Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
Joseph Brodsky Coffee Production as an International Team Effort By Sarah Allen MASTER JOSEPH BRODSKY DOESN'T DO MUCH OF ANYTHING HALFWAY. As a young soccer player, he wanted to make the pros, so he packed up and headed to Zimbabwe, Spain, and Argentina to try out for teams. When he fell fast and hard for Ethiopian coffee, he founded a coffee company inspired by his encounter with Ethiopians during his very fi rst cupping, which he set up using Kevin Knox's Coffee Basics as a guide. That cupping featured three Ethiopians he bought from Allegro Coffee, for whom Kevin was the green buyer at the time, and Joseph says it changed everything. "From that point forward, my coffee life really began," Joseph says. His commitment to coffee is like his allegiance to family: deep and strong. Joseph had been exposed to the coffee business through a post-soc- cer job at his older brother Michael's Madison, Wis., roaster, Johnson Brothers Coffee. In helping Michael with a business plan, Joseph fell down the proverbial coffee rabbit hole: He was instantly fascinated with the specialty-coffee industry. Then came a girl, and when she left for Madrid, Spain, so did Joseph. Coffee remained on his mind 83 www.baristamagazine.com