I love collaborating with coffee roasters. Since most roasting companies don't have a mobile unit, they hire Welcome to represent their brand. This collaboration was with Shreebs, an LA roaster. Shreebs is also a coffee catering business with chef paired ingredients for their iconic cold brew lattes like the Horchata Latte and Choco Chili and pour overs.
Photo from Shreebscoffee.com
I was offered a coffee residency from Vega Coffee in Nicaragua.
My stay here in Esteli at Vega HQ was life changing. This will affect the way I think about my everyday life in a substantial way. I was sent down to Nicaragua to teach the farmers about the other part of the supply chain and the trends and third wave coffee culture. I walked away learning so much from them.
They showed me their side of the story. What they do for the world is incredible. They are extremely proud of what they grow, pick, process, dry, haul down the mountain, and even ROAST. There is so much integrity and SO much hard work. This is the start of introducing something that helps the farmers.
The world needs to know that it’s not easy for these farmers to collect a steady paycheck. They rely on middlemen to get their crops exported and expect an even deal, but a lot of the time that deal is not reciprocated.
I love teaching people about my passion- Coffee education has been my favorite thing I've done with Welcome. This was a class I did with a couple of newlyweds. The class started off with a cupping, the universal way of tasting coffee. We then moved into a Latte Art tutorial. THEN! They roasted 8 pounds of their own profile roasted coffee.
The Jam Event is a showcase for all Santa Barbara event coordinators and vendors. It's held every year at the Dos Pueblos Orchid Farm. This is one of my favorite places to pop-up, in the greenhouse.
Suding//Murphy, a real estate firm, had Welcome pop-up for a broker's caravan at The Knoll - a beautiful development designed by Edwards and Plunkett (the guys responsible for the Arlington Theatre). The cart looked like she belonged, perched in front of the mansion on top of the hill next to beautiful redwood trees. I brought mini croissants and blueberry almond scones from my FAVORITE bakery in town called Deux Bakery. Bernie the Frenchie, the manor mascot, was there to provide cuteness and comfort. #puppiesandcoffee
Dos Pueblos has become an amazing event center for artisan pop-ups within the past couple of years. With greenhouses scattered on the property, there are many beautiful spaces to hold fun events in. Homespun has become an annual twice a year event. I was invited to do the coffee at Homespun this time around. I teamed up with Dart Coffee, a local roaster from the Funk Zone. They gave out samples while I pulled shots. As always, it was a fun collaboration with those guys.
Canyon Coffee and Welcome teamed up again for another weekend of LA festivals. It was a huge turn out in Silverlake, with all sorts of talented artists bringing authentic and unique goods to sell. As soon as the machine (Fran) was turned on we had a line non-stop the entire day. Leaving us very little time to hydrate/eat/go to the bathroom. But we LOVED it. It's great to see people excited about what we have to offer; teaming up with MOON JUICE to make Sex Dust and Brain Dust Lattes. And ZenBunni for Hot Cocoas and Mochas. The BEST part about our collaboration was teaming up with EMK Ceramics and selling the beautiful thrown mugs she made.
My partners-in-coffee and I teamed up for another front yard hang out in the Funk Zone for an artist's open house. Dart Coffee, Welcome Coffee, and Carter Paul Wines came together to show the guests our coffee roasting process, while I was making gourmet hot chocolates. Carter was pouring his tasty wine and (secret menu) moonshine as well. Too much fun!
I would like to think that the caffeine I'm providing is going to help stimulate saving the world. I had the honor to be involved in an incredible gathering of 150 people from all over the world: scientists, philanthropists, inventors, artists, policy makers, business leaders, engineers, and more. They met in Santa Barbara following a speech given by General Wesley Clark at the Granada, to discuss their ideas on how they can implement policy change to stop global warming.
I had the pleasure of popping up at the Santa Monica Broad stage for the 44th Annual Nutcracker from The Westide Ballet. Many hot chocolates were made for the kids. The parents loved having the option for a good coffee to sip on. Caffe Luxxe provided the beans for me to serve. Overall, it was a fun weekend to be a part of such a legendary event.
