In our December 2024 + January 2025 situation, we characteristic Kansas Metropolis’s Jackie Nguyen! Additionally included are articles on well being care in coffee-producing nations, good crew vibes, tech discuss, ’One on One’ with Al Lui, and way more!
BY SARAH ALLEN
BARISTA MAGAZINE
Welcome to the December 2024 + January 2025 situation of Barista Journal!
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Cowl Characteristic: Jackie Nguyen
Till the pandemic, Jackie Nguyen labored steadily as an actress in New York Metropolis and was a daily in touring Broadway productions. Her life, identical to everybody’s, was upturned with the lockdown, and she or he moved on a whim to Kansas Metropolis, Mo., the place she discovered herself among the many 2.6% of KC residents who determine as Asian. Relatively than dwell on the stark lack of variety, nevertheless, Jackie noticed a possibility: She instantly sought methods to raise up her fellow members of the Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) group in Kansas Metropolis and lift visibility for everybody.
She’s achieved this in two major methods: 1) Since opening just a few years in the past, Jackie’s espresso store, Café Cà Phê, the town’s first Vietnamese coffeehouse, has turn out to be one among KC’s most beloved spots to fulfill associates and luxuriate in distinctive espresso. “Kansas Metropolis embraced me from day one. Instantly. No questions, no doubts, all assist,” she says. And a pair of) Jackie based the town’s AANHPI Heritage Competition, which celebrates and promotes the native tradition. It has grown so profitable that Jackie needed to transfer it to a metropolis stadium in 2024; it was drawing such an exceptional crowd.
Learn the inspiring, heartfelt, humorous, and thrilling story of Jackie and her place in Kansas Metropolis’s espresso group within the new situation!
“Well being Issues: The Key to Constructing Resilient Espresso Communities”
There are a lot of methods to assist espresso farmers and their households—paying higher costs for his or her merchandise, for one factor—however what of their healthcare? Dr. Caroline Cormier meticulously researched the companies and organizations that present well being providers in Central America and East Africa for this text, profiling such nonprofits as Grounds for Well being, which works globally to offer cervical most cancers screenings in rural espresso communities; the Democratic Republic of Congo-based Rebuild Ladies’s Hope Cooperative, which not solely supplies its ladies members with healthcare providers however seeks to empower them by means of social engagement and efforts to dispel conventional labor practices; and the Ankole Espresso Producers Cooperative Union in Uganda, which partnered with Berlin-based social enterprise Elucid in 2022 to enhance health-care entry for small-scale farmers. Study extra in Dr. Cormier’s exhaustive report.
“Little Deal with Tradition + Specialty Espresso”
The nonalcoholic beverage development and little deal with tradition create a gap for specialty espresso retailers. We discuss with a number of espresso firms who’re doing huge enterprise with particular, nonalcoholic espresso cocktails introduced with the identical majesty as refined cocktails, that are all the fashion with Gen-Z in it’s persevering with curiosity in wholesome “little deal with” tradition.
“One on One with Al Liu”
Al Liu‘s latest place within the specialty espresso trade is guiding the following installment of Let’s Speak Espresso, and he obtained there by means of a reasonably distinctive and extraordinary trajectory within the specialty-coffee trade. He labored for a roaster, then an importer, then a roaster once more, and now he’s with the importing firm, Sustainable Harvest directing its annual espresso occasion, Let’s Speak Espresso. We chat with Al about his perspective on misunderstandings between roasters and importers, what attendees to the Let’s Speak Espresso in Peru in September 2025 can anticipate, and way more.
And A lot Extra Inside
Additionally within the December 2024 + January 2025 situation, “The Knockbox,“ longtime espresso skilled, former U.S. Barista Champion, and retailing skilled, Laila Ghambari, writes about constructing a powerful crew tradition; in “Foam“ we take a look at 3D printing utilizing espresso; “Tech Speak” tackles your gear questions, our “Discipline Reviews“ go to Lisbon, Portugal and Lima, Peru; and now we have a lot, way more.
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