Novelty and Quality
Coffee quality assessment can be a tricky thing. On one end you have your opinions and tastebuds—if a mediocre coffee is disguised by flowery processing methods or roasted to a crisp and you like it, that’s fine, you’re allowed to like whatever you want. But without injecting some sort of objectivity into something that’s highly subjective (taste), we can’t have productive discussions about quality.
Successful, Popular, Cool
Objectively any new car is faster, safer, and more capable than its 1960’s equivalent. But does that make it better? If your metrics are the previously listed qualities then yes. But if your metrics are how engaging it is to drive, how it makes you feel when you step out of it, or how many people remark about it when you pull up to the coffee shop, then perhaps not. McDonalds sells 2.5 billion hamburgers a year. Clearly, they’re popular but even people who love the way the food tastes don’t have any illusions that they’re eating something quality, and eating at McDonald's offers no sense of occasion or social clout.
Plugged In
As we use the real world more and more as a tool to increase our status and fuel our participation in the digital world, the lower our bar of objective quality is likely to get. Cultural fads and fly-by-night trends spread quickly and are easier to engage with than the slow and often lonely pursuit of the truth. But our work doesn’t have to be a slave to trends. It all comes down to the metrics we choose to focus on, being clear about our promise, and living up to it. McDonald's has different metrics of success than David Kinch.
Back to Coffee
My business partner Jared came back from the annual Specialty Coffee Association Expo and confirmed what we all knew: that anaerobic coffee fermentation is indeed the flavor of the week. I think engaging in a trend is fine, and from an enjoyment perspective I've always seen coffee as a choose your own adventure book—drink what makes you happy. But let's not confuse novelty with quality. You might like it more, but Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey isn't in the same league as WhistlePig 15.
Here’s how I see the new trend of Anaerobic Natural Co-Ferementation in coffee. I’m obviously being cheeky but I don’t think I’m wrong.
