Fresh Cup Magazine | The Audio/Visual Issue |October 2019

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The AUDIO/VISUAL Issue O C TO B E R 2 0 1 9 | VO L . 2 8 . N O. 1 0 | F R E S H C U P M AG A Z I N E

Departments

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16

20

48

AUDIO EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR CAFÉ

COFFEE + MUSIC SUBSCRIPTIONS

JAMES HARPER, FILTER STORIES

THE POWER OF VISUAL MESSAGES

In House

Trending

Do You Know?

By Kaitlin Throgmorton

By Michael Butterworth

By Rachel Northrop

The Last Plastic Straw

By Robin Roenker

Features

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34

How acoustics can make or break the experience for your customers.

Music playlists help set the tone.

By Carrie Pallardy

By Peter Agostinelli

30

38

Bring more customers through your door while also serving the community and local economy.

How baristas craft their competition playlists.

Chatter in the Café

Heavy Rotation

Hosting In-House Events

By Susan Johnston Taylor

The Art of the Competition Mixtape

By Luke Daugherty

EDITOR’S LETTER, PAGE 7 | CONTRIBUTORS, PAGE 8 COUNTER INTELLIGENCE, PAGE 44 | CALENDAR, PAGE 46 | AD INDEX, PAGE 50 On the Cover: Illustration by Cynthia Meadors

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Fresh Cup Magazine FRESH CUP PUBLISHING Publisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com EDITORIAL Editor CAITLIN PETERKIN editor@freshcup.com ART Art Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com ADVERTISING Sales Representative CORINNE HINDES corinne@freshcup.com Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com ACCOUNTING Accounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com FRESH CUP FOUNDER WARD BARBEE 1938-2006

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DAVID GRISWOLD Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

CHUCK JONES Jones Coffee Roasters

PHILLIP DI BELLA Di Bella Group

BRUCE MILLETTO Bellissimo Coffee Advisors

ANUPA MUELLER Eco-Prima

BRAD PRICE Phillips Syrups & Sauces

BRUCE RICHARDSON Elmwood Inn Fine Teas

MANISH SHAH Maya Tea Co.

LARRY WINKLER Torani

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PLEASE ALLOW 6–8 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY OF FIRST ISSUE.

Copyright ©2019 by Fresh Cup Publishing Company Inc. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. ISSN: 1094-8228

EDITOR’S LETTER

I

t’s fitting to be writing this month’s letter from Nashville: Music City played host to Golden Bean North America 2019, where the theme was “For the Love of Coffee & Music.”

Two industries filled with immense passion and dedication to their craft, music and specialty coffee make a natural pairing.

Music has always been important in my life (and, I’m sure, to many of you), which is why I’m excited to highlight its relationship to our industry this month in our Audio/Visual Issue. From coffee subscriptions that pair select roasts with new album releases (p. 16), to cafés that thoughtfully curate playlists to propel the energy each day (p. 34), to baristas who carefully choose their competition routine songs (p. 38), these stories demonstrate the essential connection between music and coffee.

While music is certainly a major player throughout these pages, The Audio/Visual Issue goes beyond simply talking about what artist is playing in your café—we look at the equipment through which it’s playing (p. 12), how the sound is functioning in your space (p. 26), or if it’s a live performance (p. 30). We also emphasize how visuals play a significant part in building your brand and conveying your message (p. 48).

While they don’t get as much attention as, say, tasting notes and brew methods, audio and visuals are key elements to keeping our industry vibrant and thriving. I hope these stories inspire you and your creativity to help your business grow and flourish.

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CAITLIN PETERKIN, EDITOR

editor@freshcup.com F RES HCU P.COM

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Contributors

PETER AGOSTINELLI is a Columbus, Ohio-based freelance writer. When he isn’t working or learning how to fix his old espresso machine, Agostinelli enjoys baseball, bikes, wine, and growing new vegetables. In this issue, he highlights the importance of a thoughtful, well-curated music experience in the café (p. 34).

LUKE DAUGHERTY is a freelance writer and long-time coffee professional based in St. Louis, Missouri. In his 15 years in coffee, he has worked for several companies, including Quills Coffee and Kaldi’s Coffee, as a roaster, SCA-certified greens buyer, operations manager, content creator, and barista, among other stray roles here and there. This month, he talked to competitors and judges about the importance of music during competition routines (p. 38).

What do you like to listen to in a café? I love music but also try to listen to staff suggestions for new coffees if the shop offers seasonal varieties or guest roasters. It gives me a good idea if it’s a place I’d visit again soon. That, and Led Zeppelin records.

What do you like to listen to in a café? When I worked as a barista, I always liked to make huge, eclectic playlists that hit a little bit of everything—folk, Motown, jazz, classic rock, alt-country, hip-hop. Enough variety to keep it interesting and probably make every customer and barista smile at least once.

When I’m writing in a café though, I favor mopey indie rock like The National, Lucy Dacus, Bon Iver, Belle & Sebastian and such.

It’s music I enjoy but can work to without getting too distracted.

Based in Istanbul, Turkey, coffee educator, consultant, and writer MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH is a licensed Q grader and a two-time United States Barista Championship competitor. For this issue, he talked to a roasting company that recently launched a subscription service pairing its beans with new album releases (p. 16).

Based in Miami, Florida, RACHEL NORTHROP is content manager for Ally Coffee and the author of When Coffee Speaks: Stories From and Of Latin American Coffeepeople. Read her interview with James Harper, host of the Filter Stories podcast, on p. 20.

What do you like to listen to in a café? I love discovering new music in cafés. Some of my favorite albums I first heard in a coffee shop, so I love it when baristas play anything off the radar.

That and classic hip-hop.

What do you like to listen to in a café? I actually love cafés that play classic hip-hop, especially in the morning. If I hear Missy Elliot while grabbing my coffee on the way to work, I know it’s going to be a good day.

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Contributors

Ardent tea drinker and bookworm CARRIE PALLARDY is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago, Illinois. She writes about a wide range of topics, from real estate and entertainment to education and global travel. This month, she explores how cafés can best optimize their space for comfortable, safe, and high-quality acoustic levels (p. 26) What do you like to listen to in a café? If I am working at a café, I like to listen to some kind of instrumental music to help me concentrate. If I am catching up with a friend over tea, I am a big fan of classic rock or modern alternative rock.

Lexington, Kentucky-based freelance writer ROBIN ROENKER has extensive experience reporting on business trends, from cybersecurity to real estate, personal finance, and green living. For Fresh Cup, she covers sustainable and eco-friendly trends in cafés and the coffee industry in her regular column, The Last Plastic Straw, on p. 48.

What do you like to listen to in a café? When I’m working in a café, I love hearing ‘80s music or soft instrumental music, as well as all the ambient sounds of the café around me.

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Full-time freelance writer SUSAN JOHNSTON TAYLOR covers personal finance, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle topics for The Wall Street Journal, Daily Candy, Parade, Entrepreneur, Boston Globe, Fast Company, and The Atlantic. Learn how you can start hosting events in your café space on p. 30.

What do you like to listen to in a café? Singer-songwriters like Stephen Kellogg and Regina Spektor.

KAITLIN THROGMORTON lives in Seattle, Washington, and writes about coffee, travel, and books. For this issue, she explores the best practices when it comes to selecting audio equipment for your café (p. 12).

What do you like to listen to in a café? I like lo-fi when I’m working in a café, but what would really knock my socks off is if I walked into a café playing electroswing, a whimsical, but amazing, music category I’m into lately. I also love it when cafés are playing indie stuff they really love, and I learn about new artists through their tastes.

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In House How to Select Audio Equipment for Your Café

BY KAITLIN THROGMORTON

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hether you’re a new café owner purchasing audio equipment for the first time or established and looking for something different, making decisions about audio equipment can be overwhelming. Endless options exist, and you’re in the business of coffee, not stereos. Luckily for most cafés, setup can be relatively simple.

PLUG & PLAY For cafés with small to medium spaces simply looking to power background music, all that’s required is a receiver or amplifier, two to four speakers, and

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a music source. According to Matthew Counts, who works at Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle and has helped many cafés, restaurants, and other commercial spaces with sound, that can be anything from a smartphone with Spotify to an old-fashioned record player.

An increasingly popular option found in many cafés today is to use a cloud-connected, plug-and-play audio system, like Sonos. Because they plug into outlets, these wireless systems remove the need for hardwired systems, work right out of the box with minimal assembly, and seamlessly connect to cloud-based music services such as

Spotify, iTunes, or Deezer. They do require Wi-Fi, though.

Hardwired audio systems can be found in many large commercial buildings, such as department stores, but both audio and electrical expertise are required to install and maintain them, which makes them expensive. Unless one already exists in your space, Counts says this kind of setup is overkill for most cafés, but might be appropriate in larger spaces or for shops playing more than background music. However, for cafés serious about live events, Counts recommends at least a PA (public address) system and a mixing board.

PHOTO BY MICHAL BOROWCZYK

BUDGET BOHEMIAN VIBES

SEATTLE’S ANALOG COFFEE plays vinyl, cassettes, and CDs on vintage equipment.

Running around a thousand dollars or so depending on the configuration, Sonos (or a similar system) may be perfect for some cafés. But for those looking for more budgetfriendly, or perhaps more custom, options, used audio equipment can cost less than five hundred dollars, and still provides great sound.

Particularly if you desire a vintage look, feel, and sound, used audio equipment enables a cool vibe on a shoestring budget.

That’s how Seattle’s Analog Coffee, which frequently plays records, cassettes, and—you guessed it— other analog music formats, outfitted their café for audio.

“There’s lots of good used stuff out there designed and built to last,” says Danny Hanlon, coowner. With the help of an audio equipment expert, they chose four classic ‘70s-style Kenwood speakers. They then added a turntable, cassette player, and CD player, all of which baristas use to curate music throughout the day. A setup

PHOTOS: INSTAGRAM @ANALOGCOFFFESEATTLE

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In House

reflective of their passion, loving music, says Hanlon, is “a really big part of the job for everyone at Analog.”

PRO ADVICE Regardless of the system you choose, Counts and Hanlon offer the following advice to cafés of all sizes, budgets, and setups regarding audio equipment: KEEP IT WELL-VENTILATED. Receivers, in particular, need air flow to vent (so don’t put them in a cabinet), and you should never set anything on top of them. For all other equipment, keep it clean and away from dusty and spill-prone areas.

HAVE A BACKUP. In an age of increasingly wireless and cloud-connected audio equipment, having a backup is essential to keep the music from stopping. Counts recommends saving offline music in streaming services, or keeping purchased music loaded on a spare device.

FIND THE VOLUME SWEET SPOT. “It should override the din of the café,” says Hanlon of background music volume. Too soft, and people will be uncomfortable about being overheard; too loud, and people can’t hear each other at all.

FIX IT UP. For used equipment, be prepared to make regular repairs.

Turntables, especially, require new styluses on a regular basis.

UNDERSTAND LICENSING REQUIREMENTS. Some music collects royalties when played in public; this is particularly true for events, though background music can sometimes fall under licensing terms, too. To avoid any legal issues, look into licensing for all audio equipment, including streaming services and other music sources.

ABSORB SOUND. Especially if your café is located in a more minimalist space, sound tends to bounce around. Soften that effect by installing sound-absorbing panels on the ceiling. Counts says these can be purchased or DIYed with some fabric and wood. [Turn to p. 26 to read more about acoustic treatment in cafés.]

DO THE MATH. It’s helpful to know the mathematical principle of Root Mean Square (RMS) when buying audio equipment. RMS determines how much power an amplifier can deliver—something that’s unfortunately not as easy as adding maximum wattages together.

TALK TO THE PROS. When in doubt, consult a local audio expert to get the best advice on what will work for your space, budget, and goals. Not only did Analog turn to an equipment expert at the outset of their audio journey, they regularly consult with Hawthorne Stereo for maintenance issues.

Sound setup for cafés doesn’t have to be complicated. After following this advice, you’ll be ready to rock. FC

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Trending Coffee + Music Subscriptions

BY MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH BEATS & BEANS: Rooftop Coffee Roasters’ new subscription service pairs a bag of its coffee that will best complement the sound of the featured artist.

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proprietary algorithm based on flavor preferences, a fully customizable Netflix-style queue, a weekly periodical of original journalistic content—coffee lovers have never had more coffee subscriptions to choose from, each with their own value propositions. But Rooftop Coffee Roasters in Fernie, British Columbia, has a fresh

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take on the ubiquitous coffee subscription model: pair single-origin coffee with Canadian independent music.

“Music has always been a part of the café experience. Both things are very artisanal and specialized,” says Keegan Street, cofounder of Rooftop and the brainchild behind its new subscription program. Dubbed “Beats & Beans,” each volume features an album from

independent Canadian record labels to accompany a bag of whole bean coffee roasted by Rooftop.

“I wanted to find a way to boost and highlight these local artists I thought weren’t getting enough recognition,” says Street, who founded Rooftop Coffee Roasters with his parents in 2016.

“It started with a desire to bring specialty coffee to Fernie,” he says. The

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM @ROOFTOPCOFFEEROASTERS

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Trending

Rocky Mountain town is known for its winter sports, boasting one of Canada’s largest ski resorts, and the Streets saw an opportunity to introduce a more contemporary roasting style to the area.

Street’s interest in independent music was piqued while studying environmental engineering at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, B.C. Outside of the classroom, Street volunteered at the college’s radio station, where he encountered a thriving local music scene. His time in the radio booth was complemented by live concerts, where he befriended the founders of Good Egg Records. For Volume 1, Street is working exclusively with Good Egg recording artists to supply the music for Beats & Beans, though he plans to feature other record labels in subsequent volumes.

“I’m definitely choosing the albums with the listening experience in mind” he says. “It’s a fine balance, especially with independent music.”

For “Volume 1: Issue 1” of Beats & Beans, Street featured Aghast, the sophomore LP from Prince George “genre-hopping” indie rockers, Crones and selected a Burundi Yandaro, a washed red Bourbon variety he describes as chocolatey with a fruity twist.

The second issue of Beats & Beans, released this month, once again features a Prince George-based musician.

“The coffee we’re going with…is going to be from a producer named Liliana Sabogal from Pijao, Colombia. This is our second year buying her coffee,” says Street. “The album is called Psychic Knots by the artist Britt AM.” As with every delivery of Beats & Beans, Street looked for a natural link between the album and the coffee.

“The connection there is that Britt has done great work for empowering girls with music through her work with Girls Rock Camp North,” says Street. “Liliana, on the other hand, is part of the Women Farmers of Pijao Cooperative, which is an association of the womenowned farms in Pijao, who also run a roastery and café.

The cooperative is aimed at increasing coffee quality (and receiving higher prices for it) while offering support to

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PHOTOS: INSTAGRAM @ROOFTOPCOFFEEROASTERS

farm owners who are also single mothers and/or raising families. We also buy the cooperative’s coffee, [but] this is just from Liliana’s personal lot.”

Though of different degrees, Street sees a similarity between the C market financial crisis, in which baseline coffee prices have hit unsustainable lows for many producers, and the struggle to make music a sustainable career in the modern era.

“Running a record label is hard with the arrival of streaming,” he says. “People are moving away from albums.”

KEEGAN STREET

For small companies like Good Egg Records, the added exposure that comes with Beats & Beans helps boosts album sales.

“They’ve been happy to have a unique way for their CDs to be listened to,” he says. “I think it’s been mutually beneficial.”

For now, each “issue” of Beats & Beans will be released every two to three months.

“There’s a range because it will depend on album releases and such,” explains Street.

Rooftop is currently a wholesale-only roaster, but is renovating a space to host their first coffee shop. Street believes music has a powerful influence to foster an engaging café environment, and hopes Beats & Beans can impact coffee shops, not just home consumers.

“Don’t play music that only caters to one type of person. Mix it up,” he says.

“We always talk about supporting local businesses.

Find out if there’s a local record label in your city,” he adds. “Try to support as many local artists if you can.” FC

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Do You Know?

JAMES HARPER, Filter Stories

BY RACHEL NORTHROP

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he Filter Stories podcast takes nothing for granted and investigates people, places, and issues in the coffee industry that are often viewed as taboo.

Podcaster James Harper steps right up to explore the coffee stories beyond and behind the headlines, and he does it all with a cheerful curiosity, deep respect, and genuine hope that it all will help the coffee community understand each other more fully.

FRESH CUP : What is Filter Stories?

Give us the elevator pitch. What can everyone, from coffee newbies to lifetime professionals, take away from the podcast?

JAMES HARPER: Filter Stories are audio documentaries about people in coffee. The podcast unpacks big themes that are contained in a single person’s personal journey. Coffee intersects with so many different issues—and there are so many issues within coffee—and people are at the heart of everything. So, I use investigative documentary journalism to bring the realities of the coffee industry to you in a fun, digestible, 30-minute little story—as long as it takes to drink a cup of filter coffee.

We’re very bean-focused in the coffee industry. We fetishize this bean and the flavors of the bean so much, and there’s a place for that, but, I’m really in it for the people. And I think a lot of people are in it for the people. So these are the real human stories that are much more interesting and enlightening and we can relate to. I bring these stories that no one has quite heard before—I spend a lot of time finding these stories—that reveal surprising aspects that no one’s ever thought or considered before

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about this industry we call specialty coffee, or coffee generally.

Because these are stories you’ve not heard before, they might shift how you see coffee for the rest of the day.

How did you get started with the podcast? What was your inspiration or motivation? Filter Stories is only about a year and a half old. Tell us a little about the transition from idea to reality.

How far should I go back in the story?

My story of Filter Stories is a much longer story, in the sense that I used to be a banker in London. I quit that because I wasn’t passionate about finance; making other people rich in that boring world wasn’t doing it for me. I ended up in India on a motorcycle, and then on a bicycle, in the Himalayas and I had an epiphany moment. I’m not a particularly spiritual person, but I decided in that moment, “I’m going to pursue coffee.” At that time, it just ticked all the boxes. The preoccupations, things that were holding me back—by the time I had reached six months in India on that bicycle I had let go of them all.

I ended up in Melbourne, worked for a coffee roastery, and then came to Europe. I was in Berlin and worked for The Barn as their wholesale manager. I had always idolized specialty coffee and now I was in it, at the controls of the wholesale department, but I was like, “Wow, no one knows anything. That’s just extraordinary. We’re spinning these stories, and no one has any idea what the reality is.” Then it was a question of, what next?

I’ve always loved stories, This American Life, NPR. I knew there was a gap in the coffee space, and I thought I might have the skills to fill it. Even though it’s really hard to make this

stuff and I didn’t really know how to do it, I did all the proper things: market research, audience analysis, all the things that you’re supposed to do before you spend the next three years of your life doing something.

I was in Seoul in 2017 with a microphone in my back pocket recording the World Barista Championships while I helped stage manage the event. I collected four different barista stories, and these became the material for what would become the pilot episode. I needed to decide, out of this material, a) if I can make a decent story out of this and b) is anyone going to listen to it.

So I made an episode…and no one liked it, so that one went in the bin, along with all the 50 hours of work, and then I realized that Martin [Shabaya, Kenya Barista Champion] had a much more interesting story, the underdog story. And the feedback was fantastic. I realized that there was something to be said for stories that weren’t showcased.

They were stories that no one had really heard before or knew before, that challenged preconceptions and pointed out flaws in how this industry is structured.

I picked up the phone to everyone I knew in coffee and selected my nine stories, booked tickets, and I went!

I learned Spanish in six weeks, went really deep, and my eyes were blown open. I couldn’t believe what was going on in coffee-growing countries.

These are realities we need to hear.

And there were realities in consuming countries, too, barista stories, stories of misogyny in coffee. I came to Berlin, put it all together, got the smartest people I could to help me out with the constructive editorial feedback, and then I launched! It’s been a long journey since then and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.

JAMES HARPER (right) with José Alfredo Recinos Díaz and his son, owner of the San Andrés 2 farm in La Palma, Chalatenango, El Salvador, whose farm placed 8th in the 2014 Cup of Excellence.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES HARPER

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Do you Know?

What role do podcasts play in the coffee and industry today? Why this format for this audience? When there is no visual, the audio must do all the work to bring people into a place.

The piano music in each piece is composed specifically for the podcast. I used to compose symphonies as a teenager in my room, I was one of those kids, so the music was the easiest thing to figure out, compared to the challenge of finding, recording, and creating compelling stories. I’m still learning how to narrate. How to inflect your voice just the right way to express a certain emotion that’s about to come. It’s a lifelong journey of getting better and better at craft. It’s like being a novelist, or a composer.

It’s a wild creative process. I wake up in the middle of the night or in the middle of my run I go, “That’s it!

That’s the idea I need to put these two segments together!” But a lot of it is just brutal trial and error. Each episode goes through eight drafts, and each

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draft can take up to ten hours to make.

I put it to other people to see how it lands. Does this episode grip you? Do you care? Is there a message here that has changed your perspective on coffee? Or humanity? The testing audience is a cast of characters. A lot of times it’s family, then people who work in media: journalists, people from Perfect Daily Grind, the SCA, BBC journalists.

We live in an age where everything is so visual that your worth as a coffee professional—as a café, as a roastery—is how many Instagram followers you have, how well you are portrayed visually online, how fancy your packaging is. It’s a very visual world.

Filter Stories is a very not visual world.

It’s an opportunity to engage on an emotional, intellectual level with a story. If done right, [podcasts] help you take a step back from the flurry of visuals—of marketing peddling, peddling, peddling—to see a deeper issue that requires our attention. That’s best expressed through a longform human journey narrative, where we relate to

someone emotionally. If you can combine the two, the intellectual and the emotional, you can shift how someone sees the world.

I’m very eager to change the course of where specialty coffee is heading.

To name one example, we work with farmers who have come from wealth and we give them more wealth. That’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with working hard and having a well-run farm.

But, oftentimes it’s to the exclusion of the people who have historically been marginalized. One of the reasons I got into specialty coffee was to make that change, because I thought I was empowering the marginalized. But how often is that actually happening on the ground? My most recent trip to El Salvador opened my eyes to that.

Now, I could tell you all this face to face, and your average Joe in the barista world would be like, “Yep. So what?” It’s only when they hear it and feel it, when they go through the movie and come out the other end that they’re like, “Whoa! Okay, I’m emotionally

PHOTO BY ASHLEY TOMLINSON

JAMES HARPER recording in El Salvador.

want to tick and this is the best I can do at this time with the money I have.

Let’s go.

Are you able to share the episodes with everyone involved? If so, what feedback have you gotten from the subjects of the stories? turned on by this, intellectually turned on by this.” There’s a change.

One thing I’ve learned in my second series is the importance of [ambient sound]. I go to a very prominent Salvadoran mill and you hear that roar. Then I’m on a bus with a small producer and you hear the mariachi band. It brings you there.

How do you hone episode topics to include everything from a barista stuck in Samoa to violence against women in Central American farming communities? Filter Stories covers a wide range of topics that are, in fact, all related to coffee. How do you choose what makes the cut?

There are a couple of questions an episode has to answer. For one, does

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES HARPER

the story grip me? Does the story have a tangible connection to coffee? Does it offer something over and above, like a cultural, political, or a historical insight that you could walk away having learned something about the world today? Most importantly, is the story live? Is it a present, relevant issue today? Is the protagonist open to telling their story in the first place?

Then it’s just the boring issue of logistics. There’s been twice now where I went to get stories and they backfired on me. The story never happened. There was a legal issue involved in one and in the other one there was personal trauma….It’s all factored into this really complex calculation. Unfortunately, it’s a calculation—I kind of score it. I’m like, alright, these are the elements I

Oh, definitely! My editorial policy is that everybody who features in a prominent way in my podcast listens to it before it gets published. I’m not always saying nice things about them, but they get to hear it and provide their opinion, correct factual inaccuracies, things that are taken out of context. It’s important that the protagonists own the story.

What’s next for Filter Stories?

It’s an evolving thing. How do you monetize? How do you keep this show on the road financially? You’re not in podcasting for the money; you’re not in coffee for the money. And you’re certainly not in coffee podcasting for the money. I think it’s an opportunity to make change. Use your talents for something that is meaningful. FC

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Sponsored by Hershey Foodservice

How to Incorporate Visual Trends Into Your Social Media

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rom clean minimal lines to vibrant neon signs, you can come across a wide variety of aesthetics while scrolling through #SpecialtyCafés on Instagram. Whatever your style may be, it is important to be consistent with your brand. Companies that have the ability to hire a full-time social media manager, or somebody on staff with the know-how and capacity to take on managing social media, benefit not only from regularly posting to feeds, they also are able to develop a recognizable, intentional, and eye-catching design style. But for businesses looking to revamp their digital presence, how can one best cut through all the noise to stand out?

Look to these visual trends1 to make an impression.

• PERSONALIZED POSTS: No longer satisfied with a

“one-size-fits-all” approach, today’s consumers want to see visual content tailored not to segments of the market, but to the individual. This can extend to your café offerings (plenty of alternative milk options, customizable toasts, etc.), which you can highlight on social media.

• NOSTALGIA: Many of today’s consumers are driven

by nostalgic flashbacks evoked by images of record players and mixtapes, scrunchies and chokers, and even color palettes. According to research by Hershey Foodservice, 52% of Gen Z would order an item with a branded ingredient they enjoyed as a child. Pictures of pancakes drizzled with HERSHEY’S Simply Syrup or a tall glass of chocolate milk accented by a red-and-white striped paper straw will be sure to make anyone nostalgic for their school days.

• MINIMALISM GOES DEEPER: While many cafés

continue to embrace trendy Scandi vibes, they’re complementing the minimalist look with a deeper narrative. A photo of a mocha in a white mug next to a plant isn’t simply a drink—it’s a reflection of that café’s dedication to using simple ingredients that taste delicious, like the HERSHEY’S Simply Chocolate Syrup line.

Find more research and insights into the modern consumer’s tastes at www.hersheyfoodserviceinsights.com.

Data taken from the “Visual Trends 2019” special project by Depositphotos.com and Tilda.cc. Visit www.depositphotos.com/trends2019 for more information.

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Great aesthetics do not have to mean terrible acoustics. Learn how cafés can blend effective sound design with the right ambiance.

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afés are a versatile space, where people come to catch up with old friends, meet a date, hold a business meeting, work solo, and relax over coffee and tea. While cafés certainly look like the ideal spot for any of these purposes, how they sound can tell a whole different story.

Modern design can sometimes mean the acoustics of the environment disrupt the people trying to enjoy the space. High ceilings, exposed brick, and bare metalwork create a chic, trendy vibe favored by many cafés—but that can easily translate into a noisy environment. The bare-bones aesthetic offers little to no sound absorption, and customers find themselves straining to hear one another (and their own thoughts) over the mingled sounds of coffee being made, music, and competing conversations.

How can café owners get a handle on the acoustics of their space and improve their customers’ experience?

Why Acoustics Matter

LIMITLESS COFFEE & TEA acoustic design elements capture the sound and enhance the look of this Chicago café.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARCO/MURRAY

Working every day in a café may make café owners and their employees immune to the noise and how it carries around the space, but customers are taking notice. People have begun using the SoundPrint app as a decibel meter for venues like restaurants, bars, and cafés. The crowdsourced app then ranks venues as “quiet,” “moderate,” “loud,” or “very loud,” and users can search for venues around them based on noise level.

“It is kind of like Yelp for noise,” says founder Gregory Scott.

SoundPrint, which now has approximately 55,000 users and 80,000 submissions, was born out of Scott’s personal experience living in New York City and

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Chatter in the Café

trying to date as someone with hearing loss. He would try to Google quieter venues in attempt to find places that would allow him to better hear and connect with another person, but finding somewhere was a hit-or-miss experience.

Since developing the app, Scott has found it can be difficult for people to subjectively determine how noisy a spot is because high levels of noise have increasingly become the default.

“Typically, people are very inaccurate in assessing noise levels because [venues] have gotten so loud,” he says.

“People have a hard time deciphering what a safer noise level is.”

Venue managers and owners can use a decibel meter or an option like SoundPrint to understand the actual noise levels of their spaces. Just because a venue is noisy doesn’t mean it has to stay that way: SoundPrint is also working to connect venues with suppliers, designers, and consultants that can help optimize acoustics.

VENTURE CAFÉ in Philadelphia uses baffles, acoustic spray, and décor, like pillows, to control noise and sound.

Sound Design from the Ground Up Café design is about engaging the senses. Venue owners and managers want people to love how their coffee, tea, and food taste, in addition to liking the look of the space and feeling comfortable enough to linger over their cups.

“The auditory sense particularly has a big impact,” says Sidi Gomes, principal designer at Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC). “The reason it is not weighted as much as its visual counterpart…it leaves its mark at an almost subconscious level, so it is easy to forget to design for it.”

Cafés that have yet to open their doors can incorporate sound design into initial design plans, ensuring pleasant acoustics are a part of its aesthetic from the beginning. As part of a larger project, Gomes helped design a café (Venture Café) for the CIC Design Studio space. He incorporated elements like acoustic spray on the ceiling, hanging baffles, and spaces for reflected sound to escape into the café design.

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“At this point [acoustics are] ingrained in my design thinking and process, so I just do it from the get-go, since it is a crucial element of the design,” he says.

Venues taking a DIY approach to designing their space can research and incorporate acoustic solutions, while those hiring a designer can ensure acoustics are being considered as part of the overall process.

“You just need to be able to describe the type of space you want well, and then [professional designers] should be able to help you put in the right elements to achieve them,” says Gomes.

Acoustic Solutions Cafés are not libraries: There is no expectation of complete silence or

demands that patrons talk in hushed whispers. However, noise levels can be managed so people can comfortably hear one another and concentrate. New and existing cafés can use a variety of acoustic solutions to better manage sound.

• DÉCOR. While the clean lines and stark aesthetics of modern style can be appealing, softer elements can create a helpful balance. Pieces of décor like rugs, plants, and drapes can blend with a café’s overall sense of style while also offering a measure of sound absorption.

• FURNITURE CHOICE. Many elements of a café’s design can naturally help with sound absorption and better acoustics. Consider cushioned

PHOTOS BY SIDI GOMES

LUXXBOX: The Birdcage Acoustic Light reduces ambient noise by up to 40%. The Blade Acoustic Light (below, right) reduces reverberated noise in open spaces.

seating or adding pillows to your wooden or metal chairs.

“Soft furnishings such as banquet seating, drapery…can help manage and diffuse sound to improve the diner experience,” says Jason Bird, the founder and creative/managing director of furniture and lighting manufacturer Luxxbox.

• LIGHTING. Improving café acoustics does not necessarily require an exhaustive redesign of your space; some simple elements can have a big effect with minimal disruption to your business.

“Installing acoustic lighting and wall treatments is one of the quickest and most economical ways to address acoustics in noisy restaurants and cafés, as it does not require the venue to be closed for long periods of time affecting cash flow,” says Bird.

• BAFFLES AND WALL TREATMENTS. Making changes to improve acoustics does not have to come at the cost of visual design.

Acoustic solutions from eco-friendly

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LUXXBOX

design materials company Kirei have been incorporated into spaces like CIC’s Venture Café in Philadelphia and Limitless Coffee & Tea in Chicago.

“Look at the new acoustic design elements—they can really knock down noise or shape the sound profile without sticking out or detracting from the space,” says John Stein, president of Kirei. “Wall art or ceiling clouds and baffles or other shapes can actually enhance the visual look, as well as capture sound.”

• NOISE MANAGEMENT. Acoustics isn’t solely about cutting down the amount of noise—it’s also about managing how that noise is projected in the space. Are the speakers playing music directly above the tables where people are sitting and talking? Is the espresso machine in an open area?

You can move the noisier elements away from customers, or you can add acoustic panels to improve sound absorption, according to Scott.

Acoustics matter because they are a vital part of the customer experience.

Take a moment to stop and listen to the noise in your café: Is there the warm, welcoming buzz of a busy space, or does it verge on overwhelming? Some simple design choices could change the way sound shapes the vibe and overall experience in your space. FC

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assandre Davilmar opened Lakou Cafe in Brooklyn’s Weeksville area in May 2018. Davilmar wanted the café to help build community in her neighborhood, so she named it Lakou, a Haitian-Creole word for “courtyard.”

“It’s essentially the backyard, a place where the community hangs out,” says Davilmar, whose family is from Haiti.

Lakou has proven true to its name with a varied assortment of events including brunches, self-care workshops, pop-up shops, and movie nights. Hosting events has helped Lakou not only foster community, but also boost revenue.

“Cafés typically have their busiest time of day before four o’clock because that’s when people want coffee,” says Davilmar, “so the challenge was trying to figure out how to build traffic in the evenings.”

Curiosity Coffee Bar in Columbia, South Carolina, has also reaped the benefits of a full events calendar with live music, game nights, comedy shows, and other events.

LAKOU CAFE: Brunch event with Humans of Haiti founder Steven Baboun (above, center).

“When people wake up in the morning and choose what coffee shop they’re going to, they’ll remember that you brought one of their favorite regional bands,” says co-owner Greg Slattery.

“That’s been a great way to develop a bigger customer base.”

Slattery and partner Sandra Moscato did event production for over a decade before opening a coffee shop, so live events felt like a natural fit for them.

Having played in a touring band for 12 years, he also brings music connections and expertise.

Much like Slattery, Jason Waller uses his experience as a musician to produce live events at Waller’s Coffee Shop in Decatur, Georgia.

“My whole coffee shop started from a YouTube series called D.A.D. [Depression Awareness Dude] Presents,” says

PHOTOS BY D&R PHOTOGRAPHY

Waller. “I was interviewing songwriters and talking about the stigma of mental health issues and the creative process.

I got about 50 videos and I wanted a place that I could do that.”

In addition to live music most days of the week, Waller’s hosts events around mental health. In September, they held a workshop for mental health caregivers and, coinciding with National Suicide Prevention Week, another on suicide prevention.

“This whole idea came at once with the coffee and the music and the community center vibe,” says Waller.

Up in Somersworth, New Hampshire, Teatotaller serves as a communal space for local youth and the queer community.

“We’ve developed a certain type of style and voice for our programing,” says owner Emmett Soldati. “We’re vibrant, colorful, and queer. We’re also a sober venue, so that makes some of our events more youth-oriented.”

A teen drag show called “After School Special” is among Teatotaller’s most popular ongoing events. They also host burlesque movie nights, “drink and draw” art events, and more.

“A lot of kids are in this space and so a lot of parents love coming to feel like they have a safe and inclusive space for their kids,” says Soldati. “It’s definitely been good for our bottom line to have explicitly queer and LGBT programming.”

Whether catering to teens in drag, indie music lovers, or film buffs, here’s how these shops plan and produce live events that draw a crowd.

Planning Events Many cafés draw from the talents of their regulars or even their employees as they plan events.

“I like to, first off, find out what are the different talents of the people around me, getting to know our customers,” says Davilmar. “We’ll let our employees host events for free. It’s learning their talents and offering the opportunity to them.”

For instance, one of her employees has a production team that runs open mic nights around the city, including at Lakou.

Beyond customers and employees, Davilmar also looks to partner with local organizations “that have an audience that would like to attend an event at our café.” In May, Lakou partnered with Black Film Space, a collective of filmmakers dedicated to black creatives, to do a movie night and bring in the director for a talkback session.

“That’s not something I would be able to do by myself,” says Davilmar.

Waller takes a similar approach to programming.

“If the community wants to do it, we try to make it happen,” he says. “Last night we had two different churches get together and sing secular pop songs all together like they were hymns.”

Many bands or solo acts contact him seeking performance space, and Waller describes the musical lineup as eclectic.

“As long as they’re good people, I don’t judge the music style or musicianship,” he says.

On the other hand, Slattery selects musical acts carefully so that customers can trust they’ll see a solid performance.

“We’ve strayed from doing open mic nights and things where there’s less organization effort and less planning required by us,” he says. “We’d rather curate the events that we have and give our customers something we think is of the same quality of the coffee we offer versus a hodgepodge.”

When possible, Slattery likes to host events outdoors, like Mobile Food Monday, when food trucks set up in the parking lot.

“People love to hang out whether they’re drinking coffee or beer,” he says.

“There’s something about being outside that makes it feel more festive.”

Ashley Tomlinson founded the Toronto Coffee Community, an online directory of coffee and industry events and job listings around Toronto. Toronto Coffee Community organized the Toronto Regional Aeropress Championship for several years, but now it mainly posts outside events.

Tomlinson says pulling in different communities for an event can be highly effective.

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Hosting In-House Events

“If you can have three or four roasters involved in an event, you have more participants,” she says. “You’re not just pulling from a particular neighborhood or a particular roaster or the employees that work for a particular roaster.

You’re trying to diversify the pool of people you’re including.”

Promoting Events

CURIOSITY COFFEE BAR: Live music event

Once you’ve scheduled an event, marketing and promotions is key to getting people to attend.

“Building an audience always takes time,” says Soldati. He’s found that sometimes the novelty and excitement the first time an event is offered can WALLER’S COFFEE SHOP

CURIOSITY COFFEE BAR’S Mobile Food Monday

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bring in a crowd, but subsequent iterations can have fewer attendees.

“That’s the nature of people’s attention spans,” he says. “Now you have to attract people based on their expectations.”

Lakou uses in-store advertising and its calendar of events to spread the word. The café has also collaborated with photographers or videographers to create promotional videos.

“People want to get a sense of what the vibe is going to be like,” says Davilmar.

Like many other coffee shops, Waller’s doesn’t have an advertising budget, so they lean on word of mouth.

Waller creates a Facebook event page

PHOTOS (COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): DAVID STRINGER OF SCENE SC, WALLER’S COFFEE SHOP, COURTESY OF CURIOSITY COFFEE BAR, AND COURTESY OF TEATOTALLER

and presells tickets on Eventbrite. He also submits the full events lineup to a local monthly magazine. Encouraging performers to promote events to their audiences has helped as well.

Areas that have organizations similar to Toronto Coffee Community can also tap into that marketing opportunity. “[Organizers] just message me and I repost or if I see it, I’ll repost,” says Tomlinson. “I try to make it a sort of one-stop shop for things happening in coffee in the city as best as I can.”

Day Of Logistics On the day of the event, Soldati stresses the importance of following

EVENT RENTALS In addition to hosting public events, cafés can be the perfect space for private events like business meetings, rehearsal dinners, baby showers, and more.

Cassandre Davilmar rents out Lakou for private events. Rental clients find the space through word of mouth, Instagram, or online marketplaces like Peerspace.com. Brands using the space have included Teen Vogue, Samsung, and Instagram.

“We’ve had birthday parties, but we’ve also had more like corporate stuff like people renting it out for commercial shoots or music videos,” she says. “Our revenues have almost doubled since last year [when we opened], which has been great.”

Consider listing your café on venue directories, or start promoting your space for private events via your website or Instagram page.

TEATOTALLER: Teen drag show

TEATOTALLER: Boba tea and donut

through on expectations and trying to start events on time.

“Long-term audience build and consistency is the most important thing,” he says. “If you say doors at 7, and you don’t open until 8, that’s not good. You’re building in your audience’s expectations from the get-go.”

Consistency in offering recurring events is another way to set customers’ expectations. If they know your space hosts a board game night every Tuesday or movies on the first Friday of the month, it’s easier for them to build favorite events into their own schedules.

“Consistency is the key to a successful event,” says Davilmar.

Last-minute event cancellations can happen—the host gets sick or you have to close early due to an HVAC system, for example—but try to alert customers via social media with as much notice as possible so they’re not disappointed.

While hosting events requires planning, promoting, and a lot of coordinating, Soldati says it’s rewarding, especially in small towns like his.

“More cafés need to activate more people in their community,” he says.

Beyond enjoying the entertainment, Teatotaller’s customers have developed friendships with people they might not have met otherwise.

“Recognize that the audience is having an experience amongst themselves,” he adds, “beyond what’s happening onstage.” FC

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F

or Sarah Walsh, music is as much of a staple of life as food, good friends, and great coffee. A 10-year veteran of the specialty coffee industry, the owner of Caffe d’Amore in Pittsburgh’s gentrifying Lawrenceville neighborhood has much to say about the role of songs in café settings.

For Walsh and other café owners, music tracks are that continuous backbeat under a busy coffee business, a statement of the space, and an exclamation of the people working there.

More than just a mood setter, curated music collections can propel the energy throughout a day, she says.

The in-house soundtrack, in other words, is part of building the brand that small business owners work hard to create.

“There’s a lot of experimenting with different music and seeing how it affects the people there,” Walsh says of her shop, which sits on a rapidly revitalizing thoroughfare of the city’s east end. “Sometimes it feels like a real-time kind of playfulness in terms of seeing how folks respond to the music.

“When we find in the midst of all that experimenting and juggling the business day,” she adds, “something that really works for everybody, it’s a real win-win, because our staff likes it and our customers like it.”

Today’s pervasive high-speed internet and unlimited music streaming services are as common as smartphones, which is why employees can play almost any kind of music for hours without a second thought. But those assets can also pose a predicament: What should owners consider when playing content from Spotify, the Google Play store, Pandora, and other services? Is a retailready service such as Cloud Cover Music or Rockbot—many of which include licenses for retail spaces and other businesses—as versatile and adaptable to the mood and environment? And will customers even notice, especially when many are lost on their own laptops and phones anyway?

PHOTOS: INSTAGRAM @CAFFEDAMOREPGH

CAFFE D’AMORE: The Pittsburgh café curates its music to vibe with customers.

Café owners who are opening either their first shop or their fifth may need to consider those questions and others, including the costs above and beyond the basic audio equipment.

Most music services offer affordable pricing tiers (many are under $25 per month) and allow as much customizing as any hip mixtapes or digital playlists.

They include licensing for commercial

businesses and help users navigate the concerns about copyright permissions in public spaces. (Free trial periods can help subscribers determine which service is right for them.)

Art & Science The music mix, after all is just one of the key considerations for anyone managing a retail coffee business,

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Heavy Rotation

HOUNDSTOOTH COFFEE’S Sylvan | Thirty café in Dallas.

particularly when so many other elements of the hospitality industry can be so time-consuming.

“As far as music in our cafés goes, we try and make it a non-issue…as in, I’d rather our staff not worry about the music that is playing so they can focus on the guest,” says Paul Henry, general manager of Houndstooth Coffee, which operates multiple branches in Austin and Dallas. He and his brother, Sean Henry, also operate Tweed Coffee Roasters and cocktail bar Jettison, both in Dallas.

The Henry brothers incorporated Sonos sound systems in each Houndstooth café to provide that tuneful backdrop throughout each day and into the evenings. Each location occupies a different architectural space, so it was important for them to find an audio solution that worked well while remaining relatively out of sight.

“We say the music ought to meet the energy in the café, then raise it just a

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little bit,” says Paul Henry. “We want the café to be lively but not over-the-top.”

Some owners use more of a crowdsourcing approach. At Pittsburgh’s Caffé d’Amore, for example, Walsh says baristas who are working can select what they want to play during their shifts.

“Music is a constant at the shop, and we regularly get feedback that people like the music that is played,” Walsh says of her community-minded shop. “I need to give a major shout-out to our staff who are either musicians or have incredible music taste—they do a great job picking music, and I piggyback off their playlists all the time.”

That interplay can yield positive sales results along with stoking cool vibes.

The psychological impact of music on customer actions has been employed and analyzed for decades by apparel retailers, restaurants, and other retail sectors. The energy imparted from carefully curated selections can drive a mood, which is often tailored to target

a particular demographic or customer traffic pattern.

A 1999 study on the influence of music tempo by researchers in Scotland analyzed the effects of “atmospherics” and the psychology of environment.

“I think most what café owners want is a community kind of vibe, a feeling where people are chatting and talking and meeting.”

Scholars Clare Caldwell and Sally Hibbert of a public research university in Glasgow dissected the effects of music on the behaviors of restaurant patrons. Their study found specific ties

PHOTO BY ROBERT YU

between the tempo of music played in these spaces and the levels of time and money spent by guests.

Those findings might not surprise someone like Adam McClellan, who probably spends as much time at specialty cafés and roasting centers—not to mention the world’s coffee farms and processing centers—as anyone in the industry. His current work with California-based importer Red Fox Coffee Merchants and his previous position at Stumptown Coffee Roasters has taken him to Ethiopia, Colombia, and, more recently, the emerging coffee regions of Mexico. He’s even worked at an organic ginger farm in Hawaii.

It’s no surprise when McClellan talks as thoughtfully about the sensations of the music filling the café air as he does terroir and the world’s greatest single origins. It’s all in the details the Wisconsin native has observed during sourcing trips and while working from coffee shops at home and on the road.

ADAM McCLELLAN (second from left) cupping coffee at the Red Fox Sourcing Company headquarters in Lima, Peru.

Sense of Place Over the years, McClellan’s love of food, drink, and music has helped him connect the world’s coffee regions with the indigenous music traced to those lands.

McClellan is based from his home in Portland, Oregon, and with Red Fox headquartered in Berkeley, it’s part of the reason why he often works from cafés. That’s why it isn’t a stretch to understand how the music on rotation in his favorite shops helps influence where he decides to go on a given day.

“I like to go into places that have soul,” says McClellan, noting he routinely opts for cafés with reputations for a specific approach to music, rather than those with pre-programmed radio formulas—even if it’s a recurring mix of the same artists or styles.

“I feel like where the baristas who are able to play their own music…it’s really obvious,” he says. “Other places where it’s satellite, mainly, it really hits me right away. I can tell even if [the station] doesn’t have ads or anything if it’s satellite radio. It’s just a little less

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM @REDFOXCOFFEEMERCHANTS

soulful to me. Even if it’s super-loud or music I don’t like, I still appreciate that more than going to places trying to appeal to everyone.”

The net result often “becomes a conversation starter,” adds McClellan. “What I sometimes get frustrated with, like some business owners, are the people who just post up in cafés for hours and have their headphones on.

Just being [in] front of your laptop already kind of closes you down, but then putting your headphones on…there’s just like no room for conversation. I think most what café owners want is a community kind of vibe, a feeling where people are chatting and talking and meeting.”

“Recently I found I almost don’t want to talk coffee in some places,” says McClellan. “I’d rather talk about the music or whatever else is going on, and maybe find out the barista is into wine or something and maybe talk about that.

The music is one of those places to start

a conversation with. If they put it on and they know, then you can have that conversation…when it feels like the baristas are even happier when they’re playing their own music and they can tell the people in the cafe are kind of ‘vibing’ with it a little bit.”

At his Texas locations, Paul Henry says individuals are always welcome to showcase their individual music tastes.

Austin and Dallas each have their own heritage of great artists and music styles, after all, plus Austin touts itself as the nation’s live music capital. It’s all part of why customers might hear anything from regional outlaw country artists one day and modern independent rock on another.

But ultimately, coffee is largely about hospitality, a thought Henry bears in mind as he reflects on café build-outs during Houndstooth’s growth spurts in recent years.

“I just try to remind staff that it’s not about them,” he says. “It’s about the guest.” FC

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“The making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts.”

HANNAH CRAIG

W

hen Rob Gordon, played

by John Cusack, declared this truth in the 2000 film High Fidelity, he was talking about curating a mixtape for his girlfriend—but he may as well have been a barista riffing on the craft of competition playlists.

“A run-through is like a dance routine; it’s choreography, and the music has to roll with that,” says Michelle Johnson, better known as the provocateur behind The Chocolate Barista.

She is but one of the many baristas who have agonized over their music selections as much as their sig bevs. For many competitors, the music is the tie that binds the whole routine together.

“You want to create a fully formed experience, and music, as it does in life, helps accentuate that,” says Rock Baijnauth, director of Barista and Baristas, two films following a handful of baristas on their journeys to the 2013 U.S. Barista Championship and the 2017 World Barista Championship, respectively. Having watched many competitors closely in their preparations, Baijnauth has seen a variety of approaches to creating the playlist, from Johnson’s style to choosing the music during final run-throughs. The most successful competitors, however, have one thing in common.

“The ones that I’ve seen that have been really successful have always flowed together,” he explains. “It’s not just a bunch of songs that the person likes. The songs actually tell a story in themselves.”

For longtime head judge Nathanael May, the impact of the music is in the mood.

“There has never been a single barista competitor where I haven’t noticed the music,” says May. “Music plays a critical component in the whole ambiance of the performance

PHOTO BY BRYAN SCHIELE

and the energy and the vibe that the competitor is bringing.”

And while the music can’t technically affect scores (outside of explicit content [see p. 43], which the rules state can lead to docked points), May emphasizes the way it can shape the judges’ perception of a barista’s whole performance.

“Everyone’s serving coffee, everyone’s serving a milk drink, but no two competitors really have the exact same music,” he says. “It’s such an interesting way to present yourself as a broader and more layered human being than just a coffee professional who likes competitions.”

Still, competitions are about more than mere self-expression.

“A lot of what the baristas are doing is recreating, in their own small way, a café experience for the judges,” May explains. “The judges are ideally supposed to be the best customers you’ve ever had.”

And as any barista knows, café experiences are anything but dull.

The best routines evade feeling like a science or agriculture lesson. They’re not “dry” or overly “technical,” to use Baijnauth’s words. Instead, they transport you to a place where coffee is once again a beverage potent with possibility. It’s like rediscovering your favorite café for the first time.

And the music is often the subtle soundtrack for this transformation.

But what does it look like to make the mix? Three competitors shared how they do it.

The Bridge Hannah Craig | Full Stop Station | Louisville, KY When Hannah Craig was preparing for her first competition run—the 2017 regionals in Knoxville, Tennessee—the

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The Art of the Competition Mixtape

music wasn’t first on her mind. The mechanics of her routine, finding the right coffee, and developing her signature beverage consumed her attention.

Her coach was thinking about it though, and would make suggestions along the way—but nothing was quite connecting.

“Every time I presented with it, it just didn’t feel like me,” recalls Craig. “I just didn’t have any other ideas.”

What she was looking for, but didn’t realize it at the time, was a bridge—something that would serve as a link from the coffee to both her routine and her personality.

Then, just two weeks before competition, her husband offhandedly suggested they try Shakira. They cued up “Hips Don’t Lie,” and they knew they had found the right groove. The music of Colombia’s most famous pop singer synced perfectly with the Colombian coffee Craig had selected for her routine.

“Her music was so colorful and so exciting, and that’s how my coffee was,” she says. “It meshed well together.” She ended up rounding out her playlist with three more Shakira tracks.

The choice also fit her desire to make an impression as a first-time competitor, to grab attention and build yet another bridge with her presentation.

“It was inviting the judges into a culture that was very different from ours,” she explains, noting that the music achieved this in a way that was warm, fun, and hospitable.

Still, she wouldn’t have gone with it if it hadn’t reflected her own taste. Finding a way to be true to herself and elevate her coffee and presentation proved to be a winning recipe for Craig, who advanced to nationals that year.

The Downbeat Matt Foster | Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co. | St. Louis, MO Through two seasons of Brewers Cup, Matt Foster favored upbeat music, such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Justin Timberlake, to lighten up his routines.

That changed in 2018, when he shifted to laidback jazz and electronica to calm his nerves and help him focus.

“I found that it helped me bring more balance to my presentation in order to rein myself in,” says Foster. “My natural tempo, especially when I’m on stage, is more upbeat. I get excited, I tend to talk very fast, but if I hear a more calming music in the background it sort of reminds me to balance myself out a little bit more.”

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MATT FOSTER

He took this a step further during prep for the inaugural U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits competition earlier this year. After noticing that the jazz and “chillhop” he was spinning didn’t quite seem to harmonize with his cocktails or the elegant, refined aesthetic of his decor, Foster decided to mix it up.

“Kind of on a lark, I pulled up a couple of Mozart songs and I put that in the background, and it really just seemed to tie together,” he recalls. It proved to be the perfect backdrop for pacing his presentation and staying calm. He even named one of his drinks “Mr. Romo’s Opus,” highlighting his coffee’s producer Fausto Romo as a composer in his own right.

Foster rode that downbeat vibe to become the firstever U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits champion. His victory reflects something about his mentality as a competitor. Although music might have complemented his routine, he was aiming for much more.

“Competitions really are about understanding the competition itself, doing everything you can to control the variables and getting every single one of those points,” he explains. “So, everything you do, including the music, needs to be honed in on—‘Will

PHOTO BY ISBELL CREATIVE

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The Art of the Competition Mixtape

this let me nail my routine so that I don’t go over time, because it lets me keep pace, because it puts me in a good mental space?’”

MICHELLE JOHNSON

The Mixtape Michelle Johnson | Coffee Manufactory | Los Angeles, CA For some competitors, the music is front and center.

“I think about the music before I start prepping anything for the competition,” says Michelle Johnson. “Because for me it’s all about setting the vibe and the energy of what the routine is going to end up being.”

Johnson, who has competed during three different seasons, usually builds a big mix during her prep, which she later culls down to the three or four tracks that will form the backbone of her routine. During competition, she relies on that playlist not only to support the mood and message of her presentation, but also to orient her and keep her steady.

This music-first approach is not all that different from a shift behind bar, where Johnson acts as both barista and DJ at Coffee Manufactory in Los Angeles.

“It’s more like I’m at the coffee shop where I have control over the music and the whole energy of the shop altogether, and that’s where I feel most comfortable,” she says. Behind bar, she lets the time of day, the clientele, and the mood of the room shape her music choices. While the criteria may be different at USBC, it’s that same awareness that helps Johnson feel at ease when the pressure of competition rises.

When it comes down to it, though, she says she tries not to let the room influence her too much. Her ultimate goal as a competitor isn’t to dazzle the crowd or impress the judges.

“I’m not really thinking about anyone else when it comes to my music,” says Johnson. “I’m not really competing for anyone else. I’m just doing it for myself, and if I do ever go into competition

42 ] OCTOBER 2019 » freshcup.com

again, that’s a really strong point that I’ll be making to myself.”

You Can’t Always Get What You Want As many competitors will tell you, when you’ve run through a routine hundreds of times, all with the same backing track, the music begins to provide a compass to guide you to safety before the time runs out. Baristas listen along for audible cues in the songs that signal where they should be in their routines.

No matter how entwined the music may become with any barista’s presentation, though, it’s important to maintain perspective. Baijnauth realized this during filming of Baristas, when music was prohibited during the first round at

the WBC, throwing a lot of competitors off of their game.

As someone who has seen many routines go wrong, May emphasizes that no one should hang an entire performance on any one piece.

“There are so many contingencies that can happen,” he says, “and I would highly recommend that competitors plan for that and don’t let those kinds of things completely torpedo their chances at success.”

Still, no matter the obstacles, competition music is here to stay. Getting it just right may be a subtle art, but champion baristas, much like Tom Petty, won’t back down. Or they’re survivors, like Beyoncé. Either way, they’ll keep trying to win…and craft the perfect playlist.

Visit FreshCup.com to listen to Craig’s, Foster’s and Johnson’s competition playlists.

PHOTO BY RYAN CORDWELL

The Times They Are A-Changin’

A

s the SCA continues to strive to-

judgment calls to make. But they are ques-

ward a more inclusive competition

tions that baristas and managers face every

circuit, the rules and expectations

day in cafés.

surrounding music present an interesting challenge.

Rule 8.5b of the 2019 USBC rules and

As more managers recognize the need to diversify staffing in their shops, and to create a safe space for everyone in their neighbor-

regulations states, “Music may not contain

hoods, questions about music inevitably

profanity, otherwise the competitor’s score

arise. In Hannah Craig’s view, competition—

on ‘Overall Workflow’ may be penalized on

with its design to push the industry and

the head judge scoresheet.”

shape better all-around baristas—should be

As straightforward as that might sound on paper, the reality isn’t quite so clear-cut.

“It’s entirely up to the judges’ discretion

driving these conversations.

“We’re playing all kinds of different music in our cafés, and the competition

as far as the explicit content,” says Nathana-

floor should be, in my opinion, more true

el May, who has been judging competitions

to how our cafés are,” she says. Too many

since 2010. “If an explicit lyric exists in a

people misunderstand or write off genres

song, it’s not necessarily a done deal that

that they don’t understand, she adds, and

you’re going to lose points on your presen-

competition presents an opportunity to

tation and professionalism for that. It’s kind

challenge that.

of contextual, which I appreciate, because

Since 2017, the SCA has incorporated a

that allows flexibility and allows for there to

mandatory unconscious bias training into its

be judgment.”

instruction for judges. While it hasn’t explic-

Where there is room for judgment, though,

itly addressed music, May, who is also the

there is room for bias. It can be difficult for

National Competitions Coordinator, wonders

competitors to know just where the lines will

if it should. Beyond dealing with unwarrant-

be drawn, or just what musical aspects of

ed sensitivity to certain genres, this training

their own cultures are acceptable.

could also prevent judges from favoring cer-

“When I present myself to the coffee community, I want to be able to present all parts of myself as a barista, and that includes hip-

tain competitors simply because they liked their playlists.

“My hope would be that competitors

hop and R&B,” says Michelle Johnson. “That

would feel more comfortable being them-

has nothing to do with my coffee knowledge

selves,” says May, “playing the music they

or professionalism, or whether my espresso

want to play, offering the drinks that they

tastes good or not.”

want to offer, speaking in a way that repre-

In an environment where families are

sents themselves and their culture and who

present and everyone’s definition of “profes-

they are, than they would if that bias train-

sionalism” isn’t the same, these aren’t easy

ing wasn’t happening.”

FC

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 43

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Rollin’ With My Oat-mies Blueberry & Vermont Maple Oatmeal MYLK Labs MYLKLabs.com Joining the lineup of Roasted Almond & Himalayan Pink Salt, Roasted Hazelnut & Dominican Cacao, and Toasted Coconut & Cassia Cinnamon, MYLK Labs’ Blueberry & Vermont Maple oatmeal is the first new product since the launch of the company in January 2018. Unsweetened, freeze-dried blueberries are diced and blended with custom-rolled gluten-free oats. The texture is slightly chewy and extremely creamy from roasted ground almonds that sit at the base with the oats. By using only six ingredients or less, the oatmeal is flavored and sweetened with 100% pure maple sugar sourced from Vermont. True to its packaging, the Blueberry & Vermont Maple oatmeal cups prepare in a beautiful lilac hue with a fruity, nutty maple flavor. Find this and more grab-and-go flavors at www.mylklabs.com.

44 ] OCTOBER 2019 » freshcup.com

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 45

Trade Show & Events Calendar OCTOBER 7-10

OCTOBER 10-14

OCTOBER 18-22

OCTOBER 28-29

PIR EXPO

CHINA XIAMEN INTERNATIONAL TEA FAIR

HOST MILANO

CAFFE CULTURE

Milan Italy

London United Kingdom

host.fieramilano.it

caffecultureshow.com

Moscow Russia pirexpo.com

Xiamen China teafair.com.cn/

NOVEMBER 1-3

NOVEMBER 1-10

NOVEMBER 7-10

NOVEMBER 7-10

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL TEA FEST

KONA COFFEE CULTURE FESTIVAL

WORLD COFFEE LEADERS FORUM

CAFE SHOW SEOUL

Chicago, IL

Kona, HI

Seoul Korea

Seoul Korea

citfest.com

konacoffeefest.com

wclforum.org

cafeshow.com

46 ] OCTOBER 2019 » freshcup.com

NOVEMBER 8-10

NOVEMBER 10-11

NOVEMBER 13-16

NOVEMBER 15-16

LOS ANGELES COFFEE FESTIVAL

HX: THE HOTEL EXPERIENCE

SINTERCAFE

COFFEE FEST

Los Angeles, CA la-coffeefestival.com

Los Suenos Resort Costa Rica

Tacoma, WA

thehotel experience.com

sintercafe.com

coffeefest.com

NOVEMBER 20-22

NOVEMBER 21-23

NOVEMBER 24

DECEMBER 14-15

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE WEEK

WORLD TEA & COFFEE EXPO

WORLD AEROPRESS CHAMPS

Belo Horizonte Brazil

Mumbai India

London United Kingdom

COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL VALLEY FORGE

semanainternacional docafe.com.br

worldteacoffee expo.com

worldaeropress championship.com

New York City, NY

Valley Forge, PA coffeeandtea festival.com

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 47

The Last Plastic Straw The Power of Visual Messaging

BY ROBIN ROENKER

I

n search of a way to succinctly convey your sustainability mission and approach to your customers? Consider a few carefully placed, well-designed signs.

Posters, signs, and other well-planned visual messaging cues, such as photographs

on social media illustrating your adoption of reusable service ware, can convey your café’s low- or zero-waste approach in a matter of seconds—sometimes more profoundly than text-heavy mission statements ever could.

Rātā Café Wellington, New Zealand Situated in New Zealand’s Zealandia ecosanctuary, Rātā Café’s proceeds help support the Karori Sanctuary Trust, which manages the preserve.

In keeping with the café’s green mission, Rātā composts all food waste, coffee grinds, and paper napkins, and uses biodegradable products for takeaway.

To encourage customers to bring their own reusable cups and mugs to reduce waste, the café worked with a professional sign artist to design a blackboard montage that could easily convey a simple but powerful message: Choose to Reuse.

“We wanted to make our message as clear as possible,” says Alicia Bogdanowicz, the café’s manager.

“Previous to that, we just had a member of staff doing our boards. By bringing in a professional, the message is clear and concise and comes through via the images and colors.”

Since adding the sign at the café’s front desk and sharing it on social media channels, “it’s created quite a stir,” says Bogdanowicz. “We’ve been receiving messages [about it] through sustainability networks, and it’s been awesome.”

Rātā’s Choose to Reuse signage has generated such a positive response that Bogdanowicz plans to work with the same designer to create a Mission Statement board for the café’s main entry.

“It’s going to be something similar, but in the context of Zealandia sustainability,” she says.

48 ] OCTOBER 2019 » freshcup.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF RĀTĀ CAFÉ

Kind Café Vancouver, Canada Kind Café, a vegan café and coffee shop in Vancouver, also opened in August with a no-waste model that encourages customers to dine in or bring their own containers. If customers forget to bring their own takeout containers, the café offers a collection of donated, pre-used plastic takeout boxes as well as mugs and mason jars—all of which can be returned later or kept by the customer. (The café charges a 50-cent deposit only on mason jars.)

To spread the word, owner Samantha Emerman has placed bold BYOC (Bring Your Own Container) signs on eye-catching pink cardstock around the café, as well as on the café’s social media channels.

The shop also has matching signs to promote donations of reusable ware and to encourage customers to use cloth napkins.

“We don’t have paper napkins or any single-use items at all at the café,” says Emerman. “The visual poster over the cloth napkins explains that we’re trying to bring a ‘kinder’ café experience to Vancouver. It’s been amazing and very well received.” FC

Cat & Cow Randwick, Australia Before director Lenka Kriz officially opened Cat & Cow in the Sydney suburbs in August, she strategically hung signs about the shop’s sustainable mission and zero-waste approach on the café windows and actively posted to social media channels so that when customers arrived, they weren’t shocked to learn that the café does not offer singleuse takeout cups.

“We started posting to social media two months before we opened, to really enforce our approach and to invite the neighborhood to donate their unwanted mugs,” says Kriz.

“When we opened, almost every person either had their drink here or brought their own cup.”

Even for those who walk in unprepared, the café’s welldesigned posters explain quickly what their options are: drink in, buy a reusable cup, or borrow one. The signs, created in collaboration with Kriz’s friend, who is a professional marketer, intentionally distilled the café’s approach into simple, easy-to-understand messaging, she says.

“Unless you share the proper message, people wonder, ‘Why would you do something that’s less convenient?’” says Kriz. “She helped me craft signs that are visibly appealing and make sense so that even if we don’t have time to speak to every customer individually in the queue, they understand what we’re doing and why.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAT & COW (LEFT), AND KIND CAFÉ (RIGHT)

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 49

Advertiser Index

To view our advertiser list and visit the websites listed below, go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers

ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

Barista Pro Shop

866.776.5288

baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh

Brewista

888.538.8683 mybrewista.com

18

Build A Blend

725.222.9218

buildablend.com

45

Cappuccine

800.511.3127

cappuccine.net

Coffee & Tea Festival

631.940.7290

coffeeandteafestival.com

45

Coffee Fest

425.295.3300

coffeefest.com

17

Curtis

800.421.6150 wilburcurtis.com

51

Ditting

810.367.7125 ditting.com

17

Divinitea

518.347.0689 divinitea.com

47

Elmhurst

888.356.1925 elmhurstmilked.com

52

Fresh Cup Magazine

503.236.2587

freshcup.com

Ghirardelli Chocolate

800.877.9338

ghirardelli.com/professional

Gosh That’s Good! Brand

888.848.GOSH (4674)

goshthatsgood.com

11

Hershey Foodservice

866.821.6312

hersheyfoodserviceinsights.com

25

Java Jacket

800.208.4128

javajacket.com

The Lease Coach

800.738.9202

theleasecoach.com

45

Malabar Gold Espresso

650.366.5453

malabargoldespresso.com

13

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

855.FLAVOR1 (352.8671)

monin.com

Mountain Cider Co.

800.483.2416

mountaincider.com

40

Omega Pacific Insurance

209.338.5500

coffeeandteainsurance.com

45

RetailMugs.com

970.222.9559 retailmugs.com

46

Roast

roastpdx@yahoo.com roastpdx@yahoo.com

47

SelbySoft

800.454.4434

selbysoft.com

SerendipiTea

888.TEA.LIFE (832.5433)

serendipitea.com

46

Tea Trade Show

973.551.9161

teatradeshow.com

45

Thaiwala

503.974.1264 thaiwala.com

19

Toddy

970.493.0788

toddycafe.com/brewing

41

Torani

800.775.1925

torani.com/puremade

Urth Caffe

213.628.8616

urthcaffe.com

45

WaterWise

865.724.1200

waterwise.pro

9

Your Brand Cafe

866.566.0390

yourbrandcafe.com

9

Zojirushi America

800.264.6270

zojirushi.com

50 ] OCTOBER 2019 » freshcup.com

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