The official Barista Exchange page of Andrew Hetzel

Fresh off of their Oprah appearance this past Friday, our friends at Zingerman’s were featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition this Sunday, May 11th.

In 1982, Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig opened Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Mich. After 26 years, they have built an empire called Zingerman’s Community of Businesses that Inc. magazine called [...]

The company claims that the new shakes, priced at $2.49 for a 16oz and $2.99 for a 24oz serving, have a “sophisticated flavor that will appeal to coffee and shake fans alike.”

I have a couple of problems with this:

1) It is highly unlikely that any company can serve a product that maintains the flavor [...]

So, as you may have imagined, I’ve been pretty busy these last couple of weeks. Joe Bush of CSP Magazine chronicles the recent Hot Beverage trends symposium that I moderated following the SCAA conference in Minneapolis. It was a productive, fun-filled and yet exhausting weekend. Joe has all of the details:

MINNEAPOLIS – [...]

CSP Magazine published a summary of their annual Convenience Retailing University session, this year held in San Antonio, Texas on February 12-13. I am honored to see my session “C-Store Coffee Success” get coverage in the wrap-up beside Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer and Stephen Covey, motivational speaker and co-founder of FranklinCovey. [...]

MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The nation’s top espresso-makers battled it out Monday to be called best-of-the-best, but it was Kyle Glanville of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea who took home top honors. Glanville won the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) highly competitive 2008 United States Barista Championship (USBC), hosted by Krups. The heated competition took place at SCAA’s [...]