Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2012

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FOAM NEWS STEAMING UP AROUND THE COFFEE WORLD FIRST RULE OF COFFEE BOOK CLUB: TALK ABOUT COFFEE BOOK CLUB "But what if I haven't read the book?" is a question often heard in the few days or moments leading up to the meeting of coffee-minded people known as the Coffee Pro Book Club. The answer is "Not a problem.'' All you really need are your own anecdotes, opinions, and ideas to share with other open-minded people eager to meet and learn from their peers in the specialty coffee industry. What started as an offhand joke between Nick Cho and myself has become a popular recurring event that's attracted quite a bit of interest from across the continent. Who could have guessed that the stodgy idea of a book club would become so wildly popular! Despite the admittedly cumbersome name of the 'Bay Area Coffee Pro Book Club, ' each passing meeting saw the size of the group grow exponentially. And the interest wasn't limited to San Francisco—there were many requests to beam in multiple other locations, using stone-age methods such as a Google hangout or Skype. On May 23, we're going to do just that: connect two meetings of the next Coffee Pro Book Club being held simultaneously. The city of San Francisco, the origin of many grand coffee traditions and still a trendsetter, will connect with Victoria, B.C., well-known hotbed of the Canadian coffee scene. This experiment will test not only our technological abilities and cross-border relations, but also the feasibility of connecting multiple book club meetings in the future. If all goes well, you can expect the book club to evolve yet again to include an even wider audience. From humble beginnings, we started in September 2011 with a small group gathered on the upper floor of the cathedral-like café and roastery of Sight Glass Coffee. The book was Coffee: Philosophy for Everyone, a collection of articles from coffee professionals, academics, and coffee aficionados. A test run in itself, the first meeting ran a bit longer than expected, leaving no doubt that this book club idea had something to it. We quickly set to work on choosing the next topic and scheduling a meeting for November. The second meeting focused on Fair Trade USA's announcement of their sweeping policy changes. We invited representatives from FTUSA for a round table, to discuss the changes in detail and answer any questions arising from the suggested readings. All of the attendees came away with a much deeper understanding of Fair Trade, and many myths were dispelled. A rousing success, this meeting was a perfect example of one of the main Founded in the fall of 2011, the Coffee Pro Book Club began as a means of gathering for lively discussion for a group of San Francisco Bay Area coffee friends. Due to the club's popularity and simple model, the club's founders are encouraging folks in other regions and countries to start their own coffee book clubs. motives behind the book club: to approach each meeting as a learning opportunity, to discuss topics that at first may not seem directly related to coffee, but are timely and relevant to the continued development of the industry. So, the book club may not always be anchored to a particular book, but could include videos, journalistic or academic articles, and blog or forum posts. Topics are decided based on current events, trends, requests, suggestions, and the interests and backgrounds of the people in the group. The third meeting did, incidentally, revolve around a book: The Infinite Emotions of Coffee, newly released by the affable Alon Halevy, also an original Book Club member. An engaging coffee travelogue stacked with beautiful photos, Alon shares a unique perspective in an engaging and easy-to-read format. As our guest of honor at this meeting, he also proved that he's just as engaging a storyteller in person as he is in the book. True to the infinitely shifting nature of this so-called book club, the upcoming inaugural international meeting will focus on yet another topic you probably don't need to the read the book for: customer service. This 14 barista magazine

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