Category archives: Personal
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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 | 
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March 1st, 2010
Posted by Benjamin at 6:46 pm
Watch owner/founder/CEO Drew Ruben featured as part of the Project:Report in partnership with the Pullitzer Center.
Blue State Coffee
Posted in BSC in the press, Blue State Coffee news, Our causes, Personal, Video | No Comments »
December 23rd, 2008
Posted by Benjamin at 1:02 pm
Blue State Coffee would like to wish you the happiest of holidays.
2008 has been a great year. Thanks to our customers, we’ve given away over $70,000 to progressive local and national causes. We’ve fought and cheered for President-elect Barack Obama. And we traveled to L.A. to co-sponsor the Eco-Gift Festival.
In 2009, we look forward to opening stores in New Haven and the Brown Bookstore. Thank you for being part of our community. Happy holidays, from our family to yours.
Posted in General news, New Haven/Wall St. Store, Personal | No Comments »
November 25th, 2008
Posted by Drew at 3:45 pm
A few weeks ago I read an article in the New Haven Register about Holy Joe’s Cafe, a project of the First Congregational Church in Wallingford, CT. Since 2006, Holy Joe’s has collected and shipped over 105 tons of coffee to our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. Donations come from individuals, corporations, churches, and other institutions.
Blue State Coffee is proud to support Holy Joe’s Cafe. Our New Haven store will make regular donations.
If you would like to support this extraordinarily important cause, please download the Holy Joe’s brochure here.
All of us, in our day-to-day lives, enjoy the benefits of a good cup of coffee. Let’s do our part to extend that experience to our troops.
Posted in Blue State Coffee news, General news, Giving, Our causes, Personal | No Comments »
November 9th, 2008
Posted by Drew at 2:22 am
…in a profile piece about our good friend, Craig Robinson. We wish Craig all the best, and we miss seeing him in Providence.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — With a hint of 5 o’clock shadow and small bags under his eyes, Oregon State Coach Craig Robinson took the basketball court on Wednesday to start a campaign that is nearly as daunting as the one he just helped to complete.
For the past 20 months, Robinson assisted his brother-in-law Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency. Robinson stumped in Iowa, gave speeches in Washington State and did interviews about his childhood on Chicago’s South Side with his younger sister, Michelle, who is married to Obama.
All that work culminated in one magical Tuesday for Robinson and his family as they ate dinner at the Obamas’ house on election night and later exchanged congratulatory hugs onstage at Grant Park in Chicago.
“I’ve been so busy, I haven’t been able to process it yet,†Robinson said less than 24 hours later as he sat on the bleachers at Gill Coliseum after practice. “It’s wild. I don’t know what to say.â€
Now that the Obamas are preparing to enter the White House and Robinson can devote all his energy to his first season at Oregon State, Robinson and the president-elect can debate about whose task is tougher.
The article continues:
Robinson’s players at Brown said he went out of his way to separate politics and basketball. He would walk a block from his office on Hope Street and duck into the Blue State Coffee shop to talk politics. (Jesse Agel, Brown’s new coach, said he would send Robinson a pound of Blue State Coffee, with its “drink liberally†slogan, to congratulate him.)
Read the rest of the profile here, and read an interview with Craig, which also mentions BSC, here.
Also, Craig spoke at Blue State Coffee for a “Barack the Mic” event last year. See it here.
Posted in BSC in the press, Blue State Coffee news, General news, Personal | No Comments »
September 13th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:43 am
Last week I wrote about joining a CSA and the incredible bounty of fresh, local produce that it provides.
Today I will cover one option for cooking up those veggies (or meat/fish/anything else) that may be filling your fridge.
For those with any sort of backyard, large driveway, or any sort of open space outside, you can build your own grill on a very limited budget. (As a free alternative, most people probably already have all the materials needed to build a grill lying around.) The grill I describe below is the most basic design- you can increase the size or shape as needed as this grill is completely freestanding and can be disassembled and put back together in a matter of minutes.
Materials Needed
~40 standard size bricks (or fewer larger bricks/cinderblocks)
2 large slabs of concrete or sheets of metal at least 20″x25″
1 grilling grate
You can buy all the materials needed new from Home Depot or Lowe’s for ~$40.
The grilling grate itself costs about $10, the bricks will run ~$15, and the concrete slabs will be ~$15.
To assemble your grill.
1) Make sure you have a clear area at least 5′x5′ with no buildings/branches overhead that could be damaged by the heat.
2) lay down one concrete slab for the floor of the grill (These slabs can be quite heavy so you may want a friend to help).
3) The left and right walls can be built with 15 bricks on each side. For the right wall, place a layer of 6 bricks on the right hand edge of the slab- two wide and three long, standing on their long side. Repeat this with a second layer of bricks. The third layer is a single row of three bricks again standing on their long side, stretching from the front to the rear of the grill, flush with the right row of bricks. (The grill grate will rest on top of the second layer of bricks).
4) Duplicate this for the left wall.
5) The rear wall can be built with bricks placed 2 layers high, in a single row. You will not want to fill in the third layer as that allows the smoke to escape from the rear.
6) Place the slab very carefully on top of the walls- the slab is heavy, and once it is in place it will hold the grill together with its own wieght.
7) Now you place the grill grate in the cavity- resting the left and right sides on the second row of bricks.
At this point you have your homemade grill completed!
I power my backyard grill with charcoal, or even branches from my yard when I have enough.
Good luck and safe grilling!
Posted in General news, Personal | No Comments »
April 19th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:55 am
Last night I had the fortune of attending a speech by Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Laureate and renowned spokesman for peace, sponsored by the Institute for International Sport. He spoke about war, and peace, and suicide terrorists. One of the problems with suicide murders/terrorists he said (and excuse my poor paraphrasing), was that if they are ready to kill themselves, then they are already past the point where they can be convinced to change their ways. It is too late to reach them. So we must teach our youth while they are still young, with the hope and conviction that they can make the next generation a little better.
Professor Wiesel went one step further, saying that when teaching, imparting knowledge is not sufficient. He proposed that if all you teach is knowledge, then what prevents that knowledge from being used to exploit another human? He brought up a very important point, but never quite explained what needed to be taught alongside knowledge to prevent its misuse.
After the lecture I was pondering what the missing ingredient was from Elie’s speech when I remembered a quote from the founder of my high school, written circa 1780.
“Goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.” -John Phillips
Perhaps this is our problem today. We focus too much on knowledge, through instant communication and surrounding ourselves in an isolated world where everyone is connected and can get the answers to anything, but is looking not into the eyes of another human, but at the screen of their computer, phone, or pda. We proclaim ourselves a global community, yet spend less time interacting with other humans than ever before in history.
Let us not forget about knowledge with goodness.
Posted in General news, Personal | No Comments »
April 16th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 10:27 pm
The staff of Blue State Coffee extends our condolences to the families of the students and faculty who were killed or wounded today at Virginia Tech.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Posted in General news, Personal | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 4:43 pm
While the jury may still be out on some of the trade-offs between intensive, high yield farming and organic/locally grown (see preceding post for more info), it is always good to remember to occasionally stop and take a break. And have a snack.
This is my idea of a perfect afternoon nibble: homemade mozzarella from
Rhody Fresh milk, eggplant caponata made by some
good folk down in Bristol, RI, served over a durum loaf from
7 Stars Bakery.
And of course a cup of Blue State Coffee…..
All made right here in little Rhode Island, USA. What a concept.
Posted in General news, Personal, Politics | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 2:57 pm
Last month The Economist magazine published a thought provoking piece on the three main pillars of “ethical food” (consisting of organic, fair trade, and locally produced foods.) While some of their assertions may be a bit off the mark, healthy debate is essential to any democratic society. You can read the article here, then let us know your opinion. The issue of how we grow and buy our food is only going to get more heated in the coming decades as world population continues to climb.
Posted in General news, Personal, Politics | No Comments »
