Love and Money

I probably reference James Hoffmann too much. But if I'm going to link a dead horse, it may as well be one with credibility and quality content. And so here we go again, both with a sentence preceding this one that makes no sense, and another link to Jimseven.

He's not in it for the money, and neither am I. Though it has to be said - and he does so quite well - that, without money, you won't be doing anything for long. That is, love does not pay for groceries, however cheap potatoes and peanut butter may be.

His conclusion, while true, is one that raises more questions, however. Of course it's absurd to charge roughly the same for a premium product as swill. But how do we go about making that change? How do we convince the masses (whose patronage is required) that coffee tasting like coffee is a damn good thing? How aggressive ought we be with our effort to educate them? Should we, rather, simply make the best product we can, and let the cards fall were they may?

I could go on. There are questions here, and many more than I could ever think of. This specialty coffee thing is still rather new, and we're still figuring it out. And that is what we have to do. While the questions are likely universal, the answers won't be. One must consider their base, and the potential markets outside of that. And then you've got to try shit, see what happens, and be willing to fail. Because that is also what it will take.

I hope this doesn't sound like an answer, or like I presume to have even one. What this is is a process, and writing this is a step. This is working out the problems, or at least working out what questions are worth asking. Then? Then we get to tamping, because honestly, we don't want to do anything else.

Speaking of love, here's something I've been enjoying lately. Yes, he sounds a bit like he's doing a Bob Dylan impression. But it's more fun than that.