Bentley Class, Farrari Flair

For the last week there has been a new face at Espresso dell'Anatra. Graham was hired last Wednesday and has been training since then. Before I explain what training means here I need to explain that Espresso dell'Anatra is not a normal coffee house. Kansas City has a ton of little privately and locally owned coffee shops, not to mention plenty of Starbucks and even a few Caribou (which if you have never heard of is actually the second largest retail coffee shop in the world, but is still totally dwarfed by Starbucks.)

Espresso isn't the Cadillac of coffee houses... they are a collaboration between Bentley and Ferrari. I come to Espresso dell'Anatra because they are the best of the best. They only get the best coffee beans, they only use milk from a local farm that is all natural and it is delivered everyday in glass bottles, and they are not making your espresso with a super-automatic monster like Starbucks... they have a 4 head semi-automatic machine that is constantly cared for like any high performance machine should be. There are three other baristas than Graham, all of whom know their stuff. We're not talking just knowing the menu and how to make the drinks... they know the history of the processes they are using to make the coffee, where, how, and when the beans they sell were grown, and everything else you could imagine wanting to know about the growing, drying, roasting, processing, selling, serving, and drinking coffee. Aaron, who owns Espresso dell’Anatra, is an award winning barista for both the quality of the drinks and the flair of 'latte art' (which is drawing pictures and patterns in the top of a latte by the way you pour the milk into it.) They are Bentley class with Ferrari flair.

Graham is being introduced into all of this... and I wouldn't want to be him right now. He has been working full shifts every day that are just training. Once again, it isn't just how to make the drinks; they are training his senses of smell and taste. One of the training sessions that I sat in on with Graham was a smell test. They have a wooden box with 36 little glass vials in it, each filled with a different scent. Graham had to be able to smell and identify each of the scents... WITHIN A COUPLE SECONDS OF HIS FIRST SMELL! The scents were things like black pepper, onion, vinegar, potato, and all kinds of random other stuff. They have him do this because if any of these things are growing in the ground near a coffee plant, the coffee bean will absorb some of the scent and it will change the taste. In another test, they ground 3 different kinds of coffee beans and put them in three different cups with hot water. Then Graham had to tell them what kind of coffee it was just based on the smell... he wasn't allowed to guess, he had to know. He also has to be able to get exactly 22.5 grams into the portafilter 50 times in a row, and he has to tamp the coffee grounds down with 50 to 60 lbs of pressure so many times in a row. These are just a few of the many things Graham will have to be able to do to be one of the best of the best.

I like the people that work here a lot. I like the people that hang out here. The drinks are the best I have ever had... but I think the reason I come here is because I like to celebrate perfection... and that is what I see here. I believe perfection breeds perfection... just stop by and talk to Graham in a couple months, and see how great of a barista he will be then. I come here everyday and order my half Hazelnut, half Vanilla Latte in a white ceramic mug, and picture drinking in that perfection and attention to detail and letting it invigorate me to have the same qualities.

I think doing your best, and being the best at everything, is important. Whether you are making a cup of coffee, telling someone about Jesus and life and redemption, or sweeping the floor and cleaning the bathroom. We are supposed to do all things as if we are doing them for God himself. I want to be the kind of person that lives that out and I want to be around people that do that too... regardless of what they are doing or why they are doing it.

http://www.espressodellanatra.com/