LAUNCH

It’s fair to call White Rock Coffee roaster JONATHAN MEADOWSDallas’ best barista because he’s the first person from our city to place high enough in the South Central Regional Barista Competition to advance to the U.S. Barista Competition, for which he was preparing when we caught up with him. To him, java is more than just jolt-inducing potable — it’s an art and a way of life. Here, he shares his coffee philosophy and more.

At what point did coffee brewing become more than just a job for you?

I’ve been working at White Rock Coffee on and off three years now I am the coffee roaster. When I first started, it was just a job, but at some point early on I began to really get interested in coffee. I started learning everything I could about it — about where it was grown, who grows it ... and I learned about the difficulties faced by coffee farmers. So much money goes into coffee in the U.S., but the coffee farmers usually don’t see a whole lot of that. Many coffee farmers in developing countries live in poverty. That started tugging at my heartstrings a bit, and I guess that’s where the passion for coffee really took root.