This band was never my cup of coffee, I was intrigued enough by the mention of Black Sabbath at Octane (on Coudal) to follow the thread.
It led me to discover that Octane is actually a Coffee Bar and Lounge in Atlanta near Georgia Tech and the Black Sabbath in question seems to be a typeface that was used for a Big Bold Wall of Words on the premises.
I do like a well done cup of coffee but never thought of asking if the coffee master was an expert.
Octane guarantees that only certified baristas will brew your favorite java.
From this photo (borrowed from their website), the space does not feel cramped.
I found some of their crew sharing their passion for good beans on Tamp This. Melissa rasps poetic on 2 offerings from Ritual Coffee Roasters (San Francisco).
She found "dark fruit and melon and plums in the fragrance and aroma and buttery caramel sweetness" in the San José El Yalú (Guatemala). As for the Haicof Yirgacheffe (Ethiopia) it was "zesty and sparkling sweet in the fragrance and the flavors reminded me of springtime flowers and apples".
Feels like reading wine reviews to me.
A caffeine fueled Friday morning post…
Related: Rulers of the Bean World…Coffee Supreme (New Zealand) and How ‘Ritual Coffee Roasters’ became a second home for many San Francisco techies
Coffee is only like wine to the extent that it’s the best approximation people can come up for it, despite being rather inadequate. For one, barista certification is about certifying the standards around the final beverage preparation and serving of it. A skill unto itself, no doubt. But there is no equivalent in wine — it’s pretty much just uncork the bottle and pour.
Meanwhile, a certified barista has been through some standardized training for preparation. That does not necessarily include (though some programs do) education on coffee growing and its terroir, blending, roasting, and even taste testing. So to suggest that a certified barista has “tasting notes” is to suggest that a certified car mechanic has crash test dummy safety report data — to a large degree, they’re wholly separate disciplines. The true tasters are typically the green coffee bean buyers — they need to sample the lots before plopping down for a pallet of unroasted coffee that just came off the docks — and a few who specialize in coffee service consulting post-roasting.
People use the wine analogy as a major crutch because it’s all they can relate to. But let’s not attribute the farming, growing, roasting, tasting, and serving all to just the barista — they’re typically just one person in the greater process that everyone sees.