Barista Magazine

APR-MAY 2013

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PT'S COFFEE TURNS 20 First things first: How did you guys meet? Fred and I met when I frst moved to Topeka in 1991. I was hanging out at a bar—imagine that, a cofee guy hanging out at a bar—and Fred and some of his friends were playing darts, and asked if I wanted to join them in a game. We became friends, and sometime later we became roommates afer his existing roommate got engaged and moved out of the great apartment he was living in. It was about a year later I came up with the idea to open a café, and asked Fred to help. What inspired you to collaborate and open a café? I had the idea to open a café in 1992 but I needed help, since I was working a full-time job as a photojournalist for The Topeka Capital-Journal. At the time, I never dreamed of quitting my career as a photographer—I really just wanted a great cup of coffee and couldn't find it in Topeka. I've been told I'm a little stubborn and I don't give up easily. So I decided to open a place that would allow me to get great coffee. Fred and I were roommates at the time. He was working as a manager at a national sandwich chain. Seemed perfect to me: If I made him a partner, he'd manage our café and I could have the best of all worlds—keep my career and get great coffee on demand. Simple. That was the only At top, Fred Polzin (le ) and Jeff Taylor (right, both in white shirts) officially cut the ribbon to open PT's Caffe'Espresso in Topeka, Kan. in 1993. Below, Jeff and Fred celebrate the opening of Flying dream at the time. I had to twist Fred's arm in the beginning. He hadn't Monkey Handcra ed Brews in 2011, the latest incarnation of PT's which serves artisan coffees, beers, had the exposure to cofee like I had in the Northwest, and select liquors. and he wasn't sure what he was getting into. Fortunately for me, I was very persuasive. I have always loved quality cofee, and attributed, in large part, to the Cup of Excellence, and quality-focused Fred was to be the operations of the business. We opened our frst café Feb- education and sourcing. ruary 3, 1993. It had been in the planning for about a year. What do you hope PT's will accomplish in the next 10 years? Honestly, you'll have to watch and fnd out! We're putting plans in place What was specialty coffee like 20 years ago? Nothing like it is now, that's for sure. Tere was no such thing as a mi- now for the next fve years. If these work out, we'll go one direction. If these crolot. Most cofee was mass processed in mills that, generally speaking, plans don't work out, we'll go a diferent direction. How's that for a non-anweren't very well kept or cleaned. It was actually very generic. Colombia swer-answer? Either way, we'll still be producing quality cofee and building lasting reSupremo, Kenya AA, Guatemala Antigua, etc. Lots were generalized by region. Tere were certainly no roast dates on bags. But even that was lationships with our customers and origin partners. —Sarah Allen better than cofee had been even fve years earlier. Te pace at which cofee quality progressed in the early 2000s is absolutely remarkable and can be PHOTO BY JEFF DAVIS PHOTO FROM PT'S COFFEE ARCHIVES ON A COLD DAY IN FEBRUARY, 1993, Jeff Taylor and Fred Polzin opened PT's Caffe'Espresso in Topeka, Kan., where the kind of specialty-coffee culture happening in the Pacific Northwest had yet to take hold. Jeff and Fred's vision was strong and their instincts right on; by 1994, they had opened their second shop. The company evolved into PT's Coffee Roasting Co. in 1997, with Jeff traveling to producing countries to source the company's famous beans. Since then, PT's has grown solidly, carefully, and successfully. As longtime friends of Jeff and Fred, it's been our pleasure to see PT's advance through the years. To celebrate this 20-year milestone, we asked Jeff to take our readers on a trip down memory lane, and also discuss what's next for this seminal Midwestern company. www.baristamagazine.com 17

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