20 years is a very long time, however it glided by so quick.
BY LEM BUTLER
Images by Kenneth R. Olson until famous
Featured photograph courtesy of Lem Butler
Twenty years in the past, I used to be a younger barista with large desires and nervous arms, pulling pictures on the Day by day Grind Espresso Café on the College of North Carolina, Chapel Hill campus. I didn’t understand it then, however I used to be about to be swept right into a journey that may form my life—and Barista Journal could be one of the crucial highly effective forces guiding me alongside the way in which.
It began in 2005. The specialty-coffee trade was nonetheless sufficiently small that you could possibly study most of what you wanted to know behind the bar or from the few competitions and low expos that existed. Instagram didn’t exist. Fb was nonetheless “The Fb,” solely accessible to varsity college students. MySpace reigned, however nobody there was speaking about direct commerce or grinder burr calibration. I realized latte artwork from a DVD.
After which got here Barista Journal.
The very first difficulty featured Bronwen Serna on the quilt. She was radiant, assured, and expert—somebody who wasn’t simply in espresso, however of it. Her story moved me deeply. I didn’t understand it was potential to really feel so seen by a narrative that wasn’t mine—not but. However there was one thing in the way in which Sarah Allen and Ken Olson instructed it that reached me. Their writing didn’t simply cowl occasions—it revealed truths. I used to be so impressed, so filled with gratitude, that once I lastly noticed Bronwen in individual a yr later, I couldn’t even muster the phrases to say how a lot her story meant to me.
That very same yr, I competed for the second time and gained my first Southeast Regional Barista Competitors. I additionally walked the present ground at my very first Specialty Espresso Affiliation (of America) Expo in Charlotte, N.C., wide-eyed like a child in a sweet retailer. It was the primary time I noticed how large and layered this espresso world actually was. But it surely was Barista Journal that helped me perceive it, that helped me see the place I’d match into it.
On the Day by day Grind, we’d huddle round every new difficulty prefer it was a sacred textual content. The journal turned our lifeline to a broader world we couldn’t but entry. By means of its pages, we had been launched to farmers, roasters, cafés pushing boundaries, and brewing strategies we hadn’t but imagined. We realized about honest commerce and its limitations, about shade-grown versus sun-grown, about natural certifications and the way smallholder farmers usually couldn’t afford them however cared deeply about soil and sustainability all the identical.
And as I grew in espresso, I slowly began to develop nearer to the individuals behind the publication that formed me. I started to see Sarah and Ken commonly—at expos, at competitions. What began as a quiet wave or a nervous “hello” grew into conversations in regards to the trade, about storytelling, in regards to the future. I ultimately visited their workplace in Portland, Ore., and was beside myself. I used to be standing within the coronary heart of {a magazine} that had guided my life like a compass, and I felt that power—humble, hardworking, revolutionary.
As I gained extra regional barista competitions, I started touring extra—origin journeys that Barista Journal would usually cowl. I discovered myself in Colombia with Elkin Guzman, studying about anaerobic fermentation alongside sensible minds like Sam Schroeder, Sam Lewontin, and Sasa Sestic. In fact, Sarah Allen was there to doc all of it together with her signature attentiveness and care.
I rode behind a truck with Ken by the darkish of Minas Gerais in Brazil at 1 a.m., harvesting espresso mechanically—simply hours after flying from Espírito Santo, the place smallholder farms contrasted with the flat, high-volume stereotype of Brazilian espresso manufacturing. One other time, I used to be on a small airplane flying over the Nice Rift Valley in Kenya from espresso farms to the Maasai Mara with Ken once more, digicam in tow, capturing a visit filled with lions, hippos, and cuppings (oh my!)—witnessing the journey from farm to mill to public sale to export whereas celebrating 50 years of Kenya’s independence.
These journeys weren’t simply work—they had been transformation. They had been dwelling proof of what Barista Journal had at all times completed finest: honor your complete provide chain with depth, humanity, and care.
In some way, over time, I went from studying these pages to dwelling in them. I turned a contributor, a canopy story, and finally an editorial board member. And at last, I turned the first Black United States Barista Champion—a second Barista Journal captured with the identical generosity and readability that they had proven all alongside.
In following Barista Journal, I wasn’t simply following tales—I used to be discovering my very own. And I wasn’t alone. So many people grew up professionally alongside this journal. It’s chronicled our evolution as people, as an trade, and as a group. From fledgling baristas to seasoned educators, inexperienced patrons, espresso producers, roasters, enterprise homeowners, and advocates, we’ve all discovered one thing of ourselves in these pages.
Sarah and Ken didn’t simply begin {a magazine}—they began a motion. One which bridged gaps, celebrated voices, and gave the specialty-coffee world a mirror by which to see its previous, current, and future. From their small Portland beginnings, they’ve impacted each nook of the worldwide espresso trade—and we’re all higher for it.
Congratulations, Barista Journal, on 20 years of storytelling, soul, and repair. Could the pages proceed to show, form lives, encourage excellence, and join our group throughout continents and cups. This isn’t a primary or final sip, only a robust shot of gratitude, pulled completely, medium weight, velvety tactile, blueberry acidity, lemongrass easy syrupy sweetness, and a floral gardenia end. As at all times, thanks for the whole lot.
Time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lem Butler is a longtime specialty espresso skilled. He’s the 2016 U.S. Barista Champion, co-founder of a distinguished specialty-coffee firm, and is also referred to as DJ Horny Foam.
Subscribe and Extra!
As at all times, you’ll be able to learn Barista Journal in paper or digital format.Subscribe right here to get your personal hardcopy of every difficulty delivered. Learn the April + Could 2025 difficulty totally free with our digital version.
And for greater than three years’ price of points, go to our digital version archives right here.
