I had the opportunity to attend the Coffee Festival held at the Javits Center in NYC this weekend.  There were over a hundred exhibitors present and about 120 classes and workshops being offered on various topics such as Barista Training, Understanding Espresso Machines, a Tea Sommelier Program, Latte Art Training, and so much more. 

Walking through the exhibit hall, very quickly my backpack and tote bag were bursting with sample bags of coffee, tea, mugs and pastries.  There were dozens upon dozens of vendors offering sample cups of their coffee, tea, espresso, frappe, smoothies, syrups, pastries or juices.  About half the vendors were displaying products such as espresso machines, industrial juicers, coffee grinders, brewers and attendant tools to the trade. 

Since the target audience of this convention was restaurant owners, cafe managers, baristas and other food service industry professionals, there were other vendors present such as printers, label makers, cup makers, cup top makers, plumbers, water filtration, design and construction, billing, management, cardboard cup holders and box makers for portable coffee containers. 

I wasn't taking notes while I was there but did accept all the free stuff they were passing out to people.  Many of the vendors were passing out sample cups of coffee or tea so I don't remember who they were as the evidence of their offerings were quickly dispensed with.  The vendors who gave me free stuff, and if they printed their information on the labels, I can write about them. 

Another thing I learned while speaking to most every one of these vendors is that most of the coffee companies, whether they grow, roast or package, give back to the community in some capacity.  Especially the coffee companies who get their beans from poor communities and countries.  Many of them are proud that they give ten or forty percent of their profits back to the communities and workers who grow the product.   So, here are a few of the vendors:

COUNTING SHEEP COFFEE
Now you can enjoy your coffee in the evening and get a great night's, sleep. Their natural decaffeinated coffee is blended with organic Valerian root to create a great tasting coffee to help you unwind after a long day. 
countingsheepcoffee.com

ASTORIA GENERAL ESPRESSO EQUIPMENT
This was another espresso equipment company demonstrating machines I've never seen in any cafe near me.
geec.com

COFFEE SHOP MANAGER
Coffee Shop Manager is a point of sale system designed to include features such as tablet order entry, integrated online and smartphone ordering, kiosks, loyalty programs and gift cards that make customer service and payment easy.  
coffeeshopmanager.com

DAVID RIO OF SAN FRANCISCO
Based in San Francisco, David Rio crafts and delivers Thai products to customers in over 40 countries.  David  donates a percentage of his sales to an animal welfare organization.
davidrio.com

GOODDRINKS
Offering sauces, drink mixes and concentrates without high fructose corn syrup.
getgooddrinks.com

COEXIST FOUNDATION AMERICA, INC.
You've seen their bumper stickers.  The Coexist Campaign works to reduce conflict in divided communities around the world by creating opportunities for people to work and learn together.  Their hand-picked, fair-trade, organic coffee comes from a cooperative in Uganda composed of Muslim, Jewish and Christian farmers.
www.coexistcampaign.org

THE CHAI COMPANY
This company focuses on chai, using certified organic ingredients, fair-trade tea and fresh whole spices.  They have a variety of tasty products.
chaico.com

LAWRENCE'S DELIGHTS
OMG!  After tasting their product, I waved my finger at them and said "Bad, bad, bad."  Their products were SO good.  Baklava, crumb cakes, lady fingers and brownies were all I could taste before common sense kicked in and said NO MORE.
ebseibess@lawrencesdelights.com

BARTLETT DAIRY/HUDSON VALLEY FRESH
This was a family-owned and operated company and have been serving the tri-state area for over 50 years offering dairy products, bread, juice and more.  They are the distributor of Hudson Valley Fresh Milk.  Although they were not passing out free samples, I did get a bumper sticker from them promoting local milk.
bartlettny.com

ADD A SCOOP SUPPLEMENT
These were interesting products.  Called Smoothie Essentials Supplement, you could use them in practically anything for flavor but they were also marketed for other health related issues such as sleeping better, keeping alert, losing weight, getting a boost, etcetera. 
BoostsSmoothieessentials.com, addascoop.com

DESIGN & LAYOUT SERVICES
Design fit Layout Services works with clients interested in opening a cafe or starting a coffee shop. Services include floor plan design, health department coordination, construction documents, cabinetry and equipment sales.
designlayout.com

DOLE PACKAGED FOODS
More great snack items.
www.dolefoodservice@dole.com

CLASSIC SNACKS
There were several companies offering on-the-go "just add water" cups of oatmeal with dried fruits and other yummy ingredients.  Many of them were marketing to the small cafe who may wish to offer some sort of portable breakfast to their customers.  Some of these companies didn't realize that they could market their product to campers, hikers, bread makers or college students.  If you're a hammer, it is hard not to see everything as a nail.  This company may not have been one of those but, their product was delicious.
brainyoats.com

BIG TRAIN
Big Train provides premium quality gourmet drink mixes, offering an array of products including chai tea, blended ice coffees, coffee free blended frappes, protein drinks, fruit smoothies and more.
big-train.com

1ST LINE EQUIPMENT
They were offering the latest and greatest espresso machines on the market today.  They were passing out samples of Fattobene espresso blend coffee.
www.lst-line.com

DOMINION LIQUID TECHNOLOGIES
Dominion are the makers of Previsto Gourmet Coffee, sauces, smoothies and syrups.
dltdelivers.com

GUITTARD CHOCOLATE CO.
Fabulous rich and creamy caramel syrup you can mix with your drink of any kind.  I'm having a sample in my coffee right now.
guittard.com

HAPPY FEET
This company wasn't giving anything away for free, but, they did let us walk around the convention floor with their product in our shoes.  Since many food and service industry professionals spend most of their time on their feet, this was an interesting product to alleviate many symptoms from a day of walking.  They product is a sole which fits in your shoe and has a liquid which moves around as you walk.  It creates a lifted and massaging feel to your feet with each step.  I have to admit when I took them off, I could feel the difference.  However, for me, I am barefoot 95% of the time and believe strongly that shoes are not good for our bone density, muscle tone, balance and general health.  Since I run on the balls of my feet, these pads wouldn't help me as they didn't pad the toe area.  A nice product with a lot of intriguing claims.
happyfeet.com

CAPPUCCINE, INC.
This company offers 15 unique and delicious frappe flavors.
cappuccine.net

APIS HONEY/UA GLOBAL INC.
This was my favorite vendor there.  Not only did they have a variety of unusual flavors of honey such as Buckwheat, Acacia, Sunflower, May, Multiflower and Linden open and available to sample, they also gave us six jars of their honey to take home.  They took the time to talk to us about Apiary science and the production of honey.  They said that most of the supermarket honey we purchase can have up to 40% corn syrup in it and there is no law requiring them to put that information on the label.  People who use honey as a sugar substitute should be aware of that trick and consider buying from a reputable honey maker in their area.  Apis is 100% pure and with one taste, you can tell the difference.
uaglobalinc.com

3M PURIFICATION INC.
This company was offering a line of water filtration and treatment products for both coffee and food service industries.   My friend Byron was discussing the option of getting one of their products for his home which they said they could do. 
3mfoodservice.com

GIORGIO COOKIE COMPANY
Master crafters of cookies and biscotti.
giorgiocookieco.com

KIND HEALTHY SNACKS
All natural snacks and grain bars.  Delicious.
Kindsnacks.com

BASKETS- N-BAGS
This is a small family business run by a mom who creates hand bags and wallets made out of coffee bean bags.  She does everything herself and I think she said that 40% of her profit goes to three charities in LA, Jamaica and Haiti.   I don't remember because so many of these companies have charity programs designed to give back.
baskets-n-bags.biz

1STPAVPOS
This company offered credit card processing, gift card and loyalty programs whose services a cafe or restaurant can use to process payment and other programs.
www. 1stpaypos.com

There were so many other tea, coffee, packaging, labeling, coaster creators, plumbing distributors, lid-cup-and napkin makers there.  I think one of the more intriguing tea shops was one where they had see through clear glass teapots. They put in a closed bud of a flower used for tea and poured in the hot water.  In about three minutes the flower opened and steeped the most delicious tea.  The flower in the clear pot alone is worth having on your table as you sit in your favorite cafe watching your tea open and brew.

This was a magnificent convention to attend.  It spoiled me as the cafes in my area employ people who work there for the job.  The people running these booths had so much pride in the growing, picking, roasting, packing and brewing of their product.  Some of them even had pictures of the plantations and workers thereof. 

So the next time you have a cup of coffee, is it just that or something which your cafe owner chose because of flavor, point of origin, the soil it was grown in and the people the coffee employs?  Will he know the workers of the field or even know where it came from?  I do, now. 

How to Fold an Origami Dove

HR Will Hire Anyone

If you take a group of people and put them into a meeting and have them talk about something, the opinion of the loudest person or most charismatic person or most assertive person, those are the ones that the group tends to follow.  And yet, researchers have looked at this and found that there is no correlation between being that best talker and having the best ideas.   We are living in a society now that is so overly extroverted.

As we shifted from an agricultural economy to a corporate one, we started to admire people who could be magnetic and charismatic.  These were the qualities that seemed to matter for job interviews and things like that.  In the earlier agricultural economy, our self help books used to have titles like "Character" but then the self help books later on became  books like Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people."  Those were all about teaching us to be more entertaining and more dynamic.   Any trait in human nature has its pros and it has its cons.  For too long we've looked at introversion for its disadvantages and we've looked at extroversion only for its advantages. 

If you look at the birth of Apple Computer, we tend to associate Apple Computer with Steve Jobs who was a dazzling showman.  But the person who really invented the Apple Computer was Steve Wozniak, who was a self identified introvert.  He created this computer by sitting by himself in a cubicle in Hewlett Packard, where he was working at the time, late at night and early in the morning before anyone else was at work.  He worked by himself for months and then produced this amazing technology.  Then he shared this with his friend, Steve Jobs.  Then it was Steve Jobs who said, "We should start a company with this.  This is amazing."  Without Steve Jobs, none of this would have come to pass.  So it was a combination of the solitary person to go off by himself and think in his deep way and then having a partnership between the two.   Introverts and extroverts are really drawn to one another and really need each other. 

Our HR professionals are trained otherwise.  They don't look for who would be the best worker for the company or who could have the most innovative ideas, they look for who can put on the best show or who has the most padded resumé.  In fact, our HR professionals are not experts at reading people or knowing who would benefit the company best.  They at first employ filters to eliminate people they've been trained to deem undesirable.  The application is one of those filtering tools.  Immediately they can judge someone on their penmanship, completion, spelling, where they live, their age, have they ever been arrested, etcetera.  Those who pass that phase are then judged on how they dress, their grooming and their overall health.  Then they are judged on how quickly or effortlessly they can tell you why red is their favorite color or some other question which does not tell the HR person how they can help the company grow or be more profitable.  Fast talkers with good eye contact are favored over those who are deep thinkers and may not be able to articulate an answer to "Tell me about yourself." 

Today, most HR professionals wouldn't hire Steve Wozniak based on his outward appearance and introversion.  They wouldn't even hire Steve Jobs because he didn't have a college degree and most likely reeked of pot. 

Churches are not exempt from prejudice.  When hiring an organist, many will only consider someone who has a degree in music.  Anyone can sit in a classroom for four years but while they were sitting there, someone else may have been honing their performance and technical skills in the real world with real professionals.  Which would better serve the church in a performance position? 

Cameron Carpenter is one of the best organists in the world but a lot of churches would not hire him because he is an atheist, among other things.  Instead, they would rather hire an adequate left footed organist who can tell them what they want to hear or has a higher degree.  That person may not necessarily have the skills to promote growth, inspire participation or minister to the people.  Cameron could fill the church which his dazzling playing every Sunday but churches don't seem to want that.  They don't seem to know what they want.  Of course they want someone who is empathetic and ministerial but you don't learn that by getting a degree and saying you are doesn't make it so.

Churches even run background checks on employees and parishioners to weed out the sinners.  Jesus himself would not be permitted to serve any of today's church for he was a convicted felon, he was often outspoken against the church and he befriended sinners.  Which church would YOU rather belong to, the one Jesus dreamt of or the judgmental one we've created? 

Of course background checks only weed out people who have been caught.  I knew a Roman Catholic priest who used to let his sister use the church credit card because it was tax free.  Of course this holy man never committed a crime because he never got caught so who was he really hurting?  He justified it to me once as "a perk."  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I have a friend who is the manager of a private service business and he only hires felons.  He believes strongly in giving people a second chance.  He also recognizes that no one else would hire these people so he is going to get loyal, dedicated, responsible and creative people who would do nothing to jeopardize this rare opportunity.  Sure, he has problems once in a while but, for the most part his employees are unremitting in their labor to return the favor of employment, trust and respect.  He has zero theft, his employees trust him enough to come to him about their problems and they are eager to share ideas to grow and profit the company.

Conversely, I used to volunteer for a service organization and I witnessed many of the paid employees ripping off the company on many occasions.  One person used to come in every day at 9:30 or 10:00 but sign his time sheet at 8:45 or 9:00.  When the supervisor left around 2:00, he would hang out until around 3:00 or 4:00 and sign his sheet for 5:00.  Of course he wasn't physically stealing money so I guess his rationalization was that it was okay.

Another employee used to play video games all day while another would watch movies on his iPad and yet another would spend most of their time wandering around to other cubicles pretending to be doing work but was just talking to other volunteers and employees.  They all felt they were underpaid; more rationalization.  When caught in the kitchen by a supervisor, the talker would pretend to be cleaning.  When this company was losing their funding and a layoff of the paid staff was imminent, I went in on a Sunday to get a jump on the work that the paid staff was not doing, when one of the paid employees (the video game guy) came in and was surprised to see me.  He went into the back where another volunteer office was and when he left, I was on the phone with my back to the exit.  However, I could see his reflection in my monitor.  He was carrying a painting.  Later I went into the other office to see what was missing and in addition to the painting, I could see there was a clock and a few books removed from the shelf. 

This is the judgement of HR at its best, hiring honest,smooth and extroverted talkers.  I only want to know one thing, who hires these HR people?  It seems they hire anyone. 

Happy Fat Tuesday.

Back in ye olden days, today is the day when the spring thaw begins to creep into our food storage sheds, root cellars and pantry.  The food begins to go bad and so that none if it goes to waste we would have a big party to consume it all.  The church took over the tradition and because it is the day before Lent, a time when you are encouraged to fast, to just eat it all now and get rid of it before it goes bad and to waste. Another reason why people began to fast during Lent was that after a long hard winter, most of our food was already gone and spoiling so, to make people feel better about struggling to survive, they said that they should be fasting, anyway. 

Keys To Your House

I tutor guys at the local library to help them earn their GED's.  All of them are convicted felons arrested for various crimes such as drug use, general thugery, sex offenders and thieves.  Either their parole officers are making them do this or they hope to turn their lives around and get a job.  Until our society "bans the box" that won't likely happen, the economy notwithstanding. 

One of my guys said that his food stamps have been cut (thanks Schumer), he has three children and no income to put food on the table.  I asked him how he provides for them and he said that he "does what it takes."  He said that one of the things he USED to do was go to theater parking lots and look for cars with both a GPS and garage door opener.  He knew the  owner would be at the show for at least two hours and he would break into the car, stealing both the GPS and the door opening.  He would then activate the GPS and if it wasn't locked, would tell it to "go home."  The GPS would lead him straight to the former owner's home and he would park his own car in the garage where he would have about an hour to load it up in the privacy of the garage.  He said he would avoid vehicles with car seats because the generally meant the kids were home with a babysitter.   Although, car seats are valuable on the black market.   He would use Facebook much the same way, to find out when an acquaintance would be out and for how long.

So, things you can do to prevent being a victim of crime:
Write your lawmaker demanding to ban the box.
Write your lawmaker and demand they re-establish the food stamp program.
Ask your employer to give someone a second chance the next time they are hiring.

OR . . .
Don't leave your electronic devices visible in your car.
Enable the lock on your GPS.
Don't set "home" on your GPS to your real home.  Set if for half a mile away or so.
Install an IP camera in your home so that when it detects movement in your house it will email a picture to your phone (although you probably silenced it while in the theater).
Encourage your neighbors to be nosy.
Don't go to the theater.
Have kids but don't take them anywhere.

Where are Our Artists Borne Today?

Having had the opportunity to work with young musicians for a few decades, or more, I have noticed that they are becoming more technical and less artistic.  Although many vocalists do a noble job at emulating their favorite pop singers complete with scoops and runs, they lack the passion, life experience and awareness of the emotive qualities which created those artistic expressions in the first place.   If someone has never experienced pain and loss, how could they effectively sing about, and with those emotions thereby touching their audience who have experienced those feelings?

I accompanied a singer who sang the song "Here I am, Lord."  I asked the singer if he knew who and what the song was about and what the circumstances of the song were and he said that he didn't.  Again, although he performed a nice rendition, it lacked meaning and substance.  When we came to the refrain, I tried to force a ritard and a change in timbre but he wasn't even listening to me and emotionlessly crashed through the transition.  Though, he had nicely placed runs and scoops.

That particular song is about Isaiah, being whisked up to heaven in a dream and witnessing a massive choir of angels singing praise and adoration to God.  Isaiah knows he is a lowly sinner and not worthy to be there but  the overwhelming glory and majesty of the scene causes Isaiah to have a metanoia moment.  God was seeking a helper and it just so happens that He made His plea right there in front of Isaiah immediately after Isaiah was offered forgiveness for his sins.  While God’s righteousness and forgiveness were still fresh on Isaiah’s mind, God says, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Isaiah then bravely musters the courage and says "Here I am, I will go."

How many parents who give birth to their newborn child have had that same moment where they were holding this tiny new miracle in their arms, having a metanoia moment and made the decision to dedicate their life to that child and give them everything?  How many children have lost a parent to a disease and then dedicate their life to promoting awareness and fighting that disease?  How many children lost a basketball game and immediately go home and begin practicing to improve for the next one?  And, how many singers sing this song, devoid of understanding and and its attendant emotion, and how many of their listeners tune them out because they know the singer is not trying to impart a message but is merely a carbon copy performer? 

There are several reasons why our youth are uninspired and are simply copycat technicians.  One of the reasons I'd like to address is that they don't have the performance outlets we used to.  The Beatles claim their success was due to being able to perform from 1960 to 1962, seven nights a week while in Germany.  It was the opportunity to perform night after night where they honed their performance skills, song writing skills and musicianship. 

Many a jazz musician such as Art Tatum and Fats Waller used to play a gig from seven to midnight, then go to another club to play for a few hours more, then hit yet another club around three a.m. and sit in with other musicians until five a.m.  Their life was consumed by music and other musicians and nothing stood in their way to live a life abundant with music and people and experiences.   They sought to live a life of music and not to seek what music could give to them.  They didn't make music because they were happy, they were happy because they made music.

When I was a teen, I was lucky to live near four bars and restaurants whose owners gave me the opportunity to go in and play whenever I wanted.  I was usually paid in free food and wine.  Nobody enforced the alcohol laws in those days.  I wasn't a drinker as my childhood friends could attest for when they stole liquor from their parents liquor cabinets, I rarely partook.  In the bars however, I did drink whatever the customers bought me out of gratitude and respect. 

Being able to play out in a club in front of a live audience was important.  For an improvisatory musician, if you can get a lick out during a live performance, it was yours forever.  One performance was worth ten rehearsals.  Performing coupled with real people in the audience and the interaction between other musicians make a huge difference, too.  While in the bar, if I played "Tiny Bubbles" when Walt entered the establishment, that would yield free pizza or ten bucks in my tip cup.  If I played "If He Walked Into My Life," the bartender would get weepy as it was his mother's favorite song and I'd get a glass of wine or a Mudslide out of that number.  More importantly, when these people two died, those songs held a greater meaning for me and today I play them with great reverence and a sense of loss.  It is those nascent connections which define where artists come from.  It is those emotions coupled with technique and the struggle to overcome emotional roadblocks during performance which give meaning, struggle and purpose to those scoops and runs.  Others copy them from CD's and sing them devoid of root or purpose.  They become mere ornamentation for young copycat singers.

Kids today don't have performance outlets anymore.  Because of DWI laws, smoking laws and a poor economy,  they no longer have these places to cut their teeth and woodshed.  Instead, young musicians imitate those before them who did have those outlets but, the struggle and pain of growth, and paying their dues is gone and they remain mere imitators rather than originators. 

There still are a few coffee houses and cafe's where young musicians can go to sit in or perform but they are far and few between.  If the public were to frequent and support these small clubs, it would give young musicians an opportunity for growth and experimentation.  It is also better for the listener.  Sure you can buy a CD and listen to its perfection in the comfort of your own home but if you attend a live performance, you will be present in the current moment while resonating with the excitement of the performance, you will be fully alive in an aesthetic experience where your senses are operating at their peak, there will be surprises, there are less distractions than at home, you are supporting art and a business, you will be surrounded by other people feeding off the performers kinetic reaction and energy of the performance, the performer will feed off of and respond to your approval and presence.  It will be a win/win/win.   Or, like many of our children, you can be home taking your Ritalin.

Let Them Eat Cake

Chuck Schumer recently brokered a deal with Chobani Yogurt of NY to ship 5,000 containers of "nutritious and delicious" yogurt to the U.S. Olympic athletes - without first making sure he could ship the "nutritious and delicious breakfast" into Russia.  The Russian government already has a ban on U.S. dairy products entering their country and Schumer knew this.  Since the Russians rejected the shipment, the yogurt was distributed to food banks so it didn't go to waste.  One hopes.  When I worked for a Roman Catholic Church, a bakery donated five Black Forest Cakes to our food pantry.  Fr. said that there wasn't enough to give to all the poor so he offered me one (which I didn't take), gave one to his sister, put one out for the volunteer money counters, and took the rest to his camp for future parties and picnics which he regularly held there. 

Back to yogurt, Schumer said, “The Russian Authorities should get past ‘nyet,’ and let this prime sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team deliver their protein-packed food to our athletes.”

I think it is good that Schumer is willing to adopt the Chobani company and seek to get their product distributed around the world.  I'm sure there are no kickbacks or anything illegal going on here.  Schumer is already working on the expansion of a federal school-lunch contract on behalf of Chobani under the banner of “for the children!”  I have to invoke Godwin's Law here and mention that Hitler said you can accomplish anything, even the curtailment of liberty, if you say "it is for the children."  But I'm sure there are no kickbacks or nothing illegal going on here.

Good for Schumer for thinking of the children but he also voted for the $8 billion reduction in food stamp aid and, in New York alone, over 350,000 families would lose about $90 a month in benefits.  This would certainly benefit Schumer's federal school lunch contract since the School Breakfast Program provides cash assistance to states to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions.  Thanks to Schumer, by cutting the food stamp program, there are more hungry children for Chobani to feed.  The children from poor families, who just lost $8 billion in food stamp aid will at least get yogurt for breakfast.  See, it all works out when you get politics involved.

Our Olympic athletes, though not paid, do receive sponsorship money to compete so they are not entirely starving themselves.  Gold, silver, and bronze medal winners get paid by the US Olympic Committee. Gold gets $25,000, Silver, $15,000, and Bronze, $10,000. Other than that, they get paid by sponsors who support their Olympic training and travel expenses. 

Then, of course, there's endorsement money, which can be huge for the big stars. For example, Shaun White takes home over $9 million each year from sponsorship deal money.   Sadly, no free yogurt for him.  How will he survive?  As for the poor children who lost $90 per month in food stamps, let them eat yogurt.