Company Values

So I heard about a "Blend Off" contest at work this week, where employees of The Coffee Chain That Shall Remain Nameless can create their own blend of coffee.

This event was in the works for a while, though my store manager felt like it was one too many things to make working for the company 'fun.' I heard about the event an hour before it took place and tried to get something low-key together.

So I put together a blend of coffees, which consisted of 60% Guatemalan and 40% Kenyan beans. Both coffees have really distinct flavors that work well together and pair well with orange and chocolate. I used dark chocolate orange-flavored Hershey Kisses to go with the blend.

At the meeting, I snickered at the elaborate presentations others made of their blends, though this was to create enthusiasm for our livelihood and a passion for coffee. Some had pencil-drawn logos for their blend and a brief description of the coffee, it's name and it's purpose. I had merely a French Press of my blend, along with a description and a name I pulled out of the air.

My store manager and I snickered to ourselves when one guy took ten minutes just to explain the name of his blend; it consisted of some Italian music terms, references to Shakespeare and the word 'gestalt'. Then he had a medium-sized paste board to feature his logo: a large, abstract painting where it seemed every swatch of color meant something. With all coffee shop stereotypes aside, it's still easy to pick out the art school grads or dropouts.

This guy also had a tray with an elaborate spread of pound cakes and chocolates to go with his blend, which was so many parts this coffee, two parts this other coffee and still more parts of another coffee.

I laughed at this guy because he was enthusiastic and he was taking himself seriously. I saw this meeting as a way to get out of my store for a bit and to be a little creative with coffee. It made me think about how I viewed the company I work for: as a means to an end.

I love coffee as much as the next person but I can't say that it's my life and or that I can't picture myself doing anything else. The uber presenter won the district taste test and is going on to the regional contest on Friday. I guess I'm happy for him but I don't think I could see myself doing the same.