Monday, August 8, 2022

Friedhats incoming + what to read and listen while you enjoy your coffee.

Coffee Updates:

From Sey, we have Jhon Wilson Poveda’s Finca Danny lot hopefully landing today. His coffee was one of the first I remember striking a chord with from the town of Acevedo in the Huila Department of Colombia. This year we’re seeing Jhon picking cherry darker to push sugar development and fermenting slightly longer resulting in brighter and sweeter we’ll rounded cups.

In transit are a bunch of coffees from Friedhats in Amsterdam. I’m always excited to see what they have on their menu, as they seem to really love bright and fruit forward cups that are as loud and fun as their packaging. You can expect to see a natural Ethiopia Diima Benti lot, a washed Pink Bourbon coming to us from a farm called Finca Lord Voldemort (100% not a joke) in Huila, as well as a 72 hour natural anaerobic process from the Frinsa Collective in Indonesia. Some of you were probably lucky enough to scoop the 14 day experiment from the same group, this should be a little more subdued and even keeled than that face melter of a coffee.

Brewing Music:

In the cafe, I’ve been starting most mornings with either Dorothy Ashby’s “Afro-Harping” or Suzanne Kraft’s “Talk from Home”

At home, I’ve found a lot of comfort in a recommendation from a new friend and regular. It’s a compilation of Japanese ambient and new age music from the 80s. It feels like the sun shining softly through the canopy of an old tree.

Reading Material:

I’ve been thinking about Chris Baca’s blog post about value. Holding your intrinsic value as a human in the world separate from the value of your output is a juggling act and a practice that I strive to be better at each day. As someone who’s been struggling with separating these two kinds of value in my own life, this was a refreshing reminder. I’ve thought of myself solely in the context of my public output for years and it has taken a toll on my self worth.

Being mindful of the fact that I am actually worthy and a complete human regardless of my ability to live up to my own towering and impossible expectations has lead me to revisit the New Yorker’s profile of Jeremy Strong quite a bit. I feel like I saw this originally circulating under the pretense that it painted Jeremy Strong in a purely negative light, and to some extent it does. Bumping into the boundaries of what you’re able to accomplish can bring up ugly feelings and when you aren’t equipped to deal with those feelings, the environment quickly turns toxic. There’s also something heroic and admirable to reaching that far in the first place.

For a long time, I accepted that inner (and outer if we’re being honest) toxicity as a necessity to operating at a higher level. I am relieved to report that with each reading of the profile, I relate less to Strong’s behavior but more to his desire to give every ounce of himself to his craft. There’s something beautifully vulnerable to sharing yourself in that way, but it needs to be done with a softness and kindness that our culture does not often equip us with.

Trying to shift the metrics of how I perceive success has been hugely beneficial. As much as I care about the coffee crossing the counter, the good stuff lies in the interactions and relationships that build from there.

thank you thank you,

Cody