Fika Coffee Goes To San Diego
This past weekend our team traveled to San Diego for the World of Coffee Expo. It’s a feat just to make it to the airport from the North Shore of Minnesota. From off-grid to city trams; from a town of 1,000 people to a 1,000-capacity nightclub. These trips do more than just move us geographically - they weave us all together.
Every year, once a year, World of Coffee is held in a rotating major US city. The last time we went, we drove the family van down to Chicago. This year, we flew to sunny San Diego, and joined 15,000 of our fellow coffee folk from all around the world. This is the coffee Coachella, y'all. Coffee roasters, cafes, importers, producers, farmers - the list goes on and on.
[Pictured: Josh, Trevor & Zach - Brewing coffee at the Unblended booth]
Why travel for World of Coffee Expo? We’re just a little cafe, a small roaster in the woods - usually talking to our customers about the weather and trail conditions. Simply put, April is a nice time to stow away our muddy boots for a minute, and gain some out of county perspective. But deeper, of course, is the inner workings of a global gathering, of coworkers stepping outside of their normal day to day worlds and celebrating each other, their craft, and the vulnerability of it all.
[Pictured: Maria - Sipping coffee from Rikka Fika]
[Pictured: Zach & Trevor - Finding life's meaning through the day's first cup of coffee]
Team Building: This summer, when our roasting queue hits that "busy" threshold and it feels like the coffee is roasting us, I’ll see in Maria and Josh’s eyes that time we were the last ones out on the dance floor. Just like then, we’ll know: We’ve got this.
Professional Development: When the technical side sometimes feels overwhelming and I feel a shying away from challenging myself or I have a preconceived thought, I think back to the Roaster Village at Expo. Being surrounded by the collective knowledge of the coffee community is a humbling reminder that we are all students of the same craft.
Cultivating Connection: When we unload pallets of burlap bags of coffee, stamped with names like Onyx and Unblended, I don’t just see a product “for further preparation”, I see the faces of our friends who worked so hard to get us that coffee. They trust us to match the respect that they put into their work.
[Pictured: Long Miles Coffee small group meeting]
Coffee is people, and that’s the business that I’m in, that WE are in. When our little team travels and we all have an afternoon crash out on the couch, we’re human again; caring for and working alongside one another, looking out for each other, and simply sharing a cup of coffee with our community—wherever that might be.
-Zach Payton
