April 10th, 2010
Posted by Benjamin at 7:02 pm
Benjamin Wilkinson, of 84 Wall Street, is the Barista Guild of America’s Northeast Chapter Representative. A short article he composed on Blue State Coffee’s trip to Costa Rica was published in this month’s newsletter. The text follows:
Job Description:
Rainforest-trotting, relationship building, expert slurping, multi-language speaking, general all-round nice coffee person; Compensation: Limitless, but, intangible; Vacation Days: Every day is a vacation in paradise.
By Benjamin Wilkinson, Blue State Coffee
Northeast Chapter Representative
Over 3 years ago I took a part-time job as a barista with a local coffee shop for a shade past minimum wage (and tips!). I spent the next nine months learning anything I could about espresso, determined to improve the quality at the shop. Then, I quit. Pounding the portafilters was not paying the piper, or the bills. Two weeks later I received a phone call offering me the Manager position of the same cafe. I had spent the vast majority of my days plotting how I would run the cafe were I given the chance. I called my own bluff.
When I accepted the position, in that moment, I knew. I don’t know what you’d call it. Pick any one of the cliches: plunge, head first, deep end, holy coffee matrimony, etc. My fidelity was sealed to the industry. I was, and would be, beholden to coffee, until death do us part.
As a newbie barista, I hadn’t the faintest clue about Jeff Taylor, Peter Dupont or Duane Sorensen. I’d never cupped, never roasted, never seen a green bean. I’m not even certain I knew coffee grew on trees. But, I read and read and read. I posted articles from Home-Barista.com and CoffeeGeek.com on the walls behind the bar. I called Gimme! pretending to have the authority to buy just so I could get samples and a copy of Barista 1.0 (Sorry!).
Then, as the manager, I insisted on cupping with my staff, going to barista jams, competing in the regional competitions. Here I connected with a community I sensed was ‘out there’, one which Barista Magazine and Coffeed.com hinted at. I found roasters, equipment techs, trainers, sales reps, etc, who were all real, wonderful people with a passion for coffee excellence. I talked with Peter Giuliano and Jaime Schoenhut. I was forced to pull an espresso for James Hoffman, WBC 2007. I thoroughly embarrassed myself with excitement when I met Heather Perry (I think she’s forgotten). I witnessed Jon Lewis’ famous ‘Let it flow…’ keynote address.
Every time I turned around someone was saying how exciting it was to visit the farm where your coffee is grown and talk with the farmers themselves. Origin this and origin that. I started reading about the aforementioned coffee traders and more. If I could have written a job description, it would have read something like my opening lines. Enthralled, but, discouraged, I dreamed of one day, a decade away, vacationing in a coffee producing country, probably on my own dime.
Fast-forward two years and a job change later. I’m standing on the side of a mountain in a ramshackle building toasting contraband 100+ proof hooch with a group of farmers, baristas and a roaster. ASOPROAA! It’s 10:30 am. ASOPROAA is a cooperative of farmers near Asseri and Acosta, Costa Rica. We’ve used some of their coffees before, and, will use some hopefully for the indefinite future. The contraband guaro is hardly the best or most important part of trip. The people in that shack, The experience we are sharing in that moment is.
The company I work for is supportive of the specialty coffee industry and understands our commitment to traceable sustainability. Through diligent study, participation in SCAA events and competition, and a bit of luck I finally achieved my goal of a visiting origin. The experience is like none other and not as far away as you (Jo(e) Barista) may think.
I’m still a barista, still a cafe manager, and, in less than three years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit two coffee producing countries. I’m not exactly following in Geoff Watts or Peter Giuliano’s tracks. But, I’m not far behind. The community that I have foolishly thrown myself into has become my home, and, a place of endless opportunities, fanned by the flame of relationships. We like to call it relationship coffee because it sounds fancy, but, in reality it is just exactly that. The entire supply chain, from farmer to barista, is a product of human interactions. Those exchanges build the relationships that tell our story. Not my story, but the story of our coffee. This is what we, as baristas, sell: a demitasse with 1.5 oz worth of story.
ASOPORAA COOP Hooch Hut
Posted in Humor, New Haven/Wall St. Store, Personal, Stores | 
No Comments »
May 2nd, 2009
Posted by Benjamin at 9:37 pm
Blue State New Haven will be open this coming week…
Sunday: 8:30 am to ALL NIGHT LONG;
Monday: OPEN 24 HOURS + Procrastination Session
- 12 AM – XBOX 360 ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT;
- 52″ Television
- Store-wide Speaker System
- $100 GRAND PRIZE + Free Coffee
Tuesday: Close at Midnight
Wednesday: Close at Midnight
Thursday: Close at Midnight
Friday: Close at 11 pm
Saturday: Close at 10 pm
We’re not kidding about the xBox Rock Band tournament. Tell your friends.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news, Humor, New Haven/Wall St. Store, Stores | No Comments »
September 24th, 2008
Posted by Alex Payson at 7:49 am
I know it is off-topic and offbeat, but this is too much fun.
Go to The Politsk Blog, enter in your name, and you can be reborn as a Sarah Palin child!
This message was brought to you by Sack Panther Palin
Posted in General news, Humor | No Comments »
January 28th, 2008
Posted by Drew at 5:54 pm
…on charges of war crimes, perjury, and obstruction of justice. Vermont is the only state President Bush hasn’t visited since he was first elected in 2001.
Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.
The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning.
According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, organizers of the Bush-Cheney issue gathered enough signatures, and it was up to the Select Board whether Brattleboro voters would consider the issue in March.
Cappy said residents will get to vote on the matter by paper balloting March 4.
Kurt Daims, 54, of Brattleboro, the organizer of the petition drive, said Friday the debate to get the issue on the ballot was a good one. Opposition to the vote focused on whether the town had any power to endorse the matter.
“It is an advisory thing,” said Daims, a retired prototype machinist and stay-at-home dad of three daughters.
So far, Vermont is the only state Bush hasn’t visited since he became president in 2001.
Daims said the most grievous crime committed by Bush and Cheney was perjury — lying to Congress and U.S. citizens about the basis of a war in Iraq.
He said the latest count showed a total of 600,000 people have died in the war.
Daims also said he believed Bush and Cheney were also guilty of espionage for spying on American people and obstruction of justice, for the politically generated firings of U.S. attorneys.
Read the rest of the article here. Â
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Posted in General news, Humor, News round-up | 1 Comment »
September 19th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 12:01 am
Too funny for words:
The defendant in a state senator’s lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He’s everywhere.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he’s trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.
Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Posted in General news, Humor, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
July 10th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 6:22 pm
I think the title really says it all.
Those of you who are familiar with the Darwin Awards may have heard of something similar a few years ago when someone flew their lawn chair into the flight path of LAX, evidently it still holds an appeal to some…
Kent Couch decided to go flying last weekend. In his lawn chair.
Read the article here.
Posted in Humor | No Comments »
April 1st, 2007
Posted by Drew at 9:41 am
It seems that Karl Rove can get away with anything these days: firing U.S. attorneys for political reasons, revealing the identity of a covert CIA operative, and even rapping at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
The balding, bespectacled Rove was given a standing ovation at an annual broadcast journalists’ awards dinner on Wednesday night when he danced and posed with his Blackberry during an improvised rap skit.
As boss President George W. Bush looked on, Rove gamely flapped about the stage as comedian Brad Sherwood described his favourite pastimes: “Listen up suckas, don’t get the jitters, but MC Rove tears the heads off of critters.”
See this hilarious video here.
Posted in General news, Humor, Politics | No Comments »
March 10th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 12:46 am
Too funny:
Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate “bad spirits” after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
“That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture,” Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Read the rest of the article here.
Posted in General news, Humor, News round-up | No Comments »
November 29th, 2006
Posted by Drew at 8:47 pm
In a novel effort targeting the lifestyle of North Korea’s eccentric president, the Bush administration wants to make it tougher for him to buy iPods, plasma televisions, Segway electric scooters and more.
Read more here
Posted in General news, Humor, News round-up, Politics | No Comments »
