Welcome back to the heady, high flying world of blogging, after what I understand was a bit of a hiatus.

I wanted to expand on your point about “Perhaps the people of London like it.”
And in turn the idea that with a little coaching, and some gentle nudging and just the right encouragement they would cross over into the discerning coffeephiles, that would do us coffee professionals proud. In turn, steering clear of any brew that has even a hint of past crop to it. Asking for their money back when served anything even slightly shy of a shimmering brew with balance and sweetness and….I could go on.

But I wonder if they don’t care in the way we want them to. They never will…and that is ok.

I remember reading a description of a tasting that Sir Hoffmann was involved in and the curious responses around the technically off cups or defective cups.

So much of coffee professionals discussion assumes that coffee drinkers are on a continuum of coffee knowledge. Today they know a little but that really they want to grow, continue to learn and blossom into discerning coffee savants.
I don’t think many people do and so have to wonder if we’re approaching them the right way. Offering the increased knowledge is a waste of time. More worrisome is that it becomes annoying, elitist and cerebral to people who although drink coffee, like coffee but just want a cup of coffee. End of story.

If we can’t serve coffee, without couching it in a little bit of the soft sell (boutique, small lot, high touch prep and gratuitous love applied to the brewing) to have it stand on it’s own merit and speak to the person drinking it, such that they are able, in all their ignorance and simpleness, to enjoy it and see it as good…we’ve got a problem.

I’d like to see a bit of a tempering in Specialty Coffee where, because we care, so must everyone else.

We have a long road to walk indeed.