Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
I've been reading Barista Magazine now for I don't even know how many years, and the issue that you just put out [October + November 2015] is one of the best. Maybe it's because I'm a new shop owner, or maybe because of the content, or maybe the stars are just aligning, but everything that is in [the] October + November issue is resonating like no other. Thanks for everything you and Ken do to put together such an amazing publication. Lorenzo Perkins Austin, Texas I thoroughly enjoyed the article about César Vega in the new issue [October + November 2015]. What an inspirational story! And he also has a very interesting and unusual approach to doing coffee—I especially find it interesting that he chooses such a unique way of doing this, from sharing his space with a designer, to focusing on Nicaraguan coffees, when it seems we café owners are faced with so many options, it's almost too much. Paring things down to what is simple and most important is a very special message in this article. It helped me greatly. Andy Wyatt North Charleston, S.C. We commend you for your gender survey and the results you have published, Barista Magazine. It was out of the norm for a magazine that is known for being the best in educational and business articles for independent café owners, but nonetheless very important for any of us working in the coffee industry. There was much rich food for thought both in the original story about gender in the Global North [April + May 2015], and the follow up of Ms. Burkey's analysis of the results of the gender survey was fascinating. We must tell you how much we appreciate such insights into our larger community—thank you. We get caught up in the minutia of the day-to-day running of our businesses, but having a strong grasp on this heavy topic within coffee is important to us as members not only of the coffee world but of the larger culture. Susan Daley Worcester, Mass. Finally, someone explains how we can do music in our café without breaking any laws, in a way I can understand! Props to Andy Freivogel and Luisa Castellanos for their story about how we café owners can avoid fines and still play music we dig in our shops. The "Tech Support" column, by the way, is my favorite new featur e in Barista Magazine. I make coffee—I don't understand the technical stuff! So I need articles like this so I can focus on making good coffee while still running my business well. Thanks, dudes! Radley Soh Los Angeles I was disappointed in the analysis of data presented in the "Gender Survey Results: Does the Specialty-Coffee Industry have an Authority Problem?" It seems lots of the answers were all over the map and inconclusive, which points to a problem in the survey questions themselves. I was further disappointed by the oversight of mentioning that these results were statistically insignificant. Perhaps in the future a "tightened up" survey and wider solicitation of participants would do the results some good. Many thanks for the continued excellence of this publication. Sam Kearns Kansas City, Mo. Author's response: I would have liked to survey a wider range of participants as the coffee industry is big and diverse, but I had to work with the responses I received. Political polls in the United States survey 2,000 people out of 300 million, and they call that statistically significant, so I felt that even 80 participants had meaning. At first I was worried there might be nothing to show given the small sample size, but data was not all over the map, inconclusive, or insignificant. Women and men respondents showed to have the same kind of authority role, but across the board they were paid less, which is backed by other research about pay scale in the United States. While I was happy the data showed something, I wasn't happy about what it showed. Some results were not particularly significant. For example, the survey showed no difference between men and women regarding time it took to get hired. I do want to apologize here, as I misrepresented the work of Sabine Parrish. I said that Parrish's study about barista culture suggested that women got hired at slower rates than men. Her results in fact did not show a difference in the rates or speed of hire between male and female baristas. Survey questions are problematic if they are leading or offensive. With open-ended questions, there are no wrong answers as people speak about experience. There are still conclusions to be drawn from qualitative research. Most importantly, new areas for further investigation crop up. Exploring these new areas is work one can do at the PhD level, dedicating several years and receiving thousands of dollars of funding. If someone would like to sponsor me to complete a longer analysis, create a different sample, and follow many points of further study, they can certainly send me an email. Nora Burkey, author "Gender Survey Results Analysis," October + November 2015, Barista Magazine CORRECTION A word was accidently changed in "Field Report: Chattanooga," which appeared in the October + November 2015 issue of Barista Magazine. The word "variable" was mistakenly substituted for "varietal" in the section on Copacetic Coffee on page 37. The article's author, Andrew Bettis, says: "The quote Drake gave was intended to shed light on some of the practical uses that preinfusion can have, and even further to allude that each varietal may have its own solubility rate, which is impossible to correct in the roasting process, but reasonably [possible to accommodate] in the brewing process." T I P J A R COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, LOVE, AND HATE PHONE: 800.296.9108 FAX: 971.223.3659 TIPJAR@BARISTAMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER + NOVEMBER 2015 • VOLUME 11/ISSUE 4 CHANGING THE SINGLE-ORIGIN GAME 5 FALL TAKEAWAYS SCREENS + WI-FI IN TODAY'S CAFE MUSIC LEGALITIES EXPLAINED SUCCESSFUL EQUIPMENT SERVICING CE ' Book 1-46.indd 1 9/18/15 6:48 PM 16 barista magazine