Great churches have great coffee. It can be a difficult task figuring out what ‘great coffee’ actually means. The palate is complex. That is why some people prefer some food or drink to another. Coffee, however, has to be the common ground (see what I did there?). What if we had an empirical point of reference? I have spent many years and with humility, submit my findings. You have great coffee when:
Prejudice
You know your coffee is great when you don’t even question coffee as the drink of choice. I’m talking whole room gasp followed by pin-drop silence at the request of drink such as tea. (Maybe I should’ve written that as t@%). Could it be; that people keep asking for tea or other beverages is a sign that the coffee isn’t great?
You have great coffee when the question asked is, “How do you like your coffee?” not “What would you like to drink?”
Note: this does not apply to good ol’ water. Coffee and water is all the drink needed.
Drink
This is an obvious one. I wasn’t sure if should include it. After much deliberation with the research team, i.e. me, we had no choice but to include it.
You know you have great coffee when people actually drink it. I’m talking about that second or third cup, maybe even maybe even emptying the flasks or coffee pots.
You know your coffee is great if people hang around after the service, and drink it. When baristas don’t have a moment to themselves till the doors close: that is great coffee.
The Geeks’ Test
The ultimate coffee connoisseurs are the geeks; hands down. Your church tech team is the ultimate expression of coffee sophistication. Geeks, after all, are the ones who’ve hit most of the coffee spot in your city or community. You thought it was just for the free Wi-Fi. You were wrong. This is so important that they don’t dabble. They do all the hard work of research, tasting and even attempting their own roast.
When geeks say the coffee is great, the coffee is great. Tip: you might not have all the volunteers you need on your team because your coffee doesn’t make the grade. Getting great coffee could have fruits of better volunteer retention and happiness.
Consensus
There’s always going to be that one person. I’m talking about the one whose standards are rarely ever met. Great coffee obliterates complaints from those kind of people. You have great coffee when complaints about it are a rarity.
Say So
One of the best indicators of great coffee is when people actually say so. Have you asked them lately?
Sean Leacy says
Props to the Chemex in the photo!
Hands down the best way to make coffee! I will gladly fight you all to the death on that one 😉
Blessing Mpofu says
Probably one of the only coffee making method I’m yet to try. How does it compare with aero press?
Sean Leacy says
It’s a different style of coffee. The Aeropress (which I love as well and use primarily when I travel) brews a sort of psudo-espresso where the Chemex is a pour-over brewer that makes an incredibly clean cup of drip coffee. Both have their places in the daily life of a coffee drinker. I prefer the Chemex because it’s easy to make the amount of coffee I prefer to drink each morning.
Blessing Mpofu says
Hmm… will look into that one of these days. Thanks for the advice 🙂
Eric Dye says
What makes for great coffee?
Passion in the preparation.
Sean Leacy says
All the preparation in the world will not make a cup of off-brand Folger’s decaf “great coffee”.
*gag*
Blessing Mpofu says
Yuck. Decaf coffee is an oxymoron ?
Eric Dye says
If you’re passionate about making your coffee, you’d never pull that off the shelf. ;P
Sean Leacy says
Not a lot of passion for coffee in most churches I’ve attended. I used to go to one where they would buy the off-brand in bulk and refill in to a large Folger’s tin… as if it was an upgrade. /smh
Blessing Mpofu says
I wonder how that impacted their growth ;P
Blessing Mpofu says
All the passion in the world couldn’t fix bad quality coffee. Step 1: get a decent quality and roast ?
Eric Dye says
If you’re passionate about making your coffee, you would be using a decent quality roast. ;P
Blessing Mpofu says
True that, TRUE that 🙂