“Ultimately the quest for Koffee Nirvana is a solitary path. To know I must first not know. And in knowing know I know not. Each Personal enlightenment found exploring the many divergent foot steps of Those who have gone before.”
-miKe mcKoffee, 2005
Born: Yes (possibly hatched) April 15, 1954
Schoolin’: Yup, noz my numbers and abz
Married: Once was enough (And still married to Debi since September 13, 1980)
Coffee has always been about taste to me, never just a caffeine delivery system. I didn’t start drinking coffee until 1984 at age 30. Had tried it numerous times in my life but everytime yuck. Then a string of events happened that changed that forever. Debi & I were on a road trip vacation through California and planned a couple days in San Francisco. As chance would have it a Convention Committee I happened to be chairing had chosen one of the keynote speakers from San Francisco. Before beginning our 2 week road trip I gave him a call, he insisted we cancel our hotel and stay with him. The evening we arrived he asked if we’d like a cup of coffee, Debi said yes (grew up drinking whatever was on the stove all day:-) and I politely declined. He opened the freezer, took out a bag of beans, poured some in a grinder, returned the bag to the freezer, ground ‘em up and brewed a drip pot. Hmm, what’s that smell? It didn’t smell like any coffee I’d ever smelled before! When it was done brewing he poured himself & Debi a cup and again asked if I’d like to try a cup. I accepted, the brewing aroma made me say yes! Don’t remember what variety it was etc. but it was unlike any coffee I’d ever tried in my life. This brown liquid stuff was good! We spent the entire evening talking about coffee, his buying his roasted beans weekly, San Francisco being a major coffee port etc. “The Journey” began.
When we got home immediately bought a coffee pot, whirly chop ‘grinder’ and went looking for fresh roast whole beans. From 1984 to 2001 bought roasted coffee beans from various sources. The search for quality coffees roasted the way we liked eventually led to home roasting.
Discovered some websites discussing home roasting. After a couple months research bought a Caffe’ Rosto and my roasting Journey began April 2001. By Fall 2001 had split wired the Rosto for dual independent variable boosted voltage control of heater and fan enabling roast profiling to join The Journey.
Auto-drip weekdays and Press Pot on weekends was our norm for years. Late eighties upgraded from whirly chop to department store Braun burr grinder. Cup improved. Now these coffee forums, chat lists etc. I got involved in early 2001 kept talking about importance of the grinder. Didn’t fully believe it and man those grinders they kept talking about were spendy! Bought a department store Capresso 555 for about $60. Return it 2 days later, 10 year old Braun did as good! Sprang for a Solis Mulino (predecessor to Baratza Maestro) shortly after starting home roasting and what a difference in the cup. Happy happy, for a time.
Few years earlier Charbucks had invaded our town. I’d tried their espresso and concluded if that’s what espresso is about it’s definitely not for me. Also tried their roasted whole beans for home, burnt dreck. Yet less than a year after beginning home roasting and being active on multiple coffee forums became a follower of the “Dark Side”, 2002 Miss Silvia joined our family. I just had to find out what this elixir espresso really was people kept talking about! Had already upgraded grinder from the Solis Mulino to Baratza Maestro. Struggled using the Maestro with Silvia for about 6 months. Christmas 2002 Debi got me a Rancilio Rocky! Quantum leap forward. Over the ensuing 3 1/2 years Miss Silvia got brew boiler PID, water tank auto-fill mod’, was about to stabilize her brew group with 2nd PID and rope heater when stumbled on a deal I couldn’t refuse. Missy was replaced with a Fiorenzato Bricoletta direct plumbed rotary HX Fall 2005. Now we’re talking a high end Prosumer class machine capable of equaling and even beating a stock Linea straight shots! Still on our kitchen counter today and also used for catering duties.
So how did I end up here? My Coffee Journey began while a field service engineer with Digital Equipment Corporation bought out by Compaq Computer bought out by Hewlit Packard. After more than a decade and a dozen rounds of right-sizing, re-structuring, re-inventing, re-aligning, optimizing, down-sizing, re-right-sizing ad infinitum the Bean Counters final gave me the axe. Could have started the next day with one of the out sourcing companies but I’d had enough. Floundered for a couple years struggling to find a new career direction. Then decided why not try and take my passion for great coffee professional. Attempted to get a barista job for 6 months but nobody wanted to hire a fifty-something home barista home roaster! Nobody believed me when I told them money didn’t matter, I was done with Corporate America and chasing the $, I wanted “in” for my love of coffee. One shop owner, a World Class barista in her own right, did say she’d hire me but knew in a year or two I’d leave and open my own place. Finally landed a temporary job running a deli-espresso cafe for two months while the owner was trying to sell it. After it sold the experience convinced me to go for it and figure out how to indeed open my own coffee place. Leveraged everything I could including house 2nd mortgaged to the hilt and November 1, 2007 the professional leg of My Journey began with what is now Compass Coffee Downtown.
The Journey building Compass Coffee has been anything but smooth and easy. Recession doesn’t help of course. Doesn’t matter. Employees get paid and the doors are still open. It’s about the cup and sharing great coffees. I may be below broke but I’m happier on a bad day when roasting coffee than my past life making a six figure income sleeping with a pager by my head servicing Corporate America’s computer systems.
