Closing Stories and Final Thoughts

Black coffee This is the Cavoya Coffee podcasting network Coffee people talking to coffee people about coffee and things coffee adjacent This episode of Straight Up is brought to you by Cavoya Specialty Coffee. where coffee is always a collaborative voyage. Welcome to episode four of Straight Up with Sam, Angela, and Lisa talking about life at Cavoya and life in the coffee industry. In this episode, we have a guest in the studio, Melissa Gomes, Cavoya's logistics supervisor Oh Angel Lisa. Welcome to today's episode of Straight Up with your hosts, Lisa, Sam, and. And today we have a special guest. Please introduce yourself special Guest. Hi, I'm Mel From logistics. Mel from logistics. So today we have Mel. What is your official title at Kavoya now My official title at CoVoya is Logistics suupervisor. That's right, That's right We're so excited to have our one of our first guests. No this is our first guest. This is our official. Am I really your first staff guest? Y. Technically. Yes. We did have markark Right. Yes. A in an episode The powers that be God universe said no men on the podcast. And. The podcast didn't record. Okay. I It's the lastost filees. It's because I was in here. Right. Yes. trruly. You are our first guest whichich was spepecial y'all. Yes, yes. Yeah the way we all intended. And this is your second time on APod Yeah. Yeah. You guys had an interview I had about a did's a talk. Okay got a year or so ago. Yeah It feels like a lifetime ago. I know Yeah. So many updates since then. Its been it's been a year. Yeah, especially for Yeah sex, I feel I put it lightly. A lot's happened, yeah. So we thought it would be really fun to start out with one of our favorite collective memories with Mel. hear these. Yeah. so our first guest special question is favorite memory with the guests. Favorite memory. Favorite memory with the guest. And we have a great one. An do you want Yeah, ye She gotversy pire laugh, let's see. Just because it like brings me joy every time I think about this story in the worst way. like everyone loves a good Suffer fast you know? especially ourans. Yeah. So last year for you know, when it was still SCA, we had to go to Houston Uhm You know, for SEA And we thought it was a great idea for all four of us plus Britt to get an Airbnb We were like, we're gonna girl gang this, let's go, girl House. It's gonna be so fun. It was real worldorld Houston. Yes. That was what it was. We found an Airbnb that was like literally two blocks from the convention center around the corner from where we hosted our party. We were like, it wasn't gonna be perfect good to be true. So the flights are late So late, we finally get into our Airbnb. We discover it's literally underneath a rooftop bar. It is a bar. Yeah. It is a nightclub andimon. Like literally like boom You not all night, all n Yeah, I can't be like a favor dist attempt.. That was good. Thanks We roll in. what happens next guys? Oh well, it's communal cry. Yes. What have we done? Is there a hotel, we can stay out. Pretty much How can sleep. Despite whether it was because of the rooftop bar or what? like there's a leak in the ceiling. Literally into a bed, which a whole bed The whole bed, like mattress needs replacing all of the things. And it was crazy, although not in Mele's room. My girlot in my room took a shower and went to sleep. She still really did that. And I good room selection hers. What it is is I don't have trouble sleeping R anyywhere. Yeah. you could sleep with like any amount of n. I'm the kind of person that falls asleep in like Five seconds. Yeah. I never have an issue falling asleep. I never have issues staying asleep. If I do, it's a very rare occasion I can coign that because we were roommates for our work the retreat. I was toing at my through that. And you were like, I never heard you up at all. And I was like, it's so great..ome Yeah. Mll was just so chill. She was like, I'll just take this room. and we're like, it's so loud in there. you were like, it'll be fine. I meanwhile,re dragging mattresses to the quietest room. so we can try to get some sleep It was was brutal. I know. That's what we get for trying to. Re world it Truly you know? Yeah, learn the lesson. Book the hotel. Yes. Yeah. Let's say yeah Mels sense of peace. So I wish it was more contagious maybe at that time, but it's just one of the most admirable and things that I remember from that time was just like Everything's in chaos, but Mel's calm cool in. like That literally explains why he He pretty much work with us. Not to be seen until the next morning. You're just very much like, All right, let's go. Yeah. I think I think yeah, I've adapted that in my adult life. I think I panicked a lot when I was younger, but I'm learning to be more chill and just Yeah, because there's a lot of things it's just out of your control. So like ye What's the point about Yeah. Billing your energy. Yeah. sure. I mean, that being said, there are things to froth about. Yes.arah. You know Yeah Sarah, you're officially back from maternity leave. I am back from maternity leave. Tell us about your first day back. My first day back was a little u callall it. Obviously very sad to leave my sweet little baby She's with my mom. It's like she's good, she's fine But I'm going back to work and that sucks like having to get up and go to Providence every day and all of the things. So I'm like, okay I leave my house, the tears are coming, whatever. And so I decide like a good millennial Gen Z Cusper, I'm gonna get myself a little treat I'm going to go. a drive through and I'm gonna myself up Yeah with a little breakfast before I go into the office. Tell us didid go to Dung and Donuts, which is Don't cancel me. really Duck. I do too. It's Rhode Island. Yes. Yeah. New England, Rhode Island, cllassic. I work first job. My first job, your first job too, right close to it Dunkin Donuts? Yeah. As a teenager. Yes, actually. Yes. One of my first jobs, yeah. Oh, golf It's like a rite of passage. If you grow up inew England, you're going to work a dung donuts in your teenage time. Yeah. But so I go and Essentially what happens is my credit card gets declaed And I'm like, well, that's weird. It is the first of the month. I'm like, okay, not proke I promise. I'm not proke promise, but also maybe I am. My mortgage came out. Maybe my mortgage came out and you know, and I gotta shift some things around. whatever, Nope, not the case. Turns out my credit card had expired the day before. No. Liter odd the day before. Which was better adult I would have known and would have dealt with ahead of time. but That's not the point of this story. But so I'm talking to the ladies in the drive through and I'm like, o, showing them pictures of my baby. I'm like, o, I'm going back from a maternity, the whole thing. And then my car gets declined. And they're like, okay, so I try another one, that also gets declined, whatever. So I'm giving them multiple cars Not even. I'm just being friendly And then they're like, no, none of these cards work. I'm like, I don't have cash. or they're like, okay, we'll take that back, please. Ohain, I do not believe this. Yes, I was like That is so cut though, there's no like nothing. You know pay a payroll Yeah girls fucking C it, youre paycheck. I'm like when I worked in Dubkin in my day, we wouldt let it slide. Absolutely because you're not A Fank? Right. And all love and respect to the Dungan R in American. But yeah. so I'm like, all right, I'm stking out. And then then what happened? Oh, then I get to the parking lot and I got a new car over my maternity leave. Oh con. Thank you. Mom car. We' been in a rav for. That's a good car It's very safe hybrid, yes. We're all about the longevity here Okay, I need a new sticker that even gonna let me park in our lot And I talked to Steve, shout out Steve in the parking lot ahead of time and And he're like, Yeah, Steve, I'll give you a new sticker. I'm like okay. He is not there on Mondays. Mondays yes. And I forgot. So I'm like, he' there. And they they sense my panic. I'm like, I work a coy around the corner. Please let me park here. And so they do. Thankk God. And so, okay, I'm like, It's all gonna be fine. Like we struck out twice What more could possibly happen? Until I arrive at the Cavoy office stors and it is eight hundred twenty six. ninety degrees already? Literally And I go can't get into the Damn building. I go, what Why? And so I texted Ethan and I said, I'm like, what time does this thing open? He's like eight thirty. I'm like, you know I have not looked at my work back since February Yeah at this point U And so I'm like, I don't know where my fob is, whatever. I have no money to go get myself a little treat where I would otherwise just go to a little city and like, all right, I'll grab a coffee, whatever, whatever. Well, they would have absolutely let you make a tab. It was I was already douted out. I had no more charisma left U And so I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna stand out here and wait for the door to unlock. And I'm like, why isn't anyone sureurely if it were me and my friend texted me on their first day back at work that they were outside the building, I would just come on down and let them in. Right, Given a normal day given a normal day at the office as I remember it on February, whatever day. Yes, twenty twenty six. Yes, whereere is Ethan Not the case. And so as I'm texting him Ethan does not come down. It is why Ethan does not come down That really sends me over the edge If you know me, you know Sam does not do stairs. No If you know Kaboya, you know it's on the fourth floor. If you know the elevator, you know that it's broken. And I am just like He's like, by the way, the elevator' broken. I'm like stonged. brother. You literally should have just turned around. I I'm texting my husband, my m, like literally anybody who even remotely cares, I'm like, guys It's a rap. I was not I no longer work here. It's nice knowing you guys. horrible. So I'm just like, all right, Im gonna I'm gonna walk to the fourth floor, I guess. And I do. And it's fine. And I finally get to drink good coffee again. and it's all lovely when I get up here, but Today drained me in a very real way. And that was how I came back to work. Oh man. S suuper frothy, dude. Very frothy. Even just talking about I'm hot. I'm so. I'm too. so. I would have just burst into tears. It was bly was duck in A that point is like no coffee, no flood. nothing to do about it. Like it just is like D are lot helpless baby. I'm like, how many things have to be happening? But again, Lisa's on vacation this week. I'm like mys not even everybody here Welcome you with big arms. I'm sorry. ' complaining, I come up. It's only Eric and Ethan and Charlie in the office and I'm like, guysys, we this bys club. They're like, where the ladies No ha. like. Yes. Do you get like a ad very much. Hey, welcome back. Charlie, lovely, obviously. Everybody's lovely. weelcome back, but I'm likebody nobody at that time was listening to my froth session. and that's when I really needed it. My God But anyway, so that's just the tip of the iceberg. and then I found out that CTI. U What's going on there? M, please tell us about it. Oh my go, I wish I knew. So as you guys all know, CTI is going through a system change for the past two and a half weeks ish Yeah and for content it feels like is what our major warehouses. CTI is one of our major warehouses and they've consolidated with RPM. so they're all transitioning to the new system, which ANX was the first out of the bunch And for them, I think it went fairly smoothly. You know, it's different for everybody, but for CTI, we seem to be having A little bit of more of a lag in processing orders. and they sent an update today that I sent to sales team before this meeting up there. aboutb five to six business days behind. Previously it was like three to four and we were like, Oh, it's getting better. Yeah. it's getting worse. Yeah, they initially had said two to three, but it was more so on the fourish side And then it's yeah it's just getting longer. Now it's just getting longer and it's just very chaotic. So a lot of like asking for updates and trying to keep customers in the loop actually trying to let them know like what's going on and Like what is happening? Yeah. I do feel like this is a once in a career lifetime event. I pray feels that yes, this doesn't happen again. Yeah, for sure because this is a lot. It's very stressful and A lot. Yeah. ye Day one was like confusion on everyone's end Day three was like, okay, I think we've got a flow going and currently it's like Wow. What is happening? Like we're sorta of line, but not really. Yeah. And I think I'm just trying to be like positive and Marina's like, on it about all the things Oh my gosh. And I reallyci She is sending out to my customers. I'm like girl. Yeah. The whole department is just buzzing. Yes. Yeah. It's a huge distruuction for're all involved It really is. And now we're talking about doing another communication planned to customers. Yeah, that's an email that's in my inbox. My name taged. So's a lot. Yeah. I thought it'd be good to let the customers know the new update. I mean, a lot of the customers that order regularly are in the loop and adding the cushion into their planned for the delay You know, there are some stragglers or people that don't expect this much time that are just panicking, which is understandable. A lot of them are small roasters so they don't have space to hold the product. As soon as they get it, they want to roast it. So if they finish their last lot, they want their new things like yesterday. I understand that. so. Right now we're just trying to get through the storm y'all, I know. Hopefully by the time this podcast comes out, it'll be, you know Yes, A distant memory. Yes. yeah. I pray. ye. You guys are doing really good. are. We're very patient with our customers seriously. Which is good. Even Marina, it's like she just cares and wants to do a good job. Yeah.. Absolutely. That's definitely forothy. Very What a frothy episode. Just likey beverages. beverages Our guatemalan beer speaking of Gatemala. Yes.. Our little set trip Yes. Tell us about it. I was also a town Yeah time you were there. I was there. I didn't cp, but were there had the snacks. saw the customers. I saw the customers. I love customers. customers who had to walk upstairs as well. they get me. If you're out there,' sorry So Anna, one of our traders here, she put on this really fun special Guatemalan microlot cupy And it was really, really fun herear in the office. So instead of taking a trip out of the world, you know, people came to us Which is always really special when people come to visit us. That's so fun. Iice to know. We love it. So if you guys are ever in town, please come through We will do something special for you every single time But yeah, she put together this microlot cupping. We have a lot of really fun producer relationships and Techicon and Baa Veripaz. Some Kafeast women producers, other regular men producers U J just awesome to be able to cut them before they go afloat. I actually saw today on a report that some of them went afloat today. Awesome. They're already on their way. So cool And it was great. We had so many roasters come to the office and visit. We had Guatemalan snacks We had Gatemalan beers and clearly a lot of leftover. Guatemalan beers' drinking them right now. And it was lovely. It was just like Yeah, I think it went really well. We had, you know, Grace Note from Boston dririve down Fight coffee Rasters from New Hampshire. Oh wow. Yeah, Rebel Dog from Connecticut. We had our local Providencients. We had Rrian from Goryialis and you recorded, Right? Caitlin and I Y squeezed in an episode before Kaffine. Shout out to that episode. Yes, I'm so excited it to come out. We were in here for so long. She's one of our girlang. Yes, she is. So we were in here for like over an hour Mike was like, al right, after two o'clock, all bets are off. I had to turn the AC back on. So maybe the last leg of that podcast is gonna be a little noisy. But it was just a lovely time and you know, everybody who came came in for that, thank you so much. and I hope you guys loved it. I did That's for sure. I love when the Sip trip is at home. That's nice, isn't it? Y. Yeah. We don't have to go anywhere. There's this one producer. I feel like I love his stuff every single year. It's always one of my favorite. It's Alfredo Alvarez. Oh yes. I think Yeah I c, you know, we were able to get some lots from him as well and they were just nice from Tekickon. That's our little set trip of the week. Yay. That's so fun Y Is that the favorite across the board? Actually, I don't know if there was a favorite. I'm not gonna lie. I was yapping with Caitlin in the majority of the time. I didn't really check in with people and be like, what was your favorite? What was your favorite? We were just me, Sam and Caitlyn were at ch in for a little bit? Ask me always do. A I had some work to do. A couing days. It is work after all. It is Yeah, it was funny though. L of course, out of all the times we decide to actually host something in our cuffing lab. Elevators broken, not just that One of our dishwashers is broken too. We're down bad' down bad. Yeah. Yeah middle of summer.. There's a blessing coming. I know There has to be. There has to be The only way to make it through. I completely agree with you We are walking straight up So stairs. straight up I feel my heartbeat gets back to normal a little quicker every day. even I came in today and just you were like, let's talk. I' like Give me a minute. It's funny, actually, my favorite part about this whole stair situation is Mike I counted how many steps? I did two before I realized he had. I have a different count than he does. Oh really was yours? sixty eight? Well, his is sixty nine. I know. but you must have counted a level that I'm not gonna lie. I was so mad when I saw that on the door. I was the nerve of them to tell me how many steps. I'm not at the gym. I don't wantan to know who did this so Okaykay. talk about overcommunication right. All right So Mel's going to lead us on our Give it to us straight up seg today. Yeah. All right. So for this segment, I came up with over communication versus good communication. especially given the fact what we're going through with continontental and I feel like I'm just trying to get ahead of it and communicate with everyone involved. In our operations, it's many levels of who I have to communicate with the customer, the warehouse, the trucker and anybody else and that may have something to say in between. So it just feels like constantly repeating things, but not necessarily to the same person and it's like, did I tell these people or did I tell these people? everyveryone needs to be in the loop I wanted to pick you guys's brain and ask you guys when you think Over commommunication is helpful versus overwhelming. because we all get inboxes flooded, whether it's work inbox, whether it's our personal inbox. You're tired of hearing about that sleabath and bodywork. you're like alone? You an email. Yeah, I think this is a great conversation of like quantity versus quality. Yeah. I know that Sam has to be the number one person that says all the time,'s too much or it's not enough because you have a good flow from marketing perspective Like just like how many things get clicked and opened and all those So that's probably what will help this conversation is like the data on like, what are people paying attention to? I was gonna to say people are sorting through so much garbage in their inut, whether it's spam or whatever. like it's just there's so much that like I know even again, not to harp on about coming back from maternity leave, but it's like there's so many emails. It's like You have to just delete them all and hope someone reaches out. If it's important, they will follow up kind of thing. And I think that that kind of speaks to over communication versus good communication. I think Reaching out a number of times is fine as long as the point is short and sweet and declarative. You know what I mean If there's no news, there's no news and I don't want to hear it. you know what I mean? Like don't communicate for the sake of communicating if there is something or if it's on a timely cadence, like with the CTI stuff, it's like, okay, well last week they said it was going to be a week A week is now up to let them know it's going to be another week. You know what I mean? Like if we were every day like o, outlook still looks like this or whatever we can't we're not we're not weather people. We're not here to You know, update daily on the same thing. Totally. like it's got to be and people digest things differently for sure. and you know, what's good for one is not good for all, but I think that general rule, like Ke it shart and sweet Brevity is the soul of wit is what comes to my mind as the least like concise person in just regular speaking, but it is just like Getting your message across quickly and effectively, I'm less bothered by the number of times I'm receiving it. Do. And I know that someone like Charlie is always saying over communication is better than no communication. Like if you know a handful of us jump on a sales channel you know, request, he's like atlisa didn't go unanswered. So that's important as well. It's like at least the communication is going out point blank Yeah I remember, I don't know if it was the annex or if it was the beginning of when we first kind of found out that CTI was making this change But right before I had the baby We were talking about this. like it was this has been They delayed it. Yeah They were supposed to do it a few months ago. Totally pushed it back And so we had sent to communication via Eric and Jesse.es. that was like, hey, this is supposed to happen next week, L this is what they're telling us, whatever And then whether it became clear that that was not going to be the case or what have you. And it was sort of the slake we keep sending emails now that it's not happening? It's not happening? It's like we just need we need one more email that's like JK JK. you know Right backack on. No news is good news for you in this case. L if you're not hearing from us, it means that things are business as usual and we'll let you know when there's something happening that will impact your business Yeah Yeah, they must have not been happy to have to say, oh, by the way, we're delaying it for whatever reasons they had. It's like that muddying has such a trickle down effect on R Everybody that, you know, uses them as a warehouse. But that's the point where you just say, hey, part two, we'll let you know. All right. Yeah. Everybody's busy.' dont I would rather hear nothing than hear false promises too, you know, of like, well, maybe this week or maybe in whatever, it's l. What was so wild about when they decided to do it, Not that they knew that this was happening, but I am the center of my universe. I was like, I can't believe this is happening right now I rolled up to Northeast Coffee Fest and, you know, I'm saying hi to people and they're like, Ohh my God, did you hear? CTI is starting our systems changed and we have to get our releases end by this day or else there's going to be a huge delay. And I'm like, Well I haven't even checked my email. O Okay. They were like, yeah, like CTI send us an email and let us know. And it was crazy because it was like the first day of Northeast Coffee Fest and all the roasters and buyers or logistics people who were there were just like on their computers, like trying to get releases in, trying to secure coffee. And I was like I was just walking around. I was like, o my gosh, like what is going on? I'm not looking at my emails now. That is h sure. This is a next week problem. It' crazy. Yeah. It's like our newsroom vibe like Oh, this urgency. But I think that's the advantage of like when you work with us, It's like, okay, like you're offline for whatever reason We always have somebody who will answer those questions and sometimes sometimes it's pulling the short straw or being the bearear of bad news as it were, you know, But it's like, I mean, Mel, you have to interface with people asking questions about this like literally every second And your voice is so good over communication like via email. Yeah. I feel like you like are very to the point You don't give a lot of space for like a thousand inquiries. This is with for sure. because for my POV, I feel like in the logistics world, like silence is dangerous.. And customers if they don't hear what's going on, even if it's not like my POV is different from yours, even if it's not something new Like just knowing that it's taking longer at Continental than we expected, not more than the two to three days. It's now four to five. them just having that heads up G so much more space for them to like not trip outally It's comforting. It's like you're getting a package. you're like I would like to see the whole timeline of where it is. Exactly. If you see Amazon driver just driving around in circles recklessly, you're panicking. However, if you get an email that says, hey, your order' has been delayed, it needs two more days. you're kind of like yeah. Okaykay. Eactly. Someone's doing something and knows what's happening. and I think that' in limbo Yeah Yeah, there's a happy medium with the The over versus good. Exactly. I'm totally like an over communicator. Yeah. I'm a verbal processor. Sorry.ry. okay. So am I though? So it's fine. A verbal processor, I totally over communicate. I probably use more words than I should But when I'm emailing people, I usually let myself blab around the email, Th I do a lot of heavy editing. And I turn everything onto bullet points. And then I'm like, okay, like here's what I need to express. let me get it out of my system. And I was like, o, now let's refine this and figure out what stays and what needs to go But I personally love it when people over commommunicate with me because obviously I have a lot of questions all the time. And so if I feel like I'm not receiving enough information As often as I need it, then I'm gonna be like, okay, question question whichich is a little annoying for the opposite party sometimes, I imagine. So I'm in the camp of like, no, send me updates. follow them. Yes constant pention. I can't wait before. I do from a marketing perspective, like I think that that's why things like account based marketing and like understanding who your consumer is and like how to communicate to them on that personal level because because everyone is so different, you know, It's like, maybe you do want those like constant let me know let me know, let me know. And for me it's like if it hasn't even been shipped yet, you know, like I don't need to know, but you know, let me know and there's something to say I guess for me, like I work with way fewer customers than you know you're marketing for Cavoya as a whole. So you're communicating with tons of people. Mt, you're communicating with so many people My communication list is much, much smaller. So I definitely fine tune my communication style to what I think the other person likes where I'm like, Oh, this person, they're chilling, they don't really care. like they're good. Yeah, they'll pop in my inbox when they're ready. other people. I'm like, okay, Here's your morning update, Here's your afternoon. tomorrow, I'm checking out again. I'm gonna to give you a call as soon as I find out. L we have each other's personal phone numbers, like some people need that. Yeah yeah just type A, type B and then E else Every else. Yeah, so maybe the quality lies in knowing who needs what and when. Well think that's exactly it. On marketing, like I see this as just getting my own emails. You can say I want fewer of this. You can now personalize That communication from Bed Bath and beyond or Starbucks or anything like that And I like that's crazy to me coming from like You know, we're nineties babies. So like it's just wild that we have that much control over reach out. And I would love for us to have that with our customers, but with this stuff, it's like no. Someday, we'll get You guys can filter your own inbox Whenm more than a team of one plus a handful. we can get css Totally because yeah I think that that You know, you should It matters what you like, you know, what your personal preference is and you should have that. for sure. What a good Straight up He What are your thoughts on all this? Yeah Do you have any concion concluding thoughts? cononcluding thoughts is just that For me, I feel like us over commommunicating during this time is a good thing. It's strategic. It avoids bigger problems in the long run. And I find that the customers are appreciating being notified. likeike if they were expecting their order picked up yesterday Even though it's hard to be like, hey, by the way, I know you really needed that. Like two days ago, I just want to tell you that it missed picked up one more day. It's likeing that like yeah, it sucks. And I know where they're coming from, but still like hearing from us like, hey, we know it wasn't picked up We're making sure it gets picked up today. We're on it. We'll give you the track and as soon as it gets picked up. Like that gives a lot of people the peace of mind and they've been really appreciating it. So I'd rather get ahead of it than try to put up the fire after the fact. So even though it's a lot of repetition, it's working out for us and it's Compared to the number of orders we're putting out, it's not that many that are becoming a problem, even though it feels that way, but the totality of it isn't Yeah, and of course it's like during the busiest time a big year for us. Like so many things are landing, like I feel like everybody's already stretched really thin, so then you add on you know, all these logistical issues on top of it that we're not used to dealing with. I mean, there's always logistical issues, but never at this volume. Right exactly. Really like my days have been so stretched, just communicating and problem solving and figuring things out for people. Yeah, peopleeople were like, Ohh, I need to put an order. I need it to leave tomorrow. I'm like you need to order from a different warehouse. Yeah. It might be on the other side of the country, but you will probably get it faster. Yeah probably. And also weed this conversation a week ago. Yeah. My apologies. And I also had a summer trip book that I had to reconsider the time frrame until Right. you were supposed to be Scotland We're all so excited to see you in Glasgow. I ye. It's TBD. I'm still going. right?. Okay just I was more flexible with my flight, so I'm just waiting for all this to like smooth over because I didn't want to leave Marina to the wolves.ity of me. It would be really left to the wolves. Yeah. especially with Charlie being out the next wee I know Yeah Yeah. We're in the middle of everyone being out for vacation. Yeah I was like, I can't do that Scotland is gorgeous in September. Yeah Almost cool.ll consider that. Yeah. ye It's like my family's favorite month to go. Okay. Ill for sure consider that. Things are a little bit cheaper too I was flexible with my dates this summer, so I'll look into that h All right, are we ready for our I was gonna say? Is the mailman here? Is the m I mean, I have Oh you have them them don't know we're gonna It's going to be under the door situation. Yeah funny. We don't have Mike here today to give us our trivia. I no kind comes in with a little we only have four mics in the stew. Yeahes. and now that we have a guest, So Mike's mic doesn't exist. We had to give Mike the boo But o, here he is He gave us an envelope with our trivia question listeners. com. I love his handwriting. The envelope right now there more than one envelope. We've got two when he normally does two trivia questions for us All right, I'll do the first one and then Sam, do you want to do the second one O whoever wants to? Oh the answers is answers. Okay. O, the paper is pink Oh he ss so. Okay It's long. This is long. Shall I do my best mic impersonation please Erna Nutson was a pioneer for women in coffee That doesn't sound like It's not very good. Sorry, giveive it another go. When she started working, he's got a very great like podcast voice. anybody does. Okay, back to Lisa When she started working in coffee as an executive assistant, women were not allowed in the cupping room But this didn't stop her. She wanted to sell coffee to smaller coffee roasters who could not buy coffee by the container load so she would taste coffees at her desk Eventually, she did break the glass cupping room door. and then as she loved to say, she bought the company and fired all the men. Oh yeah. Erna is credited with coining a phrase in a nineteen seventy three interview with Tea and Coffee Trade Journal a phrase that is now so fundamental to our industry that it seems hard to believe it's only fifty three years old. What is the phrase Ohh, I heard this story before. She. shad out. sh. Yeah, she took it over and then she fired all the men. That's so awesome. I know. That's our plan here. Ecept for my. It's not a secret. So what's the question again? There's a phrase There's a phrase She was credited with coining a phrase in the nineteen seventy three interview, Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, a phrase that is now so fundamental to our industry that it seems hard to believe it's only fifty three years old. This is what is the phase Whatrase about I don't know. a classic thing like in our language of Soking Trades, I don't know. Do you think it has to do with booking coffee? I feel like it. cuping coffee? I' even read it. Am a visual. Yeah, yeah yeah, go for it. I actually have no wild guesses. You hear me there? I have not one guess. I feel like it's about the cup Yes, you know Coffee specifically. Is it something to do? What do you guys say when you're in the cupping room Who wants to break Oh yeah. Oh That's a good one. I doubt like no, that's just ' like everybody's kind of like, o, who's gonna break with the cobbies It's n notly sure. It was to be a little bit of a joke. I can also crack it open and try and give my best hint No, no, notot yet. She wanted to sell coffee this mor. Oh, is it one of our like Grades of coffee? No, that's not phrasaseed. I feel like it might have something to do with the brakes and she broke the glass. Oh, that M doess like the cles in there Bak. Mbe. It could I feel like it's about the cup. or about coffee C like J No, that's like more of a b. I feel like that comes from the JJoes. Oh the J That's right. has to maybe do with Trading Perhaps Yeah. I genuinely feel like all my brain cells have left my body. I'm gonna give us a hint. Okay. It just feels like This is like embarrassing a little. I don't think we've ever felt so stumped. At a loss, yeah. A a question. Maybe just so sim really is it wild The coffee. Okay, let me reform it for you. It's not necessarily a phrase that we would say, but it's and identity of our work.. Oh, something about coffee people Filter coffee mount people M No, that like can't much K kind of like it It's kind of a field Coffee community. Coffee industry? Specialty coffee? Yes. Oh She coined the phrase specialty coffee. Shut up. No way! That is so loud. Go Erna. Go Erna. I love you. I feel like we all need to get Erna tattoos or something. L. Yeah looks good. It is a tattoo It's only fifty years old that specialty coffee has It was relatively new, but crazy. Wow, that's what happens when you kick up men. Cheers to earnner y'all. Cheers Kick them all low. Yeah. I appreciate countount your days, boys. so al su us. Okay. M. Wow, okay. I would love to read the article. Yes us. Yes. we we should go tourn home work for Yeah Qion too I ask more. Specialty coffee. Wow. This cra. especialty coffee is like so obvious. I was like, it's yeah, it's not really something. I mean, we literally on our logo. Everybody says it every day. So like I guess it is a phrase And even like the evolution of like specialty vers, you know. It's u u I love linguistics. I know. All right, that was this is a yellow green. This is highlighter yellow. Highlighter yellow, a little yellow green, a bger color. some might say You're not doing well. Okay This has two parts and both are multiple choice. Okay. Okay. So question two A. is Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, followed by Vietnam and then Colombia But once upon a time, Colombia was the world's second largest producer. In what year did Vietnam surpass Colombia to take the number two spot?. Another history question Correct. The options are due Any thought songs It's gotta be Oh my Godd it's multiple choices. I don't know why my intuition wanted to say nineteen seventy two. Oh o, seventy six is a choice. Okay. Okay '. I mean, is it post war pre war? I don't know. So I'm just gonna do a little like SAT logic here. Yeah. The options are nineteen ninety nine nineteen seventy six nineteen fifty four and twenty eleven And I feel like it's not twenty eleven. Def. I would most likely say nineteen fifty six. Usually most often. You said nineteen fifty six is when Vietnam took the lead of the second. That's That's my guess. I had a guess Lombia. I would say nineteen fifty six It's definly not It'seen fifty four or seven. That's what I Yeah. It's gott be one of When was the Vietnam War? Pulled up. Pull ited up. So World War two ended in forty five. And then how soon after the Vietnam War start? Well, the Korean War was a between. Korean warar happened between betweenween the two M. Wait I always go no in the seventies because I think it was like all the protests. think about Billy Joel's song. I say this every single time we have a history question. the history I to sing the song out. I got here in Los Ange last time. don't know we didn't start the fire M. No. I think I think seventy six is our. I feel like seventy six is also when I Look at this one more time. you still judge us. We grew up in America. I went to public school. Yeah. What I'm to say is public school. I was homesed. I learned a very different version of history. We don't have time, we don't have time betweenetween the three of us We've got Massachusetts public schoolool, Rhode Island and Virginia. Yeah. R California baby and the Bible. I could put that in chronological order. scious. Well, let's think about it. If the war was happening in Vietnam in the seventies, you know, assume a lot of devastation and disruption happened Agent orrange. You know what? actually horrible chemical it took a while for Vietnam to recover, which would land us in the nineties. I watched the SEAL Team six documentary recently. Yeah SeL teteen six was invented in the seventies. so and they were doing stuff in nom. So I think we're right, you guys. Do you think it's seventy six?. I actually at this point think it's nineteen ninety nine, but I'm happy to defer to the No, you can't second guess 'cause our gut, we gotta go with our gut. What do we win? Whats surprise? Which should probably go to the second questestion Bgingight is gonna so far. Question two B How much more coffee does Vietnam produce than does Colombia Hey, ten milli B. twenty two million See seventeen milly D Eight million. Is that in weight? Bags? Oh The character of the seventeen feels right feels good. Yeah. All right, let's go. Mel's our guest. so we gotta. So B, nineteen seventy six and seventeen million C, seventeen million bags. All right, let us know. Answer two A is nineteen ninety nine. She was ever tell you to not trust your gun ever I was I didn't trust my g. I project of this. This was all last. Shout out to the Bible. You know what? And what did we say for two B? seventeen mill? We got our right. jobob. That one was all Angela and Mal. Incredible. That was good. No, that's only because think about what agent Orange did at large. not way agent orang is? This is not the time for this. This is not a robot. I share my Billy Joel song with you and you can tell me about agent orange. Okay, great As we're learning in real time, war does matter when it comes to coffee. Absolutely. It does. Okay, that's like we Rob talks about that on't tell. You want to hear about war exX coffee. have to listen to Rob. Hey, Rob, I'm gonna in the stew. about war coffee. O, baby. All right. All right Mel wrap us up with your belly laugh, girl. This has been so much fun You guys ready for it? Yes. I'm excited I don't know if you guys are familiar with. We used to offer a one bag FedEx option online Financially, it didn't make sense. so we opted a ticket off. as an option. So there are a few customers that counted on that this particular customer. We spo to Josh and asked about the one bag option and he's like He hit me up and he's like, Hey, we don't offer FedEx anymore, right? Be such and such is asking for it. And I'm like, no, unfortunately not because we find out that shipping it via pallet is much more affordable than it is via FedEx, believe it or not. So We can do it that way if he wants, even if it is one bag So like ten minutes go by and he comes back. He was like, o, this guy just cursed me out on the phone. And I'm like, stop. what did he say to you? And then he goes on to tell me what it was. And I was like, shut up. You can't tell me this for your team. You have to call me and tell me to my face. So he calls me and then he tells me, I'm like, no way. I was like, he did not So this guy was so upset and he's like Well, you guys are a bunch of sissy pants I was like Josh, no he didn' it. He was like verbatim. That's what he said to me. said was Josh specifically, but like us as a team. you guys are a bunch of sissy ps. Mel says that back to Josh. I said it loud everyone in the office I didn't realize because with the headphones on, you don't realize that like Everyone around you was silent. I'm just listing to Josh. and everyone in the office starts cackling. We have not like had a unison laughing that in so long. I laugh. It was awesome. It was so funny. It's just Josh's delivery. you know he's like straight face. He took to this comic like I would have been dying laughing on the phone with whoever theure. Bob asks It really is. I was like, what does that even mean? I don't even know what that phrase means? the first thing he thought of ' so funny. Cght us a bunch of girls, and you know what? you're right. We are a bunch of girls. Siffy hands for not offering one bag shipping. I'm so sorry. Yeah. So I thought The choice that ever was hilarious. That is. Yeah that's such a little belly lauff. Yeah But to hear Josh say s seconds would like heal me, I think. a lot of years. Yeah just that alone had made that whole week for me. Yeah, Oh God. I was like We couldn't stop saying it. We just like we were in the kitch of sissy pants. This is a residual for. I love that. I'm so happy you said it out loud. Sareredress the off It is I mean that is a reallylly laugh From here to California, I'm sure. There's no way they didn't laugh at for Yeah back Jesse sure. He had to tootally hilarious Thank you, Mal. Thank you for thatass. All right. And thanks for coming on. That's been us. Yay, thanks, Mal. Thank you for having. It was fun. It wasn't that fun been listen to Straight Up with Sam Spssky, Angela Greenhagen, and Lisa Collins. Straight upp is part of the Kooya Coffee podcasting network where the executive producer is me Mike Ferguson Our theme music for this episode is on the Road by Music Word If you've enjoyed this or any show on the Kavoya Coffee podcasting Network, please do all the things. Like, subscribe, review, don't keep us a secret, and take our Listener survey at the link in the show notes Finally, remember two things. You can email me with thoughts, ideas, kind words and limerics at mic. fergusonavoidot com