Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/804825
"WE CAN'T JUST GO NATIONAL, OR INTERNATIONAL, WITHOUT HAVING OUR LOCAL GAME DOWN AND SOLID FIRST." HE EARLY DECEMBER SNOWSTORM closed the city of Portland, Ore., for the most part. Roads were open but near undriveable (this is a city that owns one snowplow, after all). Cruising down empty streets in a Lyft with snow tires on the night of December 15, you saw more than a few restaurant and bar windows glowing with party lights for holiday gatherings no one showed up to. All the way down almost to the Columbia River sits Bit House Sa- loon, one of Matt Milletto's favorite bars, and like those other desert- ed hangouts, it appeared empty that night, its picture windows frosty with snowfl akes and revealing only a handful of customers lined up at the bar. Once a glittery ticket was fl ashed to the bartender, though, a door swung open leading to the secret second bar upstairs. Body heat and heavy music fell out when the door opened, and even the stairwell was packed with people, talking and laughing, sipping signature cocktails made with Water Avenue's coffee. This was Matt's holiday party, and these were his employees—several hundred of them though? Even counting spouses, there were about 75 more people than Matt's southeast Portland roasting company employs. Who were they then? "I invited our whole, big family," Matt, 38, explained over the music, letting himself be happily jostled by employees headed for the dance fl oor. "It's great everyone made it, considering the snow." Actually, Matt, it was nothing short of extraordinary. At least four other coffee companies had parties schedule for that night, December 15, and each had canceled. Matt shrugged—"I just fi gured people were planning on coming, so we'd better have a party ready for them," he said in his nonchalant, easygoing manner. Drinks were at the center bar, snacks long gone, a tattoo artist working in the back room, and dancing everywhere. All this went on, and strong, for hours and hours. Later, when the party died down, folks gathered at the fi re pit out back, huddling close for warmth and sipping hot toddies. A James Beard Award–nominated chef chatted with a popular local bar owner. The proprietor of a celebrated Portland distillery was deep in conversation with a tea luminary. Employees of Water Avenue seemed to know all the guests, which makes sense: Each collaborates in some way with the 7-year-old roasting company that Matt owns with his dad, Bruce. "There's so much that's always going on in Portland—there are more creatives and artists and craftspeople than you'll ever have time to meet," says Matt. "I'm so lucky to partner with some of them, to have Water Ave. partner with them. That, to me, is at the heart of being in business in Portland." If you're not from the Pacifi c Northwest, you've still probably seen Matt around at the national and international coffee conferences he's been attending since he was a teenager. He's been leading education as the director of the American Barista & Coffee School (ABCS), which began in Portland under the consultancy group his dad founded, Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, in 2003. ABCS offers in-person classes in Portland as well as New York City several times every month, and also boasts a meaty online education curric- ulum. Matt travels the world lecturing and leading workshops for café start-ups, new business owners, and all types of professionals looking to expand on their coffee know-how. On a global level, Matt created www.baristaexchange.com in 2006 as an altruistic effort to provide baristas around the world the kind of forum he felt they deserved for sharing information, asking questions, and generally being a free-to-anyone online community for the coffee industry. "I had wanted to see something like that for so many years my- self," says Matt, who worked his fi rst barista job in 1992 in Eugene, Ore. "There had been so many times where I wanted to ask ques- tions of my peers, to get answers and also share cool things I saw happening in coffee. But there was no way to do that." Ten years later, www.baristaexchange.com is as active as ever, with more than 16,500 members around the world. "It basically runs itself," Matt says, though he's being modest. "People still really want and need something like that." It's interesting that Matt's career in the larger specialty-coffee industry launched on such an international scale because these days, 80 barista magazine