Sips and sighs with community and coffee
Notes from a Curator’s first Coffee Talk x Tasting with West Lou Coffee
Coffee is…
..a sugary and creamy secret between you and your grandma the morning after the sleepovers at her house.
..in your Mama’s Mr. Coffee on a Saturday morning with PineSol and Jaheim playing as brown noise.
..sitting with grandfather on his deck in the summertime, taking it like a “G” - BLACK, no sugar no cream. .
This past Saturday (Jan. 21, 2023) was an offering from a Black-owned roaster, West Lou Coffee, to a proud community, enjoying a vegan brunch from Cafezinho, Black cafe owners, in the West end of Louisville. The owner, Sean Roberson and I, were surrounded by friends, coffee lovers, family, and customers that support the quality of West Lou Coffee. The Coffee Talk and Tasting was a hour of discussion full of “ahhs” “umhmms”, and slurps of the new Ugandan coffee offering in West Lou Coffee’s profile. My role as Coffee Curator was to create the flow, content, and energy for our time together. My #1 goal was for our community to leave with descriptors and methods used to experience specialty coffee.
As a space holder, I was filled with enthusiasm to share what I have learned over the past 8 years in the specialty coffee industry. Similar to almost everything that I do, I applied the Sankofa effect to our opening discussion by starting our conversation with a high level oral history lesson about Kaldi, the Ethiopian shepherd. Set in the 6th century, the story goes that Kaldi found his goats eating the coffee fruit while dancing in a peculiar way. The origin story rooted everyone in the familiarity of Black oral history and also in the fact that coffee is native to the Motherland and has traveled across the world via colonization. A history similar to our own.
While many of our folks shared their personal coffee origin stories and made the connection to Kaldi and even the colonization of the coffee seed- we seized the moment by gathering a sense of belonging to the many facets of how coffee affects our lives. As a space holder, it's critical to listen and gather a consensus of the energy in the space. Our discussion reminded me that coffee has so many origins translating throughout the continent, with our senses, into our bodies, and around our connections.
Our time together was an antithesis to societal expectation. The connections we built were a confirmation of how connected coffee is to our roots and how we “people”. The “awe” traveled across many ages during the tasting. From a young girl's face jaw dropping in amazement that “Coffee is a fruit” to a Hope-Dealer taking notes of the new instruments for brewing in his own home. Many left with new Ugandan coffee - curiosity to explore more.
After our discussion, I led a demonstration with two different brewing methods. Auto drip, French press, and v60/Pour over. A goal for the tasting experience was to compare the different brewing method styles to one's own sensory preferences.
Many community members highly preferred the pour-over method and french press due to its processes bringing out more fresh flavors of the coffee. The best part is remembering their sips of satisfaction over the 4oz sips. I was at ease witnessing them experience the new Ugandan coffee and eager to answer questions that sparked new and lingering interests for the specialty coffee industry and methods.
Some folks requested a list of resources for materials they may need for new caffeinated ventures. If you aren’t a friend of Amazon, the same materials can be found at stores like Walmart, Target, and even TJ Maxx-like stores. The Sepia Project, Black owned coffee company also sells v60/Pourover equipment.
Auto drip
Materials Needed
Water
Coffee grind size - Medium fine
v60/Pour Over
Materials Needed
Hario v60 Coffee kit - includes decanter, dripper, filter, scoop
Coffee grind size - Medium fine
French Press
Materials Needed
Electric Hot Water Kettle
Coffee grind size - coarse
Check out this website on brewing techniques and instructions on how to use the following materials. Or you can always reach out to me to chat and learn more together!
Also, check out these dope Black coffee companies to buy coffee and supplies from:
Happy Sipping!