I Owe You a Little Catch Up Post

Look, I honestly am not even sure who reads my blog.  But I know one thing is for sure - it looks like I have been ALL OVER the place.  And well, you are right.

A lot has happened within these past several months.  Let's review shall we?

September: Move from Southern California to Charlotte, North Carolina (Could I be any further?)

January: Move to Oslo, Norway for a couple months to hang out with some of the best in the coffee sourcing industry at Nordic Approach

March: Swing by the states for a week to make sure I still have a puppy and a boyfriend but mainly a puppy.  Good. They are both still there. Then I return to Oslo.

April: Return from Oslo and fly straight to Seattle for the coffee industry's largest event, SCA Expo in Seattle.  I am not social at evening events since I am falling asleep at dinners (thanks, time difference.)  Then I finally fly back to Charlotte where I regroup mentally and physically and remember I am now, somehow, part of the team at Nordic Approach.

Let's Rewind 

But to explain where I am today, I should probably take you back to my lonesome apartment in Killeen, Texas circa 2014.  My boyfriend had sent me a book as a gift called Coffee: The Guide to the Bean, the Beverage and the Industry.  While he didn't realize it at the time (and heck - neither did I) it would lead me down a never-ending road to coffee - all the way to Oslo.

You see, there was a concept that was first introduced to me in that book - green coffee sourcing.  Buyers were traveling to remote places in foreign lands to find good coffees and meet interesting people and see interesting things along the way.  That alone is what made my heart yearn to better understand the beginning of coffee's journey.

But I thought - as I sat there in that dark apartment after another long day of news reporting - that I would never really find myself in that world.  I didn't know anything about coffee and that entire world seemed so far away from the people I surrounded myself with and what had been my reality those past five years.

But when you are really passionate about something, you find yourself making decisions that lead to your passions - no matter how subtle or how subconscious they are.

It's like the moment I decided to start a coffee blog - even though there were and are better ones out there I'm sure.

It's like the moment I asked the barista what is coffee? And the other 100 dumb questions after that one.

It's like the moment I realized I really wanted to know where coffee came from and I made my first trip to origin happen. #PuraVida

It's like the moment that when I moved to a new city and decided I wanted to learn how to make coffee and started working as a barista. 

It's like all of these little moments leading up to the big ones - like where I said yes to move to Norway to better understand something I've always longed to understand.

Coming Up

So, to say my blog has taken a back seat is an understatement.  But I am excited because these past several months have taught me much more than I could possibly imagine about coffee and I can't wait to share with ya'll. 

I am going to go beyond coffee shops now. We are going to talk about some home brewing and coffee gear, as well as travel tips and stories and things I learn along the way. I may throw in some videos in here and there as well :)