The One That Has Insight. . .

Traveling = Insight.

Traveling gives you insight into why you left on the trip, why you chose to go to your destination, why you chose not to choose a destination at all, why you postponed the trip for so long, why you don't do this more often, and most importantly traveling gives you insight in to you and your bubble of existence, perspective into what you're missing in your bubble. Granted, this is all my opinion and why I travel, and my God, it's liberating. I believe the most liberating thing about traveling for me is the plunge into the unknown. Every single time I have taken that plunge I have emerged with a new sense of self discovery than before I jumped.

Let me explain. When I was 18 years old I walked into the Santa Ana train station and asked for a one-way ticket to the furthest away destination, which happened to be Atlanta, GA for $105. That trip, I learned what it meant to be a grown up, what racism truly was, what it was like to travel alone, what life was like outside of Southern California and how the rest of the country viewed Californians, how to trust the kindness of strangers, and how to take chances. When I was 22, I traveled to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and so on; I learned what Yankees were to Southerners, I learned what it was to live and work in different states, what real winters were like, what it meant to be on a trip as someones wife, and most importantly on that trip, how to be one among many in a family. At 24, I took one of my many drives across the country on I-10, and I saw our purple mountains majesty and amber waves of grain; I learned how to ask for help, how to to keep long distance friendships, how much I loved books on tape, what it meant to grieve a divorce and find places I wanted to see in the country and most importantly how to embrace change and love from a distance without reservations or conditions. These are just a few trips that I've made in my short life, but the lessons I've learned about me and my passions are irreplaceable, I've learned most importantly, to thine own self be true.

So, with that being said, here on this journey up the west coast, I left Modesto, and headed straight into Oakland. I am not too familiar with Oakland, but I knew there was a Blue Bottle there where I could pick up some good beans, I was out and in need of coffee to brew on the road. I had never been to an actual Blue Bottle location before, so I was uber excited! Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed with the visit.

One thing I cannot stand about the coffee world is arrogance. Specialty coffee should be approachable to all people, regardless of their coffee knowledge, and my road dog, Chris (until this trip), was anything but a coffee person. We walked into the shop, no one greeted us, and when I inquired about their offerings and single origin espresso for the day, the staff seemed irritated that I was interested in the coffee, and the shop was not busy, not that being busy is an excuse for frustration, but hey, I'm a barista, I understand. However, when your shop is slow and someone is actually interested in the coffee, that should be an invitation to talk about coffee with passion, not pretencion. The coffee was good, but not great, and in my opinion, it has everything to do with the experience. I truly believe that you can serve the best coffee in the world, but if you're an ass, it's going to taste mediocre at best. Your coffee can be good and not great, but if the experience is amazing and you feel good about the coffee, it's going to taste incredible, because the experience was incredible! This experience, was disappointing, and therefore, made the coffee disappointing, especially since Blue Bottle has such an amazing reputation for great coffee.

I bought some beans, the Oaxaca, which were wonderful when I brewed them at home, and departed onto our next location. When we got in the car, Chris looked at me and said, "I don't think you should work there". When I asked why he responded, "those guys were jerks, total DB's, you're better than that, you still like coffee", when I heard that I giggled a little, and thought to myself, "yeah, Blue Bottle is one of the 'best' but do I want to work with people like that?". The staff was, well, apathetic. When I turned in my resume, it seemed like a huge inconvenience. I reserved final judgements, because I knew there were a few more locations in SF that I wanted to hit, so I told Chris, not to fret, maybe that location was a fluke and we'll have a better experience at the next one.

Next on the list? REMEDY!!!

Super exciting, before we left Oakland for Sacramento, we stopped at Remedy Cafe, which serves Ritual Coffee Roasters, again, I had tasted Ritual before, but never been to a shop that served them, so I was again, excited! Pleasantly surprised, I had by far the best shot of "regular" espresso there! SO delicious! The beautiful young lady behind the counter was friendly, welcoming, and when I handed in my resume, she was engaging and most of all welcoming. She asked questions about where we'd been and where we were going, what coffee we enjoyed, how the trip was! Excellent customer service and she was engaging  while she dialed in the espresso, tasted it, then pulled another shot for me to drink. I think the one of the most important skills of a baristabev, she kindly asked me, "how was your espresso?", she took such care in preparation of that espresso, and was so proud when I told her it was absolutely delicious and perfectly pulled.

I drove out of Oakland and my faith was renewed in baristas all over. My stomach, unfortunately had just realized there was no food in it, and way too much coffee!  We headed further north towards Sacramento, and at that moment, when I saw that the bay was to my left, that the temperature had dropped, and that I'd been away from home for over a week, that this was still the beginning of what was to become the most insightful journey of my life thus far.... and how appropriate that the next shop on the list, was Insight Coffee Roasters, Sacramento, CA......