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THEexperienceOF 

Specialty Coee:Engaging the heart,

the mind and the senses

by Peter Giuliano

4 The Specialty Coffee Chronicle

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I’m not alone in this. There is a whole generation of people wholive to eat, and who are immersing themselves in food cultureevery day. For these people, good food provides a thread that runsthrough their entire lives. A meal in a restaurant or a trip to thefarmers’ market provides much more than nourishment—it canoffer entertainment, social interaction, community networking,it can even become a political statement. Passionate eaters readabout food, they watch television programs about it. For millions ofAmericans, good eating has become a lifestyle.

Which is why it’s always good to remember: coffee, too, is food.It’s grown on a permanent farm that resembles a fruit orchard.It’s fermented like wine or beer. It’s milled and roasted like grain.And it’s prepared and served like food is, in grocery stores or inrestaurants, in coffee shops and coffee bars.

I think a lot about coffee when I am having other foodexperiences, and there is a tremendous amount we can learnfrom the way the food marketplace is evolving. Just as slowfood and artisan foodways are distinguishing themselves fromcommercial, industrial food, so can specialty coffee distinguishitself from its commodified counterpart. In Specialty coffee, we dothis instinctively, almost without thinking. We know and feel thespecial-ness of the coffee we bring to consumers, and we naturallyconstruct our businesses to differentiate ourselves. We seem torun off an instinctive archetype of what a specialty coffee businessis: an antique roaster, some exotic-sounding coffees, comfortablefurniture in the coffeeshop. These are the things that distinguishus, but why do we do them? What are we doing, anyway?

It’s valuable to step away from coffee just a bit, to look at howother specialty foods distinguish themselves, and how they setthemselves up to compete with cheaper, more ubiquitous, lessspecial foods in the marketplace.

A common thread with special food experiences is that they aremultidimensional; they have a meaning that surpasses nourishmenor consumption. They have a quality that stimulates our senseswhile filling our stomach or slaking our thirst, but somehowsatisfies our soul as well. I’ve come to think of a great foodexperience as one that engages the senses, the heart, and the mindall at the same time.

There is a whole generation of people

who live to eat, and who are immersing

themselves in food culture every day.

For these people, good food provides a

thread that runs through their entire

lives. A meal in a restaurant or a

trip to the farmers’ market provides

much more than nourishment—itcan o er entertainment, social

interaction, community networking, it

can even become a political statement.

Passionate eaters read about food, they

watch television programs about it.

For millions of Americans,

good eating has become a lifestyle.

Like many of us in the coffee

business, I am a passionate

eater. I love food, food people,

food places; I love farms and I love

farmers and I love food artisans. I,

like most of my friends and family,

collect food experiences as some of the

most significant moments of my life. I

remember the day I learned the secret

of good bread; I remember the time I ate

wild boar in Tuscany; I remember my first

taste of Japanese salt-grilled mackerel…I

could go on and on. These memories

enrich and animate me, and I spend tons

of energy seeking out new foods and new

food experiences.

The Specialty Coffee Chronicl

8/3/2019 Experiencing Specialty Coffee

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EXPERIENCE SPECIALTY COFFEE CONTINUED

THE SENSES

It goes without saying that flavor is the sensory experience at thecenter of it all. Food is about flavor, and coffee is especially so. Inthe distractions of our everyday world, we can lose track of flavor;it’s pretty tough to experience taste while driving a car or watching

television. We’re in the middle of a kind of flavor renaissance atthe moment—beer artisans are celebrating the intense flavor ofhops rather than focusing on characteristics like “smooth” or “easydrinking”; consumers are delving into intense, complex chocolates;even donut artisans are daring palates with dynamic, creativeflavor combinations. There is a gleeful spirit of flavor as palateentertainment. For example, inDurham, NC, a small popsiclecompany called Locopops hasset the city on fire with popsicleswith flavors like watermelonhabanero and guava mint.

In coffee, we have theopportunity to impact people inthe same way, never forgettingthat drinking coffee is more than just drinking coffee, that it is acomplete sensory experience.Drinking coffee, or cupping it,or even preparing it, can be anenjoyable act in itself—smellingthe coffee as it grinds, detectingthe changes in aroma as thecoffee brews, noticing theaftertaste that remains after thecoffee is gone—these are part of what makes coffee enjoyment sucha spectacular culinary activity. Smart coffee companies are engagingtheir customers’ palates by utilizing the power of amazing coffeeflavor, by bringing the coffee drinker’s attention to the scintillatingblackcurrant acidity of a great Nyeri coffee from Kenya; or the almosttransparent cleanliness of a crisp Huehuetenango; or the fruit-forward

 jammy aromatics of a dry-process Sidamo. And by using tools likepublic cupping, tasting flights, or even a simple act like letting thecustomer smell the coffee in the filter before brewing.

The senses don’t stop there however: we see and feel coffee as wedrink it. The style and weight of a porcelain cup, the material of a seatat a coffee bar, the paper and art used to make a coffee package allcontribute to the complete sensory experience of coffee.

THE HEART

The ultimate reductionist argument in coffee says “It’s what in thecup that matters.” The point is that flavor is important, which is true,but it’s not the only thing that matters, not by a long shot. I have atheory: that artisan products made by a craftsperson who enjoys hiswork have a certain soulfulness that other products don’t have. Why

is this? Well, we humans are social creatures by nature. Most of uslove our fellow man, and crave the positive interactions we have everyday with our family, friends and members of our community. Buyinga piece of furniture from an artisan who is obviously passionateabout their work has a certain human quality that transcends theobject itself; and which somehow stays with the product for its entirelifetime.

It’s the same thing with food and drink. I buy pizza from an artisanpizzaiolo (that’s the equivalent of “barista” but for pizza). This guystands in front of his handmade stone oven all day long, positivelybeaming with pride as he turns out handmade pizzas for the patronsof his restaurant. When asked about his ingredients, his eyes sparkleas he describes the farm where the arugula is grown, or talks aboutthe method by which he stretches his housemade mozzarella. Youcan perceive his enthusiasm and pride long before you ever taste

It goes without saying that

flavor is the sensory experience

at the center of it all. Foodis about flavor, and co ee is

especially so.

his pizza, and as your food appears on the table before you, you’vealready fallen in love. The best way to eat is heart first.

I feel the same way when I meet a barista whose heart is obviouslyin their coffee. I remember seeing a barista once who seemed tocaress the portafilter as she was making my coffee—her connectionwith her coffee and her craft was so obvious, and her naked desireto make the coffee taste great tugged at my heartstrings. This way of

engaging the heart through passion for craft is a huge part of coffee,and the honest expression of passion in roasting, farming and coffeepreparation is one of the greatest virtues of specialty coffee.

THE MIND

We humans are curious bynature. We love to explore theworld, and learn about it. We dothis constantly, all day, in a millidifferent ways. I remember as achild reading the sides and backof cereal boxes, devouring notonly advertisements and cartoonbut also ingredient lists and

nutritional data. Passionate eatestill love information with theirfood; there exist books, magazinand even television channelsdedicated to food education andlearning.

It’s not limited to media,however. My favorite restaurant

in the world is a little Japaneserestaurant in San Diego, where elegant home-style Japanese smallplates—many unfamiliar to me—are served to Japanese expatriates.A trip to this restaurant is an education for me: the delightful serversexplain the tradition of Lotus Root salad (which, as it turns out, is apopular children’s snack that is packed with fiber, buckwheat noodle(served chilled in the summer, ideally slurped from bamboo canals

filled with icy water) and mackerel (grilled in a salt crust to season akeep moist). These stories engage my mind while I eat, and my mindwanders to thoughts of Japanese home life, history, and culture.

As it turns out, in coffee we have similar traditions. In fact, theEthiopian coffee ceremony has always included discussion andinformation exchange as a crucial part of the ritual, and coffeehousehave, since antiquity, been places of learning and discussion. We caron this tradition when we give our customers glimpses of the details coffee production and trade—the way the Bourbon coffee variety gotto El Salvador, or the impact of altitude on flavor; the reason nine baof pressure is important in an espresso machine or the meaning of“microfoam”; a glimpse into the life of a coffee farmer or the successof a cooperative. All of these stories, whether relayed over the countby a barista or read on a specialty coffee bag label, engage the mindof the consumer, completing the experience of coffee consumption.

Great coffee artisans and companies instinctively understandthis idea, that engaging the heart and mind along with the palateis of crucial importance as we present special coffees to the world.Sometimes, however, we lose track—getting lost in the details ofcoffee preparation, debating coffee process, collecting science orstatistics about great coffee. A great coffee company develops anintention about flavor, spirit and knowledge, and infuses that intentithroughout their business and their craft.

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