History is full of the winning combination of comedy duos – Abbott and Costello, Lucy and Desi, French and Saunders – but 2017’s final episode of the Tamper Tantrum Podcast features the irreverent comedy of everyone’s favourite muppet hecklers. No, not Statler and Waldorf – although they do a decent impression – No. 94 features the return of our own, in-house comedy duo: Colin and Steve!

No. 94 is also home to the third annual Tampies, incidentally disguised this year as a 2017 recap and general catch up between Colin and Steve. Again, we won’t give it all away here, but as Jenn wasn’t involved in the recording of this podcast, we’ll let these post-show interjections give you a glimpse of what this episode contains:

• You can find a copy of Meister’s “New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History” here.
• The name Steve was looking for is that of the incredible Eva Gefvert Nordell at Are Kafferosteri.
• Steve somehow managed to forget Gothenburg (February) and Bristol (August) when he recapped this year.
• GIF wish granted!
• You can watch Colin’s favourite talk of 2017 here (Steve’s is yet to be released).

 Of course, that doesn’t even begin to cover it all…! Thanks for joining us on the wild ride that has been 2017, we’ll see you in the new year. x

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This week, newly crowned World Barista Champion Dale Harris and long-time coach, friend, and all-around troublemaker Pete Williams take the lead on No. 93 to share stories about the lead up to this year’s WBC and the somewhat unexpected result. This one is definitely longer than usual, but for good reason – there’s lots to cover, despite the relatively short amount of time they had to prepare between the UK and WBCs. Together, they chat through ideas left behind, their (dys-)functional working relationship, “the Harris process”, the goals they worked diligently toward during their eight weeks of preparation, and more – including (for those who know where to find this sort of thing) the answer to the question that everyone has been asking. Yes, that one.

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“If you stop shaking, then get out of the game.” So says this week’s special podcast guest on the subject of barista competitions and, if you’re a fan of little gems of wisdom like this delivered in an amicable Irish lilt, No. 83 – now forever known as “Petesycast” – is definitely for you.

We’ve managed to corner the technologically-reclusive Pete Williams to talk about all of the different roles he’s held over the course of his career – chef, barista, builder, plumber, painter, key clamp technician, trainer, roaster, competitor, coach, consultant, manager, forager, uniqlo shop assistant, disappearing act – and the things he’s learned along the way.

There’s something for everyone this week – and then some, really – but there’s some especially useful nuggets of knowledge about building routines and sig drinks for competition that should be saved somewhere if that’s your jam!

-- Looking for the links promised in the podcast? Psst - subscribers get them!

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

This is the first in the dseris of the the Tamper Tantrum lost files from Vienna 2012 featuring the amazing Mr Tim Wendleboe

When Ale sent us this month’s “Field Notes” from Finca Argentina, we felt it would be best to share with you as a stand-alone piece: despite its brevity, Ale’s update packs quite a punch to those unfamiliar with day-to-day life in El Salvador – or any coffee producing country, for that matter.  

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As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, there’s been an influx of people writing and talking about coffee and, in a very meta way, conversations about how content is produced, curated, and presented are eerily relevant to how we brew, sell, and present coffee to our customers. This week, Steve sits down with Standart’s Michal Molcan following the successful completion of this year’s Standart Festival in Bratislava to chat about content curation, aesthetics, creativity, and value propositions – each of which contain insightful lessons to those looking to build and grow a coffee business of any kind.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

This week sees the second and final installment of our time in Gothenburg “Cracking Certifications” with the Barista League: equipped with a shared foundation and understanding of certifications and their role in the coffee industry from our first installment, we turned our attention to baristas in the second half of “Cracking Certifications” as Steven Moloney (The Barista League) and Rubens Gardelli (Gardelli Specialty Coffees) joined Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee) on the stage: as the consumer-facing link in the coffee chain, what role and responsibility do baristas have in consumer education? More importantly, when we do endeavour to educate consumers, are we truly acting as ambassadors for those whose livelihoods are most impacted by various certifications and trading models?

www.allycoffee.com

Welcome to this week’s mini-milestone, otherwise known as No. 80. We couldn’t let such an auspicious moment pass without featuring a special guest, and we couldn’t be happier that we were able to borrow Vuna Consulting’s own Sara Morrocchi for an hour to chat with Steve in this week’s podcast. For those of you who follow along with the live-event aspect of what we do, we’re sure you’re well familiar with Sara and her work – she joined us for discussions on certifications and green buying ethics at the first-ever Roaster Guild Camp in Estonia last year and again for “Cracking Certifications” with The Barista League in Gothenburg earlier this year. Each time, we felt that there wasn’t enough time to dig into her wealth of experience and strongly suspected that she could (and would!) take us to school if we ever had the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one. Very excitingly, she’s done exactly that in this week’s episode!

So, yes, this week, you’ll learn about Sara’s career journey from development to Sustainable Harvest to Vuna Consulting – but you’ll also learn about NGOs, USAID, cultural imperialism, empathy, social premiums, accountability, value propositions, authenticity, risk exposure, and much, much more.

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On March 26 from 12:00 to 14:30, in the midst of a collective hangover from The Barista League the night before, we ran and recorded a special educational panel discussion hosted by local Kafferostare Per Nordby titled “Cracking Certifications” as a part of The Barista League: Gothenburg’s Sideline event series. Starting with the question, “why is talking about certifications so difficult?”, we brought together the voices of producers, certifying bodies, and green buyers to build a fuller picture of certification, from their aims to their achievements, as well as the considerations that producers and green buyers take into account when making decisions.

This week, we’re sharing the first half of “Cracking Certifications”, which focuses on the certifications themselves – Elisabet Lim (Fairtrade Sweden) and Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) gave insight into how certifications work, their primary goals, and how the business of certification is structured. Joined later by Sara Morrocchi (Vuna Origin Consulting), Angel Mario Martinez-Garcia (Progreso Producer Development) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee), we examined certifications and trading models in the context of specialty coffee and its love affair with “direct trade” – is there only one way to be accountable, transparent, and sustainable, as our current conversations might have us believe? Or are there many paths to the same summit?

www.allycoffee.com

Ohhh dear, this time Steve and Colin ramble like they have never rambled before. The 'Published author" Colin talks about his book sales, his bok contentns and nothing but his book. Steve and Colin touch on selling books at London coffee festival, selling books on line, selling books abroad and selling book. 

In an effort for ballance, Steve talks about London coffee festival and other festivals, running a trade stand and brewers cup competition. 

A ramble of magnicient magnitude. 

 As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, we’re seeing more and more career paths open up, but none so much as that of “event organiser.” This week, Steve chats with one of our favourite event organisers - one half of Manchester’s Cup North dream-team duo, Hannah Davies – about the recently completed London Coffee Festival, building of a community beyond the industry, and the labour of love that is running specialty coffee events. Along the way, Steve digs himself into a pretty big hole (sorry, everyone!) and Hannah has some wise but hopeful words about the future of the global barista community.

How is it April already?! We’ve kicked off this week with another update from the field with Ale Martinez from Finca Argentina - where they’re making bokashi whilst the sun shines in preparation for the approaching rainy season - before diving right into an interview with this week’s guest: 2017 Swedish Barista Champ and The Barista League’s own mastermind, Steve Moloney. A former event organiser and production manager in Australia, Steve has come full circle after moving to Sweden and getting into coffee – together with Jenn, they discuss the current state of competition, the birth of The Barista League, event-organiser pet-peeves, and the value of independent events.

No. 76 packs a heck of a lot into the space of an hour, and it’s partially down to Colin’s tangent-led line of questioning, but mostly down to our guest this week - Berlin’s own Cory Andreen – and his lengthy cv. Originally from the specialty coffee nexus of a Murky-fied Washington DC, Cory’s been at the centre of the specialty coffee scene in his adopted home ever since he started Café CK in 2009 straight through to today, with his newest ventures, Brewbox (nitro coffee) and Motel (beer), and his role as the director of the Berlin Coffee Festival. As Colin and Cory trace his moves across Berlin over the years, the cover everything from the city itself – and how filter coffee’s reputation has yo-yo’ed over the years – to the growth of the community and the consistent perceived dichotomy of quality vs. convenience.

Cory is cool in the way few people are – fantastic dj, killer dancefloor moves, world champion cup taster – but he’s also sharp, down to earth, and highly insightful. Definitely an episode not to miss!

It's all go here at TT HQ as we prepare for the upcoming weekend festivities in Manchester whilst simultaneously preparing for the WBC in Seoul (Jenn) and getting ready to embark on a five country book launch tour (Steve) - with long days and lots of travel over the past few weeks for both Steve & Jenn, we thought it was time for a good old-fashioned skype catch up before getting on the show officially back on the road! 

No. 92 is a catch all for upcoming fun - our second year of the Brubiaceae coffee beer home brew competition and a new alcoholic twist on our industry-focused evening panel at the Manchester Coffee Festival, naturally - but also a place for us to speculate and anticipate how the most recent rule changes could impact this year's World Barista Championship. Hop in and (try to) enjoy the sleep-deprived ride!  

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This week, Colin & Steve reunite for a very, um, candid podcast featuring their signature rambles through topics far and wide—growth, delegation, debates, books, staffing, transitions, learning curves, things and old new. This one properly runs the gamut!

Along the way, they announce speakers for our Sideline event with The Barista League: Gothenburg, “Cracking Certifications”, discuss the importance of planning for growth, introduce a new feature to the podcast, featuring Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, and start thinking about what this year’s competition season will bring!  

No. 74 is here and, guess what! Steve isn’t just talking to himself this week—Jenn’s managed to wrangle her way back onto the podcast only to accidentally lead the conversation down an unanticipated path. Obviously certification is a hot topic right now – we’ve announced an event with The Barista League in Gothenburg this March on that very subject – but this definitely wasn’t meant to turn into the newly written “Trusted Trade” manifesto, a dissection of coffee buying narratives, or a laundry list of transparency report frustrations. Ooops?

Find tickets & more information for The Barista League: Sideline in Gothenburg, "Cracking Certifications", here. 

This time of the year is always full of origin travel for green buyers, and Steve’s diary is no different—he’s just completed a two week jaunt to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Most will be familiar with the impact of leaf rust in Central America, but new pressures—significantly popular demand for particular varietals—stand to impact production and coffee quality long term. Like all of these origin monologues so far, the rough goes with the smooth—whilst there are good things happening in every corner, there are also a lot of red flags to heed as we enter a critical juncture for the future of specialty coffee.

Surprisingly, despite recording podcasts since 2009, No. 72 is a Tamper Tantrum first: coffee celebs in cars! Or, rather, Steve recording and reminiscing with 2012 World Barista Champion Raul Rodas whilst they’re drive back to Guatemala City. Chatting with the (over-)familiarity of old friends, Steve & Raul revisit Raul’s road to World Barista Champ—how he got into coffee, motivations for competing, taking a year off—as well as the opportunities afforded to the champs and how they’ve influenced the development of Paradigma Coffee Roasters.

We’re kicking off this year’s podcast series with a monologue: Kenya believe it? Recorded from a balcony overlooking the Aberdare national park on the last day of a week-long, Steve recounts what he and his traveling companions—roasters Roland (HasBean) and Simon (3FE)—have seen during their visits to eight co-ops, dry mills, and washing stations. Despite witnessing some exciting ingenuity and inspiring farming techniques, there’s still a disheartening and all-too-familiar downward trend when it comes to overall yields.

It’s time for the second annual Tampies! In an all-time first, the Tamper Tantrum Trio appear on the podcast all together to review the outgoing year and hand out some prestigious awards, including the much coveted “James Hoffmann of the Year” award.

We could give you a preview of things to come in this space like we usually do, but let’s be honest—it’s Boxing Day over here and we’d much rather be watching the football. Besides—it’d ruin all of the delightful quirky surprises that occur when you put Colin, Jenn, and Steve all together to try and have an organsied chat. Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

We guess you could say we’re on a bit of a story-telling kick--this week’s podcast was recorded live as a panel discussion at the release of “This Beautiful Addiction”, documentary series by Jason Breckenridge, at Prufrock Coffee in London. Edited into twelve ten-minute episodes, “This Beautiful Addiction” documents national and world level competition baristas, judges, and coaches across four competition seasons, providing a truly fascinating look back at what has (and hasn’t) changed since filming first began.

Here, Steve chats with filmmaker Jason and two familiar faces on the UKBC competition scene: many-times UKBC finalist Dale Harris, and former coach (/current judge) Jeremy Challender, both of whom were involved in the filming of “This Beautiful Addiction” over the years. Together, they consider both how the story has been told, how it might be received, and how it could have been told differently to achieve different ends.

We may be right in the middle of our little micro-series on “The Coffee Man”, but the film's online release isn’t the only thing happening this week—the form for entry into Third Wave Wichteln’s international coffee exchange closes on December 1st! We’ve been watching the Wichteln since it first started in 2013 and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to start this week’s episode with a quick chat with one of the architects of the swap, Markus Reuter, before this year’s exchange officially kicks off.

 After we say goodbye to Markus, we jump right back into our little micro-series. Our last episode featured Jeff and Roland from Jeraff.tv about what it was like to film, create, and release “The Coffee Man”, a documentary that inadvertently followed Sasa Sestic on his journey to becoming a World Barista Champion in Seattle, but this week, Steve is joined by the coffee man himself. Together, they chat about Sasa’s move to Australia, his introduction to coffee and subsequent career, and competitiveness. Also: Hide’s cumulative awesomeness, what it was like to be in front of the camera, excellent analogies, the promise of a table tennis throw-down.

This week, we’re kicking off the mini-est of mini-series on the recently released documentary film about 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic, titled “The Coffee Man”—chances are you’ve seen some promo for the film if not actually attended one of the 180 screenings that have happened so far in 37 countries. As it’s about to make its online debut at the end of this month, we wanted to chat with both Sasa and Jeraff about their experiences making the film and bringing it to audiences.

 Episode 67—otherwise known as part one, we guess—features Australian documentary filmmakers Jeraff, Jeff Hann and Roland Fraval, chatting about telling stories, intent, authenticity, and getting to know the competitive coffee world.  

Is it coincidence or a clever scheduling move on our part that No. 66—released the Monday before we return to Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival this weekend—features the most-watched speaker to come out of our first year there? We’ll let you decide. In any case, this week, Colin Harmon is joined by Ross Brown as they talk through the building of Browns of Brockley, the early days of London coffee scene, and why opening a coffee shop can sometimes be a terrible, messy, and cringe-y—although still wonderful—thing. 

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We’re back this week with No. 91 and, goodness, we have quite a bit packed into this episode: we’ve got guests aplenty! We kick off with an update from the field with Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, where they’re working hard to squeeze in as much planting and preparation as possible before the harvest starts whilst also managing the impact of the recent spate of hurricanes. Ale himself is joined by a guest – Chris Lee of Café Demitasse in LA – who is spending a month on Finca Argentia to get a feel of farm life.

After a quick Argentina update, we move onto the core of this week’s podcast: Jenn is joined by Ales Pospisil, co-founder of European Coffee Trip, to talk about their journey from home-coffee-geekdom to movers and shakers of specialty coffee media. As with previous “talking about coffee” guests with a unique view of the industry, there’s lots to ponder: is there a correlation between the growth of specialty in new locations and the enthusiasm for geekery? How do you maintain or renew your own enthusiasm and passion for your work?

We also look to the future with their newest (and biggest) project: The Aeropress Movie, a feature-length documentary about specialty’s strangest (and most engaging) brewing device, currently seeking funding via kickstarter.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

Hello and welcome to the 65th episode of the Tamper Tantrum podcast! This week, Steve is joined by Jenn to talk through their experience as production partner of the afternoon lectures at the first-ever Roaster Guild of Europe camp in Parnu, Estonia. Wrapped in alongside with sneak-previews of upcoming video releases, Steve and Jenn also chat rumours, unification, feuds, and what’s happening next!

Oh, look—it’s Tamper Tantrum Episode 64! Steve and Colin recap all things New York: the incredible speakers who took to the stage, their presentations, and of course, their shenanigans outside of the event. Naturally, as do most episodes recorded without supervision, this podcast includes bullying Jenn—repeatedly— as well as consistently inconsistent swerving into the incredibly tangential realm of golf and football, some real audio gems, and general hilarity. 

We may be one week out from our American debut (Sunday, September 25th at Taylor St. Baristas on Madison Ave! Be there, or be trapezoid!), but it’s no time to slack on the podcast. This week, we’re on No. 63 and Steve is joined by former guest, fellow HasBeaner, SCAE Board Member, and long-time friend, Dale Harris. Aside from a smattering of (somewhat inappropriate) inside jokes, they incidentally (and, as it would seem, accidentally) take on some of the bigger questions and conundrums facing the specialty industry today: how we underestimate large chain businesses, the morality of equipment and wholesale pricing, the most effective way to make positive change in the industry, and the opportunities and challenges facing a unified specialty coffee organisation. Naturally, this doesn’t stop them from tackling their own personal history, too—including why Gwilym Davies is a hero, Dale’s questionable music selection, and Steve’s newest man-crush confession. 

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It’s No. 62 and all we can say is “no”—it turns out that putting Colinand Steve in the same room to record a podcast results in an abundance of puns,terrible accents, admissions of man-crushes, interjections of disbelief, andchats covering things here, there, and everywhere. Amidst the increasedsilliness, they wrap up on Steve’s bittersweet time in Bolivia, make a case fora yearly event to bring coffee folk together in Dublin, discuss the merits ofnewer roasting business models, Colin’s goal to gain a stone whilst he’s in NewYork (tweet @dublinbarista with your recommendations!), and dream about openinga tiny little shop in the south of France. Also: football banter, even thoughthey both readily admit that pretty much nobody in coffee likes football.Thanks, guys.

It’s Episode 61 and we’re switching things up! This week, Steve joins us for what might turn into a new feature—an update on his trip to Bolivia, recorded in the field. Inspired by Thompson Owen’s Sweet Maria’s coffee podcast and Steve’s own weekly In My Mug video cast, this week’s episode part history primer, part love letter, and part plea to keep Bolivian coffee alive--a must-listen for any coffee professional who aspires to go to origin. No. 61 ends with a (not so) quick interjection from Jenn with updates on Tamper Tantrum’s barrage of autumn events: New York City (September 25), Roaster Guild of Europe Camp afternoon lectures (October 6-8), and Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival (November 5-6). Have a listen and let us know if you’re a fan of the monologue!

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This week’s episode serves as a strong contradiction to conventional wisdom: meeting your heroes can be an amazing thing. In No. 60, Colin is joined by none other than Paul Stack, Operations Director of Marco Beverage Systems and current SCAE President, to reminisce about the filter coffee revolution, chat about Paul’s past life as an industrial designer, query “interesting human stuff”, and anticipate the results of SCAA’s vote on SCAA/SCAE Unification to be released August 10. They’ve managed to pack an incredible amount of thought-provoking discussion into sixty minutes alongside some, ehm, extra-special descriptions making this one of those podcast episodes you really just shouldn’t miss. 

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From football banter to staff cost percentages and potato defect theories to Machiavellian plans, Episode 59 is exactly what you should expect when Steve & Colin record together. Also: a continuation of the gender equality discussion, industry inadvertent sexism, Steve’s trip to Rwanda, recording woes, why 32.03 might be the actual answer to the universe, unification speculation, the importance of tempo, and some sneaky tidbits about 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

Warning: considerable sweariness lies ahead. In No. 58,  Steve & Colin provide their own recap and dissection of all things alphabet soup that have happened in, around, and following on from Dublin’s week as host city for World of Coffee 2016. This week episode includes, but is not limited to (by any stretch…!), to some of the following topics: emcee rules (and how to break them), an epidemic of box-ticking, being thoughtfully dressed down, an exploration of morality, why the team at 3FE are legends, tradeshow blues, an example of what happens when you push your lackey too far, the recent flurry of online activity surrounding SCAA/SCAE unification, and Colin’s newest crush(es).

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This week, we return to our roots: recorded the morning after the Dublin WBC barista party, No. 57 is all about what went down this week as 62 national champions took to the WBC stage and thousands of specialty coffee professionals descended upon Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee show. We could tell you more, but where's the fun in that?

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It may have taken a little longer than we anticipated, but it’sfinally here! Remember that time when Steve went to Shanghai for the WorldCoffee Roasting Championship, had a chance to sit down with Andreas fromCropster, and promptly had a spectacular technical failure that meant there wasno record of the podcast ever having been recorded? This week, we’ve managed torecreate most of that magical moment with the help of t’internet!

No. 56 is all about the intersection of coffee and tech, the resultingmutual love affair between coffee and tech geeks, and the changes we’restarting to see—good or bad—as the two become more intertwined. There are somefascinating things that crop up in this conversation to take home and thinkabout a little bit more, regardless of whether you’re a bean-browner or abean-brewer.

-- Have more questions? Cropster will be hanging out at SCAE WOC booth H12next week as well as running infoand training sessions with Cloud Picker coffee—registration closes today(June 13), so you'll need to get in quick! 

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This week, we’re joined by Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research to see how things have progressed since she last joined us on the podcast all the way back in No. 47, recorded shortly after the release of the sensory lexicon and accompanying flavour wheel from SCA(A). Before jumping into the nitty gritty of research progress, we take a side-trip along the left coast of the US – partially as, at the time of recording, Hanna would shortly be joining us there for our San Francisco event, but partially as it’s one of her many areas of expertise – to talk about the history of specialty coffee on the west coast of America.

As we talk through Hanna’s own coffee history, we work our way up to her time with World Coffee Research and discuss specialty’s adoption of the sensory lexicon, the progress that’s been made with their work on F1 Hybrids, and their newest endeavour to keep the good work rolling along. No. 89 runs a little longer than the average podcast, but for good reason: Steve puts on his devil’s advocate hat as we look at various options to fund and release research.

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This week in No. 55: it’s like past, present, and future have alltangled into one… and it’s all Steve’s fault.* Episode the 55th starts out a little bit meta—whichrecent videos and podcasts are getting interesting feedback and what’s coming up next—butsomehow turns into an extreme example of verbal diplomacy when Steve drags Jennaway from the agenda and into his favourite kind of conversation (read: slightlycontroversial ones). Also included: more Dublin hints and tips for your trip toWBC this June, a tinder “how to”, holiday shenanigans, picky gingers, and unusualbachelor parties.

*It usually is.

-- World Coffee ThrowingCompetitor Registration is OPEN! Throw a kilo for a good cause (allproceeds go to Grounds for Health) and have some of that legendary Irish craicwhist you’re at it. ;) 

One of our favourite results from what we do are the relationships we build with speakers when we work together and the (often) resulting friendships that come from getting someone up on stage and bringing their presentation to life. This week, we’re joined by one such speaker/friend who took the stage in Dublin way back when—Kas Ali from Waterloo Tea. Together, Jenn and Kas spend No. 54 taking a look at just how much things have changed since then.

The relationship between the specialty coffee and specialty tea industries is truly fascinating: in some ways, it feels like specialty tea is leaps and bounds ahead of us—very few people dispute the difference between “tea bag tea” and quality tea—but slightly behind in others. It’s particularly interesting to see the specialty tea industry taking bits and pieces from specialty coffee, most notably the use of a large competition (the World Tea Brewer’s Cup, taking place for the first time this year in Dublin) and the creation of large, membership-based organisations, to rally the industry together and make an impact on the future of tea.

-- Want to get involved with the inaugural World Tea Brewer’s Cup? You can find more information about the format here, or if you just want to jump straight in, register here! 

In yet another completely unsupervised episode, Colin Harmon gate-crashes proper Dub (and First-Drafter) Ger O’Donohoe’s house to record this week’s podcast. What began as a walking tour audio guide of things to do whilst in Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee (June 23-25) quickly dissolves into piss-takes of the English, local attractions, and each other. Featuring more of Colin’s dulcet-toned singing and lines like “it will make you look like you’re peeing rainbows”, No. 53 is probably the best cultural preparation you’ll get in advance of this year’s WBC.

We’ve taken the not-so-concise list from Col & Ger and added it to Col’s “So you’re thinking of coming to Dublin” list to create one, mega-massive master map to save on your device of choice for your own bimbles about our fair city. 

This week, continuing with an unintentional theme of “behind the scenes”, we’ve managed to nab quiet legend Ben Szobody. As Steve & Jenn chat with Ben about his former life as a political journalist in the US, current role as project development manager at One Church Brighton and editor at Longberry Press, and future ambitions, it becomes abundantly clear that No. 52 is all about the importance of creating opportunities to make a positive social impact through what we do.

We’re assuming that you’re pretty familiar with one of Ben’s projects in particular—the beautiful, impactful, and long-awaited Longberry 2—but we’re hoping that this episode draws your attention to one of Ben’s other projects, the UK’s first-ever specialty coffee professional apprenticeship. An inspiring program that has seen over 100 people trained* in its first year, Pro Baristas is the perfect marriage of positive societal impact and market demands. We could attempt to wax poetic about this program for paragraphs and paragraphs, but trust us—it’s more impactful to hear about it from the man himself.  

*Whist only 10 young people qualify for the year-long apprenticeship, Ben has developed additional training that is available to almost anyone, from light taster sessions for the homeless to provide activity and confidence to intensive certificate courses for job hunters. 

-- Want to get in on the action? Mailchimp subscribers get extra link goodies in their inbox when new things land.

We’re going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast–get in before they go!

For once, the rumours may actually be true: this week, after an epic technical failure in Shanghai, Jenn took the opportunity to hijack No. 51 with the help of legendary behind-the-scenes lurker, Julie Housh. Past-Chair of Barista Guild of America, former Competitions Coordinator of World Coffee Events, and current Executive Assistant to SCAA Director, Ric Rhinehart, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with or have somehow been touched by* Julie’s work, despite the fact that she tends to fly “under the radar.”

Together, they drag Episode 51 in a slightly different direction from the norm as they chat about backstage shenanigans, their mutual love of spreadsheets, barista guilds, unorthodox coffee career paths, career sustainability, the performance of gender in competition, the importance of allowing yourself to fail, awkward self-serving statements, and the current role of social media in the coffee industry.

*That’s what she said.

-- Join us live for a seriously awesome lineup in Antwerp, April 25-27! Tickets are still available from Barista Guild of Europe, but going quickly. 

This week’s episode starts off sounding much seedier than it actually is: Colin lured the second Tim of the coffee podcast triple crown, Melbourne-returnee Tim Varney, up to his room for a “chat.” Over coffee and “forgotten” pairs of stray underpants, Tamper Tantrum’s first ever guest co-host (Vienna, 2012) revives the banter: as they talk through Tim’s start in coffee to his current role juggling two companies (the World Aeropress Championship and Bureaux Collective), they reminisce together about Tim Wendelboe topless, the Stockfleth’s manoeuvre, terrible analogies, and snuggle nights with Klaus Thomsen.

Along the way, they also cover some serious stuff, too: the meteoric rise of the WAC, the drive behind the creation of the Bureaux Collective, and the supposed saturation point of the Melbourne market. No. 50 is chock full of blatant honesty and serious silliness—a fitting milestone podcast, if we do say so ourselves. 

--- Want to get in on the action? We're going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe's CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast--get in before they go! 

To be honest, folks, we’re not even sure how to pitch Episode No. 49. It’s definitely a throwback to the early podcasts in more ways than one, so maybe we’ll go with that: this week, Steve & Col chat completely unsupervised about recent developments at Tamper Tantrum, including the upcoming CoLab: Antwerp and World Coffee Throwing Championship taking place this June in Dublin. Featuring all of the standard hallmarks of a Colin & Steve podcast, No. 49 features Hoffmann-heckling, jokes that won’t die, many expletives, football banter, and lots of misinformation. Also: celebrity coffee throwing, holding speakers hostage, coffee consultants, pocketbook science, the lack of interest in barista competitions, decoy podcasts, travel logs, way more googling than usual, and the dulcet tones of Colin’s singing providing a “professional” touch.

We hope you’ll forgive us and come back for Episode 50. 

-- Want to get involved in CoLab: Antwerp? Complete Talor's survey on mental health in coffee here, purchase tickets here, or get a peek at The Barista League challenges taking place on Monday evening. 

This week, we’re doing things a little differently--we invited Mat North to revisit his talk, “The Third Wave Has Stagnated”, in light of developments that have happened since his presentation at Cup North: James Hoffmann’s three-part post on the current state of specialty coffee, the release of the WCR Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel, and Nick Cho’s comment that “when sounding smart is more important than being smart, we’re not in a lull, we’re in serious danger.”  

In true podcast style, No. 48 stumbles into several other philosophically-heavy topics (different ways of measuring success, career path expansion, prescribed learning vs. rote learning) and is dotted with little glimmers of inadvertent honesty. Also included: what it takes to put together the UKBC, competitor trends from last week’s London heat, increased interest in the Brewer’s Cup, and a new quick-fire round. 

We’ve got something super special for you this week: after Steve and Colin accidentally blundered into a realm of cleverness and research on the last podcast, we received an incredible mail from Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research that filled in some of the blanks… and led to even more questions. We said we would follow up on the WCR Sensory Lexicon and the SCAA Flavour Wheel this week, but my goodness, not even we thought it would be this thorough!

In No. 47, Hanna joins Steve and Jenn to discuss the many reasons for poor taste differentiation between varieties and the potential impact of the current—and future—WCR sensory lexicon(s) on the coffee industry. Fuelled by a mass of recent writing on the subject, we deep dive into three major research projects driving towards a brighter future of specialty coffee, how the lexicon makes this work scientifically possible, and what future versions of the lexicon could look like.

-- You can download the WCR Sensory Lexicon here or read their five-part blogpost here. Tom Owens, Peter Giuliano, and Nick Cho have also written about the Sensory Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel in a fair amount of detail.

Find more information on the research initiatives discussed on this week’s podcast here: Genetic Diversity of Arabica, Genetic Verification Program, F1 Hybrids, Colombia Sensory Trial. 

After a somewhat shorter estrangement than that which occurred between No. 35 and No. 42.5, the boys are back again: No. 46 sees Colin & Steve return to their rambling, tangential selves as they recap the busiest time of the year, Steve’s travel, and some recent releases (mostly circular) that are prompting some similarly circular conversations amongst coffee folk. 

Also included in this week’s banter a how some things never change, a newly discovered varietal, biggest café pet peeves, upcoming mischief in 2016, whether or not there’s a correct way to use a poster, and poorly executed segues.

Want to get in on the podcast action? Send in any questions, comments, harangues, and/or notable mistakes made in this week’s episode to hello{at}tampertantrum{dot}com and we’ll include them in No. 47!

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Want to see or hear more? Every week, we include links to some of the things referenced in podcasts and talks to our mailchimp subscribers--get in and keep up with the conversation!

This week, we hope you'll forgive us: we've recorded under the heavy influence of jetlag from our temporary home in San Francisco, where we'll very excitingly be hosting our first-ever West Coast day of tantrums tomorrow (exciting! also: yikes!). Featuring lots of things we wish we hadn't recorded and then some, No. 88 is a short but sweet look at what we've been up to in our short time here with a few detours by Steve as he takes advantage of the weakened filter that comes along with transcontinental travel. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

This week, Steve sits down to chat with an old friend in El Salvador— No, we know what you’re thinking, and it’s not a bucket of Pollo Campero (although we’re sure he considered it). It’s newly-titled Director of Coffee at Viva Espresso in San Salvador and superstar World Barista Champion coach, Federico Bolanos!

Episode the 45th initially takes us back to the golden age of coffee blogs, books, and forums, when Federico—after hating and dismissing coffee for years—decides to give it another try for a girl (his now wife, Lily Pacas, 2008 Salvadoran Barista Champion; Café Tuxpal), landing him in a long-time love affair with learning everything he can about coffee. From there, Steve and Federico embark on a discussion of WBC, coaching, non-insular teamwork, and a once-unspoken-but-now-not-so-secret frustration with the current competition format before finishing with some interesting thoughts on the benefits of consolidating businesses. Also covered in this episode: the biggest mistake competitors make in preparing for competition, stalking coffee people, WBC trends over the  years, why Federico wasn’t to be seen at last year’s WBC, and how bigger is sometimes better. 

Well, now. The similarities are astounding: clocking in at just over one hour and thirty minutes, the return of the (anti-)hero, adoration for a much-loved mentor, a feisty rebellion, a logical robot that inspires both love and hate… Yup, Episode 44 is none other than “Return of the Cho”. It also happens to be the 2015 Tampies!

This week, Colin invites first guest of this year’s podcast reboot, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee in San Francisco, back up to the mic to talk about all things 2015 and to help identify those who are taking active steps to move our industry from the realm of “specialty coffee” to that of “progressive coffee”, for better or worse. Join them as they romp through tangential systems of thought, including: mergers and acquisitions, cultural differences, the current state of coffee, the barista power shift, and the usefulness of innovation. Also covered: the-incident-which-shall-not-be-named, the state of the WBC, accidental and/or intentional waggling, the proliferation of the talk platform, gender imbalance, Geoff Watts vs. Peter G, James Hoffmann’s hair, and more. 

From his initial plan to move to France and cook—despite not really having extensive experience in the kitchen or even a food blog—Tim Williams has ended up on a remarkable career path in coffee. So remarkable, in fact, that one could almost argue that Tim is the “Forrest Gump” of coffee, someone who appears at seminal moments in specialty coffee history: Flat White in 2006, Intelligentsia Venice in 2009, Penny University in 2010… the list goes on.

We managed to catch Tim for No. 43 quite literally right before he leaves London to return to Australia for a new chapter in his coffee life. Using Tim’s experience as a structure within which to explore important ideas, Colin and Tim chat about on working environments, service, management, traditions, and what it means to be out of your depth. Also covered: how some of our current messaging lends itself to an awful, ambiguous grey area between what we want the customer to do and what they’re technically allowed to do, why owning a coffee shop is really just parenting on a different level, Tim Varney’s pining, and skeletons in Square Mile’s closet.

Follow along with Tim’s newest chapter on his website, instagram, or twitter.