A Better Table Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Julien Langevin is the 2022 US Cup Tasters Champion, founder of the Tomato Coffee Class, and an outspoken advocate for mental health and trans rights. In this episode, Langevin discusses the recovery process after a mental health episode, and the stigma around mental health.

Help Julien with Emergency Recovery and Expenses GoFundMe

Podcast transcript available here.

A Better Table is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series.

Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Vancouver, BC-based Slothee Coffee founder Jessica Lui on the latest episode of A Better Table. Lui specializes in a form of latte art known as etching (when tools are used after milk is poured to draw and/or sculpt) and creates incredible works of colorful art. With Slothee Coffee, Lui teaches latte art classes, organizes coffee service pop-ups, and works as a photographer and content-creator. This episode is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series.

In this episode of A Better Table, host Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Jackie Nguyen, founder of Cafe Cà Phê. Cafe Cà Phê is Kansas City's first Vietnamese coffee shop serving coffee grown in Vietnam in a variety of innovative specialty drinks.

Before owning her own business, Nguyen got her start in show business. "I ended up booking the tour of How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Nguyen tells Motoyoshi. "That was my first big professional Broadway job. After that, I saved up some money and I was like, I'm moving to New York and I'm going to try and pursue this dream of musical theater. Right up until the pandemic hit, I was an actor in New York."

Find out how Nguyen left acting in New York to living in Kansas City with a full-time job, a full-time corporate job, and a seat on the board of Parks and Recreation on the new episode of A Better Table.

This season of A Better Table is sponsored by Chobani.

In this episode of A Better Table, Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Arielle Rebekah, the founder of Trans and Caffeinated. Trans and Caffeinated is a blog, an Instagram page, and a podcast dedicated to uplifting the "trans and queer community and also to educate cis folks about trans and queer issues." A Better Table is sponsored by Chobani.

Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Mikey Rinaldo, the founder of New Math Coffee. New Math Coffee is a Chicago-based roaster that highlights coffee from Asian coffee producers all around the world, including diasporic Asian producers. Motoyoshi finds out about Rinaldo's start in coffee, and what lead them to open a roasting company. A Better Table is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear and Chobani.

Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Carmel Laurino. Laurino is the founder of Kalsada Coffee, a Manila-based company that processes, exports, and imports specialty coffee from the Philippines. Laurino talks about how the company got started and its work with Philippine specialty coffee and Kalsada's sustainability innovations.

A Better Table is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gearand Chobani.

Umeko Motoyoshi speaks to Bianka Alloyn And Sabreen Naimah, co-founders and owners of Cute Coffee in Oakland. Cute Coffee is a team of two and the pair do all their own marketing, packing, roasting, sourcing, and importing. They work exclusively with women coffee producers in countries all over the world.

Motoyoshi interviews the founders and finds out how they got started in coffee, how Cute Coffee got off the ground, and how they've grown their small business during the pandemic.

In this episode of A Better Table, Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Gary Lambert, founder of Bright Land Coffee in Philadelphia. Gary has been featured in a couple of different contexts on Sprudge over the last year, including for his brand's outstanding cold brew packaging design and as part of our nationwide Black-owned coffee company feature, but there's another layer to the story that hasn't really been told yet—Lambert started the company as a dream following a cancer diagnosis.

Learn about Lambert's life before coffee, the growth of Bright Land Coffee in the last two years, Bright Land's work with transparency in green sourcing, the wonders of CBD and coffee, and so much more.

This episode of A Better Table is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear and Chobani.

Bartholomew Jones is a co-founder of Cxffeeblack based in Memphis, Tennesee. Cxffeeblack is a multimedia operation promoting the Black history—and present—of coffee. Cxffeeblack spreads this message through music, apparel, a podcast, and roasted coffee. Jones joins Motoyoshi to talk about the Cxffeeblack story and a new project: the Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club.

This episode of A Better Table is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear and Chobani.

Umeko Motoyoshi interviews Madeleine Longoria Garcia, a co-owner of Pacific Coffee Research. PCR is a Specialty Coffee Association Premier Training Campus, quality analysis & cupping lab, roastery, and Hawai'i coffee education center in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

Season One of A Better Table is sponsored by Seattle Coffee Gear, Baratza, Oatly, and Urnex Brands.