Cascara

Cydni Patterson interviews Thurmond Buckelew. Buckelew is the coffee educator and head trainer at Carrboro Coffee Roasters in Carrboro, North Carolina.

Patterson and Buckelew discuss coffee training, leadership, and management. “Being aware of our impact, on our origin partners, our coffee community as a whole, our staff, and our guests should be the center of our training programs and cafe service,” says Patterson. “A staff empowered with skill and knowledge—and innovation is not our enemy. Innovation makes our jobs safer and keeps longevity in our industry.”

In this episode, Patterson interviews Jake King of Atlanta, Georgia. Jake King is the co-founder of GYST Coffee Training, manager at PERC coffee in Atlanta, a competition-level barista, Sprudge Twenty honoree, and Glitter Cat alum. Patterson and King talk about how Atlanta's coffee scene is anchored in craft, service, and opportunity. King discusses GYST and the importance of successful coffee training programs—and that investing in knowledge will always have a return.

Cyndi Patterson interviews Joseph Gonzales, co-founder of Espresso State of Mind in New York City. 

"I am so honored to have been able to chat with a leader in one of the most expansive coffee communities in the world, New York City," says Patterson, "with a little under 5,000 shops serving around eight million people, this coffee community is home to a multitude of sub-communities. How do you even maintain community during a period where the safest thing you can do is isolate?"

"Listen and laugh with us as I pick his brain on how he and the Espresso State of Mind crew have managed to extract the dopest elements that the New York coffee scene has to offer while keeping his community caffeinated enough to keep pushing for a safer tomorrow."

Transcript available here.

This episode is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear.

In this episode, Patterson takes us to San Francisco and interviews Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters co-founder and TikTok viral sensation Nick Cho.

This episode is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear.

In this episode, Cydni Patterson takes us to Indianapolis and interviews Gya Torres of Foundation Coffee Company to talk about their work fighting food insecurity in their community.

"Foundation coffee is partnered with the Patachou Foundation," Patterson explains, "and they serve delicious coffee while helping distribute over 2000 afterschool meals to children in the Indianapolis public school system." This episode is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear.

Patterson takes us to the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina. There she interviews Areli Barrera de Grodski, founder of Little Waves Coffee Roasters and Cocoa Cinnamon along with Black & White Coffee Roasters founders Lem Butler and Kyle Ramage. “I believe each specialty coffee scene extracts energy and takes on the characteristics of the communities that they’re in,” says Patterson, “and the Raleigh-Durham coffee scene is a wonderful example of that. It’s surrounded by universities and there’s a vibrant art scene. There’s a history of activism and it’s all located in this beautiful landscape.” Transcript available here.