Getting Coffee for a Large Group: Part 1

Last week my pastor had the bright idea that I would make coffee for some of the people at my church. I love making coffee, and so I loved the idea. They were having a meeting with about 50 people or so in attendance, so I thought to myself:

"how can I make good coffee for all these people with the inconsistent, unreliable equipment at the church?"

The solution I came up with was to bring a bunch of my own equipment (along with some of our whole bean Coffee which I purchased for the church), and make each cup individually. It look a lot of work, but at the end of the day it worked really well. Everyone got what they wanted: a great cup of coffee, and a lot of fun learning and talking to each other.

Thinking back on the experience I thought that it points to a big hole in the coffee world: Large Group service structures for coffee.

A church is a place that generally has a HUGE need for a ton of coffee ONE HOUR a week. Churches aren't the only places that have this kind of demand bubble. Any organization that hosts large events knows the difficult of supplying coffee for these sorts of things. Most places can't afford the kind of equipment required to make quality coffee on a large scale so they have to explore other options.

Many groups resort to using options that save them money but wind up making the coffee so bad that I sometimes wonder why they bother at all.

THERE IS HOPE!

In the next few weeks I will be exploring ways you can get GREAT coffee to your group without breaking the bank.

Having quality coffee is not impossible for anyone. With a little bit of work and creativity you can bring new life to any gathering with quality coffee. Stay Tuned!

Third Wave Coffee Philosophy

Today we continue our series looking at the three waves of coffee in the United States.

If you remember First Wave coffee is focused on getting coffee to the most people through, commercials, convenience and consistency. It pressures people to drink coffee by highlighting the conventions.
On the other hand, second wave. is about getting coffee that pleases the most people. This is achieved by creating a cup of coffee that focuses on the consumer. Through customization, creativity, and community.


Third wave coffee is focused on the coffee and trying to get the coffee to be treated like a fine wine.
This is driven by crafting with care, culinary art,  and conceitedness


This is about getting coffee that pleases the most annoying people.
This is where I live and where Coffee Ambassadors lives, so don't be offended we implicate ourselves.


Third wave has done a lot of great things for coffee in the world, but the fact remains that in many ways the philosophy that drives much of third wave is a latent sense of superiority. The focus is not on the consumer at all, but on the coffee and the barista that makes it.

Below I have posted a video from one of our friends in the third wave. I really like the video itself, but I want you to notice a few things.

• One phrase in the video that really shows what the philosophy of third wave is when he sets his methods apart says "most people who are preparing [espresso] don't give it [my kind] of respect."
• Notice the personal pronouns. This video uses I and We a lot but doesn't use "you" at all except when he is describing what is "wrong" with the coffee.
• Notice how he sets himself and his coffee apart from the rest of the coffee community saying they serve "a different kind of coffee then what most people are used to"

 

FIRST WAVE	SECOND WAVE	THIRD WAVE
Convenience Commercials Consistency	Customization Creativity Community	Crafting with care Culinary art Conceitedness

A Look at Second Wave Coffee Philosophy

Today we continue our series exploring different "waves" of coffee. Last week we looked at some of the ads at the height of "fist wave" (Folgers, tasters choice etc) coffee consumption. They demonstrated a keen awareness of the power of CONFORMITY. Their power was showing people that they could be "normal" or "successful" if they simply had the right coffee.

 This week look at the philosophy of SECOND WAVE coffee (this is your typical Starbucks or Caribou Coffee). If you watched our video that gave an overview of these forms of coffee you will remember that SECOND WAVE coffee is driven by CUSTOMIZATION.

They focused on coffee that PLEASED THE MOST PEOPLE, not just that was made available to the MOST PEOPLE like we see in first wave coffee. To compare the two:

FIRST WAVE	SECOND WAVE
Convenience Commercials Consistency	Customization Creativity Community

I think that the ad for Starbucks highlights the driving force of second wave marketing.