Boss Barista

Before coffee, Nigel Price of Drip Coffee Makers had a career in finance, working for a firm in Downtown Manhattan. But eventually, he decided he’d had enough—and he turned to cafes as a way to break away from the life he’d built and the trajectory he no longer wanted to be on. Over a decade later, Nigel credits coffee as the beginning of his second life, giving him a chance to create connections...

We’re re-airing an episode form June of 2020 with Erica Chadé (you may hear them referred to as Erica Jackson in the episode). Erica talks all about intention, getting to know yourself and offers some wonderful tidbits about slowing down and how working in service can offer moments of presence. We have "We Are Not A Family" tees available now—Erica is modeling one in the photo for this episode. Or...

From the moment Suneal Pabari got into coffee, he wanted to know why others didn’t share his excitement, and he came to a pretty simple conclusion: Coffee is hard! Baristas are busy slinging drinks, and it’s not like the coffee roaster is sitting and waiting to answer your queries about why Coffee A tastes like strawberries and Coffee B tastes like milk chocolate. Suneal wanted to learn more, and...

Baylee Engberg is a roaster who wants you to embrace past crop coffees. That’s still a pretty novel position—coffee is an industry that touts freshness, which means “past crop” can feel taboo. But there's an opportunity to change the narrative. Just because past crop coffees are older doesn’t mean they can’t be roasted well and still drink deliciously. Does green coffee really have to be at the pe...

Brittany Sims is a barista and coffee writer who runs the Non-Binary Barista blog . Brittany uses their blog to talk about gender in the workplace, but also to discuss accessibility issues, neurodivergency, how to deal with trauma, and big feelings at work. Essentially, Brittany’s blog humanizes service workers, and shines a light on the real experiences people go through on the job. This episode...

My guest today is Vera Espíndola Rafael, a development economist working within coffee-producing countries. Recently, she wrote a paper called, “A Business Case to Increase Specialty Coffee Consumption in Producing Countries.”   Coffee is a good that’s grown in one country, and then is traditionally—thanks to centuries of colonialism—exported somewhere else. Globally, coffee is a $200 billion...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the last in our series of guest creators. Ana Sofía Narvaez takes over hosting this episode and interviews Sara Corrales of Finca Los Pinos in Nicaragu...

Partnerships can have the power to clarify and sharpen traits, skills, and ideas, and that’s true of Kaleena Teoh and ChiSum Ngai—who goes by Sum—who are the co-founders of Coffee Project New York .  Originally started as a small shop in the East Village in 2015, Coffee Project has expanded to a number of retail stores, a roastery, and a Specialty Coffee Association-certified training lab. Su...

I first met Brian Gaffney while working at an unobtrusive coffee shop in Brooklyn called Daily Press. This wasn’t the kind of place you’d go out of your way to visit—it was located right on a busy street in the southeast corner of Bed-Stuy—and mostly, it attracted folks who lived locally. Instead, the fact that it was a neighborhood spot made Daily Press what it was. Almost every customer was a re...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the third in our series of guest creators. This episode is a little different than what you’ve heard so far. This is the second of a two-part episode—i...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the third in our series of guest creators. Sebastián Diácono is a country manager for Latorre & Dutch, an international coffee-trading and -exporti...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the third in our series of guest creators. Today’s episode comes from Linn Tsang, who is kicking off her podcast called Pressure Profiles. Pressure Pro...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the first in our series of guest creators. Today we’re airing the first episode of the Updose Podcast , a show that chronicles American coffee in the 2...

We’re taking a quick break from our Boss Barista takeover this week—folks are busy working on their projects, and will have lots to share with you soon—to revisit an episode from April 2020.  Sahra Nguyen is the founder of Nguyen Coffee Supply , a coffee brand based in New York that’s dedicated to promoting specialty Vietnamese coffee. In this episode, we talk about why Vietnam, which is the...

The Boss Barista takeover is brought to you by Chobani . A few weeks ago, I put a call out to coffee folks, fans, and drinkers across the globe to pitch ideas about the podcast they’ve been dreaming of making—and today we’re turning the mic over to the first in our series of guest creators. Today’s episode spotlights Cafetera Intelectual , hosted by Doris Garrido and Sandra Loofbourow. Their show...

When a refugee—someone who has fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and has crossed an international border to find safety in another country—comes to the United States, they’re typically given very little help when resettling their lives. 1951 Coffee Company hopes to change that, using the coffee industry as a tool for empowerment and self-determination. In this episode, I talk to Doug Hew...

A few weeks ago, the folks at Amor Perfecto , a coffee roaster based in Bogotá, Colombia, reached out to me. They offered to send some coffees from a new project they were launching: a collaboration with the Frida Kahlo Corporation , which highlights women producers and innovators within the country’s specialty coffee scene. After I tried the two coffees they sent, they asked if I’d be interested...

In these interviews, I connect with people in different ways. Sometimes it’s immediate, sometimes it’s helped by a previous encounter or even a longtime friendship, and sometimes it never comes. I had never met Jiyoon Han before I asked her to be on the show, but her clarity and deep intentionality clicked for me instantly. Jiyoon is the co-owner of Bean & Bean Coffee in New York City. Her par...

This episode is brought to you by The Barista League . Register for High Density today! Tax season is almost upon us, and if you’re like many service workers, you’ve probably been juggling a number of different jobs and gigs. Feel your blood pressure rising already? Take a breath: To help soften this always-stressful time of year, we’re re-airing an episode with Tiani Wright of Coffee and Tax. Lis...

To walk into Everybody’s Busy is to walk into a precisely curated space—like a gallery, but without pretension. The coffee, supplied by Onyx Coffee Lab , is spot-on; the menu design changes monthly and reflects a deep love of music; the speakers are always playing something fun, selected by the shop’s owner, Melissa Stinson. This is the second time I’ve sat down and recorded with Melissa, and we’r...

This episode is brought to you by The Barista League . Register for High Density today!  “It’s almost five o’clock, and Darlene and I just realized we haven’t even eaten today. It’s been such a wonderful day, such a busy day, but we’ve just been constantly in motion that we didn’t even stop to eat.” The person you just heard was Shanelle County, co-founder of Standard Pour, a new coffee shop...

Every year, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) hosts a conference called Sensory Summit , where coffee folks come together and explore wild ideas about taste. I went one year, back when I was the online editor for Barista Magazine , and tasted some of the most bizarre, unexpected, and wonderful things I’ve ever had. For this year’s conference, the SCA announced that it would give out a certain...

Hi, friends. A quick note before we get started: This is a re-release of an episode I did in November 2019, and features David Hu, former owner of The Peccary, a coffee shop in New Jersey. I wanted to re-release this episode for two reasons. One: David is an incredible resource, and I regularly turn to social media for his insights (you can follow him @the.david.hu ). Second: I’m preparing a prese...

Let’s say you’re trying to get good at playing the guitar. Maybe you’re taking a class, or you have a tutor. How do you get improve? You practice—and a lot of that practice involves going home, sitting alone with your instrument, and taking time to work through every new skill or small snag: a couple of chords, finger placements, some tricky pieces of music. Now imagine you don’t have a guitar at...

In the last three years, there have been a number of unionizing efforts within the coffee industry. Baristas across the United States have come together to organize and demand accountability from their leaders. They’ve expressed the need to have a voice in decisions such as hiring and firing calls, wage increases, and workplace conditions.  We’ve covered a number of those efforts on previous...