Summer Break
It’s summer break and the Roast! West Coast podcast is on hiatus, but I’m still drinking coffee. I’m guessing you are too. The big difference for me is that for the first time since Covid hit last year I’m drinking mine in Wisconsin while I visit my parents, and my Wife’s parents. Each cup, sometimes sitting in a lawn chair or across the kitchen table with them, tastes a little bit sweeter. A little bit more…better.
Covid hasn’t left us. In fact, it kind of feels like it is taunting us right now, but even that seems easier to deal with when I know I can listen to a ball game or go biking or kayaking or drink a coffee with Mom and Dad. Thank you for putting up with me during this visit.
Joe Bettinger, Cape Horn Coffee Inc., Coffee Broker
“I probably shouldn’t say this…” is a good barometer for where the conversations go when you talk to Joe. He’s a coffee broker. Sometimes he’s buying. Sometimes he selling. Either way he’s talking, telling a story, and doing it all while sussing out whatever information he can that might come in handy down the road.
Joe’s been on the show before. He’s part of the team at Marea Coffee in North County San Diego. He’s also a Coffee Broker with Cape Horn Coffee, Inc. Some of Joe’s clients have even been on the show, including our friend Luis at Acento Coffee.
On air, Joe and I chat a lot about building coffee relationships and the challenges facing importers. Off-air, we chatted about how Wisconsin has water just floating around in the air (humidity), and houses with garages and yards for about the price of a downpayment in San Diego proper.
In the end, we laugh, and plan to share some coffee someday—hopefully soon. Maybe with a splash of whiskey. This is the first show since the first few episodes that I recorded away from my closet studio. For a moment, I worried about even producing it, because I didn’t have my mic or recording gear. The sound is just okay, but ultimately I realized…a good conversation is a good conversation. I hope you enjoy it.
Other San Diego-area coffee roasters who get green coffee beans from Cape Horn Coffee include:
Achilles Coffee, Dane Coffee, Divine Madman, DropKick Cold Brew, Kings Craft Coffee, Marea Coffee, Hessian Global Goods and Interim Coffee (just opened).
C-Price
Joe mentioned the C-price, or coffee commodities price per pound jumped last week due to a freeze impacting coffee farms in Brazil. He wasn’t kidding. Here is a graph of the C-Price over the past 5-years.
While acknowledging that the C-price is often (some might say, “always”) manipulated downward by bad actors, that is a pretty big jump. According to this report in Reuters, the temperature dropped to 29 degrees, and the damage to coffee plants was fairly catastrophic. It will be interesting to see if this impacts specialty coffee or large scale productions more.
A Moment of Zen
I gave some Roast! West Coast stickers to a barista at a cafe in Wisconsin. I was the only one inside wearing a mask. After paying, I turned and looked at the bags of coffee on a merch shelf. I can’t be sure they didn’t know I was still there, but the next thing I heard was the barista talking to a colleague.
“Check out these cools stickers we just got from some weirdo still wearing a mask!”
Follow @RoastWestCoast on Instagram to see where I’ll be dropping stickers at Industry Legacy Partners all year long.
Industry Legacy Partners
Looking for coffee or whiskey? This is a good place to start.
Zumbar Coffee & Tea • First Light Coffee Whiskey • Leap Coffee • Steady State Roasting • CAFÉ LaTERRE • Mostra Coffee • Cape Horn Coffee Importers • Marea Coffee • Coffee Cycle •
IN CLOSING
You’re amazing. Drink good coffee. Listen to the podcast!
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Roast!: Joe Bettinger, Cape Horn Coffee