coffee has an interesting way of showing up in our cultural conversation. an exCerpt, of coffee and its collective appearance as a character in the everyday.
on the street, east 17th street
A coffee cup is still one of the greatest and often unintentional street props. What is more, the lack of a coffee brand identity makes this capture feel so raw, so pure, so in-the-moment.
Then again, she could be drinking tea. Even still, the sentiment still holds…right. cde
coffee has an interesting way of showing up in our cultural conversation. an exCerpt, of coffee and its collective appearance as a character in the everyday.
“Keep an eye out for our favourite coffee magicians company Sacred who are taking over bar three of the True Artisan Café on Sunday. We would walk 500 miles for their Flat Whites. Truly.”
Hear! Hear!
What I love about this expression is that, it is so true.
I’d walk just about anywhere for a good cup of coffee, flat white’s included, cortado’s included, cold brew included, and coffee shops themselves, included. As I document coffee culture, I am so enthused by others enthusiasm to travel just for coffee. Whether home in L.A., or home in New York or on the road – currently in Chicago – to travel for, because and by coffee, is just about the best thing ever. And, so was flying the 790.2 miles from New York to Chicago to get here. – cde
coffee has an interesting way of showing up in our cultural conversation. an exCerpt, of coffee and its collective appearance as a character in the everyday.
still from comedians in cars getting coffee
“And then something happened about five years ago. I started touring a lot, and we would have these great big, fun breakfasts in the hotel and [coffee] just seemed to go really well with the French toast — the sugar and the milk —…You don’t even really need a place. But you feel like you’re doing something. That is what coffee is. And that is one of the geniuses of the new coffee culture.”
His, “and then something happened,” sounds almost magical, like a line from the movies. Hearing Seinfeld tell his moment, when how he felt about coffee changed feels like the many moments I’ve seen when others tell me their stories of that moment when the magic caused something decisive and different in them in regards to coffee.
Can you remember yours? I’m sure if you can, that as you do, it will call to mind some sentiment that may feel cinematic. And, if not in your eyes, surely in the eyes of someone else, because that’s how coffee does, it does something to people. – cde
a curated round up of weekend coffee culture from the north, east, west, and south. have fun!
FRI-SUN | London : London Coffee Week roars with a host of activities, including core initiative The Coffee Art Project, the United Kingdom Barista Championships – Brewers Cup, Latte Art and of course the #UKBC itself. Last year smdlr tuned in and tweeted all the way to Colonna Smalls win – To UK with Love . It portends to be just as exciting this year, so follow with the hashtag #UKBC on Twitter.
SAT | Ottawa, Canada : Coffee goes mobile. In a trip called the ‘Cross Canada Chemex Tour’, Working Coffee travels a road less chemex’d traveled and that’s exciting. Join the first stop where fashion via Slaysh will happily collide with coffee. TIME: 1:30-4:30 p.m. EST
SAT | London: Three by Three by Three! That’s 3 coffee, 3 baristas and 3 hours of the Superfantastic DJ’s via Extract Coffee Roasters at the London Coffee Festival. The event supports Project Water Fall. All, smdlr is down with, especially, music on a Saturday. Go Already! TIME: 4-7 p.m. GBT
SUN | Los Angeles, CA : Its no doubt that tasty eats accompanied by coffee is a win-win pairing. Cue Taste of the Eastside where GandBCoffee joins the eater fare, demoing coffee brewing. TIME: VIP 12 p.m., 1-5p.m. PST
SUN | Darien, Connecticut : Cupping in company! Espresso Neat invites you this Sunday and every Sunday to do just so. Slurping allowed. TIME: 1 p.m. EST
SUN | Chesterfield Valley, Missouri : Come one, Bike All. Join Team Kaldi’s Coffee for a good cause – fueled by coffee, pedaled by donations – the coffee house kicks off Bike MS in an effort to raise $ 1,000,000 towards the cause. Ride on! TIME: 8 a.m. – Noon CST
meet at coffee con
On May 4th, smdlr will be attending CoffeeCon, a consumer convention for coffee consumers and I am uber excited to be heading to the city of Chicago for this consortium of all things coffee.
CoffeeCon has extended smdlr ten tickets to give away to you, the people. I do hope you can make it. However, if you can’t, maybe you know someone who can and you can gift them the opportunity to slurp and sip with myself and a host of fabulous people, while enjoying all that the day has to offer.
For me, the word con doesn’t come to mind without the thought of some of the greatest icons in cultural history. I’ve listed a mere twenty-five influencers who without question have impacted humanity with their thoughts, ideas and inventions. Their contribution to society is, well lets be a little dramatic here, as monumental as consuming a subjectively good cup of coffee is for many coffee consumers.
The first five readers to accurately cross out and send this puzzle to yours truly at cde@smdlr.com, and, or tweet a snapshot to @ilovesmdlr with the hashtag #icon will receive a pair of complimentary tickets to CoffeeCon.
Your instructions: 23 icons are listed within the puzzle and appear by last name only. Find and mark them as this hint suggests > Jack… Have Fun!
coffeecon ticket giveaway
coffee has an interesting way of showing up in our cultural conversation. an exCerpt, of coffee and its collective appearance as a character in the everyday.
There is the olive oil boutique, with its rows of metal barrels and its sign inside saying, “Check your Oil” and the coffee shop that young, nattily dressed tourists wonder into get licitly high. Most visitors know that in Amsterdam a cafe is for coffee, and a coffee shop is for marijuana.
I may be in the minority here when I say I’ve never puffed, puffed marijuana. I’m okay with that. However, given that the date 4/20 just passed, which is also the day, that is acknowledged as 420 - a day for cannabis lovers to officially to enjoy its four-hundred-twenty active chemical ingredients worldwide.
Does that mean that Amsterdam gets 420, 360? What is more, at least I know, when in Amsterdam to do as the coffee seekers do, and ask for the cafe.
What: In Conversation with Rachel Chanoff, Artistic Director, Celebrate Brooklyn!
Where: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, Manhattan, NY
When: Monday, April 22. 7 p.m – 8:30 p.m. EST
When the roles one holds combine descriptors like programmer, director, and curator in a city like New York, no wonder a metaphor of a borough being like “a cultural backyard” is expressed.
As a culture curator, smdlr conversed with Ms. Rachel Chanoff, Artistic Director of Celebrate Brooklyn! on her role as such prior to her Housing Works Bookstore and Café panel - Noteworthy -this evening.
smdlr: I must ask, are you a coffee drinker, if so, how do you take it?
Rachel Chanoff: So much coffee! Super strong with lots of milk.
s: As an Arts Programmer, is there a constant thought mitigating your consideration of including programming as part of a lineup?
rc: Yes, there are always multiple agendas at play as we program. Each performance has to be excellent in some crucial way, either funny or moving, or illuminating or best, of all, a combination of all three. It also has to add a crucial piece of the puzzle to whatever season we’re putting it in, either an unheard voice, a style, a sensibility that will contribute to the season being diverse and surprising.
s: You have the task of being a voice of culture for one of New Yorks’ cultural treasures –Celebrate Brooklyn! –is there an experience you hold yourself culturally responsible for, as people enter and exit out of The Bandshell’s gates?
rc: Culture should be accessible to all. It should be part of the fabric of everyone’s daily life. I love it when it happens in a comfortable , non-intimidating, picnic having space, where the audience has a sense of ownership and so, is willing to take chance on something they’ve never heard without feeling ignorant or condescended to. Celebrate Brooklyn! Is the cultural backyard of the borough and we’re honored to provide the conversation starting entertainment.
s: As you sit on the panel for Monday, you’re referenced as an innovator. Do you own the title, and, if so, what does it mean to you, to be such within the artistic space?
rc: Things don’t have to be new to be innovative. Presenting them in a new context, positioning them so that they can be freshly illuminated or re-discovered can be as satisfying as presenting the newest, hottest artist. The most fun thing is working with an artist to help them realize a new project.
s: On smdlr, my goal is to curate culture through the lens of the independent coffee shop. As a curator for an open space, is there a lens that you look through?
rc: I like to program each season with a focus on and diversity and the unexpected.
s: Equally crucial tenets indeed! Thank You and I look forward to seeing you at Noteworthy.
coffee has an interesting way of showing up in our cultural conversation. an exCerpt, of coffee and its collective appearance as a character in the everyday.
illustration by seymour chwast via The New Yorker
“I have reason to believe that coffee is about to stop working!”
If coffee stopped working – goodness! If. Coffee. Stopped working?!
Of course what comes to mind immediately is, that the cessation of coffee’s effect to caffeinate, fuel, hark and even inspire being non-existent would be a global travesty!
What is more, what comes to my mind – if coffee stop working – is if coffee stopped working as an epicenter to draw culture, to be culture, to give a voice to a current people. If coffee stopped working, then regardless of who we are, where we are and why we could there be that external place that reminds us that internally we’re all of the same. I hope a circumstance never gives reason to have that belief. – cde
coffee culture, like any culture, has a language. the stage is set, in the city of Boston for the 2013 edition of the United States Barista Championship and the tales are a tale in themselves. baristi are sharing not only their love, but what they love, about their love. #enjoy
“I love coffee, everything about it.” @drmancandy of @JoecoffeeNYC
”We can do something fun and different with coffee, as long as its approachable.” @drmancandy of @JoecoffeeNYC
”I’m bringing myself to this,” @HeyWolfGang @AlterraCoffee
“We all love things that taste good.” Nick Purvis of @leFRENCHPRESS
What we do as baristas – greatest responsibility to empower.” @flalessinhim of @CafeDulceLA
“A barista is an alchemist one who takes something ordinary and turns it into something extraordinary.” @DavidFasman of @Kaldis_Coffee
“My job is twofold give farmers a voice by providing education, information w/excitement – my favorite part.” Ryan of @PortolaCoffee
“Specialty coffee has gotten kind of big.” @talyastrayder of @BowTruss
“My hope with this drink is that you continue to carry the story – every great coffee can serve a purpose‘ @tjorlet @madcapcoffee
“Tasting espresso hot is like looking at a painting with sunglasses on.” @David Fasman @KaldisCoffee
“A bridge into what espresso can really be like.” @JonathenLewd of @cogcoffee
“Espresso is any wondrous thing that comes out of that machine over there” @charlesbabinski of @GandBcoffee
Who: Food for Farmers
What: Ice Cream Social with Ben & Jerry’s
When: April 12th, 2013
Where: Boston Convention Center, Booth 1148
Booth: 2:30
Why: I want to make a difference. And as one person, I know that I by doing so one decision at a time. For me, learning of Food for Farmers (F4F) as result of the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s photo contest and by extension, Food for Farmer’s mission to help with seasonal hunger in Latin America countries lit a fire in my heart for wanting to do more towards this cause.
Part of my one decision is joining in with FOOD 4 FARMERS and “its mission to implement sustainable food security programs in coffee-growing communities across the globe.” What a better way to bring awareness to a cause by making it social and cultural. Thus , join them, and Ben & Jerry’s Cofounder, Jerry Greenfield – for a Fairtrade ice cream social. Coffee? IceCream? #WinWin.