The Case for Coffee Literacy

Somebody asked us last week why we bother explaining processing methods on our bags and into the ether. Wouldn't it be easier to just say "light roast, tastes like berries" and move on?

Easier, yeah. But that's not what we're doing here.

Every time a coffee brand simplifies past the point of truth, it's telling you that you can't handle the real answer. We don't believe that. Most people ordering a $6 coffee maybe actually want to know what they're paying for? Even if there's a non interest in learning more the opportunity is still there. Sometimes its being given the chance.

So here's the long answer to a question nobody usually bothers asking twice: why does Mad Lab share what they share?

The specialty coffee industry has a gatekeeping problem, and most of it is dressed up as sophistication with a dollop of pretentiousness. Tasting note poetry, processing terms nobody defines, roast levels described in riddles and mystery, all of it works better as a signal of insider IYKYK status than as actual information. If you don't already know what "co-ferment" means, where and who is going to introduce themselves to share more?

We'd rather build a filter, a way in, not a way to keep people out or have them sit on the sideline. That means naming the producer, the farm, the process. Saying plainly why something costs what it costs, and why a lighter roast isn't a stylistic choice but a decision about what the coffee can taste like if you don't burn it.

This costs us the danger of being annoying coffee people, but we're fine with that.

It's genuinely easier to sell mystery than to sell information. Mystery doesn't invite questions you have to answer correctly. But a customer who understands what they're drinking is a customer who trusts the next thing you tell them. About a new origin, a new process, a price change. Explaining things is slower than impressing people. It's also the only version of this that lasts ten years instead of one trend cycle or a quick instagram real with a voice over.

That's the whole premise behind Lab Notes, the newsletter this post is launching alongside. Every issue, we're going to talk about coffee at home, coffee at the shop,  roasting, sourcing, processing, the actual chemistry and craft of making great coffee. Because we know how, and we want you to know how too.