Looking back on recent episodes (and a few not-so-recent episodes) Aaron Pascucci and Wade Reed have a freewheeling (at times unhinged?) conversation about everything from Down Syndrome Awareness Month to dream coffee interviews. Coffee as a vehicle for many forms of cultural expression, the changing state of the coffee scene in Rochester, our past podcast endeavors, and other Rochester creatives to get involved with (including our Lunchador network mates and Cleveland Prost, one of our favorite Rochester Substacks) this conversation HAS IT ALL.

Mentioned in this episode:

Rochester Amerks (@amerkshockey) - Rochester Ice Cats - Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network (@thedsdn) - Best Buddies (@bestbuddiesny) - Bitty & Beau's Coffee (@bittyandbeauscoffee) - Sager Beer Works - (@sager_stoneyard_pub) - Cleveland Prost (@cleveland.prost) - Gigi's Playhouse (@gigisplayhouserochester) - Archers Coffee (@archers.ae) - WAYO 104.3 FM (@wayoradio) - Common Thread - (@commonthreadhxcpodcast) - Ugly Duck Coffee (@uglyduckcoffee) - Joe Bean Roasters (@joebeanroasters) - Grounds for Health (@groundsforhealth) - Kopani Coffee (@kopanicoffee) - Ghost Town Oats (@ghosttownworld)

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Bean Roasters

Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

Connections with Evan Dawson

Connections with Evan Dawson - Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts

Connections

Getting Real with Bossy: For Women Who Own Business

Check out Getting Real with Bossy: For Women Who Own Business on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/gettingrealwithbossy/

Foreign.

I'm Wade Reed.

I'm Aaron Pascucci.

And tonight we are really freewheeling it here.

It's just us, and we've got, like, some topics that we wrote down.

And I said over there.

So I'm gonna forget some.

Like I said I would.

That's why I wrote them down.

But they're over there.

I've got a random laptop with some tabs open on it, and.

Oh, yeah.

Could you set our timer?

Oh, yeah.

Because we're really.

I mean, we're just doing everything wrong tonight, which is fine.

We'll.

We'll still hopefully have a good episode.

This is the Hustle episode, Wade.

This is how most people start when they don't have friends who are into, you know, audio recording and have full setups there.

Yeah.

In their homes.

Yeah.

We are definitely missing the recording studio, the food about town studio.

And tonight it's, you know, there's no family tragedy keeping us out, which is nice.

But tonight it is.

It is a lack of planning, I think, is the reason we're here.

Yeah.

So here we are.

Well, I mean, you're having an eventful week.

I have had a week.

And one of the things I was thinking about was every time we do this, you asked me, how was your week?

And I'm like, it was fine.

I have nothing to say.

So I came in, planned with stuff to say.

Life planned everything for you to say.

I think I'm going to.

I'm going to avoid the house stuff.

All right.

Okay.

All right.

So what's really important is March is Down Syndrome awareness month.

Unofficially, World down syndrome day is March 21st.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

First day of spring.

Makes sense.

The 21st chromosome, right?

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Three copies.

Three.

Yep.

Wow.

Okay.

Yeah.

So three.

21, Right?

Yep.

Got it.

So my daughter has down syndrome.

Her name is Juliana.

She's lovely.

She is a spitfire, man.

If you know any kids with.

With down syndrome, they have attitude.

So she's about 10 and, you know, so we had a full week of events.

Okay, great.

We've been developing a relationship with the Rochester ameircs.

Yeah.

Yep.

And she's part of a hockey team called the Ice Cats.

So shout out to the Rochester Ice Cats.

Shout out to the Rochester Amex hockey team.

My friend Warren, who's.

I don't know his role.

He might be some sort of a manager.

Outreach.

He's corporate side.

Okay, cool.

But over the last couple years, we've gotten to develop a relationship with them.

So they came out to an Ice Cats Practice skated with us.

That's amazing.

And then we played broom ball.

All right.

Yes.

Love it.

That's really fun.

So that was awesome.

And then over the last two years, they've done a fundraiser.

So we get a block of tickets for the Amex and then we get to sell those and portions of those go to organizations.

All right.

Yeah.

Um, wow.

The main organization that my wife has done a lot of work for that I volunteer with is the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network.

Okay.

Amazing network.

Go check them out.

If you're at all interested in supporting a good cause, you know someone with down syndrome.

If you are having a child with down syndrome, find a way to get a hold of me.

I'm idm.

One of the things I do is I host a monthly Zoom for Dads.

Okay.

And we drink beer on Zoom and chat about everything.

And the main mission is just to connect people and be supportive.

Yeah.

And, and the dialed in socials, you do have access to those, so that is one way to get a hold of Aaron.

Yeah.

And even if you didn't, I would forward them along.

So.

Yeah.

Now it gets even cooler.

There's.

Gosh, what's his.

I don't know his last name.

I, I, I'm blanking on this, but Carson runs Carson's crew on the amex.

Okay.

He has a relative with developmental disabilities, and he, this year, for the whole season, has been giving away tickets to different families with kids with developmental disabilities.

All right.

We've gotten to meet him three or four times and hang out with him.

He now knows Juliana.

That's great.

Yeah, that's really great.

I mean, taking an actual interest.

That's really amazing.

Yeah.

The team now knows Juliana.

Whoever the math mascot is, it's not my old friend Tony.

I'm 90% sure he knows Juliana by face now.

That's fantastic.

And then after the game, we went to the team came out, or not the whole team, but a number of players came out, and they hung out with us in the lobby for at least half an hour.

So these guys just played.

That's real time.

Yeah.

They were exhausted, ready to go home, and they were so great.

So I can't express my thanks to the AMEX enough for just the, you know, the, not even the financial support, but just their willingness to put into the kids in our area.

So.

Yeah.

And I mean, there's nothing requiring that they do that.

Like, that is really, I mean, like, it's such a cool give back.

I mean, and these are guys who are, you know, know, at a point in their careers where they're trying to reach the next level, and they could, you know, the most natural thing in the world would be to be like, well, I'm at this level temporarily.

I'll, you know, I'll figure it out when I get to the NHL and then I can, you know, have my foundation when I'm there.

But, like, really wanting to give back at every level and where they're at, that's really cool.

And so, yeah, shout to the amex.

That's really cool, man.

I'm glad you got to do all that.

And happy for Juliana and, yeah, she's doing well.

A couple other organizations I just want to shout out.

Best Buddies is kind of a social organization for kids and older adults.

They match what we refer to as typical peers with, you know, our developmental, different or atypical kids.

Schools, mostly is where that happens.

So check out Best Buddies.

And then.

I can't believe we haven't brought this up, but Beedi and Bose Coffee is a franchise that focuses on employing kids and adults with developmental disabilities.

It's a lot of down syndrome employees, which is how we got with it.

And what was I looking here?

They have something like 500 employees.

Something close to that.

Oh, so it's.

It's pretty big.

Yeah, they have a.

It's a franchise.

And they have a number of, yeah, 400 and plus employees.

They are a franchise.

So you can start one in your area, and they've got locations all over, so they're a great little organization.

Everyone I know who's gone there has been like, I'm going back there.

I get a big hug every time I walk in the door.

Fantastic.

They remember my name.

So lots of good stuff going on there.

Yeah.

That's incredible.

That is interesting, too, that we've never brought that up, because I. I do think I've seen some of their social presence and things like that, just like reels that they've made or whatnot on social media and should have figured you would know exactly what was going on there.

And we.

Yeah, that's definitely one.

Maybe some point, you know, we get someone on the show.

I just hear the vision.

Yeah.

I was like, I can't believe we haven't reached out.

So I'll be reaching out.

Season four.

Sweet.

That's.

That's incredible.

And then this ties into the beer you brought.

Oh, thank you.

Yes.

So another organization, Gigi's Playhouse.

Can I pour that while you talk?

Yeah, you do that.

He has been waiting for this brew.

They offer free services, everything is free.

So my daughter gets handwriting therapy, speech therapy.

They have fitness programs, you know, without going too much for a whole episode on down syndrome, Low muscle tone is a big factor.

Sure.

Weight gain is a factor that everybody is looking at.

So we had a fundraiser at Sager Beer Works in Rochester, and they were brewing a special.

Is it T21.

T21 IPA.

T21 IPA.

Part of the proceeds go to Gigi's Playhouse for this, to continue their mission there.

And if you haven't been there, great beer.

Love Sager.

Seriously.

It's one of the most awarded breweries in Rochester, too.

They.

They cleaned up at Nispa a few years ago.

Really awesome.

They had a recent award given to their chocolate pork quarter.

I believe it was.

It was probably this year's Nisba.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it was rated best New York.

State brewers association competition.

It's very, very cool.

Oh, check out our.

Our buddy Will Cleveland.

He runs a substack called the Cleveland Prost.

He's been a judge at Nisma for 20 years.

So little tie in there.

Love Nisma.

It's New York State Brewers Association.

There we go.

It's their.

Their yearly competition.

Obviously overpowered this.

Here we go.

Say Wade likes had.

It's a family program, man.

I mean, on his beer, it's like, fluffy.

It's like a beer latte.

That's solid.

So we're also going to have to up our video game now that I'm thinking, like, I just saw that Apple Podcast is doing video content on.

Oh, that sucks.

I know, right?

I mean, they got to try to compete with YouTube, but, like, that's not what that app is for.

That's.

Yeah, that's gonna.

Although, no, I've seen some video podcasts on there for a while.

Is it just, like, they're pushing it more?

Like they're.

Maybe they're offering more on ramps, I don't know.

But we've got connected, you know, through Chris, through Lunchador, we're connected with Riverside.

And Riverside is an amazing website for video content.

So we're just full of useful plugs tonight.

Go here if you got, you know, people with people, you know, with developmental disabilities, go here.

If you want to know about beer, go here if you want to know about.

I'm gonna choreograph this to my old YouTube channel, Drink Junkie.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

There is technically an Aporia Coffee YouTube channel, too.

And if you look, there are.

So there are a couple of really nice videos on there.

I've been thinking a lot about Making a new one, but I don't really have time.

I know.

I've got a. I've got a YouTube channel planned for my other work, my full time job that I. I bet.

That would be cool though.

I mean, that's like 3D printing and stuff.

Like, that'd be pretty.

The coffee maker?

Yes.

Like, you're gonna 3D print a coffee maker?

Probably.

I've tried.

I have 3D print like a pour over, dude.

I'm getting this new bamboo 3D printer.

Okay.

It's a $2,000, you know, home printer.

That'll do four heads.

And I'm gonna print a.

Like a V60.

Yes, that's exactly what you should do.

Hey, my son who just turned 14.

Yesterday, texting me, dad, give me money.

No, it's a.

He needs an app for the earbuds I got him for his birthday.

What'd you get him?

Just CMF buds.

They're.

They're super cheap because he has.

He's on his like third or fourth pair.

We got him.

We got him the good ones.

And then so I'm just gonna real.

Quick, like allow him to download his.

This is great audio content, by the way.

Me talking about approving.

Well, I mean, my son's download of.

Most of these podcasts.

I mean, we are not pro podcasters, like a lot of people these days.

Yeah, that's.

And that should be clear from every episode.

Yeah, exactly.

My son on his phone, he figured out his screen time code.

Ah.

But what he doesn't know or didn't know for a while is that every time he puts the code in, we get a notification.

It tells you.

Yeah.

So it's like, oh, that's new.

So one day he's been doing.

Acting like a little jerk.

And I was like, so about that screen time code.

He was like, what?

So those are the best.

So if you need parenting suggestions on setting up your phone for your kids, we've both done that probably.

Yep, we've done some of that.

I'm.

I'm not as strict with Xander because he like waffles between educational content and.

Yeah, brain rot.

And I'm like, man, he has learned a lot.

Like, I don't know.

And it's like he uses it for his interest.

Like basketball stats.

Like, this kid will read you like, like, like rattle off basketball stats just night before.

Oh, last night.

So and so this many points, to me, reborn.

Rebounds and this many assists.

And I'm like, he doesn't.

Didn't take his phone out to tell me that.

Or anything.

He's like, he had just looked at.

Anyway, so I'm torn on the phone thing.

I'm.

I'm.

I also read a lot about coffee on my phone, so I feel like a hypocrite being like, you can't be on your phone.

I think my biggest thing is.

And my son knows this, so I don't feel bad is he doesn't.

He's a big athlete.

So he had soccer practice two times.

He was doing two a days and his old team asked him to come practice with them.

And he's like, yeah, the more soccer I can get, the more soccer I can get.

Yeah.

So he's running track.

He has two a day practices for soccer.

So like when he's home, I don't mind, but like on a weekend, if I don't kick him off his phone, like he'll be on it for 10 hours.

Yeah.

And that screen time thing is always.

It's always a little bit mixed for me because I'm like, he's not usually looking at the phone.

It's.

Something is playing.

Sure.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I go back and forth.

But we could wax poetic on this.

Yeah, we could spend a lot of time on this.

We do have a coffee in front of us as well.

Do you want to talk about that or.

Yeah, let's.

Let's chat about this.

So Standard magazine.

My Standard magazine came.

This is huge.

Standard fans.

Alto Coffee Sama Washed.

So it's from the farm.

Alto Sama.

Goji.

Is that what you were.

Yeah, Goji Gucci.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah.

I've always said a Gucci, but I have no idea.

Like, I assume I'm saying all these things wrong, honestly.

I'm going to pull this up again.

Meters above sea level.

Ah, there we go.

I looked this up.

These guys are Archer Roasters.

Is really interesting and I'm going to have to read more about them.

Archer Roasters.

Sweet.

Archers.

Archers roasters.

Archer Archers Coffee.com is their website.

Sweet.

So we poured this coffee, opened it up and it was blueberry on my nose.

Yeah.

And.

But like super tropical fruit.

Forward.

Just going to do this the most awkward way possible.

Drink right out of the.

Yeah, exactly.

Right out of the Hario Range server.

I mean like every conceivable tropical fruit.

Not.

Not much in the way of like spices.

Not much in the way of maybe a little bit of a bergamoti Tea spice kind of thing, but not, you know, I'm.

I'm getting.

I'm a little bit of hazelnut or a deep nut in there.

Yeah, it's definitely not like raspberry.

I got some blueberry type notes on there.

It's pretty clean.

It's not the sweetness.

Isn't anything kind of out there or, you know, I would say there's pretty clear lines between, like, the acidity and the sweetness.

And so, like.

Yeah, that's kind of a cool definition thing.

I would never, if you served me this, I would never guess it was a washed.

Like, there's.

I just find them to be a lot thinner and flabbier than naturals, especially from this next.

My next comment was it's.

It's a thin body.

You do think it's in body?

I do.

See, I think, like, for a washed, like, I would say they're typically even more watery.

And this is like giving me something to kind of roll over on my tongue.

So I'm.

It's very.

I'm pretty impressed.

Yeah, it's definitely a great coffee.

I've had some from them that are.

They're good.

Yeah, you know, they're great coffees.

I'm not disappointed.

But this is one of the ones this and the, the duck rabbit, right?

Yeah, I remember that one.

Phenomenal.

And also this is a.

So this is an interesting point about this coffee that I want to bring up.

I never noticed that.

So here's a fun, Here's a fun fact about Ethiopian coffee is what we used to put on there for variety was heirloom varieties.

And the idea was these are varieties that are so indigenous to this part of Ethiopia that they've never been cataloged.

And so now as, like the, you know, the kind of the ECX starts to break down and we're doing more of a direct relationships in Ethiopia, and people want to know, okay, what does the market want in terms of variety?

Because variety has become like such a huge talking point in specialty coffee.

Like, like, it starts with gesha, obviously, and then there's like things like sidra.

What was the.

There's like Ruiru in Kenya there.

What was the one that we had?

Wish Whoosh.

Yes, Wish wish.

There have been like, whoosh wishes with different numbers too now.

So, like.

But as they catalog these Ethiopian varieties, they're not giving them names, they're giving them numbers.

So at AMFM right now, you can go, and for $12 get a pour over of an anaerobic variety.

74110.

And it's like, that's just the hardest thing to sell.

Like it's generic.

It's generic drug.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

I mean, it's barcode, right.

Like they just scanned something in their area.

Call this 1-741.

But that one is anaerobic.

So the process brings out a lot more depth, a lot more of a poignant acidity.

I think, like, I think it would stand up like right next to this coffee as an incredible example of an Ethiopian coffee.

And it's a $12 pour over.

And we kind of make fun of ourselves in this recent reel that we put together where it's like, yeah, we get that it's $12, but like, you will not be disappointed.

Like, well, and that was.

We've talked about this in the past when we were brought up Proud Mary and some other things that were going on there.

Yeah.

How is that selling?

I mean, I.

So there's been a really interesting thing that's happened around it where people are not super excited to commit to a $12.

But when you tell them that the eight ounce bag is like 35, they're like, oh, that's a great.

You know.

Sure.

I'm like, you're going to.

You're willing to spend 35 without trying it, but you're not willing to spend 12 to try it?

Well, they think they're going to get more coffee.

Yeah, well, I mean, they get.

Yeah, they'll get more pores of it.

I think it's.

I think it's great.

I'm happy to sell bags as the roaster.

That's my goal.

But it is just fun.

Yeah.

I think, I think, I think we've only moved one so far because, like, people will be like, I don't know.

And then like, you know, part of our strategy with it is, well, you can take the bag home for this much, but you might want to try it first.

So.

Yeah, no, it's.

I don't know that Rochester is so into the 12 pour over yet, but we're gonna keep trying.

We're gonna keep pushing.

We actually have one coming out that's gonna be 15, but I think it's worth it.

It's.

It's.

It's another anaerobic.

It's actually.

It's the yeast maceration pacamara from Gold Mountain.

Okay.

That you've had that a couple times.

Really special.

And it's the very last of it.

We're gonna do, like, maybe only one or two bags for in house, and then pre orders and.

And.

But this is not a commercial for AM fm, even though we're sitting in AM fm.

But, yeah, like, so same idea with the variety.

Here's the truth, though, Wade.

You know, you are part of AM fm.

You're a Poria coffee roaster.

And so, you know, the building owner is letting us use this space.

Yeah.

Shout out.

This is the hustle.

Yep.

You want to shout them out?

Yeah, shout out to Eric Nagel in Proposition 45, letting us use the space here at AM FM.

And for dropping off the clean towels.

Yeah, he was.

We just got to see him for a second.

He's a great guy from when I've met him, and it's very.

It's gracious of him.

Most.

Some buildingers could be like, no, you're closed.

We're not going in the space.

Yeah, he's paying for the electricity right now.

You know what I mean?

Like, the lights are on because, you know, because of him.

So I wanted to hit one more thing on this coffee before.

Before we watch.

Yeah, let's do it.

Before we washed off of it.

You know, on their website, I went and looked up a couple things their Instagram is impressive with, who's following them.

Okay.

For, you know, someone I've never heard of.

Their name, Elto, means more than passion and abundance.

Let's see the farm that these guys are pulling this coffee from, which was really cool.

On their website, they've got a fermentation score, a sweetness score, acidity, and a roast.

So on the roast, out of five pips, it's a two pip.

So that probably tracks with light roast, you know.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, 40 of whatever they consider a maximum.

Right?

Like, yeah, yeah.

For a, you know, enthusiast.

My palette is adjusted to a variety of coffees, but, you know, I don't know that I could rate a sweetness.

This tracks with my experience here.

Cool.

It's a late fermentation.

It's not one of these anaerobics or anything.

Yep.

Sweetness is very high, which is true.

Acidity is a 4 pip also.

So, you know, if you're looking at buying some of their stuff, you know, and you've got a gauge, you know, trust your gauge on their ratings there.

Cool.

And they've just got some great content on this farm.

I wish I had more to read about it, but it looks like they're doing a micro lot program.

They've got some tea stuff that they're doing, and it looks like they're just, you know, investing in these farms in this area.

Sweet.

Yeah.

So I think we've got about eight, eight, nine minutes maybe.

And I want to quick, I wanted one more topic before we see if any of this has gotten recorded.

Yeah,.

We've done a lot of interviews.

We called this kind of like, kind of cheekily season three, but like, it does feel like it's coherently a season and it feels like we're picking up a lot of threads from previous interviews too.

So I want to talk about coffee and culture because we, you know, I think that's kind of in our bio on Instagram.

It's in kind of like, kind of like what we want to do dialed in.

Coffee, culture, all that kind of thing.

Right.

Like, I want to real quick rundown kind of an insight I had, and then you can add your thoughts.

But if you go back in all the different interviews that we've done, in a lot of them, culture is so prominent and I think of like grouping them together in certain ways.

So like, we could start with like, if you grouped mercury kind of with potted bean, kind of with low phase, you have people who are at like, just different points in like, what is the standard standard, like American experience realizing like, oh, something I want to be.

Part of my experience is coffee.

Yep.

You know, and in.

In a lot of ways, Marvin's low phase is very different from Mercury's in the potted bean because he didn't so much choose it as like, it was a way out.

It actually offered a way out of a really difficult part point of his life.

But it is like you go through like late stage capitalism in America right now, and it's like you could work like the office 9 to 5 and be miserable.

You could actually be homeless.

Or you could find something like coffee that you're super passionate about.

That's like, that's what these people are doing.

They're going through these jobs that are like, like Anthony said, you know, I wanted to be in graphic design, I want to be in printing, but it's like really hard, you know, so coffee is this thing that's like a little lower barrier to entry.

And so I group like those together.

I think then like another level of like cultural expression.

And coffee is like Angela and Elvios.

Right.

So like Pandemonium Coffee and Elvios Coffee, where it's like cultures where they discovered coffee, but it's more of an expression of like, their tastes and Like, Angela's really looking for, like, a flavor profile in all of her drinks.

And Elvios is like, we're, you know, we want to take the cuisine of Madeira and bring it forward in coffee.

And they have the brilliant espresso drinks, like the pastel de nata, which is literally like you're drinking an egg tart.

Like a classic Portuguese egg tart.

Like, it is.

Have that.

Yeah, it's freaking great.

It's definitely one of my fav.

Favorites.

I have to go try.

Yeah, absolutely.

Everyone should try that one at Elvio.

So, like, there's like, this expression of cultural, like, taste and flavor and cuisine, and then there's like this.

This third, like, super deep level that we have had on twice now that I'm like, this is totally different.

Adam almond soup from.

From album.

And then Lily and Michelle from Kopani.

They're richly, deeply connected to the.

The history and culture of coffee and growing coffee and their country.

And it comes specifically.

Yeah.

From the place that they're from.

And they are bringing forward so much heritage and so much culture and so much of, like, what has made them who they are.

Right.

In the form of, like, these brilliant.

You know, for Kapani, it's roasted coffees.

And then they have their small pop up.

But then they.

They make these brilliant drinks there.

I actually had to finally had the chance to go over there and try one.

Their latte that they put, like, the little chocolate cookie in.

I forget.

I'm forgetting the name out.

Astor, maybe.

Anyway, and then, you know, with Album, same idea.

Like, there's so much like, we just want people to understand our culture, and we want to bring even just like, the Ramadan celebrations, the E. Del Theater, like, all of that to Rochester and bring it out to the public and put it in this coffee package.

And I'm like, coffee is, like, so cultural, and it does so much.

It interacts with culture on so many levels.

And we've just been really privileged to get to tell some of these stories.

I was just a little behind the curtain.

I'm like, I was cutting reels for Kapani.

That was so hard.

Yep, that was so hard.

Because I'm like, who the hell am I to tell their story?

Their stories?

So, like, they are so certain of who they are and where all this comes from and the.

And the, like, the place their mother has in their history.

And they're like, I was just, like, I was in awe.

It was like a little bit of, like, terror of the holy, where I'm just like, this is so Sacred and so deep.

And who the fuck am I to be telling this story way.

This is a family episode.

This is a family.

This is a family episode.

But, yeah, so I don't know if you have any thoughts about that, but I just, like, I'm so excited to be doing this right now.

And, like, we called it season three, but I really do feel like it had, like, a season feel to it.

And like, we need to, like, move on.

Like, what's season four now?

You know, I mean, but, like, we'll.

We'll do some of that visioneering.

But, yeah, I wanted to.

That's what I wanted to share.

Yeah.

And we might come back to this in.

After our break here, but I think it's really an expression of.

I mean, I feel like I'm getting old.

42, And the idea of seasons of life is so true.

And, you know, this is the season of coffee exploration in Rochester.

I think that is evolving.

Yeah, it's exploding.

You know, we.

We had the cafe phase.

We had a roasting phase.

And, you know, that's now kind of in the background.

And now I think these people are coming in and taking everything that's been established in putting their spin on it.

And that's the really cool part.

You know, I love the idea that they're doing coffee their way and that it's not just, what coffee shop am I going to go to, it's, oh, what expression of coffee do I want to check out now?

Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, that's my initial thoughts before our break.

And after that.

We got 38 seconds.

We'll be right back.

All right, so we're still here at AM fm, coffee cocktails, vinyl.

And, you know, Aaron, I don't know if you know, but this is not my first coffee podcast.

No, this is not my first coffee pod.

I had a coffee podcast long ago.

Long, long ago.

Before you showed up and before we use the.

The podcast recording space for the original level up.

Yeah.

Did you.

Did you really not know this?

Rory and I used to do a podcast.

Tell us.

This is so fun.

What was fun?

I thought this was gonna be like a funny joke.

So it was called channeling.

And we used to do a lot like this.

We would talk issues, we would talk to people.

One time I did a semi quasi wannabe journalistic thing where I went around and talked to a bunch of different places about cold brew.

If you haven't figured this out, Wade is not one of these guys who has ideas.

He's one of these guys who has ideas.

And Actually does stuff.

I mean, I can't sleep unless my ideas are happening.

And right.

Right now, one of my ideas is not happening, and I'm, like, really struggling to go to sleep.

But yeah.

So no in.

So channeling.

Channeling.

So I don't know if it's still, like, I was paying for the podbean to keep it up for a long time because some of those old episodes were actually pretty good.

I remember we talked to John Cannon one time.

That was a really good episode.

We talked to Ryan Baker.

That was a really fun one.

Back in the day.

Baker.

Yeah.

He moved out of Rochester with his coffee thing.

We had some.

We had some great interviews on there.

I think at one point we might have.

We had Renee cologne on.

I don't know if we had Renee Antoni back for a time.

Yeah.

Okay, so this is where I'm going.

With this because she's had such a big change from when I first met her to where fuego is now.

That's interesting.

I would be interested to hear what you think is changed.

We're sitting in a fuego, right?

Yes.

This used to be.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, this part of the space, we could really get into it.

This part of the space was never fuego.

We should do a history of this.

We could really.

We could really get into it because technically, fuego was in front of those dividers right there.

Right.

It was that half when the space was cut that way, which I like.

When we were building this, I was like, don't cut the space.

Sure.

Anywhere.

Because it's beautiful.

Single.

And they still put up a big wall.

So, you know.

But what do I know?

It's working.

Anyway.

If season three of Dialed in sure.

Was.

Was the.

The interview season.

Kind of like channeling was like an interview show.

Yeah.

For the record, all of channeling was recorded on a field recorder lent to us by way O. O.

Who just reached out to AM FM and is gonna do one of their radio hours here, which I'm like, super.

Like, Josiah knew I would love this, so he sent me the DM and was like.

Like, this is so cool.

I'm like, this is so cool.

But.

So tell us.

They're just in the first episode, though.

Yeah.

So they're gonna do one of their hours here.

I don't know how much they're gonna, like, be talking versus, like, just playing music or whatever, but the first episode of channeling was recorded on a field recorder from Whale in my car.

That's awesome.

Not even the car I own now.

It was like the old tiny car I had before I had so many damn kids.

But you only have two.

I have three.

Three I've only seen.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

The oldest is hard to bring along, but if you could interview.

Okay, let's do this.

Two questions.

Anyone in town?

Oh, anyone in town.

And then anyone in the world of coffee?

So there's.

This might be boring.

This might be awesome.

Well, I was just thinking.

I really want to have Rory on.

We haven't brought Ugly Duck up yet in this episode.

I know.

We recorded, like, a whole half hour without saying Ugly Duck.

That was the last record talking about.

And it really just.

I kind of knew Ugly Duck in Rochester was, like, a big deal.

Right, right.

They've made their mark, which is really awesome.

But then you were telling me that Rory, like, sort of jokingly apologized to you, that they get brought up a lot.

He did.

Well, I don't know how joking it was.

That's the funny thing.

Well, right.

And that's exactly pretty sincere in the text.

Like, I don't know what to think that we always get brought up.

I'm like, Well, I mean, honestly, he.

He lives coffee and in an area like this, where it was built off of him being in an original, you know, coffee shop before.

Before things really took off around the area.

You know, he's an og, like, legit, definitely.

And so I would really like to talk to him, maybe not really about coffee, just more about his story and why he did this type of thing.

And I can tell he's still got a vision for where he's going.

Do you.

Do you listen to Common Thread?

Lunchador Shout out.

Yeah, I have listened to a couple.

I started at the beginning, so I'm really only like, three episodes in.

Everyone should listen to Common Thread.

One of the best stories on Common Thread is Rory telling about how he met and started dating Chris.

No, I can't wait to get to that.

It is.

It's so charming.

And what's crazy is, like, I had just started working with Rory at that time, and there were little things.

I was like, oh, I remember that.

And it was like, whoa.

Rory and I, like, our stories have been intertwined for a long time now, and, like, it's just really common.

Everyone should, like, turn this off.

Go listen to a couple episodes of Common Thread.

I think, like, you.

You won't regret it.

Like, come back to us.

But.

But definitely listen to Common Thread real.

Quick before we move on from, you know, talking about Rory there at Joe Bean.

You guys work together?

Yeah.

Yep.

Where Was the, the hiring.

I was hired first and I was doing a lot on the bar.

And then Rory got hired and we were working how long?

Two or three times a week together.

It was a matter of months.

Okay, so it was pretty close.

But I had a lot of experience on a bar, you know, from my time in Chicago.

Right.

And when he got hired, he had never worked a bar before.

And it was.

This is a really, this is a funny.

We'll just sidetrack.

Worked a bar before.

He had never, he had never worked at espresso before.

And they trained him on pour over.

And then they were like, you know, Wade, can you kind of train him on espresso?

And I just sort of told him, just watch what I do.

Right.

And ask any questions.

And he, he asked some.

You know, I, as a, as a 20 year old white man, I was insufferable.

I wasn't as I'm mid twenties, even more so than I am now.

And I think I wasn't like super impatient with him or anything, but I don't know if I gave, like, I didn't train him, train him.

And then they just assumed the higher ups at jobing who trusted me a ton, just assumed I had given him what he needed from the amount of time we'd spent together.

And then one day scheduled him for like a Saturday on the espresso machine and he got mob and he was, I think it was just like straight into the fire kind of best thing for him.

And he, you know, he, he's Rory, he's gonna perform so to make it work.

And he did.

And kind of from then on he was like, he was, you know, he was on, on the bar.

So I have a lot of, A lot of good Rory memories from back then.

Mornings we spent together.

Joby, you know, share too much of a story.

But you talk about performing and he was a hardcore singer and still does from time to time.

And so he probably had a little bit of that.

Like, well, here we go.

I'm going to make it work.

Yeah.

Yep.

So he's, he's definitely on my list.

I would love to talk to James Hoffman.

You know, he was when I first started getting into coffee, you know, everybody ends up finding his YouTube channel or his book or something.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

So to.

His book is on the shelf here at am.

I put it there and you should read it.

Right.

It's great.

Very helpful resource from the, from the standpoint of like, when you started in coffee, what did you expect?

And then like, what are you thinking now about this?

Right.

Let's not talk about, like, all the vast knowledge of coffee is like, let's talk about the industry at large and how it is that he has a YouTube channel with, you know, how many thousands of followers.

Right?

Yeah.

One.

Like, I think he was the first or second ever world barista champion.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that goes way, way back.

That predates my time in coffee.

And then, gosh, who else?

I just found another barista guy who's on YouTube and he's interesting.

Lance.

I'm a bad, like, person enthusiast.

I just want to drink the coffee.

Yeah.

Yep.

Lance is a barista champion of some somewhere.

I'm blanking.

He's going to be mad if listen.

No, hopefully everyone's going to listen.

You search Lance Coffee, you're going to find this guy.

He is some sort of a barista champion at some point.

Point.

He's got a thriving YouTube channel.

If you talk to people about him, he's kind of like the next James Hoffman type guy.

Like, next big personality.

All right.

I don't know.

I mean, I really thrive on finding the kopanis.

I would love to.

Oh, I would love to bring on a couple employees from BD and Bose.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, we just said we gotta.

We gotta reach out.

You know, I would love to get some developmental.

I want to say developmental disability.

I'm really moving away from that term just because it's such a disservice.

You meet these people and they're highly functional.

They're so caring.

And, you know, just to have that person who's excited to see you and excited about coffee, like, yeah, just what coffee means to them and their experience.

I mean, that might be a couple seasons down the road as we take this on the road.

So.

Cool.

Yeah.

I have a quick James Hoffman story if you want it.

Of course, before James Hoffman had tens of thousands of YouTube followers, he was Jim7.

Yeah.

Yep.

You could go to Jim7.com you could email him directly.

Yep.

And he would respond.

And I think when Jobean first opened on university, I think Ben Tiriano and I emailed him so much that, like, he stopped responding.

I think I. I mean, he.

We got some very polite response.

He.

He was always a great resource.

And I mean, we were just, oh, you know, James Hoffman would know this.

You know, like, we were just like, whatever.

Like, he knows everything.

Exactly.

And, you know, he was very gracious.

At the time too.

Right.

I.

It was.

It was still pretty small.

He had.

He had done what Was the shop he did Penny University, I think.

I didn't know.

And it might have been just when, just when Square Mile was just getting started and no, just that was so cool.

It's so cool to think that like he has really blown up.

And I don't usually agree with what he says now because like, sure, in my mind he has invited a little too much of the commercialization popularity of coffee into his discourse where I'm like, you had an opportunity to represent specialty, you know, to the bone, which is what I would have done with his platform and then I probably would never have made it to his level.

So like, I understand like, and I assume he actually does like that stuff.

But like I have a little bit of a different relationship to James Hoffman now.

But at the time he was just so cool and approachable and like really nice and I love that, I love that.

That's part of my story.

It was like, yeah, I used to email James Hoffman.

Yeah.

I mean it's.

If you get into any of these niche things, I mean it's that way with watches.

So there's a watch company we brought up when we had cult leader coffee on Bradley Price from Autodromo.

I have three of his watches and I love them.

I had an issue with one of them.

I managed to sit on this watch and I bent the lugs and it's a solid piece of steel.

Right.

So I have this watch, I'm like, oh man.

So I emailed, you know, contact us on their big website.

Right.

And these guys are selling.

I don't like to tap this, but thousand dollar watches.

Right, Right.

I got an email back and it's signed Bradley Price.

And I'm like, no, couldn't be.

Yeah, right.

Very funny guys.

So I, so I email him again, again a second time for another reason.

Well, he, he responds to my, my inquiry about fixing this watch.

He says, oh, just send it to me, I'll fix it.

He sent me a label, I sent it out to him, he fixed it, got it back to me, no charge whatsoever.

That's incredible.

Right?

Yeah.

And it really is, it.

I mean these people with these platforms, like it is like, man, that's a neck.

That's next level.

Like, Right.

You know, this guy is selling thousand dollar watches internationally.

Like he is a big deal in the watch industry for micro brands and it, and it made me remember like he's probably just like one or two guys.

Yeah.

Like running this business and when it comes down to it, people's people.

Yeah.

And I mean like people who keep their head on them and remember that and continue to open themselves up to the public.

That's awesome.

Like, all right, here's a.

Here's another thing that's gonna show up, and that's, like, one of my fun things.

Like, if I ever ran into him at a watch fair somewhere, Toronto's got one that I might get up to with our friend David.

David Lane.

He's a big watch guy.

You know, it'd be like, remember me?

I was emailing you.

And he'd be like, I was the guy who bent the watch that you shouldn't be able to bend.

You like.

Oh, yeah, right.

Nice.

I would love to grill you on your whole history.

My.

My whole history?

All of it.

What do you mean?

So.

So this might get cut.

Pause.

All right, we're cutting this.

I want to ask how you went from theology.

Oh, yeah, we're cutting Church World.

Oh, nope, cutting.

That took off.

No, I literally cut all that.

Okay, keep dreaming.

That's fine.

No, but you've got in.

In reality, Wade, you've got an interesting story, and I think it's.

I think you would be wildly disappointed.

It's not all that interesting.

But, yeah, I mean, I.

No one will ever know.

So.

So I think, you know, and this begs the other interview question here, is who should we interview?

If you are a random person.

Seriously.

Has come across our podcast.

Drop us a line with a contact email.

Do you love your coffee shop?

Do you love your barista?

Do you love someone, you know, who is a home breeze?

Like.

Like what.

What about coffee gets you going?

And then how, you know, how can we.

How can we tell that story?

Yeah, like, literally, I'm.

My wife calls me a coffee professional.

I was a barista for a couple years, and I just drink a lot of coffee, and I know a lot of coffee people, and I'm not ashamed to, you know, grill the guy at the bar.

So, yeah, it's the Chris Lindstrom strategy.

Right.

Go to.

Go to a place and talk to a guy.

Right.

Like, that's so, you know, get on your.

If you're listening to this and you're just a coffee drinker, who's your.

Who's your favorite coffee shop?

Who's your roaster?

You get.

Yeah, we should go after probably all the nominees for Best barista.

Right, Right.

Like, find out what makes them tick and what they do besides coffee.

Right?

Like, yeah, Because I'm betting most.

Most of the people out here are doing this, maybe not full time, and.

I think we've Got, like, it's interesting being in AM fm and we've tapped into, like, the photography community a lot.

We should definitely talk to Brian Tucker.

Although I bet he's gonna be on behind the Glass, so I don't wanna, like, steal their thing.

But also, like, we knew him first.

Well, and I work with Brian, and Brian's also got a great story and he also lives coffee.

And I'm betting Behind the Glass is not gonna dive into his coffee.

Right.

Because he is a very talented.

Should have been a crossover episode.

Like, come on, come on.

Quad J and Rob.

Rob Bell works this DJ station on Sundays.

Like, come on, where are we at here?

Like, don't forget us.

Like, let's.

Should we just show up?

Yeah.

Ask Chris when their next recording is.

So there's.

But also, besides photography, there's, like, I just said, there's the DJ community.

Like, they're doing the coffee parties here.

I was gonna say let's AM fm.

So that's.

Oh, man.

I can only remember one Alifi and DJ Aletta.

And then I don't know if Rob Bell got involved in that one.

But, like, the coffee party thing, I mean, it's.

So let's.

Coffee raves have been a thing, apparently.

I was gonna say let's chat about Coffee Party because AM FM sent this on their Instagram.

I was like, oh, coffee party.

Right?

We're gonna drink a lot of coffee.

They're having lattes and things.

No, it's.

And then it was like, no.

What's a coffee party?

It's like a, it's a nightclub during, like, nine in the morning.

Yeah, I, I, I had heard about the trend last summer of coffee raves.

It's, it's stupid that I never brought it up to, like, talk about it on our podcast because it's, like, a perfect topic for this podcast.

It's a culture.

Yeah, like, exactly.

It is.

It is a blending of cultures, like the coffee shop culture and the, and the rave culture.

And it is, like you said, it's like doing nightclub, but, like, in the morning at a coffee shop.

And, you know, you do see these scenes.

And Coffee Party's done an awesome job publicizing these scenes of, like, larger cities.

Definitely breaking every fire code and packing out a coffee shop and a DJ just going ham and like, you know, it looks like a ton of fun now.

I didn't make it to the first one here today.

I missed it.

I am hoping to make it to the next one.

You know, weekends being what they are right now.

So I really Wanted to bring my daughter because she loves dancing.

Yeah.

And like, my, you know, my middle son loves dancing too.

So I bet he would thoroughly enjoy.

And it's like nine in the morning and so.

Why wouldn't you?

Yeah, I mean, they've been up since six anyway.

Yeah.

So I think.

I think everyone should check out Coffee Party.

What's great about them is they grabbed all the socials, so they're easy to find.

It's not like you're looking for a hashtag.

They have like the Coffee party, like Instagram, TikTok, all that good stuff.

So.

And it is like a collective of DJs.

They've been looking for the right kind of partnerships with coffee shops in the area.

They got connected here with Josiah.

I didn't have to do anything.

That's my favorite part.

Part about it.

I was.

I was here while they were having.

I was literally sitting right over there while they were having their first meeting.

And Josiah's like, that's our roaster, Wade.

And I just waved and that's all I had to do.

And I'm hoping to get them connected to a couple other places because I think there are other great venues for this.

And, you know, we're never.

Nothing we do is about, like, this is our thing, you know, this.

It's.

It's about the community and it's about how we can serve Rochester.

And I think, like, there are a lot of cool places you could do this kind of thing.

Oh, for sure.

I got two things, so real quick.

You know, when this was one of the other businesses that was in here, there was an organization so far, sounds maybe, or it was another music oriented organization.

And upstairs in this building, there was a.

It wasn't an established nightclub yet.

It was a party.

And it was like a DJ set up on like a bunch of cinder blocks.

And there were a bunch of people up there.

And.

Yeah, it was.

You know, there's a connection between coffee and people just getting together and it being a space.

And that's why it's the perfect vehicle for any culture.

Wade, who would you interview?

Oh, okay.

Oh, okay.

You had to know I was gonna put this back on.

I didn't.

I didn't.

Because you're.

You're more into the hardcore knowledge and I'm more of the what we've termed fluff side of things.

I think, like, I.

You've turned.

I've never called you that.

I'm calling myself that.

All right, you've termed it.

This is gonna sound weird, but I think I Have two for that exact reason that you just named.

I want to jam with Lily from Kopani one more time because I feel like she is probably super knowledgeable and at a place I've been before where it's like, I don't have.

I don't feel like I have sufficient outlet for that.

I got and Kiki vibes on roasting.

From her, and I think we could really throw down some roasting knowledge.

That would be, like, a super niche episode, and maybe not.

I don't know, maybe not what anyone wants to listen to.

But, like, I think if it ever found its audience, people would be like, wow, they really know their shit in Rochester.

I think she probably has a very broad knowledge base that would be really fun to dive into.

Well, and I remember thinking when we first started Level up dialed in, we wanted to have a coffee festival here, right?

Yes.

And I think we're in a better position now in Rochester to do that.

Right here on parcel five.

That's where it should be.

So, you know, that's part of it, is we have that desire here.

So.

Yeah.

So Lily from Kopani.

Yeah.

And for the same reason, because he and I, historically could talk coffee forever.

I want to talk to Ben Turiano.

I would love to have him back on.

I think it would be, again, like, if we could get granular and geeky and detailed and talk about the different things we've been reading.

And I'm sure we've grown in different directions just in terms of, like, who we read and what we pay attention to and what we're, you know, what we're conversant with now.

But I would just love.

I would love that update, if nothing else, like, because Ben was, like, so central to, like, how I got started in coffee in Rochester.

Like, me, too.

And we used to just throw down so much, and I think, like, I think it would be really cool to.

Just to hear where he's at and what he's thinking about and how it.

How it relates to what Joby is doing now.

And, like, again, I have no idea if there's a niche for my.

For that kind of conversation, but, yeah, I would love to talk to them.

And one other thing that came up, we threw this idea out.

We talked about having our kids on and interviewing our kids about.

That would be really funny.

Yeah, that would be really funny.

Their experience with their fathers having coffee.

Yeah, it's part of the lives.

Because my son definitely thinks I'm a little crazy.

See, and.

And my son.

Your son is just getting into It.

He's a fish in water.

You know what I mean?

Like, he.

He doesn't realize how good he's had it with coffee until he tastes what is a very standard coffee anywhere else.

And he's like, wait a minute.

And so.

But he has.

He also has this funny thing.

I was just thinking about this.

He kind of approaches me with a little bit of trepidation when he likes a coffee where he's like.

He's like, I had coffee at this place.

Is it like.

Is that like, I. I like.

I think I like it.

I think they're pretty good.

And I'm like, oh, yeah, that place is great.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then now it's like, you know, he goes to Soda, which is over by Ugly Ducks.

So it's like, so School of the Art.

Yeah.

School of the Arts, New York.

Every other week.

He's like, can we stop at Ugly Duck after school?

Like.

Like, can we go to Ugly Duck?

I'm like, I mean, we could walk to Hydra when you get off the bus.

I want to go to Ugly Duck.

Like, I want to go sit.

And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We do go to Hydra, though.

We do walk to Hydra.

I love Hydra.

I just snapped.

I'm gonna go buy one of their T shirts.

They've got us great T shirt design.

Yeah.

I think I saw hoodies last time I was there that I wanted.

I want all the coffee hoodies and.

But I did stop at Ugly Dick.

They have a new seasonal beverage.

It's got, like, orange bitters.

I saw this.

A number of people sent this to.

Me, and I should have written down it was phenomenal.

I'm going to look it up and we'll do a quick audio.

It's actually kind of a cool time in Rochester right now where a lot of the specialty coffee shops are turning over their spring specialty menus and doing, like, all these fun syrups and all kinds of cool things.

Can I.

Can I plug the two do it names that I.

On a national scale.

Want to talk to y.

So definitely Michelle Johnson.

Oh, she has a hyphenated name now.

She's married.

Crap.

I don't know her hyphenated.

I only know she.

She did the chocolate barista.

She also started Ghost Town Oats, which is an oatmeal company out of Oakland, I think.

Oakland.

And she has just always had this mentality of like, I'm going to do what I want in coffee.

I'm going to try to create my own space.

I'm going to you know, be an entrepreneur and be like a real entrepreneur and not like a struggling brand, tiny, you know, nothing company, but like a. I'm gonna go do rounds of funding.

And like, she has done an incredible job in a world that just was not welcoming to her, was not welcoming to black women to create that space.

And I'm sure there are stories that would be incredibly eye opening that she could tell.

And then, of course, mentioned by Marvin on a previous podcast.

I want to talk to Len Butler.

I'm.

You gotta hold me to this.

We're gonna reach out to Len Butler and we're gonna organize that 10K.

Did you see that Anthony hit us back on our socials.

He's like, I want to do a 10K.

I'm like, oh, God, now I actually have to do it.

No, I mean, I. I want to do it.

I think.

I think Rochester would love it, and I think Rochester would.

Would raise a ton of money.

But I want to talk to Lam about so much else.

Lam has the most amazing story, and I think every barista who's ever been like, why the am I in coffee?

Should talk to Lam, should listen to Lam's story and should get exposure to, like, what he.

He's been through and how he made it work and all the good stuff he's done and continues to do even in this season where, you know, he's not.

He's not involved with his project anymore.

And he's like, he's involved with Grounds for Health and doing the nonprofit thing, like.

Yeah.

So I would love to talk to those two.

It's all a little niche and geeky, but that's my life.

You know, it's not going to be a baseball player.

It's going to be these niche specialty coffee people.

Well, and it would be great to, you know, Ben took over a little bit for his mother, Kathy, at Joe Bean, and Kathy came into coffee in a prior phase before we really called it specialty coffee.

I would love to interview Kathy separately.

And then just like, play their clips back to back, ask them the same questions.

That'd be ridiculous.

Think it would be really great.

So funny, because she's got a very different perspective, and I think she recognized where the industry was going and that her son was into it, where it was going, and wanted to take it there.

Cool.

So.

And now it's all completely different.

So we've talked about Rochester again thousands of times.

Yep.

Hopefully that translates into the larger coffee world and people are relating to their own local areas there.

Yeah, absolutely.

And with that, thanks for listening and be sure to check out all of the shows on the Lunchadore Podcast network.

We already mentioned Common Thread, Rory Van Grohl's amazing podcast.

There's Plants and Beats with Rob Bell, who we've also already shouted out and oh, what's oh man, I've been listening to so many good shows lately.

Chris has actually had some awesome stuff on Just can't not.

I think it's around Pittsburgh Fringe if I'm not mistaken, which is amazing.

Just some really cool artists and doing some really kind of offbeat new forward thinking things.

And so definitely check out all the lunch door shows.

Aaron, where can they find you on.

Aaronpascucci.com I've been working on some fun graphic stuff.

I got a new T shirt design.

I've got a sample coming out and so you can find my store templates.

It's selling ceramics right now and then there's one black T shirt down there.

All right, nice.