I initially had a longer form article planned for today commemorating the first year of the pandemic but it’s still in a drafting stage and I’d really like to do a good job with it. However, I do have a fun piece here today introducing you to some of my favorite coffee people who aren’t James Hoffmann. James is wonderful and as far as the face of third-wave/speciality/non-commodity coffee goes, I don’t think you could have a better ambassador. With that being said, James is still one person and there are plenty of other people who do incredible work within the space. Here are some people whose content and perspectives I really value and appreciate.
Michelle Johnson (she/her)
Michelle Johnson is a barista extraordinaire who’s been apart of some incredible initiatives and organizations all while spearheading a movement for greater equity and representation in non-commodity coffee. She was a former marketing director for Barista Hustle and was the education manager for one of America’s top roasters, Red Bay Coffee. Today, she is currently the editor at large for Sprudge, non-commodity coffee’s premier magazine, and runs a platform called The Chocolate Barista.
Michelle wears a lot of hats and is able to find the perfect balance between keeping coffee fun and doing really hard, impactful work through initiatives like GoFundBean. In 2018, she spearheaded a panel between some of the most accomplished black coffee professionals and the two hour long discussion has been the most impactful piece of content I’ve consumed about coffee. I’m really excited to see her re-launch The Chocolate Barista (linktree) and create a formal platform of her own.
Linktree
Twitter
Tik Tok
10 Minutes with Michelle Johnson
Colin Harmon (he/his)
Colin Harmon is the founder and owner of one of Ireland’s top roasters and cafe chains, 3fe, and is a former WBC finalist. He has also helped design some of the most innovative and sustainable commercial equipment such as the Mythos lineup and The Eagle One.
Colin is someone who flies below the radar and isn’t necessarily someone that comes up a lot in conversation. He doesn’t have a large platform like some of the other individuals on this list and is mostly focused on excelling at what he does. However, he did put out a book called “What I Know about Running Coffee Shops” and it’s an insightful read for anyone interested in building a long-lasting, sustainable brick and mortar business. Colin has appeared on most of my favorite podcasts and I really like his approach to problem-solving. The one “ohhhhhhh that’s genius” moment that stands out to me comes from a podcast with James Hoffmann where they discuss the nuances running a cafe and how to ensure that your business is the best it could be. Colin approaches the issue by thinking about how to improve the “worst” cup of coffee and his insight into this topic was a paradigm shift for me.
Here are some other podcasts he has been on as well and his instagram handle is @colinharmon.
Ashley Rodriguez (she/her)
Ashley Rodriguez is a coffee writer, educator, and founder of one of non-commodity Coffee’s best podcasts, Boss Barista. She’s currently based in Chicago but before that, she was based in New York. Interestingly enough, she’s worked at two of my favorite NYC roasters & cafes, Third Rail Coffee and Variety Roasters. Today, her main focus is running Boss Barista which examines the coffee industry through a feminist lens.
Ashley’s podcasts and substack have been extremely education and important in my understanding of where the non-commodity industry falls short. While it champions lots of great issues like sustainability and paying fairer prices for coffee, it struggles to break away from it’s cis-white men groupthink. I’ve listed some of my favorite episodes below and if you’re looking for another awesome substack to subscribe to, I would highly recommend hers.
Linktree
Casey Makes Coffee (she/they)
Casey Chartier-Vignapiano, otherwise known as Casey Makes Coffee, is a coffee educator working to make learning more accessible with a focus on education for disabled and neurodivergent learning styles. They also focus on training for businesses. She also has a blog that is focused on being a resource for baristas and an e-store that has a curated stock of coffee, equipment, and merch.
Hot Take: Were it not for James’s insane production value, I think Casey may actually be better at making public-facing coffee education content. More often than not, making “good” coffee is made to seem harder than it is and Casey completely dismantles that. I learn something new every time I’m on her page and am probably going to take a few classes with them myself.
Here’s their linktree and a really great video on how to make decaf taste amazing.
Bartholomew Jones (he/his)
Bartholomew Jones is a musician and co-founder of Cxfeeblack – an initiative focused on “reclaim[ing] the black history of coffee and remain[ing] its black future”. Alongside an awesome merch & coffee line, they run a cafe concept called the “Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club” which, as the name suggests, aims to flip the narrative of the arrival of non-commodity coffee shops being a signifier of a neighbourhood being gentrified. Here’s an awesome interview with Bartholomew that dives into the brand’s work and vision.
I think the work Bartholomew and his team are doing truly moves the needle; they champion a greater sense of equity and more meaningful representation within non-commodity coffee in a way I haven’t seen before. I remember joining in on an IG live and having the feeling that if more people had an introduction to non-commodity coffee that was spearheaded by people like Bartholomew, maybe people wouldn’t think of it as this “hipster thing”. Their podcast has been a great insight into black american coffee culture and I find myself walking away from their episodes with so many new ideas and thoughts on coffee as a whole. Here is their podcast and a playlist they use in their cafe.
I hope this was a fun read; this was a really meaningful piece to work on and I can’t help but feel like I missed so many people. Let me know if you like the coffee related content, I am thinking about either permanently dedicating two thursdays a month to coffee related content or replacing 2 of the Friday articles with coffee content.