CART

For today's episode, we will be reviewing some of the data gathered from this year's Grind City Coffee Expo. If you were there and came to our booth, hello and thank you! It was a great day chatting up coffee with people, and so many attendees had kind things to say to us, which was quite encouraging. In true Sustain fashion, we set up a sort of experiment with three different variables to observe...

Today we will look at an experiment that we conducted in order to answer a question we had. The initial question that we had was “do lower brew temps equal lower TDS values?” This can be a larger conversation of how brew temps affect TDS at all. We are simply looking to answer a question, perhaps not as an ultimate scientific answer. But at least as a direction for us to think in. We will look at...

The title says it all! Today our guest is a first-time voice on the show, Lillie Blanton. With an education in law, Lillie has worked in the coffee industry for a collective four years. Some of the cafes she has served at include La Colombe in DC, Betterbuzz in San Diego, and now City & State in Memphis. Lillie is excellent at customer interaction and exhibits a quick bar flow technique when w...

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We have all heard these three words repeated, and perhaps we have been the ones to repeat them. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Does it seem odd that we tend to focus on the second two words, and more often just the third word - recycle? Reduce, reuse, recycle. What if recycling was treated as the least important of the three steps, and we placed more importance on the reduced elem...

Today’s episode will be a bit different from the normal show. When writing a script, we felt it necessary to address our city instead of talking about a coffee topic; next episode we will resume our standard programming. We will look at two aspects today: the reality of tragedy, and the beauty of unity within the city we call home, Memphis. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms!...

Have you ever heard someone say, “This tastes like chocolate!” or perhaps something hyper-specific like, “This tastes just like Hershey’s Cookies & Creme candy bar!” when they are tasting a said coffee? Or really any other thing? Today we would like to provide a few real-life processes that you can implement into your everyday activities in order to improve your coffee tasting, and perhaps eve...

When doing the preliminary research for this episode, we could not find too many scientific sources on the topic. Or at least how we had originally envisioned it. Most of the data we found was less so about coffee specifically, and more so on caffeine as a whole. Today's episode will be brief and serve as a sort of introduction to a topic we have had rolling around in our minds and on our spreadsh...

This week's episode is a geeky one! We’ll start our conversation by reminding ourselves that brewed coffee, while brewed, is still mostly water. A common understanding is that coffee is upwards of 99% water, and this concept is derived from the values we find using a refractometer. When we use a refractometer to see TDS values, they typically fall in a range that is under 2%, hence our 99% general...

Noah Randolph is back in the studio with us today! Big shoutout to him for saving the day. Join us for a dialogue on macro versus micro approaches to how we taste coffee. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more about what makes Sustain - Sustain. Check out the Website Follow us on Instagram   S...

This week we will continue to expand on this conversation of coffee freshness by: Observing how grind size affects CO2 release Beginning to discuss the separation of aroma, taste, and flavor -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more about what makes Sustain - Sustain. Check out the Website Follow us on Ins...

If you have been in the specialty coffee scene for any duration of time, you know that freshness is a popular talking point. In fact, freshness was at the forefront of the third-wave movement in the beginning. Staying as close to the original product and enjoying it that way is a concept that we have had embedded in our minds for likely upwards of a decade. Yet, we are moving closer and closer to...

To transition into our new season, we are going to refrain from the science heavy conversation with a bit of a palate cleanser; We will be discussing social anxieties that exist within the specialty coffee industry. But we won’t be doing this alone. In addition to being a friend, we have someone here in the studio with us who is also our coffee supplier and roaster, Noah Randolph. Noah reveals som...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO... SUSTAIN! It's already been a year that we have been set up in our HQ space. To celebrate, we are having a birthday themed pop-up! Some of the highlights: ◾ MERCH! (FINALLY, t-shirts!) ◾ A tasty seasonal drink ◾ Pour-over bar (three carefully selected coffees) ◾ Vegan cosmic brownies (with a candle, of course) Bring your own cup if you gotta dash. See you soon! ---- May 21s...

Dante's takeover is a WRAP! Don't worry, you will still find him on our YouTube channel and teaching in-person classes. Listen in as Dante returns to discussions of burnout, as well as recapping some of the concepts introduced to us during his takeover of the show. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more...

WE'RE BACK! After a bit of hiccups and delays, we got Sustain barista Dante back in the studio. Join Dante as he discusses some parallels between personal growth and getting out of your coffee-brewing comfort zone. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more about what makes Sustain - Sustain. Check out the...

This week's episode Dante explores the concept of creativity and how it relates to your coffee journey. Listen in as he explains how he is getting out of his coffee comfort zone, and some prompts to help you do the same! -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more about what makes Sustain - Sustain. Check ou...

Joseph takes on this week's episode and talks about coffee cupping as it relates to discipline! At the top of last week’s show, in the whatcha drinking segment, it was mentioned that we did a coffee cupping. We wanted to take time today to discuss this subject in more detail.  We hope to explain the following:  what coffee cupping is why we should make it a regular practice how it helps...

For this week's episode Dante reviews his first episode and speaks to the power of discipline in your coffee brewing rituals. Don't be fooled by the subject topic, there were plenty of laughs in this week's recording. Enjoy the episode and let us know your thoughts! --  Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and lea...

"While your motivations could be anything, what you are inspired by stays relative to your overall goal." <--- Our favorite of Dante's thoughts for this episode. Listen in as Dante contrasts these two words and how they relate to all of our positions in the coffee industry! -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, an...

Dante was unable to come to the studio due to being exposed to COVID, but not to fear - he has tested negative and is feeling good! Yet, out of extra precaution we decided to let Joseph the reins for today. This episode script has been inspired and somewhat dictated by us recently finishing a book titled The Broken Village written by Daniel R. Reichman, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at th...

Join us for our second popup event! We'll be hanging at our HQ with some tasty pourovers, baked goods, and even some Wii bowling. Follow us on Instagram to see updates and the menu when it drops.  January 22-23  11 am - 4 pm 3097 Knight Road  Memphis, TN See you there!

It's season FOUR of CART! We have Sustain barista and educator Dante Baker in the studio for this season. For this week's episode, Dante shares his perspective on the tried-and-true manual brewer: the CHEMEX. Dante finds it really helpful for practicing other methods of brewing and shares why he thinks that is. Listen in and see things how Dante sees! Don’t forget to get connected on our social pl...

It's season FOUR of CART! We have Sustain barista and educator Dante Baker in the studio for this season. For this week's episode, we have Dante talking about how feeling burnout is not all that bad. Dante also covers some of his perspectives on how to spot burnout along with some active steps to take in mitagating the feelings of it. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On al...

Welcome to season FOUR of CART!  We have Sustain barista and educator Dante Baker in the studio for this season.  Listen in as Dante talks through his coffee journey, sugar addiction, and how brewing coffee as a ritual has become a healthy discipline. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms you will find brew guides, coffee resources, and learn more abo...

Today is a bonus episode where we reconnect with a long-time coffee friend, Zack Jennings.  Zack was one of our first coffee mentors and we have always respected his desire for excellence. Listen in as we talk through his coffee journey and how it has brought him to an intersection of craft coffee, cocktails, and food. -- Don’t forget to get connected on our social platforms! On all platforms...