devoted to post-harvest coffee studies: the UC Davis Coffee Center.
Like most of our professorial guests, Prof. Ristenpart packs a lot of information into both his short time on stage and his slides: the relationship between chemical engineering and coffee, the development of the UC Davis Coffee Centre, a sneak peek at some on-going research into the coffee brewing control chart, and many, many equations. It’s time for you to level up!
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William Ristenpart's research is in complex transport phenomena, with an emphasis on using advanced experimental techniques to extract quantitative measurements from complicated phenomena. Ristenpart Research Group strives to answer fundamental scientific questions about a variety of systems where the transport behavior is paramount. Recent topics include: electrocoalescence of charged droplets, shear-induced deformation of red blood cells, electrically-induced aggregation of colloids near electrodes, and turbulent dispersion of airborne pathogens.
Ristenpart's lab has two Phantom high-speed cameras (a grayscale v7.1 and a color v7.3), both of which can capture at more than 100,000 frames per second. They also have several microscopes and various optical and laser systems.
He is also passionate about coffee - he serves as Director of the UC Davis Coffee Center, and see here for an overview of his undergraduate course, The Design of Coffee.
Friday Jan 12, 2018
Friday Jan 12, 2018
If you’re a regular podcast listener, you’ll already be very familiar with our first speaker last November in San Francisco - World Coffee Research’s Hanna Neuschwander – but this time, we’re talking about far more than WCR’s sensory lexicon. We’re talking about the future.
After asking us to imagine what life will be like for each of us in 2050 – well within our expected lifespans – Hanna explores both the challenges (“This is going to be, like, a super downer for a minute – sorry!”) and the opportunities (“more optimistic stuff!”) that the future holds for coffee and the industry built around it.
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Hanna Neuschwander has been communicating about coffee and science since 2004. Her writing about coffee and food has appeared in publications including Travel + Leisure, Edible Seattle, Portland Monthly, and the Oregonian, among others. She is the author of Left Coast Roast, a guidebook to artisan and influential coffee roasters on the west coast. She has presented about the history, sustainability, and economics of coffee at everywhere from Boston to Panama City. She is based in Portland, Oregon.
Friday Dec 29, 2017
Friday Dec 29, 2017
History is full of the winning combination of comedy duos – Abbott and Costello, Lucy and Desi, French and Saunders – but 2017’s final episode of the Tamper Tantrum Podcast features the irreverent comedy of everyone’s favourite muppet hecklers. No, not Statler and Waldorf – although they do a decent impression – No. 94 features the return of our own, in-house comedy duo: Colin and Steve!
No. 94 is also home to the third annual Tampies, incidentally disguised this year as a 2017 recap and general catch up between Colin and Steve. Again, we won’t give it all away here, but as Jenn wasn’t involved in the recording of this podcast, we’ll let these post-show interjections give you a glimpse of what this episode contains:
- You can find a copy of Meister’s “New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History” here.
- The name Steve was looking for is that of the incredible Eva Gefvert Nordell at Are Kafferosteri.
- Steve somehow managed to forget Gothenburg (February) and Bristol (August) when he recapped this year.
- GIF wish granted!
- You can watch Colin’s favourite talk of 2017 here (Steve’s is yet to be released).
Of course, that doesn’t even begin to cover it all…! Thanks for joining us on the wild ride that has been 2017, we’ll see you in the new year. x
Friday Dec 22, 2017
Friday Dec 22, 2017
We’ve made it a habit the past few years running to release what we feel is a particularly special or insightful video right before the holiday season in the hopes that it sneaks into your (sub)conscious as you think about the year coming to a close and think about what it is you want to achieve in the year ahead.
There’s been a lot written this year questioning who we are as a community, what it means to work in coffee, and what’s coming next. Many of the questions seemed to focus on where we are as an industry: are we on the fourth wave, or the fifth wave? The sixth? What’s a wave, anyway? Although she’s “not the ‘wave oracle’,” returning speaker Trish Rothgeb is credited creation of the phrase “third wave coffee” (FlameKeeper, 2002) and has often been asked to give her take on the state of the industry.
Here, recorded at our event in San Francisco, Trish delves into what inspired her to talk about coffee in waves all those years ago – something until now that she has previously brushed off in conversation - and what it means for coffee’s future. We hope this talk inspires you not only to learn more about the history, concepts, and people that Trish highlights in this talk, but also to impact how you think about coffee, our industry, and the work that needs to be done.
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Photo by Cris Mendoza (Saint Frank Coffee)
Trish Rothgeb is the co-founder, owner, director of coffee, and roastmaster at Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in San Francisco.
Her experience in the industry spans over 30 years as a coffee roaster, green coffee buyer, and teacher of all things coffee. An avid traveler in coffee growing regions worldwide, she teaches “cupping” to coffee producers and coffee professionals around the world. She is also credited with coining the term “third wave coffee” and identifying the relevant concepts.
Trish is a licensed Q Grader and credentialed Q Trainer by the Coffee Quality Institute. She has served on the SCAA’s Roasters Guild Executive Council, was a charter member of the World Barista Championship Board of Directors and a founding member of the Barista Guild of America.
From 2013 to 2016, Trish worked on staff at the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) as the “Director of Programs: Q and Educational Services,” in addition to her work with Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters.
Friday Dec 01, 2017
Friday Dec 01, 2017
This week, newly crowned World Barista Champion Dale Harris and long-time coach, friend, and all-around troublemaker Pete Williams take the lead on No. 93 to share stories about the lead up to this year’s WBC and the somewhat unexpected result. This one is definitely longer than usual, but for good reason – there’s lots to cover, despite the relatively short amount of time they had to prepare between the UK and WBCs. Together, they chat through ideas left behind, their (dys-)functional working relationship, “the Harris process”, the goals they worked diligently toward during their eight weeks of preparation, and more – including (for those who know where to find this sort of thing) the answer to the question that everyone has been asking. Yes, that one.
Friday Nov 03, 2017
Friday Nov 03, 2017
It's all go here at TT HQ as we prepare for the upcoming weekend festivities in Manchester whilst simultaneously preparing for the WBC in Seoul (Jenn) and getting ready to embark on a five country book launch tour (Steve) - with long days and lots of travel over the past few weeks for both Steve & Jenn, we thought it was time for a good old-fashioned skype catch up before getting on the show officially back on the road!
No. 92 is a catch all for upcoming fun - our second year of the Brubiaceae coffee beer home brew competition and a new alcoholic twist on our industry-focused evening panel at the Manchester Coffee Festival, naturally - but also a place for us to speculate and anticipate how the most recent rule changes could impact this year's World Barista Championship. Hop in and (try to) enjoy the sleep-deprived ride!
Friday Oct 20, 2017
Friday Oct 20, 2017
We’re back this week with No. 91 and, goodness, we have quite a bit packed into this episode: we’ve got guests aplenty! We kick off with an update from the field with Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, where they’re working hard to squeeze in as much planting and preparation as possible before the harvest starts whilst also managing the impact of the recent spate of hurricanes. Ale himself is joined by a guest – Chris Lee of Café Demitasse in LA – who is spending a month on Finca Argentia to get a feel of farm life.
After a quick Argentina update, we move onto the core of this week’s podcast: Jenn is joined by Ales Pospisil, co-founder of European Coffee Trip, to talk about their journey from home-coffee-geekdom to movers and shakers of specialty coffee media. As with previous “talking about coffee” guests with a unique view of the industry, there’s lots to ponder: is there a correlation between the growth of specialty in new locations and the enthusiasm for geekery? How do you maintain or renew your own enthusiasm and passion for your work?
We also look to the future with their newest (and biggest) project: The Aeropress Movie, a feature-length documentary about specialty’s strangest (and most engaging) brewing device, currently seeking funding via kickstarter.
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Diana Johnson of Taylor St. Baristas, who placed fifth in this year’s comp. Together with Diana, the panel chats through her choice of variety, the impact of innovation and research, and her 2017 endeavour to compete in every SCA competition. This sparks a much longer conversation about career progression, competition, and the institutionalisation of barista education: what does it mean to be a career barista? // Want to see Diana's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Callum Parsons of Extract, who placed fifth in this year’s comp. Together with Callum, the panel chats through what it means to be “sustainable” and “seasonal”, which sparks a much longer conversation about the growth of our industry, profitability, and business. // Want to see Callum's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by three-time UKBC finalist Jana Slamova of Baxter Storey, who placed fourth in this year’s comp. Together with Jana, the panel return to the discussion of subjectivity vs. objectivity and the impact this idea had on this year’s presentation. This sparks a much longer conversation about how we quantify creativity, what the competition currently rewards, and the impact leaps in technology could have on our current approach to coffee scoring. Is creativity always useful? // Want to see Jana's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Paul Ross of Origin, who placed third in this year’s comp. Together with Paul, the panel chats through Paul’s experiences as 2017 UK CIGS champion and the structure of his routine, which sparks a much longer conversation about traditional and non-traditional espresso cultures, expectations, and where the difficulty really lies when it comes to breaking through cultural barriers with coffee: is it harder to alter ingrained expectations or to create entirely new ones? // Want to see Paul's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Will Pits of Sans Pere, who placed second in this year’s comp. Together with Will, the panel looks at what it means to offer a fun experience to the consumer, which sparks a much longer conversation about the role of service in specialty, the importance of being able to read your customers, and the language we use to communicate both internally and externally. Is the same customer always the same customer? // Want to see Will's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.
Here, we’re joined by Dale Harris of Hasbean Coffee, who placed first and will go on to represent the UK at the WBC in Seoul next month. Together with Dale, the panel discusses everything from soil conditions and screen sizes to the value of competition, which sparks a much longer conversation about innovation, accessibility, objectivity vs. subjectivity, and the impact competition participation and success can have on a competitor and their business. Is the competition as strong as it once was? // Want to see Dale's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK!
📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk
Friday Oct 06, 2017
Friday Oct 06, 2017
This week, we’re joined for an extra special edition of our regularly scheduled podcast by none-other-than Thompson Owen of Oakland’s Sweet Maria’s and The Coffee Shrub. A long-time hero and primary coffee inspiration of our Stephen, Thompson first started working at a coffee counter in 1985 before going on open what is now the online hub of the home roasting community.
Steve and Thompson cover lots over the hour of No. 90: the start of Sweet Marias (and subsequently of Hasbean), Bay Area coffee, origin photography and travel, and some plain ol’ reminiscing.
Friday Sep 22, 2017
Friday Sep 22, 2017
This week, we’re joined by Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research to see how things have progressed since she last joined us on the podcast all the way back in No. 47, recorded shortly after the release of the sensory lexicon and accompanying flavour wheel from SCA(A). Before jumping into the nitty gritty of research progress, we take a side-trip along the left coast of the US – partially as, at the time of recording, Hanna would shortly be joining us there for our San Francisco event, but partially as it’s one of her many areas of expertise – to talk about the history of specialty coffee on the west coast of America.
As we talk through Hanna’s own coffee history, we work our way up to her time with World Coffee Research and discuss specialty’s adoption of the sensory lexicon, the progress that’s been made with their work on F1 Hybrids, and their newest endeavour to keep the good work rolling along. No. 89 runs a little longer than the average podcast, but for good reason: Steve puts on his devil’s advocate hat as we look at various options to fund and release research.
Friday Sep 08, 2017
Friday Sep 08, 2017
This week, we hope you'll forgive us: we've recorded under the heavy influence of jetlag from our temporary home in San Francisco, where we'll very excitingly be hosting our first-ever West Coast day of tantrums tomorrow (exciting! also: yikes!). Featuring lots of things we wish we hadn't recorded and then some, No. 88 is a short but sweet look at what we've been up to in our short time here with a few detours by Steve as he takes advantage of the weakened filter that comes along with transcontinental travel.
Friday Aug 25, 2017
Friday Aug 25, 2017
It’s Fridaaaay, so we have another podcast for your weekend enjoyment ready to roll! This week, we’re joined by Dr. Bridgeen Barbour of Established Coffee in Belfast to talk about the nitty gritty of shops, service, and relationships. Now open four years, Established has overcome a number of hurdles – political, financial, cultural, personal – to become a comfortable, approachable, and beautiful community hub in Belfast’s blossoming specialty coffee scene.
Bridgeen’s known to be open & honest in her chats, and this recorded chat is no different: No. 87 is a great resource for anyone thinking about opening their own shop, trying to juggle multiple hats, or build a community in their local area.
Friday Aug 11, 2017
Friday Aug 11, 2017
This week, Steve is joined by none-other-than Darrin Daniel of Stumptown, A Film about Coffee, and – now –Alliance for Coffee Excellence fame. Recorded onsite at this year’s Cup of Excellence in Burundi, they use Darrin’s career story to talk through the pros and cons of working with large coffee corporations, share Duane Sorenson stories, and ponder the importance of communication.
They also talk about the tumultuous changes to ACE and the COE program which spurred quite a lot of intense online discussion – in which, we’ll be honest, Steve was a fairly vocal participant – and what changes have been made as a result of learned lessons as they look towards the future.
Friday Jul 28, 2017
Friday Jul 28, 2017
Ok, folks. We know there is lots and lots of quality content happening in the world of coffee right now – and that’s an exciting thing! – but we really think you should make some space on your favourite listening device and find some time to coffee & chill with this week’s podcast guest, the one and only Liz Chai.
A graphic designer and illustrator by trade, Liz found her first specialty coffee home with none-other than the home of Tamper Tantrum’s birthplace (Octane) before carving out an incredibly exciting niche in our little world as a coffee creative in the PNW.
Regardless of whether you fancy yourself a creative – although most of us probably are, in some way – Liz brings a lot of passion, love, and wisdom to the table that is applicable to anything and everything you could possibly choose to do with your time on this planet.
Friday Jul 14, 2017
Friday Jul 14, 2017
And we’re back to something more closely resembling our regularly scheduled programming this week with the release of No. 84: Steve explains where he’s been all month, Jenn offers some sneak-peaks of what’s up-and-coming from TTHQ for the rest of 2017 (hint: exciting things!!), Ale shares another episode of Field Notes from Finca Argentina in El Salvador.
Also: the return of the name-drop klaxon (from the old-old-old days), facepalms a-plenty, yellow pacamaras, YET ANOTHER coffee book, parental obligation, on-air haranguing of Steve, and (at the very, very end) some thoughts on the morality of coffee farm photography.
Friday Jul 07, 2017
Friday Jul 07, 2017
In our final video from RGE’s 2016 Roaster Camp, an open Q&A on educational pathways, Annemarie Tiemes, Morten Munchow, and Ellie Hudson sit down together to share information about the upcoming changes to the SCA(A/E) education program and answer questions about unification’s impact, course structure, integration of new research, and future plans. The new structure has something for everyone, whether you’re looking for the way to turn a hobby into a career or work your way up to the top of your game!
We’d like to thank our partners, Roaster Guild of Europe, for inviting us to play such a fun role in the first ever European Roaster Camp – it was a blast!
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Photo by Jordan Sanchez for Roaster Guild of Europe
Friday Jun 30, 2017
Friday Jun 30, 2017
“If you stop shaking, then get out of the game.” So says this week’s special podcast guest on the subject of barista competitions and, if you’re a fan of little gems of wisdom like this delivered in an amicable Irish lilt, No. 83 – now forever known as “Petesycast” – is definitely for you.
We’ve managed to corner the technologically-reclusive Pete Williams to talk about all of the different roles he’s held over the course of his career – chef, barista, builder, plumber, painter, key clamp technician, trainer, roaster, competitor, coach, consultant, manager, forager, uniqlo shop assistant, disappearing act – and the things he’s learned along the way.
There’s something for everyone this week – and then some, really – but there’s some especially useful nuggets of knowledge about building routines and sig drinks for competition that should be saved somewhere if that’s your jam!
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Looking for the links promised in the podcast? Psst - subscribers get them!
Friday Jun 23, 2017
Friday Jun 23, 2017
This week, we’re releasing the final video of our trading models & certifications deep dive with an eponymous panel discussion recorded at last year’s first-ever RGE Camp featuring Sara Morrocchi (Vuna Origin Consulting), Eva Gefvert Nordell (Are Kafferosteri), and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee Roasters). Covering everything from a high-level look at certification standards throughout the supply chain to a discussion of problematic dichotomies, this week’s release is highly roaster-focussed, with the panellists discussing the pros and cons of working within each model’s confines before ending with advice for roasters looking to develop better relationships with producers.
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Photograph by Jordan Sanchez for Roster Guild of Europe
Friday Jun 16, 2017
Friday Jun 16, 2017
When Ale sent us this month’s “Field Notes” from Finca Argentina, we felt it would be best to share with you as a stand-alone piece: despite its brevity, Ale’s update packs quite a punch to those unfamiliar with day-to-day life in El Salvador – or any coffee producing country, for that matter.
Friday Jun 09, 2017
Friday Jun 09, 2017
For those of you joining us primarily from the interwebs, our June releases may seem to be the last portion of a recent (inadvertent) series of talks, interviews, and discussions which deep dive into “green buying”. In reality, the panel discussions we’ll be sharing this week and a fortnight from today were the first that we organised and presented to a live audience as the second day of afternoon lectures at the first-ever Roaster Guild of Europe Camp last October.
Featuring a panel of Raphael Studer (Algrano), Sara Morrocchi (Vuna Origin Consulting), and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee Roasters), Steve lead an open discussion that sought to pick through the ethical considerations at play when purchasing green coffee for a specialty coffee business, from a high level (origin country politics, human rights, climate change) to the farm level (wages/treatment of staff, the use of the “premium”, relationships and trust) and everything in between. Together, they share stories of unethical or questionably ethical purchasing and follow up with some actionable suggestions for those who wish to aim for a more ethical purchase.
As we prepared for this panel, the importance of a story – and its subsequent verification – appeared again and again in the context of coffee purchase, both green and brewed forms. To put this idea to the test, we asked the audience assess coffees once split into two groups: those assessing blind and those provided with information and backstory. Things didn’t quite go to plan logistically on a number of levels, so we 100% would not advocate these results to be indicative of correlation – let alone causation! In fact, we're pretty sure that these are nothing but some numbers on a page, but we promised to release the data.
Either way, we hope it provides you with some food for thought as you make your own buying decisions.
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PHOTO BY JORDAN SANCHEZ FOR ROASTER GUILD OF EUROPE
Joanna Alm | Drop Coffee
Joanna Alm is from Dalarna in the north of Sweden. She ran a coffee bar in Oslo for a few years, moved home to Sweden, and started working at Drop in 2010. A few years ago, Joanna became partner in the company and is now the CEO, head roaster, and green coffee buyer at Drop Coffee. She’s a three-time winner of the Swedish Roasting Championship (2014-2016) who has placed consistently in the final four at the World Roasting Championships during her time as Swedish Champion.
Joanna is also known for her passion for coffee education and community, participating as a speaker, panellist, lecturer, and attendee at coffee events worldwide both as Drop Coffee’s Head Roaster and as a working group member of the Roaster Guild of Europe.
Sara Morrocchi | Vuna Origin Consulting
Born in Italy and educated in the UK, Sara found her path in the specialty coffee sector in various roles since 2007. A social scientist by training, she began working as a development worker in Kenya in early 2000s, and started to grow an interest in ways to grow and strengthen rural supply chains in East Africa. She began working as East Africa supply chain manager for Sustainable Harvest in 2007. This role would keep her working in Tanzania for the next four years. Later, she moved to headquarters in Portland, OR heading up the Global Procurement and Supply Chain management team for 4 years.
Sara has recently moved to Amsterdam to start her Vuna Origin Consulting, specialized in supply chain strategies and product development in green coffee and cacao. The perfect mix of origin travel, suppliers’ relationships and tropical products makes her work extremely exciting. She is passionate about creating long-term sustainable solutions to empower and incentivize supply chain actors in collaborative ways.
Raphael Studer | Algrano
Raphael Studer is a Swiss economist and entrepreneur. During his PhD Raphael researched the statistical measurement and modelling of human well-being. He has working experience in the fields of international business development, sustainability consulting and energy trading. Two years ago, Raphael co-founded algrano.com, the B2B online marketplace for green speciality coffee. algrano allows access to roasters and producers only and brokers logistic, financial and quality services on a cost plus margin basis transparently. algrano was awarded by the Startup Brasil and Startup Chile programs, as well as by the SCAE. Raphael lived in the Brazilian coffee fields and met producers and roasters all over the world. He understands the chances, wishes, but also problems of the new generation of coffee producers. Motivated by the vision that efficient and scalable tools of communication will transform agricultural supply chains, Raphael focuses today on the spread of algrano.
Friday Jun 02, 2017
Friday Jun 02, 2017
As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, there’s been an influx of people writing and talking about coffee and, in a very meta way, conversations about how content is produced, curated, and presented are eerily relevant to how we brew, sell, and present coffee to our customers. This week, Steve sits down with Standart’s Michal Molcan following the successful completion of this year’s Standart Festival in Bratislava to chat about content curation, aesthetics, creativity, and value propositions – each of which contain insightful lessons to those looking to build and grow a coffee business of any kind.
Friday May 26, 2017
Friday May 26, 2017
This week sees the second and final installment of our time in Gothenburg “Cracking Certifications” with the Barista League: equipped with a shared foundation and understanding of certifications and their role in the coffee industry from our first installment, we turned our attention to baristas in the second half of “Cracking Certifications” as Steven Moloney (The Barista League) and Rubens Gardelli (Gardelli Specialty Coffees) joined Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee) on the stage: as the consumer-facing link in the coffee chain, what role and responsibility do baristas have in consumer education? More importantly, when we do endeavour to educate consumers, are we truly acting as ambassadors for those whose livelihoods are most impacted by various certifications and trading models?
Friday May 26, 2017
Friday May 26, 2017
Coffee Producer Video Submissions from "Cracking Certifications" at The Barista League: Sideline in Gothenburg, featuring (in order):
- Alejandro Martinez, Finca Argentina, El Salvador (IG: @alefincaargentina, http://www.fincaargentina.com/)
- Carlos Ureña, La Pira De Dota, Costa Rica (video recorded by Per Nordby of Kafferostare Per Nordby, https://www.pernordby.com/)
- Marta Dalton, Finca Filadelfia/Coffee Bird, Guatemala & London (IG: @thecoffeebird, http://www.coffee-bird.com/)
Written translation of Carlos Ureña below provided by Roukiat Delrue (IG: @roukiat):
My name is Carlos Ureña and we are in Santa Maria de Dota, in Costa Rica; we are located 1,700 MASL. This farm is named La Pira de Dota. La Pira started in 2002, certified organic at the time and stopped the organic production in 2005.
We started organic production to do something different and simply because of our own conviction. The soil has a lot of rock and very little organic matter – so we wanted to increase the organic matter and at simultaneously work on an organic coffee. Like I said, something different to be able to start. At the time, micromills / microlots did not exist.
Why did we stop with the organic; well, first of all, in cold places, I do not recommend working organic coffee ; because in general terms, plants tend to be slower, much milder than others and hence there is less ‘return’ to the soil, less return of organic matter. That on one side; additionally, at this altitude, we not only produce organic but also quality – and we got paid like any other organic in the country and they were never really willing to recognize quality.
Then in 2006, some people appeared interested in buying microlots, Japanse buyers; they were buying based on quality. Basically, I took that as my opportunity to overcome the ‘tragedy of the organic’ to transition to sell quality instead. That was the situation. I do try to remain nature –friendly, I don’t use chemical pest control, I try to use bio-fertilizers to work, so basically in a way it’s still organic - but not certified. I kept the concept, I kept the lessons, and as I mentioned my own conviction to work in a nature-friendly way.
(What do you expect for the future)
I expect to still improve the soil; I also expect to change some varieties and change them into some that truly adjust to this weather that is so dry and still filled with rocks. I hope to keep working and that in the future my family also keeps working on this so that we can continue this marriage with the coffee buyers – and coffee drinkers!
(and what do you think of certifications)
It depends on which certification! (organic). Certifications tend to be very very demanding, also in economic terms they are very expensive and for us if it’s in the case of organic it’s more expensive, you need more labor, and to pay so much to others I really don’t believe in certifications or not in these.
Thank you!
Friday May 19, 2017
Friday May 19, 2017
Welcome to this week’s mini-milestone, otherwise known as No. 80. We couldn’t let such an auspicious moment pass without featuring a special guest, and we couldn’t be happier that we were able to borrow Vuna Consulting’s own Sara Morrocchi for an hour to chat with Steve in this week’s podcast. For those of you who follow along with the live-event aspect of what we do, we’re sure you’re well familiar with Sara and her work – she joined us for discussions on certifications and green buying ethics at the first-ever Roaster Guild Camp in Estonia last year and again for “Cracking Certifications” with The Barista League in Gothenburg earlier this year. Each time, we felt that there wasn’t enough time to dig into her wealth of experience and strongly suspected that she could (and would!) take us to school if we ever had the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one. Very excitingly, she’s done exactly that in this week’s episode!
So, yes, this week, you’ll learn about Sara’s career journey from development to Sustainable Harvest to Vuna Consulting – but you’ll also learn about NGOs, USAID, cultural imperialism, empathy, social premiums, accountability, value propositions, authenticity, risk exposure, and much, much more.
Sunday May 14, 2017
Sunday May 14, 2017
On March 26 from 12:00 to 14:30, in the midst of a collective hangover from The Barista League the night before, we ran and recorded a special educational panel discussion hosted by local Kafferostare Per Nordby titled “Cracking Certifications” as a part of The Barista League: Gothenburg’s Sideline event series. Starting with the question, “why is talking about certifications so difficult?”, we brought together the voices of producers, certifying bodies, and green buyers to build a fuller picture of certification, from their aims to their achievements, as well as the considerations that producers and green buyers take into account when making decisions.
This week, we’re sharing the first half of “Cracking Certifications”, which focuses on the certifications themselves – Elisabet Lim (Fairtrade Sweden) and Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) gave insight into how certifications work, their primary goals, and how the business of certification is structured. Joined later by Sara Morrocchi (Vuna Origin Consulting), Angel Mario Martinez-Garcia (Progreso Producer Development) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee), we examined certifications and trading models in the context of specialty coffee and its love affair with “direct trade” – is there only one way to be accountable, transparent, and sustainable, as our current conversations might have us believe? Or are there many paths to the same summit?
Thursday May 04, 2017
Thursday May 04, 2017
Ohhh dear, this time Steve and Colin ramble like they have never rambled before. The 'Published author" Colin talks about his book sales, his bok contentns and nothing but his book. Steve and Colin touch on selling books at London coffee festival, selling books on line, selling books abroad and selling book.
In an effort for ballance, Steve talks about London coffee festival and other festivals, running a trade stand and brewers cup competition.
A ramble of magnicient magnitude.
Monday Apr 24, 2017
Monday Apr 24, 2017
"We speak 30 different languages, but we all speak coffee." This week, the RGE working group sits down at the first ever RGE camp to tell the story of how the group came to be, how camp came together ("we're roasters, we don't know how to organise stuff"), share ideas and options for the future (including unification), as well as ask and answer questions with the help of the audience. We have a question, though - how many Scandiavians are too many Scandinavans?
Monday Apr 17, 2017
Monday Apr 17, 2017
As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, we’re seeing more and more career paths open up, but none so much as that of “event organiser.” This week, Steve chats with one of our favourite event organisers - one half of Manchester’s Cup North dream-team duo, Hannah Davies – about the recently completed London Coffee Festival, building of a community beyond the industry, and the labour of love that is running specialty coffee events. Along the way, Steve digs himself into a pretty big hole (sorry, everyone!) and Hannah has some wise but hopeful words about the future of the global barista community.
Monday Apr 10, 2017
Monday Apr 10, 2017
CoffeeMind's Morten Munchow is no stranger to cramming as much information into his time on the Tamper Tantrum stage - you may remember his presentation from CoLab: Paris - but this time, we think he's outdone himself! Presenting his ongoing research into the business models of coffee roasteries, Morten gives us a primer in business models, both traditional and lean, before jumping into insights of the research's interim analysis. By mapping business data and demographic elements, business models, pivot points, and risk aversion of the primary founder, CoffeeMind are finding some interesting (and unexpected) correlations between business size and dynamic ability within the market. You'll definitely want to grab a pencil and notebook for this one!
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Morten Munchow, founder of CoffeeMind, is a man of many hats: as trainer, consultant, and researcher, Morten can be found at the University of Copenhagen, where he is an external lecturer in the department of food science, at the London School of Coffee, where he has taught coffee roasting since 2007, or hard at work with the SCAE Education and Research committees, where he developed SCAE’s roasting certification system.
Morten has conducted research on cappuccino foam chemistry, processing methods, starter cultures, sensory science, roasting defects, behavioural economics of consumer preferences, and roast degree preferences. He has also regularly consulted with a variety of different sized roasteries around the world, from South Africa to South Korea and Iceland to Kuwait and many more in between.
Monday Apr 03, 2017
Monday Apr 03, 2017
How is it April already?! We’ve kicked off this week with another update from the field with Ale Martinez from Finca Argentina - where they’re making bokashi whilst the sun shines in preparation for the approaching rainy season - before diving right into an interview with this week’s guest: 2017 Swedish Barista Champ and The Barista League’s own mastermind, Steve Moloney. A former event organiser and production manager in Australia, Steve has come full circle after moving to Sweden and getting into coffee – together with Jenn, they discuss the current state of competition, the birth of The Barista League, event-organiser pet-peeves, and the value of independent events.
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Born out of a desire to find the right roaster for her new business, Talor Browne set about putting together a methodical way to move beyond the typical reasons for purchasing a particular machine in order to find the one that best suited her new business: one coffee, six roasts, four roasters, 24 profiles, 95 participants, and 2300 hand-packed samples. Her presentation at the first ever RGE Camp last year outlines the method, hypothesis, and results of the one week experiment – ending with a cupping of all 24 samples and live results from the attendees at RGE Camp!
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Talor Browne is a roaster, barista, writer, Q grader and pastry chef. Founder of Talor&Jørgen and Fryd, she is originally from Australia but currently living in Oslo.
Monday Mar 20, 2017
Monday Mar 20, 2017
No. 76 packs a heck of a lot into the space of an hour, and it’s partially down to Colin’s tangent-led line of questioning, but mostly down to our guest this week - Berlin’s own Cory Andreen – and his lengthy cv. Originally from the specialty coffee nexus of a Murky-fied Washington DC, Cory’s been at the centre of the specialty coffee scene in his adopted home ever since he started Café CK in 2009 straight through to today, with his newest ventures, Brewbox (nitro coffee) and Motel (beer), and his role as the director of the Berlin Coffee Festival. As Colin and Cory trace his moves across Berlin over the years, the cover everything from the city itself – and how filter coffee’s reputation has yo-yo’ed over the years – to the growth of the community and the consistent perceived dichotomy of quality vs. convenience.
Cory is cool in the way few people are – fantastic dj, killer dancefloor moves, world champion cup taster – but he’s also sharp, down to earth, and highly insightful. Definitely an episode not to miss!
Monday Mar 13, 2017
Monday Mar 13, 2017
Whilst we all acknowledge the importance of ergonomics when it comes to the kind of physical labour that roasting requires, it’s rarely our focus when it comes to the day-to-day work of the roastery—and with a relatively young workforce, we often overlook the impact of the work we do until irreparable damage has been done. Joining us from the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, professional ergonomics Richard Graveling kicked off our afternoon lectures at the first ever Roaster Guild of Europe Camp with a much-needed look at the importance of being mindful.
Starting with a high-level look at the scope of “ergonomics” and a few of the musculoskeletal disorders common to lifting sacks of coffee, Richard then offers some ideas for ways to lift (“give it a cuddle!”) and equipment solutions in the roastery preventatively.
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Richard Graveling | Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
Richard is a professional ergonomist (Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Expert) and previous President of what is now the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. He has over 35 years experience as an ergonomist and has worked in industries as diverse as coal mining and salmon farming; helping to assess risks and develop solutions to reduce those risks.
Although he has worked in many parts of the food and drink sector (based in Scotland the whisky industry is a particular favourite) his main exposure to coffee has been as a consumer, although he has advised a local coffee company on ergonomics issues – knowledge that will be worked into his talk.
Outside work he is involved with a local theatre group, enjoys rugby, gardening, seeing the great Scottish outdoors, and spending time with his family (and cat).
Monday Mar 06, 2017
Monday Mar 06, 2017
This week, Colin & Steve reunite for a very, um, candid podcast featuring their signature rambles through topics far and wide—growth, delegation, debates, books, staffing, transitions, learning curves, things and old new. This one properly runs the gamut!
Along the way, they announce speakers for our Sideline event with The Barista League: Gothenburg, “Cracking Certifications”, discuss the importance of planning for growth, introduce a new feature to the podcast, featuring Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, and start thinking about what this year’s competition season will bring!
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sadly, this week marks the last instalment of 2016 Manchester Coffee Fest’s “The Business of Brewing”. As Sam Tawil (Bold St) and Claire Wallace (Brew Lab) join the panel of Tim Bosworth (Hoxton North), Pete Gibson (Grindsmith), and Alison Bell (BLK Coffee Heaton), the conversation turns more to the idea of “northern nuance” – what is different about running a coffee business in “the north”? Together, they examine the roles that food, space, staff, and service all play in building a successful coffee business, coming to the conclusion that whilst it is harder and harder to be perceived as “unique”, there are actually lots of little ways to differentiate your business from others’. Moreover, that even if they were given the opportunity to change something fundamental about their business when it was first getting off the ground, that maybe things progressed just as they should have.
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Exciting news! We'll be returning to Cup North's Manchester Coffee Festival this year, taking place at Victoria Warehouse the first weekend in November. Find more details on the Tamper Tantrum program here, or better yet, head straight to the source for more information!
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
No. 74 is here and, guess what! Steve isn’t just talking to himself this week—Jenn’s managed to wrangle her way back onto the podcast only to accidentally lead the conversation down an unanticipated path. Obviously certification is a hot topic right now – we’ve announced an event with The Barista League in Gothenburg this March on that very subject – but this definitely wasn’t meant to turn into the newly written “Trusted Trade” manifesto, a dissection of coffee buying narratives, or a laundry list of transparency report frustrations. Ooops?
Monday Feb 13, 2017
Monday Feb 13, 2017
This week, we return to Manchester with our second instalment of “The Business of Brewing”, featuring Timothy Bosworth (Hoxton North), Peter Gibson (Grindsmiths), and Alison Bell (BLK Coffee Heaton), each of whom have had very different experiences opening their own shops. From setting up pre-trend outside of London (Tim) to opening doors at the height of the trend (Alison) and from semi-permanent premises to brick-and-mortar shops (Pete), these three guests showcase vast differences in approach to build a specialty coffee business in the UK. Together, they consider how their initial business plan and model has changed since they first opened their doors, why just saying “yes” and figuring out “how” afterwards can lead to bigger and better things, the invaluable contribution of family and community support, how to roll with disappointments, the importance of letting some things go, and why “customer service” needs to be replaced with “customer engagement” if we want to maintain successful businesses.
Monday Feb 06, 2017
Monday Feb 06, 2017
This time of the year is always full of origin travel for green buyers, and Steve’s diary is no different—he’s just completed a two week jaunt to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Most will be familiar with the impact of leaf rust in Central America, but new pressures—significantly popular demand for particular varietals—stand to impact production and coffee quality long term. Like all of these origin monologues so far, the rough goes with the smooth—whilst there are good things happening in every corner, there are also a lot of red flags to heed as we enter a critical juncture for the future of specialty coffee.
Monday Jan 30, 2017
Monday Jan 30, 2017
Another week, another Tamper Tantrum first: Nick Cho brought some structure to Colin & Steve’s bickering at the end of our day in New York by moderating a full-on debate on the subject of barista competitions. Colin & Matt Perger argue for the motion “barista competitions are dead”; Steve and Jenn, against. Stakes are high as both sides try to win the audience over and avoid embarrassment: the losing side has to read real-life yelp reviews in their best non-native accent.
What do you think? Are barista competitions dead?
Monday Jan 23, 2017
Monday Jan 23, 2017
Surprisingly, despite recording podcasts since 2009, No. 72 is a Tamper Tantrum first: coffee celebs in cars! Or, rather, Steve recording and reminiscing with 2012 World Barista Champion Raul Rodas whilst they’re drive back to Guatemala City. Chatting with the (over-)familiarity of old friends, Steve & Raul revisit Raul’s road to World Barista Champ—how he got into coffee, motivations for competing, taking a year off—as well as the opportunities afforded to the champs and how they’ve influenced the development of Paradigma Coffee Roasters.
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Last, but most decidedly not least, to the stage in New York was our guest host, long-time twitter friend (/adversary), and fellow podcaster, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee. With near-trademark provocativeness, Nick tackles what he feels is “the biggest problem in specialty coffee today”—and no, it’s not actually climate change. Our biggest problem, according to Nick, is that we’re simply not very good at what we do. As he breaks this idea down in order to build a solution, Nick makes some astute observations about the current state of our industry and asks some big questions about what we need to do (and whether or not it’s even possible) for us to move forwards from our current position.
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Nick founded murky coffee in Washington DC in 2002, which emerged as one of the pioneering third-wave cafes on the east coast, winning barista competitions and recognition around the specialty coffee industry. In 2011, he and his wife Trish Rothgeb co-founded Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, where they work and reside.
Nick has served as a director on the Barista Guild of America’s Executive Council, on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Board of Directors, on the World Barista Championship Board of Directors, and as the chairman of the United States Barista Championship. He was also the 2006 South East Regional Barista Champion and has served on the SCAA Standards Committee. He also created the World Brewers Cup competition in 2011.
Nick has been a guest lecturer at the University of California Berkeley, Dartmouth College, University of California Davis, and a speaker at various events around the world including SCAA/Re:co Symposium. He started the Portafilter Podcast in 2005, and is proudly Tamper Tantrum Podcast's 42nd biggest fan.
Monday Jan 09, 2017
Monday Jan 09, 2017
We’re kicking off this year’s podcast series with a monologue: Kenya believe it? Recorded from a balcony overlooking the Aberdare national park on the last day of a week-long, Steve recounts what he and his traveling companions—roasters Roland (HasBean) and Simon (3FE)—have seen during their visits to eight co-ops, dry mills, and washing stations. Despite witnessing some exciting ingenuity and inspiring farming techniques, there’s still a disheartening and all-too-familiar downward trend when it comes to overall yields.