Working While Non-Binary

When I started this blog, I was working at a cafe in Portland, Oregon where nearly all the staff was gender nonconforming and/or queer. It was a special place, not necessarily because everything was perfect (it was far from it) but because I felt truly seen. I started at this place as a temporary employee but, still, I was asked what my pronouns were, how comfortable I was with everyone knowing my pronouns/identity, and we all had this common queer understanding that is hard to put into words to non-queer people. We all just got each other on a certain level. To be honest, it was this acceptance and seeing that there were others like me that gave me the confidence to be out at work and really carve space for myself as “The Non-Binary Barista.”

As I’ve gone to coffee events, it has now become my moniker of sorts. People come up to me and know me as much as Brit as they do The Non-Binary Barista, which is fantastic and makes me truly value this space. It also is something that I do not take for granted. However, I still find myself in non-affirming jobs and find myself being the only non-binary person that people I interact with in professional settings know and engage with regularly. It can be tough to go between places of true acceptance and then go back to places where I feel like I am choosing my battles.

So, rather than paint an overly rosy picture of being non-binary in the workplace, here are 4 things I have learned from working in coffee as a non-binary person.

It’s Not Always Safe To Come Out
Coming out is never a one-and-done experience. We all come out in our own way to the people in our lives in stages as our safety and comfort levels allow. Not everyone will welcome you and sometimes even I make the choice to not come out to certain coworkers. This is not due to insecurity about my own identity, but a reflection of who I allow to see me in my fullness. Some people will never respect who I am as a non-binary person and I no longer waste my breath trying to force someone to accept me, and choose the lesser of two evils (being misgendered) than potentially outright animosity. This isn’t a prescriptive way of dealing with this issue, it is how I’ve chosen to deal with these types of coworkers. Instead of trying to constantly correct them or telling them what being non-binary means to me, I stay open about who I am and discuss it with those coworkers that I do feel safe with and leave those topics of conversation out when with unsafe coworkers. It is just what I’ve found works for me.

There Are No Rules
In a binary world, I always feel the pressure to “just pick one,” to present hyper femme or traditionally masc, but the non-binary reality is that I’ve learned to throw out the rule book and present how I feel. Being non-binary allows me to explore my gender and presentation in a way that is expansive and ever evolving. It is not a betrayal of how I view myself to wear something that society has ascribed to one gender. In a professional environment, the inclination can be stronger to present in a way that aligns with how you are perceived. And, giving into the that inclination is not a betrayal but rather an expression to be examined and done with care.

My Info Is Mine
At a previous job, a coworker came to me and said that I should confront another who was misgendering me. I told her that I already had but she insisted that I needed to do a better job with that coworker, because that coworker’s misgendering was confusing those that did gender me correctly. At the same time, I, like every gender non-conforming person, has been misgendered by someone who, when corrected, ends up needing to be comforted and told that their mistake wasn’t a mistake instead of moving on. Both situations involve emotional labor on my part and I set my own boundaries. No cis person has the right to tell me how I should handle being non-binary or how to handle how people interact with me. True allies of trans and non-binary people will take their mistakes and address them, not come to me to soothe their own egos and make me do more to prove who I am. My identity belongs to me.

There Is Not Enough Time
I’ve formed great relationships with regulars, people who I genuinely like, but that does not mean that all of them know that I am non-binary because there just isn’t enough time. Most coffee shop interactions are around 5 minutes, which even in regular intervals, does not give me enough time to explain to most people that I’m non-binary unless it comes up naturally. In the past, I’ve brought it up when I see LGBT+ pins or if the customer brings up gender. The type of relationships that baristas form with customers, though, is not one that requires complete knowledge of each other. So, if one of my favorite regulars doesn’t know that I’m non-binary, it is due to the time constraint rather than lack of closeness.

The absolute truth is that I love being non-binary. For all the misunderstandings or ignorant comments, being fully myself in all its complexities, is something that I am proud of myself for being open and proudly out. This blog has helped me, as much as I’ve been told it helps others, as being a place where I can talk about the coffee world as I’ve experienced it but also as a place where I can be my most non-binary self.

How to Dial in a New Brewer

Dialing in a new brewer can be exciting and intimidating. Sometimes, a new brewer can be similar to what you already own like if you were to bring home an origami dripper after being comfortable with a V60. Some brewers, however, like an Aeropress or a Clever Dripper, have a whole other set of rules than basic pour over cones and can seem as foreign as an alien planet. Never fear, dialing in a new brewer can be fun, help you learn more about coffee brewing, and the reward at the end is a great cup of coffee.

Don’t let the newness scaries get to you. Take a deep breath, have fun, and try these tips when brewing those first few cups of coffee with a new brewer.

Do Your Research
With any new item, taking it out of the box is exciting but then the questions start to come of how to properly use your new brewer: What recipe do I start with? How do I know if I’m brewing right? What’s the ideal time or ratio for this? Before you heat up your kettle, do some research on your new brewer so you have an idea of what to expect: the pros and cons, expected brew times, and any recipes to use as a guide. If your new brewer comes with a manual, such as an espresso machine, read it (even if you are one of those people that tends to throw them away and figure it out on your own).

Start With Your Current Knowledge
When I got my AeroPress, it seemed like a completely foreign device until I realized that it incorporated elements of espresso brewing like pressure and smaller grind size to increase contact time. I used coffee ratios that I was already comfortable with and shortened the brew time to accommodate the smaller grind size. It took some trial and error, but using what knowledge I already had gave me a jumping off point to tweak the recipe until I found my groove. Think about the reasons why you purchased your new brewer and analyze how it relates to your own experience and knowledge of coffee brewing.

Ask for Help
This is where having access to the vastness of the internet helps a lot. There is always someone who has brewed with that brewer and posted about it. Some bigger roasters or shops like Stumptown Coffee Roasters and companies like Prima Coffee Equipment have a ton of brew guides or lists of recipes for different brewers. This is usually where I check first and make adjustments from there based on my feelings about my first cup with my new toy.

Other times, I ask my coffee friends for advice. When I first got my Origami cone, I had brewed a couple cups that did not turn out and I felt at a complete loss. Everything I applied about V60 brewers just did not seem to produce the cup I wanted. I sat back and remembered that my friend Mar of TanBrown Coffee had been brewing with an Origami a lot at the time so I sent them a message asking for help. They kindly answered all my questions and talked me through what to expect with brewing. It helped so much and gave me a better frame of reference for working in unfamiliar territory. If your new brewer has you stumped, send your fellow coffee lovers a message or dm your online coffee friends and ask them for their tips and tricks.

Other coffee peeps that I tend to reach out to or check their content when I’m stumped are Erica Chadé, PocketScienceCoffee, and Niki Tolch.

Just Brew It
Once you’ve done your research, just brew a cup of coffee. The first few cups may not be perfect but, if you’ve done all your preparation, you will find your own groove with it. Try not to get frustrated, feel free to brew again if your attempt is not salvageable, and just have fun with it. Let yourself ease through this unfamiliar ground with grace. It’s just coffee and we are all learning.

The continuing innovation within the coffee industry means that there are endless ways to brew coffee, with brewers of all shapes and sizes to get you to the cup of coffee you want. Expanding your collection of coffee equipment is exciting but also comes with the baby steps of learning something new. If the idea of that first cup of coffee makes you nervous to get right on the first try, relax and know that if you trust your instincts, ask for help, and remember that it is okay if your brew is not perfect, you will be on your way to mastering your new brewer in no time.

All The Customers I Have Loved Before

If you ask me, I have what seems like an endless amount of weird or awful customer stories from odd drink orders, rude behavior, and some silly moments that just make you shake your head in pure confusion. These stories, now that some time has passed, can be comic relief after a hard day and every barista has stories like this that they enjoy telling. You can scroll through nearly every social media app to find people telling their own ridiculous tales from the coffee front lines.

When I asked on Instagram what kind of content people would want to see on my blog, one person asked me to share stories of the nice customers that make the job worth it. It got me thinking because those customers can be a bright spot during a busy day but do not get the same attention as the awful ones. Likes and shares shape so much of the content that creators put out that it is easy to focus on the negative that often gets more engagement than with the positive that warms the heart.

So, in no particular order, here is an ode to some of the customers that have made my day:

Ally: Iced Almond Milk Latte w/ One Raw Sugar
My favorite feminist. Your passion for standing up for the disenfranchised and the oppressed was evident in our conversations, and you always were there to talk about the stress of the world. You always got the same thing so I had your iced latte ready but I didn’t want you to rush off because I loved our talks over the bar. I hope you are doing well, that you found a screenwriting job that you enjoy, and that you never stop fighting.

Justin (You asked for this): Large Cold Brew with Oat Milk, Caramel, and no ice
You were the first customer to actually use my pronouns and continue to be the sweetest person I’ve met since moving to Virginia. Thank you for bringing baby chickens to the store on the way to the farm so that our staff could have a little dose of cuteness and for always being excited about my new drinks. You brightened my day when I saw you come in.

Israel: Large Cappuccino with four sugars
Thanks for being a genuinely nice guy even though you are a hot shot actor. You were always happy to see me and my coworkers on shift, had great conversations, and you had my back during a misunderstanding with a coworker. When I stopped working at that shop, you were honestly one of the first customers that I thought off and missed.

Kayleigh: Large Iced Oat Milk Latte
You and Justin easily became our FOH favorite from the beginning, and then we found out that you two were married! You took a personal interest in each of our lives, celebrated our accomplishments, and always took the time to show you cared when we were going through a hard time.

Mary: Large Hot Latte w/ 7 pumps of Salted Caramel Syrup
I respect this woman. She was a regular and would come in to order her “monstrosity” (her words), like three times a week at least. She was in the film industry with expensive clothes, a Porsche, and, while very nice, always gave me the impression that she took no sh*t and was slightly eccentric but in the best way. She actually hated coffee but she needed the caffeine so she would just drown out the coffee taste with sugar. I hope I have the same energy when I grow up.

Connor: Cap with oat milk
The only person I have ever posted a missed connections post on a dating site about, but I don’t think she ever saw it. She had the coolest style, we had great conversations, and I would have loved to take her on one of those dates where you go to coffee to get to know each other better.

John, Jess, and Josephine: Pour Over and Drip w/ Two Splashes of Milk
The kindest little family that truly appreciated all my coffee choices for the shop and were so excited to taste new coffees I brought on. I loved them so much that any coffees that had aged out for sale, I offered to them for free and they were thrilled. Also, our store was the first place they brought their daughter after she got vaccinated because it meant so much to them and wanted it to be the first place she could go into safely.

Angela: Whatever We Recommended
One of my favorite all-around customers. She would get excited about new drinks, ask us how we were doing and really care about the answer, and we would gab about Steven Universe nearly every time she came in. She has her own bakery now and I hope she is doing well.

Customers on the internet are often reduced to Karen’s and Kyle’s, with skits and bits to make fun of the weird episodes that take place at every coffee shop. However, a good customer that connects with you, the barista, as a person and treats you with respect, that is an invaluable part of working in customer service. And, those customers that become friends outside the confines of the shop walls and formica countertops? The cherry on top to the whole coffee shop deal.

Who are your favorite customers? Tell me in the comments below.

Holiday Drink Safety Guide

As a signature drink creator, we have entered the start of my favorite time of year: Holiday Drink Menus. The Pumpkin Spice Lattes get a lot of hype and, while I do enjoy a good one, it is also the time for creative fall and winter specials that reinforces my love of lattes. I’m known for my love of cold brew, but a well-crafted latte will always have my heart and be the first thing I order at a new shop.

However, this is also the time when signature beverages can potentially do more harm than the comfort they intend to bring. The topic of food safety around drinks usually revolves around health department codes such as temperatures of milk and standards of cleanliness of the bar area, both of which deserve attention, but the ingredients and amounts of certain ingredients can also have an impact on the health of your customers.

So, as we approach fall and winter menu debuts, let’s discuss some ingredients to be careful with and how to make sure your festive drinks are safe to consume.

Don’t Overdue It With Extracts
Years ago, I was working at a shop during the winter season and the coffee lead that I worked for had put a peppermint mocha on the menu that was made with chocolate sauce and peppermint extract that was added to each cup. We used a plastic pipette to add ½ to ¾ of an ounce of extract, depending on the size, per drink. For reference, your average bottle of extract from the grocery store is 2 ounces.

We had been serving the drink for a couple weeks when I started noticing a few customers complaining of stomach upset as they left. None of them mentioned anything to us and blamed it on something they ate, which statistically could have been the cause for some of them, but it stuck with me. I thought about it and realized that all of them had ordered this particular peppermint mocha, a drink that I had already wondered about considering just how often we were making runs to the grocery store to restock on peppermint extract. One day, I decided to test a hunch that it was the drink making people feel a little sick so I made one for myself.

Within ten minutes of drinking the mocha, I, too, felt the drink in my stomach. I researched at the time to see if too much extract was dangerous and could not find anything to suggest that it would actively hurt anyone, aside from an article about some woman that was pulled over for drunk driving after drinking too much vanilla extract, but it taught me to second-guess recipes and notice more than just if a customer thought their drink was good or bad.

Be Careful With Colors
Especially around the spooky season, the urge to make your seasonal drinks in spooky colors is appealing but there are pitfalls. A common way cafes color drinks around Halloween is by using activated charcoal to produce an eerie black latte, but rarely do cafes warn about the dangers of consuming activated charcoal or its side effects with other drugs that a customer could be taking (including the pain reliever, acetaminophen, and some birth control pills).

Another way cafes get festive colors is through food coloring, used both in drinks and in baked goods. Food coloring can be a fun additive but, like extracts, the key is moderation and a little goes a long way. A dark green or bright orange is eye-catching but too much food coloring can often deteriorate as the drink sits into an ugly sight and products with large amounts of food coloring can show up in a trip to the bathroom later.

Dairy Interactions
After multiple signature beverages, I found myself in a comfortable spot until fall of 2022 as I was creating our seasonal drink specials for the cafe I worked at during that time. That was until I made two separate drinks that shook me out of my seasonal beverage comfort zone with how they reacted with dairy milk.

The first was an Apple Cheesecake latte that was a brown sugar based syrup with spices and green apple puree that worked well with non-dairy milk and any milk while cold, but due to the acids in the apple puree made dairy milk curdle when you poured steamed milk inside. The other drink was a cookies and cream latte that used black cocoa to create that same chocolate flavor as chocolate sandwich cookies but black cocoa has a high alkalinity which destabilized dairy milk and had to serve it with alternative milks during the season.

Both drinks made me rethink not only the ingredients that I use but how I test drinks as I create them. I distinctly remember testing the Apple Cheesecake latte with oat milk because that is what I personally drink and did not think that the milk I test with would change the drink. However, now, I know to test every drink with alt and dairy milk to make sure that no unexpected reactions happen.

Don’t Accidentally Kill Someone
Most recently, my old manager was trying to create a peach syrup to go with a peach cake she was making. The slices of peaches were used for the cake and she thought about using the less pretty pieces as well as the pits to infuse the syrup with peach flavor, so she added them all to a syrup mixture. However, a less than well-known fact is that the pits in stone fruit contain a compound that breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when ingested. The syrup which contained over a dozen peach pits was thankfully never used in a drink and no one got hurt from it as one of my former coworkers informed her of the danger, but utilizing scraps does not always work out and there’s something to be said for doing research on ingredients beforehand.

The holiday season is ripe with flavors to play around with to create some tasty concoctions. However, playing with new ingredients in the search for the spooky and seasonal can mean utilizing potentially dangerous ingredients or not regulating how much of an ingredient is used that can harm yourself of customers. When creating your fall and winter drinks, make sure that you are researching any interactions that the ingredients may have with medications and warning your customers, taking the time to test your seasonal drinks properly, and using potent additives like extracts and dyes in moderation.

7 Things To Remember When You Have A Chronic Illness And Work Full Time

I have been living with chronic health issues since I was a teenager. Whether it be chronic pain from poorly-healed broken bones or Endometriosis that would go undiagnosed for years, all of it takes its toll. The common phrase, “No one wants to work anymore,” is ridiculous on many levels but the amount of times amongst a flare up where I think, “You know what? I don’t want to work anymore,” probably numbers in the thousands now. The pain, the mental health crises, and the constant fear (and likely reality) that it will get worse is awful and expensive.

However, in our society, disabled and chronically ill people must so often work just to afford to live. I do not want to work and would rather live easy but I have rent, groceries, a cat, and so much more that need the money I make from working full time. I can’t afford not to work. So, how do I keep my head up on days that hurt?

I remember:

Bathroom Breaks Are Important
This isn’t even a disabled thing, but a human thing. There is never a reason that someone should forego going to the bathroom for hours just for a job. All humans need bathroom breaks and those should not be deemed an inconvenience. Furthermore, many health conditions require frequent trips to the bathroom or require that the person be allowed to go to the bathroom when needed to avoid unpleasant accidents.

For neurodivergent employees, bathroom breaks can be fundamentally necessary to giving our brains a break from the rushes of the shift. Our brains will often keep running to the point that we, ourselves, cannot even keep up with our own thoughts. Taking bathroom breaks or going outside and away from the shift can help our thoughts slow down to a manageable level. There have been times in past jobs where I was left alone or the shift seemed so busy that I was unable to go to the bathroom and I refuse to be in that situation ever again.

Being In Pain Does Not Make You A Bad Employee
I have called out on bad health days. I have left a shift and had to find emergency coverage because I could not continue. There have been days where I had to switch to a different job for the rest of the day because I could not physically do parts of my job.

That does not make me a bad employee or mean that I do not care about my job. My chronic pain is something that I cannot control what days are bad and what days are good, so blaming myself for being unable to do my job is not fair. This is especially hard to remember on days when it feels as though I am asking so much from my coworkers or days when I have to work and I cannot be as present or good at my job, but there is only so much that I can do once I’ve taken all the steps I can to make myself feel better when I am that desperate or in pain. The pain, the call outs, and all the rest are par for the coarse when it comes to being chronically ill.

Stimming Or The Need To Stim At Work Is Not A Sign Of Weakness
Stimming, the repetitive act that helps keep many neurodivergent brains regulated, often gets overlooked or dismissed because, if someone does not stim, it may not make sense why it is helpful to someone’s mental health. Or, maybe you do stim, and you try to stifle it because there is a rush or you may not feel comfortable stimming around your coworkers. However, keeping yourself at ease and doing what helps you is the priority. For me, this can look like stepping away when I have the opportunity to do more physical stims like waving my hands or using stimming toys but also can mean listening to songs on repeat while on break. These all help me continue to do my job as best as I can, even if they divert from what my coworkers may do during their shifts.

Masking Is Not Necessarily A Sign Of Strength
Customer service naturally lends itself to a lot of emotional masking, no matter who you are. We are told to put on a smile and always treat customers with kindness, but so often at the expense of our own feelings. And, if we are able to keep that mask on when we are struggling, service workers are told they did their job well. Masking, however, is a survival technique and not something that is a skill to be rewarded in a job. It is a way that especially neurodivergent people protect themselves around those that do not understand them or ways to avoid conflict when our actions make others uncomfortable. Just because we can look happy, does not mean we are.

Calling Out Is Sometimes Unavoidable
Umeko Motoyoshi and I have both posted on our social media accounts about the guilt that so many of us feel when we call out of our jobs for our health, mental or physical. We feel guilty because we believe that we are letting people down and shame that we cannot just work through our health issues to do our jobs. Neurodivergent and disabled people often work through days that any abled-bodied or neurotypical person could not imagine. Yet, still, we feel like we are failing.

But, we are not. We are doing the best we can, and sometimes that means that work is not possible.

Shoes Are Of The Utmost Importance
I think back to my early days as a barista wearing Toms or simply ballet flats and still feel the pain in my feet to this day. One day, I kept having to do as many parts of my job sitting down because the flats I wore that day finally got to me and I could barely stand because the pain was so bad. I got past my aversions to what chef’s clogs or crocs look like over the last couple years because my body could not handle anymore 8+ hour days in normal shoes. Lesson learned!

Giving 100% Everyday Will Cause Burnout
It is so easy to think that if you give it your all, that everything will work out eventually or that it will get easier as time goes on. The real truth is that giving your all at all times is not sustainable. Everyone has days where they are running on low energy or life outside of work is taking more brain space than other days, so the energy that you bring to work may only be at 20%.

And that is okay. It’s healthy even.

Admitting and accepting that some days won’t have your full attention is just how some days go. I just try to do my best, even if some days my best looks different than other days.

Having a chronic illness or disability can be rough and having to work through long weeks at 8+ hour days can make hard days even harder. It is important to remember, above all, that the priority is taking care of yourself. Every person has their own needs and so, for this blog post, your homework is to write down your own list of things to remember. Try to think of your lowest moments and what you wish someone would say to you to help you or maybe what someone has done for you that helped cheer you up or make you feel better.

Don’t Break Up With Your Auto-Drip

I have talked about pour overs a number of times on this blog because they are a standard brewing method within the coffee industry. They help bring out more flavors and notes within the coffee by using a variety of ways to get the best extraction. But, with so much emphasis on pour overs within the industry, it can seem like any other brewer or brewing method is inferior.

The more I got into speciality coffee the more I felt like I had to get rid of my automatic coffee brewer. It seemed like unless I had an expensive machine like a Moccamaster, I was lazy and didn’t want good coffee. Even now that I have a Moccamaster, I still feel like there is this pressure to focus more on smaller recipes and the personal feel of brewing a cup at a time. The coffee I made in my coffee maker at home was good but I still felt like I would not be a good coffee professional unless I chucked everything but my pour over cones in the trash. However, the coffee that someone makes or orders for themselves should be just that: For themselves.

If you like your automatic coffee maker, here are five things to remember when you feel like throwing it away.

A Pour Over Cone is Not God
There is not one pour over that is the ultimate brewer. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. Each brewer will come down to what the person brewing values in their cup, so if the perks of an automatic coffee maker work for you then use that.

Make What You Like
Depending on what coffee you like, the best brewer for you may be an automatic coffee brewer because those coffees shine when made in larger doses. I have found that darker berry notes like raspberry or deep chocolate notes can end up being more bitter on certain pour over brewers but smooth out when brewed on drip. Darker roasts, also, shine for those coffee pot brewers, often easing up on the more roastier notes for a solid and strong cup of coffee.

Don’t Buy It If You Don’t Need It
The possibility of a new piece of kit can be exciting but, something to keep in mind when you are eyeing a new brewer is will you use it. Think about your morning routine and, if you are pretty comfortable with your regular coffee brewer than do not feel like you need to buy another one. Upgrading for upgrading sake is wasteful, especially if you buy it because you are excited, but it gets relegated to the cupboard after only a few uses. Think before you buy.

Convenience is valid
As a barista and educator, I have a fair bit of coffee gear at home but, so often when I go to make coffee at home, I reach for my automatic machine. Why? Because after slinging lattes and running a shop, I often just want an easy coffee experience when I’m making coffee for myself on my days off or in the morning before I go in. How you make your coffee in the morning should reflect not only your personal taste but should fit your schedule and energy level. If you do not have the energy to make a pour over every morning (or most of them), let your automatic brewer do what it does best while you enjoy your morning.

Consider the Money
Let’s be real: coffee gear is expensive. There are groups like Getchusomegear that can help out with the monetary costs for marginalized groups and ways to get around some expenses, but coffee equipment and good beans are not cheap. There can be this pressure seeing the different pour over options or even home espresso machines that you have to have these elaborate home set-ups, some people posting pictures with a coffee station that has hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars worth of gear. If you do not have the money, do not think that you are somehow less than worthy to be in the industry and community. Start where you are, buy what you can and will use, and let the gear heads exist in their own space. Most of them are just coffee bros with huge corporate money or brand sponsorship anyway.

If you scour youtube, you will find videos of coffee pros rating their experiences with cheap coffee machines and watching their discomfort can be funny one minute then uncomfortable the next if it is similar to a machine you own. Those videos and often times the standard that coffee professionals set themselves to is the idea that every coffee we make needs to be up to the highest Q grading standard. When in reality, we all just want to drink coffee we like. So, if you have been thinking about throwing out your automatic coffee maker but like the coffee that you make with it, leave it on your kitchen counter and make, to quote Twin Peaks, “a damn fine cup of coffee.”

Low-Fuss Ways To Brew Coffee: Coffee and Recipes for Bad Days

Let’s talk about those days none of us like to talk about: the bad days.

Those days when daily tasks like brushing your teeth, getting dressed, taking meds, and even making coffee seem like the biggest uphill battles. For those with chronic conditions, this can look like days where either you are too weak or in too much pain to do daily tasks. Bad mental health days can also make the day and what you need more tedious and difficult by distorting priorities and zapping energy.

Even for coffee people.

For those rough days, this is where easier ways to brew coffee can help someone still stay caffeinated while not using too many spoons. Instant and low-fuss ways of brewing coffee have come a long way in recent years. No longer do we have hardened black sugar-granule type powder that may or may not dissolve in your cup. With so many companies taking on the challenge of specialty coffee and making it easier to brew, let’s take a look at quick ways to make coffee on bad days.

Prepped Iced Coffee
While most bad days do not happen on a schedule, having some prepped iced lattes or cold brew in the fridge can be an easy go-to drink when you only have the energy to pour coffee in a cup. I like to keep old kombucha glasses and sauce bottles in my cabinets so I can prep them ahead of time to be grabbed when needed. Sometimes I’ll even brew hot coffee the night before and let it cool so I have iced coffee ready to go in the morning. Do I know that flash brew will produce a better cup of iced coffee? Yes, but we’re talking about ease rather than quality here (and when I’m not feeling my best, it’s not as though my palate is up to Q-Grader status in the moment anyway).

Coracle Coffee
I first heard about Coracle from my friend, Hana, and then I started seeing it pop up everywhere. The premise is simple, it is specialty instant coffee in a dissolvable pouch that you drop in a mug and pour hot water in for the simplest cup of coffee ever. When I asked the owner, Tyler Duncan, if I could buy a sample pack, he very kindly sent me all four origins they offer for free and it has saved me on many mornings when a migraine made me incredibly sound sensitive that running my grinder would send me spiraling. Even during Expo and all my overwhelm, I was so thankful for Coracle on a couple of the mornings where I needed to stay at my Airbnb and decompress before seeing people. What I love about them is that they come in a small tin that you can carry in your bag or luggage to have whenever you need it.

Coffee Tea Bags and Instant Packets
For more easy brew options, other specialy roasters have started featuring coffee in tea bags such as Steeped Coffee as well as packets of instant coffee like Swift Cup Coffee for more pour-and-brew options. Just grab a cup of hot water, plop the tea bag in or empty the packet contents, and pour hot water in your mug. Boom, done. Coffee is ready in a jiffy.

The first time I ever tried one of the coffee tea bags, I treated it much like tea and did not steep it for long enough so read through the directions before you try it. Coffee does not extract in the same way as tea and will need a longer steep time.

Low Maintenance Brewers
When I am having a low energy day, I have my recipes for lower maintenance brewers dialed in just right so I can grind and brew without having to think much about it. For me, it’s my auto-drip for mornings when I’m not rushing off to work and my Clever Dripper when I only have time for one cup of coffee. Both don’t require much hands on attention but still produce solid cups of coffee. My regular aeropress recipe is also pretty full-proof but, if my chronic pain is flaring up, it isn’t a great option due to the angle that the plunger needs to be pressed down.

My Clever Dripper recipe is from Neichelle Guidry of Black Girl.Black Coffee: 16g of coffee ground on my Baratza Encore at 18, 256g of 96 degrees celsius water, and a wet V60 filter. Dose and grind coffee, and wet your filter. Once all set up, pour 45 grams of water and let bloom for 45 seconds. Then pour the rest of the water. At 3 minutes, give it a stir. At four minutes, drain and enjoy.

Soul Chai
Not all mornings are coffee mornings, and, for those days, I reach for iced chai lattes with Soul Chai powder. It is so flavorful and can be made easily, plus the people that run the company are the sweetest people ever. To make, all you have to do is drop a teaspoon of chai powder, mix with a whisk or milk frother and a little hot water, then add your milk of choice. I always add a little sugar or syrup too but that’s all there is to it.

Rough days happen, especially for those of us that are chronically ill, disabled, and/or neurodivergent. Having ready-to-go options and back up plans when the care of a pour over or the steps of a latte can seem like too much when the day is long and everything feels out of sync. On these days, the most important thing is to be gentle with yourself and manage your energy and wellbeing as best you can. Coffee can be healing but it can also be another step in getting through the day, so brew coffee in whatever way you need on a rough day.

The Ultimate Guide To Surviving A Full Day On Bar While On Your Period

Some days just suck, especially when you wake up to the unfortunate surprise that your period has arrived and you have to get through an entire 8+ hour shift. You are already feeling crummy, the day is going to seem endless, and, in that moment, you feel like your body has turned against you. So much of the conversations around how you feel going into work are often labeled as not work appropriate and, while the “leave your feelings at the door” mentality is usually reserved for emotional feelings, physical symptoms like those experienced during periods are deemed too personal for work.

Let’s change that by talking about the taboo: period care during a shift.

Ever wondered if there was an easier way to deal with it all? While a certain amount of discomfort is inevitable, here is your ultimate guide to surviving a full day on bar while on your period.

Make Sure You Are Stocked Up
Do you have everything you need? Pads, tampons, discs, wipes, whatever you use, make sure you are good to go for the day. Ashley Rodriguez has a great Boss Barista episode about period care and talking to your boss about stocking period products in the employee bathroom. At my job, I’ve been lucky to have mostly people who have periods in management so we have been able to keep period products in the bathroom on the company’s dime. If it is not something provided at your work, it’s worth a conversation.

Drink Water
Hydration. Hydration. Hydration. I know it is easy to reach for the coffee all day but today is about taking care of yourself and that coffee won’t do the good you hope for. If you do have coffee today, try to limit it or drink decaf where possible. The key will be taking in fluids that will help manage the many symptoms of your average period.

Give Yourself Time To Wallow
Nothing I put on this list is going to get rid of all the symptoms you have in an instant. I wish I had that power and knowledge to give you the ultimate cure for period symptoms in the moment but that’s biology for you. There is going to be a time, especially at the beginning where it is just going to suck so it is okay to let yourself feel crummy and not try to fix it. Do your best on shift but do not think that you have to be employee of the month during this time.

Take Your Vitamins
As much as you want to, this is the day that you especially need to give your body what it needs. Vitamins to help reduce cravings, symptoms, and just overall health will make your day and your body better. Everyone’s body is different so consult your doctor and take into account what symptoms you are trying to manage.

Plan Your Night
You’ve worked a full day while feeling crummy so, while your mind is idle, think about how to make that time after you clock out easy and all about feeling good. A nice bath? Ordering food from your favorite place? Maybe a movie on streaming that you’ve been meaning to watch? Or re-watching your favorite show? Whatever would ease the stress and pain of the day, try your best to make it happen. Grab your comfy blankets, a heating pad, and get cozy.

Comfort is The Name of The Game
When getting ready in the morning, choose the shoes that are the most supportive and the clothes that feel the best on your body. You know the ones. The clogs that do not look as nice as the colorful tennis shoes, the elastic waistband pants instead of the jeans, that t-shirt that is a size up from what you wear… the day is going to be hard enough so remember to stay comfortable.

It’s Only Temporary
Believe me, I know that in the moment each minute feels like an hour and you feel like your insides are reeling. It seems like going home is so far away, but the shift will eventually end and you’ll be back in bed soon.

Eat Smart
Instead of reaching for the comfort foods, reach for something healthier to eat on your break. Either pack yourself something that will nourish your body or go with the healthy option at work, because something really heavy will aggravate your stomach and your body is doing a lot so put some good things in it to keep up your strength. Also, even if you are not hungry enough for a full meal, try to snack throughout the day.

Consider Calling Out
Obviously, this is not an option for everyone due to staffing issues, financial reasons, etc, but there are those of us that get symptoms bad enough to be debilitating and telling your supervisors or coworkers that you need to go home is just what has to happen. If you are unable to do your job, then you should tell someone and see if accommodations can be made.

To survive a full day of work while on your period involves a balance of not fighting the discomfort that you feel with taking care of yourself while feeling crummy. The subject of periods can often be seen as taboo and somehow inappropriate at work even though it is a natural and common occurrence with some employees that work anywhere. By having conversations about keeping period products stocked in the workplace, making accommodations, and continuing to discuss the ways that we can make employees feel more comfortable at work, we all benefit from a better and healthier approach to each workday and those days that are harder to handle than others.

Expo Re-Cap

Between ill-health, work issues, and post-Expo feelings, I have had to take a break from this blog to get my head in the right place. I also sat down and realized that I needed to invest in my own interests in a more sustainable way. So, after much thought, here I am back with articles in drafts and ready to start posting again.

The Specialty Coffee Expo at the Convention Center in Portland, OR

So, let’s talk about the Specialty Coffee Expo!

Last year was my first coffee trade show season but this was my first Expo so I went in with little expectations except that it was going to be huge (and it still somehow was bigger than I could have imagined). I reserved the first day for just walking the showroom floor and looking for anyone I knew before making any actual goals or connections. For anyone going to trade shows like this, you have to sort through the sheer size to find what is relevant to you. I represented not only my job as a lead barista for a coffee shop but also the writer behind this blog so I was looking for connections for my blog but also for potential products or businesses that could help the business that I work for.

The hugeness of the show meant that I was masked the entire time and did not feel comfortable taking my mask off, so I focused on finding products that I could take home like interesting coffees to try, new products like alternative milks that have been harder to get my hands on, and wanting to obtain a Moccamaster ever since my auto-drip broke last year.

When I think back to the whole Expo experience, it was a brain scramble. I had been dealing with work issues and had started new depression meds so it was hard to really be present amongst all the newness and overwhelm of the show when my brain was trying to adjust to this new normal. It felt so hard to take hold of the entire experience and enjoy the time with most of my friends because my entire way of perceiving the world felt fragile and coated in anxiety. Even the first night I was there, I had a massive panic attack without access to my mom or proper health care and thankfully Arielle, who I was staying with, helped me get through it. What normally takes me a couple days to get over had to be pushed aside because I still had the entire rest of my trip and the show to enjoy.

Trade shows, like Coffee Fest and Expo, are enjoyable to attend on your own but it is a whole different experience to go as a work trip. With my mental health the way it was, I would have tackled the show differently had I just been an attendee with no professional duties expected of me. However, I was there on behalf of my job and, do not misunderstand me, I am so grateful to my job for the financial support to help me attend this show. But, the flipside meant that I had a responsibility to be present every day of the show and develop connections even though I wanted to stay in my Airbnb to recover from the events of the first day. The opportunities to interact with so many professionals in the industry is unmatched and I am fortunate that I, as a disabled non-binary coffee pro, was given the resources to attend by my employers but it meant that I had to push past some of my very real feelings for the sake of my job.

And I know that I was not alone in feeling that pressure and responsibility.

The highlights of the show though have to be (as per usual) the people I mainly go to these shows to see. I mostly hung out with other Covid-conscious people, which is a truly understated joy as a disabled person to be with others that test regularly, wear masks, and do risk assessments. It made me really feel safe hanging out with them and they also had my back during a particularly nasty interaction at the Toddy booth regarding my masking.

I also got to walk the showroom floor with my friends, Jack and Aimee, the roasters behind Recluse Roasting Project (who are one of the roasters we use at my shop), which only makes me want to work with them and value our professional relationship more. Getting to go beyond ordering emails and invoices, we got a chance to talk about both our goals and possible future collabs.

Lastly, I was a guest brewer at the Brewista booth alongside Arielle Rebekah to talk about Getchusomegear and all the great work they do for marginalized baristas. It was a little nerve-wracking to be asked to brew coffee in a place surrounded by so many coffee people but I was using equipment I was familiar with and some great coffee from the people at Verb Coffee Roasters that helped ease the pressure. Brewing surrounded by masked friends also helped.

What I did not expect to happen that did happen was the number of people that recognized me from this blog. Writing and blogging, while shareable, can often be personal and lonely. To me, it is so often just sitting in my apartment on a computer writing about my experiences. So, to have people come up to me or be introduced to me, freak out that I was The Non-Binary Barista, and tell me how much they loved this blog was so heartwarming. If I met you and you are reading this, thank you for all your kind words. I will carry that experience with me forever.

In conclusion, I hope to attend another future Expo and hopefully my brain will be less mushy so I can properly take it all in.

Why Pour Overs Are Such A Big Deal

While an auto-drip is my go-to brew method in the morning, my carafe broke recently and I have been focusing on my pour over game before replacing my set-up. Pour over coffee can be one of the most intimidating aspects of specialty coffee because everyone has their own opinions on it. There seems to be a new pour over or manual brewer hitting the market every day and it can seem like the wrong one will make or break your coffee career and home brewing set-up. If the concept of a pour over has left you confused or you don’t know why baristas make a big deal about a way to make a cup of coffee, this article is for you.

What is a pour over?
A pour over is generally any manual brewing method where the water is poured directly over the bed of the coffee inside a cone or basket that sits on a mug or carafe. While this can sound similar to batch brewed coffee or drip coffee, the key to a pour over is the manual nature of the brew in that you pour it by hand and the fact that most pour over brewers are designed to brew only one or two cups versus a batch brewer that can brew anywhere between 4-12 cups, depending on the size. Examples of pour over coffee brewers are a Kalita Wave, a V60, the PureOver, an Origami Dripper, and so many more.

What makes a pour over so great?
Pour overs allow for more nuance in your coffee cup. Brew methods that require larger doses of coffee such as batch brew and cold brew can produce strong cups of coffee but certain delicate flavors might get lost or muddled. The many options for a pour over can seem daunting but each option comes with its own strength, which can help in bringing out flavors better.

But, how does it bring out flavors?
There are a lot of ways and much of it depends on which brewer you choose but here’s a non-exhaustive list: water temperature, pouring speed, contact time, shape, bypass, pressure, filter type/shape, water quality, the number and size of the holes in the brewer, and grind size. That’s a dizzying amount of variables to go into a cup of coffee but let’s break it down and know that not every aspect listed above will be relevant to every brewer or every person.

When exploring pour over coffee, the best way to enjoy it is to treat it like a journey. Some roads will take you where you want to go, some won’t, and others will lead you down interesting side quests. Figure out what part of your coffee experience you want to invest in and make better then focus on those things. Everyone has their own opinion and it is best to just ignore those until you have played around enough to know advice from opinion.

The first thing to look at is the preparation for the brew, just like any other brew method. A good cup of coffee starts with good water that is heated to the best temperature for extraction and uses a wetted filter. Whereas batch brewers and espresso machines calibrate much of the nitty gritty parts of prep work such as temperature and how much water to use, pour overs bring a massive shift to placing the control on the person brewing the coffee. Research will yield theories on what temperature works best for what roast, which filter to use (bleach, unbleached, etc), and all of these will contribute to your overall brew flavor.

Once you have everything set up, it’s time to talk about the coffee. Coffee shops will often feature more expensive coffees as their pour over option not to gain more profit but to highlight a finer coffee that otherwise might be too expensive to feature on drip or espresso. This is where coffees with tea-like notes, florals, or punchy fruit flavors would shine. It is worth noting that any coffee, single origin or blend, specialty grade or not, can be made using a pour over method but that is the function of a pour over at most specialty coffee shops.

Which Pour Over Method is the best?
You could ask every barista this question and they would all give you a different answer. It all depends on what kind of coffee you gravitate towards, your budget, and what your coffee routine tends to look like. If you are looking to switch to something more manual but don’t want to spend a lot of time, the Aeropress or Origami might be up your alley because of their shorter brew times. If you are usually brewing for two people, the Chemex is a sleek option for those that want to brew more than a single cup at a time. Want to really get the basics down, check out any Melitta or V60 cone brewer to get the hang of pour overs before branching out to other shapes, materials, and features.

Do I need to make pour overs every morning to be a real coffee pro?
Nope. Manual brewing isn’t everyone’s cup of coffee. I think it is an important skill to know and have in your repertoire but it doesn’t have to be your go-to brewing method in the morning for you to be “real.” It can often seem like it, especially in our photo and video saturated culture where you see pour over after pour over when scrolling. Your morning coffee should be however you like it and maybe that will be a pour over after you experiment, but it also may not be.

In conclusion, the important thing to take away about pour overs is that pour over coffee is all about having control over every aspect of your brew. Some baristas really value the technicality and experimentation that goes into different pour over brewers, whereas some utilize the more in-depth nature of brewing with a pour over as a meditative experience. Whether it is your preference or not, learning about pour over coffee is a valuable tool in a barista’s coffee toolkit because many of those technical aspects apply to other brewing methods like automatic drip coffee and espresso.