Yeah. Who knows who's working there now. There were certain customers that would only come in when I was working, which was surprising, because I cared the least, in certain respects. At the same time, I probably cared the most about pulling it right, because I didn't already think I was amazing. People get lazy on that shit. But, after work, I'd go home to my pregnant girlfriend and get on with my life. Those people went to every coffee related anything and just expected that, if you were at a work function, you'd naturally want to partake in a coffee design challenge. I've been doing that shit all day. Or, that on my day off, I'd want to work some convention or some weird bullshit.
I remember one day that I was on my break, I saw Daedelus walking out. Not sure if you're familiar with his work, but I'm a fan and I actually set up an interview with him and a friend, which was conducted in San Francisco and published on my website. So, I went outside and said hello. He had Teebs (another Brainfeeder artist) with him, who didn't give a shit about coffee. I wasn't familiar with Teebs at the time, so I went home and discovered that I was a fan of his work, too.
I led them back in and made him a free pour over of the Nekisse we had, which was like $7 a cup, at the time, I believe. I invited the roaster Perry out to talk to him about the coffee. Perry was a fan of electronic music, but I guess he was only familiar with Daedelus by name. Anyway, there was a point where Daedelus joked, "are you sure it isn't made with blueberry syrup" because the flavors and aroma were so prominent. Perry got kind of weird and almost defensive, because he's so serious about his shit. "No. It isn't." Teebs, still didn't really give a shit. He thought it smelled good, but just kind of shrugged. Our drip was always just French press and we'd only serve it within a certain window, so, when that Nekisse got close, I took that high end shit and pressed up pots of it. I was given it out to people in the shot and getting a lot of, "I don't really like coffee and I'd never drink it black, but this is really good." But, again, that comes back to who gives a shit. The roaster gave a shit. Whoever was placing the orders gave a shit. We'd have people go to the farms directly. I gave a shit. Some people are just too fucing cool.
We were getting a lot of crazy different single origins around that time. Honestly, we had the best stuff we ever had, right when I quit. I kind of hope it's garbage now. I saw that they opened one downtown, which was surprising. The whole feel of the place was off. I quit, because, they were literally calling and texting me about coffee, while my girlfriend was in the middle of labor and having complications. Nobody would cover my shift so that I could have my son. None of them had kids and all they cared about was coffee. I wrote an email from the recovery room to let them know that I didn't work there anymore. I haven't been back since. It will be 8 years in September
Parvaneh at Broadcast used to be a customer of mine at VIctrola and we became good friends. She doesn't play around either. She convinced me to try that Disco Pony situation, so I just trusted her
