Coffee& Ep. 1 (Transcript)

Q: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to our first podcast, Coffee &, powered by Acme Radio. Thank you guys for letting us do this. We are very, very humble, very excited, very happy to be with you guys this morning, and this is 8th & Roast Coffee Company here, based in Nashville, and we're going to talk about who we are today. I got my people here, Mister Jimmy G.

Jimmy G: What's up?

Q: Jimmy's our lead roaster here at our company, and we also got our lead barista, Mister Nate.

Nate: Yo.

Q: All right, all right. First, I think we should just talk about who we are, how did you get into coffee, and what you do now. Explain your positions, and what you do every day besides take lunch breaks every 20 minutes.

Jimmy G: Eat a lot of lunch.

Q: Yeah.

Jimmy G: I got into coffee when I was 15. I think it was like 2003, I took my first café job. Ever since then I've kind of just worked in mom-and-pop, second wave coffee shops in small towns in Ohio. I liked coffee, but it wasn't really a passion for me, it was just kind of a pay the bills type of deal until 2009.

I went to Coffee Fest in New York City, and had my first experience with watching a latte art throw down. That pretty much blew my mind. I had never seen that.

Q: It's like a freestyle battle to a rapper.

Jimmy G: Totally, and I was like, I had no idea we were on this level of coffee people, what's going on? I also had my first out of body caffeine experience, because I was drinking everything that everyone handed to me. But that was kind of the moment where I was like, yeah, I really like this coffee thing, and I can see myself doing it for a long time.

So, I actually moved to Nashville for coffee, believe it or not, in 2015, and 8th & Roast was the first shop to offer me a job, and I took it, because it was rad, and the people there were rad. I had no idea that I would still be here.

Q: So, you started out as a barista, and now you're our lead roaster. You're roasting beans all day, every day, seven days a week. You don't take days off.

Jimmy G: I don't sleep.

Q: Don't sleep. Tell people what a roaster is, and how that process starts and ends, and what does that position encompass?

Jimmy G: So, basically, big picture, I kind of decide which coffees we're going to buy. We have certain relationships with coffee importers, and we have certain relationships with farmers directly. So, I kind of plan the year, as far as what I want to buy from who. We have a wholesale coffee beans program, so I've got wholesale customers in mind, I've got our cafes in mind.

Q: Shout out to Acme, they’re one of our wholesale clients

Jimmy G: Shout out to Acme. So yeah, basically my job is to make sure that our coffee tastes good all the time, and that it's consistent, and that our customers can expect the same quality every time they order coffee from us, because that translates directly into more coffee sales for them.

So, it sounds a little more science-y than it is, but really my job is just to pay super close attention.

Q: Nice, nice, nice. And Nate, I want to talk about where you get beans from around the country, around the world, rather, and Nate, tell me a little bit about your position. How did you get into it and all those good things?

Nate: Yeah. I started drinking coffee, or I got into coffee for the first time when I was like 15. So, kind of the same time Jimmy did. I did it, and I was faking it, because I didn't like coffee at first, but I grew up in like a ski town, and I was skiing with these guys, and they were like the coolest dudes I'd ever seen. They were so good, and I was just like, anything they do I would like to do as well.

And so, we stopped for coffee, and they're like, hey man, you want some? Like, we'll buy. Because they were like older dudes. I was like, oh, yeah man, I'll, and I just looked at the menu, and the first thing I saw was Mayan Mocha, which was like a spicy mocha. Like, oh yeah, dude, I'll just do a Mayan mocha.

And they're like, all right, man. They got it for me, and I was like, all right, it's not terrible. I get this. And I was just trying to hang-

Jimmy G: Oh, I'm so glad they didn't pick on you. That's really sweet.

Nate: Dude, that would have been the worst. They were the sweetest boys, just the sweetest boys.

But like, I started drinking that, because it was the only thing I knew on the menu.

Q: The Mayan mocha?

Nate: Yeah. It's like a spicy chocolate coffee drink. I mean, it is the opposite of what I have every day now.

Q: It's like the Kool-Aid version of coffee.

Nate: Totally, totally.

And it's like all I drank for the longest time, until I finally started to kind of get into it and understand it, but I was just faking it when I first got in, just to hang, you know?

And now I work at 8th & Roast as a barista, and my main job, the way I think of it is like when I wake up every morning, I get so excited about drinking coffee, like, the idea of it. Where am I going to get it today? How am I going to make it? And other people have that feeling too. Like, when people are coming into 8th & Roast it's because they woke up and they're like, where am I going to get coffee today? They picked 8th & Roast.

So, my job every morning is sort of to make coffee, but really it's to keep that excitement level from when they walk in the door to when they walk out the door, because it's so fun. It shouldn't be scary. It shouldn't be intimidating, and it shouldn't be a bummer.

It should just keep that, like, oh, I'm so stoked to get coffee, what am I going to get off the menu? Talk to my neighborhood barista, he's going to ask me how my day is, I'm going to tell him. Like, there's like a conversation, and then my job secondary to that is to make them whatever they want. But like, I just want to invite people in to hang.

Jimmy G: That's one of my favorite parts about working in coffee is that you are the best part of some people's day-

Nate: Yeah.

Jimmy G: ... during the week, it's like, you get them when they are most excited about what they're about to do during the day, not that they hate their jobs or anything, but obviously that's an exciting time of day, when you're like, I'm going to take a break from whatever I'm doing, and I'm going to walk over to my favorite coffee shop, and just chill hard.

Nate: I want that person to feel like they're more important than the coffee I'm making, because they are. Like, I'm not a barista if people aren't coming in buying coffee, so I don't want to like ignore them and be like, dumb drink dude. It's like, that's not what it's about at all. It's like-

Jimmy G: Can't believe I got to make this for you.

Nate: Like, it says, it's on the menu, but I'm bummed about it. Like, it doesn't make sense. Like, it should not be an intimidating experience, it should be cool for everybody involved.

Q: Yeah. And so, what we want to do with this podcast is talk about there's a sea of communities, right? That have people like you guys, that are like minded. And coffee shops are like people's third home, almost. So, you know-

Nate: And second office, third home.

Q: Yeah, so don't jack that up. Don't jack up that person's drink, and don't jack up that person's coffee experience. So, we'll talk about that. Our goal in this podcast is to highlight all those cool grounds, and those cool foundations that we try to lay here in Nashville.

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Q: We're going to demystify the whole coffee menu on this second portion of this podcast, and make it clear and easier for people to understand when they walk into a coffee shop, and they're waiting in line, and they're trying to figure out what to order, and the menus are a little different from another coffee shop they may have went to.

So, Nate, you go first, and clear a little of those things up for us.

Nate: Yeah. Like I talked about earlier, I don't want people to be intimidated when they walk in a coffee shop. That's not the point of a coffee shop. That never was supposed to be the point of a coffee shop.

There was a period, like, I don't know, Jimmy, what do you think, 2008 to 2012-ish?

Jimmy G: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Nate: Yeah, there was like that era where coffee shops were just the scariest place you could be besides like the dirty dive bar. It was like you were either walking into this subway tile place, and you're just like shaking, and you're like, they hate me that I'm here. I can't mess this up. I'm so nervous about this.

And for some reason that happened, and it shouldn't have, and that is not what coffee's about. Coffee's about hospitality and community. And just so everyone out there knows, coffee shops are safe places. No one's going to make fun of you.

Q: Yeah.

Jimmy G: I feel like we've come a long way-

Nate: We've come a long way.

Jimmy G: ... as a community.

Nate: Totally. That era is over. We've moved on. We're here to help. It should not be a scary place. Your barista's not mad at you.

So, getting that out of the way, coffee is really not that complicated as far as what you're getting into when you walk in. Your coffee shops are going to have a set of things up on their menu that every other coffee shop's going to have.

You're going to have a filter coffee section, and that's going to be your drip coffee, that's going to be your pour overs, that's going to be anything that coffee grounds get hot water dripped through them in either a single cup or a batch brew. That all fits in the same thing. Drip coffee and pour overs, essentially you're getting a very similar end-product, different methods, and we'll go into that later, but it's the same sort of thing.

Jimmy G: You're using a filter and gravity to brew your coffee.

Nate: Let's not make it more complicated than it needs to be.

And then your next area is going to be espresso-based drinks. That's your espresso, americanos, lattes, cappuccinos, cortados, all of that fits under the umbrella of espresso, and that's not a type of coffee, or a type of bean.

Jimmy G: It's not?

Nate: It's not. It's all the same. I could, let's make it even easier, let's talk about one, let's say we're talking about a Brazilian bean for everything. I can make a pour over, I can make an espresso. It's a ... espresso is a method of coffee.

Q: You're taking us to church right now.

Nate: Dude, I'm getting fired up, are you kidding me?

So, I can take that same bean, I can grind it, put it in my espresso machine, and now that is what makes it espresso. It’s the method of pressure and hot water, getting that really, really high concentration. And that is how you make your specialty lattes, your sweet drinks, all that is through espresso, and that is in a bunch of different ratios, essentially, but it's all the same coffee.

And then you've got your iced coffees. That's going to be your cold brew, your flash chilled, your nitros. That's going to be your third segment.

But really, there's only three main, big categories of coffee.

Jimmy G: You forgot the blended beverages.

Nate: And the blended frappuccino beverages, although that kind of fits in your espresso based drinks.

Q: I love frappuccino.

Jimmy G: That's true.

Nate: I know you do. We do not serve frappuccinos at 8th & Roast.

Q: Makes me tingly.

Jimmy G: That was the main selling point for me when I had the job offer from 8th & Roast on the table. I did a quick sweep looking for a blender. I did not find one, so I took the job.

Nate: No offense to anybody that drinks blended coffee, they're just, they take a long minute to make.

Jimmy G: You just don't want to be making them all day, is all.

Nate: Yeah, it's just, and you got the noise, and people are trying to study.

Q: Frappuccinos are happiness, though. It's like a Spice Girls song.

Jimmy G: Oh yeah, it's desert, man.

Nate: No judgment here. No judgment here.

So, going to espresso drinks, basically it all consists of espresso, milk, pick a temperature, hot or cold, and then air incorporated into the milk, and that's going to get your kind of froth level, how much foam you like, how little foam you like, and those are your only ingredients.

That's the only difference you're getting into when you're talking about espresso, that's just espresso, no milk. It's just two shots of espresso.

Going up from there you've got a macchiato. That's two shots of espresso, little bit of foam.

Jimmy G: What's macchiato mean?

Nate: Macchiato means marked.

Jimmy G: Marked.

Nate: Marked. So that's just marked with foam, just a little-

Jimmy G: Just a little ...

Nate: ... a little ...

Q: Just a little something something?

Nate: So, real quick, if you get a macchiato and you love, like, caramel in it, and you like it to be big, there was a shop out there that made one like that, and they called it that, and they made it hard for the rest of us forever. But all you're getting when you get like a caramel macchiato, it's just a ... hey guys, hey guys, it's just a caramel latte.

Jimmy G: With some vanilla in it too.

Nate: It's just a caramel latte. That's all it is, and that's totally cool, but a real macchiato is going to be two shots of espresso, little bit of foam.

Up from there, cortado, two shots of espresso, two ounces of steamed milk, so it's a little bit more than a macchiato. Is anybody sensing a theme here?

Going up next we got cappuccinos. That's going to be two ounces of espresso, and then traditionally it was two ounces of steamed milk, and then two ounces of pretty thick foam.

Jimmy G: That's the Italian standard.

Nate: The Italian cappuccino.

No one really makes it like that anymore. You're pretty much getting a flat white, if you've ever heard that before, or essentially a six to eight ounce latte. But cappuccino kind of just marks the ratio. You're getting a smaller concentration of milk to coffee.

And then up from there you've got your latte.

Jimmy G: So, what's the point of having all of these different volumes? Like, what's the difference between something that's equal parts espresso and milk, and something that's only, you know, two ounces of espresso and, say, 10 ounces of milk. Like, why would someone be interested in one or the other of those drinks?

Nate: Totally. Yeah, you're just getting into how much coffee do you want to taste in this drink? Like, how much do you love the taste of espresso, and how much do you want to kind of, essentially, water it down? Except you're doing it with like a sweet, hot milk, or an iced milk.

But if you love the taste of coffee my go to drink is the cortado, two ounces espresso, just two ounces of milk. I love the taste of espresso, and I love the way that milk incorporates with it, makes it a little sweeter. You get to taste the type of bean that's on, but you're still, you're not drinking like straight 'spro, and it lasts a little longer than that.

Jimmy G: Right. It's not masking all the characteristics of that espresso.

Nate: Totally, totally, but if you love putting flavor in your coffee, or you want that coffee to last a little longer, grab a latte.

Jimmy G: Totally.

Q: Totally.

Jimmy G: You want to sip that for a while-

Nate: Yep.

Jimmy G: ... get yourself 12 ounces.

Nate: Yep. And then, after espresso based, you've just got your iced coffees. Iced coffee is like the rectangle, cold brew is like the square, all right? So like-

Q: What are you, what does, what-

Nate: ... all cold brew is iced coffee, but not all iced coffee is cold brew.

So, iced coffee is just literally just iced coffee, but cold brew is a method, flash chilled is a method, and nitro is a combination of those things.

Jimmy G: Yes.

Nate: So, cold brew just steeps overnight, cold water. Flash chilled is a lot like drip coffee, but it's chilled over ice immediately, gets a little bit of a different flavor profile. And so, that's your-

Jimmy G: What do you like best?

Nate: Oh, man.

Jimmy G: If you're going iced, what are you doing?

Nate: If I'm going iced, I'm going flash chilled, just because cold brew has a ton of caffeine, and I drink enough coffee throughout the day that I need to kind of-

Jimmy G: Pace yourself a little bit.

Nate: ... do it in a smooth ramp up.

Jimmy G: I think I'm with you. I like a good cold brew, because it's mellow, and usually fairly chocolatey.

Nate: Yep.

Jimmy G: And it, like, if you really need that swift kick in the pants-

Nate: Oh, she'll get you going.

Jimmy G: ... some cold brew in the morning doesn't hurt.

Nate: Yeah.

Jimmy G: But flash chill, if we're going for flavor, flash chilled, to me, just kind of represents what that hot coffee would taste like if it weren't in iced form. All the acidity is still there, the body is very much like a hot coffee, whereas cold brew kind of has like this thicker, more rich.

Nate: Totally.

Jimmy G: Yeah, I just, I love what characteristic you can get just from a different brew method.

Q: So, let's pause right there. Episode one, Coffee &, powered by Acme Radio. We're going to circle back on that. That's good stuff, because I want to know how you, as a roaster, how do you decide what to cold brew?

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I was thinking about this over the break, when we took a little break. I want to ... Okay, so we demystified coffee. We made it clear and easier for people to understand. So, give me a brief summary. So, cortado is small, but you got macchiato, which is a-

Nate: Little smaller.

Q: ... little smaller.

Nate: Yeah.

Q: Break that down one more time for me, and then I'm going to segue. I want to talk to Jimmy. I got a question for him, because he talked about cold brew, and flash chilled, and iced coffee. Because iced coffee, cold brew, it all sounds the same to me, but it's different-

Nate: Yeah.

Q: ... right? All right, so-

Jimmy G: No, but we'll talk about it.

Q: All right, all right, all right. So, talk-

Nate: Yeah. As simple as I can make it, you walk into a Mexican restaurant and you're like, oh, what do I want? You're like, oh, I want a taco, no, I want a burrito, but it's all, it's all pretty much, I don't want to oversimplify a Mexican restaurant, because I love me some Mexican restaurants, but it's all the same stuff, just different proportions.

Jimmy G: Different shapes.

Nate: Different shapes, but it's like, I want carne asada, I want hot sauce, I want cilantro, I want onions and cheese. All right, so those are my ingredients, how much do I want? How much do I want? Do I want a taco? Do I want a burrito version of it?

Jimmy G: ... that in street taco form, or-

Nate: Totally. It's like walking into a Mexican restaurant and ordering a latte.

Q: Okay. All right. That, I feel comfortable now. So, next time I walk into a coffee shop-

Nate: Order a-

Q: ... I'm just going to pretend I'm in a Mexican restaurant.

Nate: Just order a carne asada taco.

Jimmy G: Q's going to order a cortaco.

Q: All right. So, Jimmy, tell me about this cold brew thing, and why do you decide, okay, what's best for an espresso, what's best for a cold brew, as far as relation to the beans are concerned?

Jimmy G: Yeah, totally. So, certain coffees, we can kind of make our best guess up front what a good application for those would be. We really don't know until we try it out.

So, for cold brew, I typically have coffees in mind that aren't really bright, they're not super light roasts with, you know, acidity, like a ... you know, whether it's citrus-ey, or just like super stone fruit type of, you know, I guess the word I'm looking for is complexity.

Because a lot of those flavors come out because we're applying heat to the coffee to brew that coffee. So, if we've got a cold brew, you're kind of wasting all of the good characteristics of a coffee like that.

Like, typically, coffee's from Kenya are really complex, they're really bright. You could describe them as sparkling, as far as like the acidity goes. So, you would completely dull out everything that's special about that coffee if you decided to cold brew it. Does that make sense?

Q: Yeah, it does.

Jimmy G: Because you're not activating any of the really special parts of that coffee.

The same can go for espresso. If you've got an espresso base for, say you're going to add 10 ounces of milk to that to make a 12 ounce latte, you probably aren't going to want to use that really light, delicate, bright, acidic coffee for that, because it's either going to just taste like a bunch of milk with a little bit of sour coffee in it, or you won't taste any of that coffee at all, you're going to lose it completely.

So, when we're thinking of espressos that are going to go into, like, all of our, they're going to be the base of all of our cappuccinos, all of our iced lattes, that coffee needs to be really well developed, has to be roasted, you know, a little bit darker, and not be super acidic. Because you want something a little more rich, something a little more robust, so that when you add all this milk to it, it doesn't disappear completely, and people are like, where'd my coffee go?

So, those are kind of some of the things from a roaster's standpoint that I'm thinking about, as far as brew methods go. But like I said, you really don't know until you try. So, that's kind of the fun experimentation side of things, is yeah, that coffee tasted really great in the V60. I wonder what it would taste like on the espresso bar, you know? And we can change our espresso recipe to highlight what's special about that coffee.

So, we offer a single origin espresso as well as our house blend espresso. The house blend is what goes into all of those beverages that we just talked about. The single origin is meant to be enjoyed on its own. So, we can use some of those really light, bright, sparkly coffees for the single origin, because we're not adding any milk to it, we're just changing the espresso recipe, we're changing the way that we pull that shot so that we can really get everything good out of that coffee.

Did I get too far in the weeds there? Did that make sense?

Nate: No.

Q: No. No-

Jimmy G: Okay.

Q: ... that was great.

Jimmy G: Cool.

Q: That was great. Nate, you got anything on that, from barista perspective?

Nate: From a barista perspective.

Q: How do you make people comfortable with understand that when they're walking up to order that kind of option?

Nate: Yeah, I think the biggest hurdle people have when they walk in is there are so many options for what to try, and they're in line, and they're like, nervous about it.

And so, just asking your barista, like, hey, what do you have on drip today? What are the differences? They're going to be able to tell you, like, oh, that's going to be a medium roast, tons of body, or that's going to be a single origin light roast. It's going to be super bright, really fruity. If you don't like that kind of coffee, I'll steer you in this direction.

Like, your barista's going to definitely be able to help you figure out what you want. And if you're like, I like sweet coffee, they're going to help you decide what kind of coffee you're going to want to drink that morning, and it could on espresso, it could be on a pour over, it could be on batch brew, but just knowing what you like about coffee, and kind of exploring that, and just being upfront with your barista, like, they're going to help you find, like, oh, dude, I've this Ethiopian today. If you want to try something crazy, you should, like, this one's really fruity, but if you're wanting to explore, I got you. Like, just ask questions.

Q: Yeah.

Jimmy G: Yeah, that's the best part of being a barista, is figuring out what somebody actually wants, and helping them get it.

Nate: Yep.

Q: I think what's cool, too, about Nashville, no matter what coffee shop you go to, you don't feel like it's like the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld, and then when you get up to the counter you're like ... You know, it's people that make you feel welcome, they make you feel comfortable, and you know, make you feel important, too. So, those are three dynamics I feel like the coffee community of Nashville has really done a great job at exploring, and making sure that customers feel okay when they come into a coffee shop.

Nate: Yeah.

Jimmy G: Totally.

Nate: And Nashville has so many coffee shops right now.

Q: Okay.

Nate: Like, so many. It's just exploding all over the place.

Q: What are some of your favorites?

Nate: Jimmy, where you been drinking?

Jimmy G: I've been going to Retrograde an awful lot. That's a newer shop. They just opened in East Nashville, corner of Douglas and Dickerson. I love it because it's a block from my house, and they've got great coffees, and everyone in there is super on their game as far as pulling sweet espresso shots. And I usually just get a batch brew there, and a shot of espresso, but yeah, they're doing great things.

They're a multi roaster, so I get to try coffees that aren't necessarily in Nashville already, which is really cool, because we've got so many great local roasters, it's nice to have somewhere where you can go and try some other flavors from other states.

Q: Yeah, local roasters kind of ties in to the local musicians. It's like the same person when you go in the coffee shop.

Jimmy G: Oh, totally. Yeah, everybody's got theirs, everybody's roasting coffee, everybody's brewing coffee, just like if you go to a concert, yeah, there's bands there, and they're all playing music, but that's not all the same band, it's not all the same music. I think that's the cool thing about this, is we get to celebrate each other's differences.

Q: Cool. What about you, Nate, what's your go to besides us?

Nate: Man, my, besides us my go to is definitely Crema.

Q: Okay.

Nate: I just love, I love the hang, I love the coffee. They care so much about every aspect of it, and it just feels like a ... I mean, if 8th & Roast is my second home, I guess Crema would be my third home. And they just love it, like, they love what they do, and you can tell when you walk in.

It's not near my house. Everyone knows coffee tastes the best a block away from your house, so I'm very jealous of Jimmy and his Retrograde connection. I have to drive any time I want to get coffee. But yeah, Crema kills.

But there are so many, everyone has a neighborhood shop in Nashville. With how many shops are opening up, I swear, like every day-

Jimmy G: Seems like it.

Nate: ... everyone's got one that's close to them. There's a whole area in Wedgewood-Houston where there you've got Falcon, Americano, and Humphreys Street all in this little like block. You can just go hit three coffees in 20 minutes, which is so cool, and they're all so different.

Q: That's a lot of coffee.

Nate: That's a lot of coffee.

Q: That's good though. All right, we're going to pause right there, and we're going to be back. Acme Radio, episode one, Coffee & with 8th & Roast, Nashville. We'll be right back.

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Q: Welcome back. So, we talked about who we are. We talked a little bit about what goes behind each person's position, and we kind of demystified the menu itself, made us understand that, you know, a taco is like a cortado, in funniest terms.

But, you know, in this final portion of our podcast we want to kind of plug some other places that are doing cool things around the City of Nashville, and also plug ourselves, because we do a lot of interesting things that I think the community is very excited about.

And I think in our next podcast we're going to kind of take some questions from the community itself. So, if you got any questions, if you got any kind of ideas, or things that you're thinking about, you can email us at info@roastinc.com, and we're going to star a little mailbag segment in our next podcast, if the lovely Acme Radio, you know, will have us back.

Anyway, so take it from here, Jimmy. I knew you, you told us about Crema. Crema does some cool classes on Wednesday and Saturday - what are they doing over there?

Jimmy G: Crema does classes really consistently Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. You'll just want to head over to their website and reserve a time slot. The topics include the basics of espresso making 101, milk science 101, what do you know about milk science, Nate?

Nate: Milk's heavy on the science.

Jimmy G: That's right, that's right, lot of neutrons, I think. Advanced espresso making 202, latte art, great pour overs at home, taste and evaluations, and this one, I think we might have to get tickets for this one, origins of chocolate and coffee.

Nate: Whoa.

Jimmy G: That sounds really fun.

Nate: That sounds cool.

Jimmy G: These classes are all about $35, but they're super in depth, and super worth it. So, check those out.

Honest Coffee down in Franklin, they do a three-part barista class. It's kind of like a barista certification. So, if you're looking for a barista job, this might be a great way to get your foot in the door. The next dates for these classes are April 15th, April 17th, and April 19th, and it is a three-part series. So, you'll want to make sure that you have all three of those dates clear.

8th & Roast, who's that?

Nate: What's that?

Jimmy G: We do two classes every month. March 28th is our master class, and we're doing latte art. So, we will have some baristas who are far more qualified than me teaching some pretty cool latte art designs, and our goal is to get you to at least be able to pour a heart by the time you leave, so ...

Q: I feel like latte art classes, I see a lot of single 22 to 32 year old guys that come in there, who want to just kind of show off for their girlfriend when they get home.

Jimmy G: Oh, you know what that is, though, they want to learn how to pour a heart, get a job at a shop, and then get a girlfriend at the shop by pouring the heart.

Nate: It's the biggest flex.

Q: If you're that guy though-

Jimmy G: Super flex.

Q: But latte art is like, it's like, it's a cool thing to know how to do if you're not even a barista at a coffee shop. Like, if people come over to your house, and hey, you want a coffee? And you make some dope latte art, that's like, everybody's going to talk about it. I was at Nate's house the other night. He made me some latte art. You know? It's like, damn.

Nate: Everyone knows that if a barista pours a heart, he likes you, or she likes you.

Jimmy G: It's true.

Q: But it's just another level. It's like, oh, my God, he made dinner for me, he had some dope desserts, but you know what was really sexy? He made some latte art. That's a game changer.

Nate: Made some coffee at night. Love that. I didn't sleep.

Jimmy G: Coming up on April 16th at 5 PM we're just doing a super laid back roast Q&A. So, if you got any burning questions about coffee roasting, or, I don't know, folk music, show up, ask whatever you want. It will be a pretty laid back good time. That's 5 PM at our Charlotte location.

And then we're doing a master class the following week, Thursday, April 25th, where we're doing kind of a more in depth look at the roasting process. That will be $30. You get to take home a free bag of coffee with you.

I think that's, for the most part, what we had on the coffee radar for April. Can you think of anything else going on in town, coffee wise?

Nate: I haven't heard of any, like, throw downs or anything, but we'll keep you posted.

Jimmy G: Yeah, and definitely let us know, too, if there's, if you have a coffee event, or you are going to a coffee event, and you want us to talk about it, let us know. Feel free to reach out to us, info@8thandRoast.com.

Nate: And hit us up on Instagram too, 8thandRoast. DM us if you got questions. We're not a coffee shop without customers, and we're definitely not a podcast without listeners, so hit us up if you got questions. We want to kind of focus this. What do you want to listen to. We want to know what you're wondering about, and we will do our best to answer it.

Jimmy G: Yeah, because otherwise we're just kind of stabbing around at the dark-

Nate: Totally.

Jimmy G: ... like, stuff that we like to talk about, so-

Nate: And no one cares.

Jimmy G: No one cares what-

Nate: No, what do you want to listen to?

Jimmy G: Yes.

Nate: Tell us.

Q: All right, folks. Thank you very much. Episode one, Coffee &, powered by Acme Radio. On behalf of Nate and Jimmy, my name is Q, and we'll see you guys next time

Jimmy G: Later.