Monday, July 31, 2023

Tiny Coffee, Massive Bills

BH Unlimited Update, July 31st 2023

If you have a cafe in the UK right now, chances are you are paying four times the amount for your electricity bills than you were before the war in Ukraine began. When global events restrict the supply of fossil fuels on the world market, the big energy companies, bafflingly, make more money than ever. The oil and gas industry already rakes in US$3bn profit every day (Carrington 2022). The cartel-like behaviour of the big energy companies amounts to price-fixing on a colossal scale, and a global shock to the energy markets simply presents another excuse to ratchet up prices higher still.

If we can highlight one positive from this absurd and punishing state of affairs, it's that cafe owners and machine makers alike are beginning to question the traditional design principles that have made coffee brewing so energy intensive. Brewing constitutes 45% of the carbon footprint of the entire coffee chain, from farm to cup. To put that number in perspective, packaging is three percent.

Given the UK is a world leader in sustainable energy, it is surprising just how out of control the price-gouging of big energy suppliers has gotten in that country. We spoke to a good friend, Joe Meagher from Tiny Tiny in Newcastle, to find out how he's been affected:

"In 2016 our electricity bill was about £400 a month and I used to think that was a lot. It crept up year on year as we grew, until last year it was around £1200 per month. Our contract was up in November and the best deal available was £4,600 per month."

Read Tiny Coffee, Massive Bills on the BH Blog to learn more about Joe's experiences. As part of this new post, we also interviewed Gordon Howell, product developer at TONE, to get a better understanding of how new technology such as flow heaters have the potential to dramatically cut our power consumption and to help mitigate what is starting to look very much like profiteering by energy suppliers at a time when cafe budgets are already under the pump.

Ask Renata and Bartholomew Anything

You remember a few weeks ago we were collecting your questions for Renata Henderson and Bartholomew Jones? They are co-founders of the social enterprise Cxffeeblack in Memphis. Well, now it's time for you to see their answers to your questions. This is a great learning opportunity for anyone thinking about ways to use their entrepreneurial skills to give back to the community. If you don't have a BH Unlimited subscription yet, there's a sample of one of Bartholomew's responses in the AMA here on Insta.

The AMA covers three main areas: lessons learned whilst setting up a social enterprise; advice on establishing and executing an intern program; and then the discussion moves to the reasons why Cxffeeblack decided to go with a fluid-bed roaster. We also get to hear Bartholomew and Renata's thoughts on how suitable that system is for new roasters to learn on.

A couple of other things to note. Cxffeeblack's fundraising efforts at the moment are focussed on their Barista Exchange Program. Here's the Go Fund Me page if you'd like to contribute. Usually, Cxffeeblack raises funds by designing and selling beautiful limited edition clothing and shoes. But on the 25th of August at the Tone Gallery in Memphis, they're doing something altogether different.

FYI, Bartholomew Jones also happens to be an awesome musician. You can sample and purchase his LP here on Bandcamp.

BH Tools

Batch 1 of the AutoComb is now sold out! Due to popular demand, we've opened up pre-orders for the second batch. We are also taking wholesale orders for AutoCombs and all of our other products.

www.baristahustletools.com

How to Roast Coffee

Achieving consistency is the most important — and perhaps the most challenging — task of any roaster. In the next chapter of our comprehensive How to Roast Coffee course, Scott Rao explains every step of the procedures you will need to ensure that the first batch of the day is identical to the last.

The first step is to make things as easy for yourself as you can, by choosing the right batch sizes for your business and your machine. Scott shares valuable strategies to identify when a batch size is too small or too big for your roaster (hint: machines can rarely roast batches as large as their manufacturers claim). Meanwhile, we've got you covered on how to calculate the exact amount of roasted coffee you'll get from each batch.

After that, Scott takes us through his recommended warm-up procedure. If you want to guarantee identical results from your roasts, diligent preparation is key. Start your roasting day off on the right foot with the latest lessons, available now to all BH Unlimited subscribers.

Quick links

The town of Killarney in Ireland goes disposable cup free.

Ever eaten your coffee cup? Our Dean of Studies, Jem Challender has. Check out Melbourne's own Good-Edi.

Coffee Education — Without the Advertising

BH provides a level of detail about coffee production that platforms like Youtube are unable to obtain, because we are a subscription service — our members pay us to produce the best, most detailed information for them, rather than creating videos that get the most views for an advertiser.

At BH we never do ads for other company's products on our website. There's no product placement in any of our courses, newsletters or blog posts. Our only income comes from what you pay for your subscriptions.

When you see machinery or coffee gear mentioned in any of our educational material, or featured in our course videos, we have chosen to use that equipment because we like using it, because we think it's historically significant in the evolution of the espresso machine, or because it shows you something you need to see about modern coffee culture. It's as simple as that.