2025 is here! Hope you ate your 12 grapes, ran around with your suitcase, and/or plunged into Lake Michigan. Or, maybe you just sat on your couch and perused food trend predictions for 2025. Anyway, if you haven’t made resolutions, it is still not too late. Although we cannot assure you that your wishes come true.
Here at Cafecito414, the new year energy is brewing and for this post, we want to share some coffee inspired resolutions that we are trying to see through this 2025. We’re going personal and local in MKE, but there are plenty of other spots to read about hot new trends (like vitamin-infused coffee apparently).
Saul’s resolutions:
Knowledge
I’ve been a coffee enthusiast for a while now, but most of my knowledge has been picked up on the fly. Coffee was the byproduct of a deadline, not usually the main attraction. While this approach to coffee has made me discover different scents, blends, and drinks in an organic fashion, there’s a part of me that still feels something is missing. Maybe it is the social scientist in me, but I am beginning to deeply wonder about the origin and cultural significance of coffee in our current time.
I would like to learn about the cultural and historical impact of coffee in the written form. I mainly look at books to have the answers (classic) and maybe if I don’t find the answer, I can get a couple of cool facts and I can spit out social functions. Upon a quick google search for “books about coffee”, the internet algorithms recommend, “The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing -- Coffees Explored, Explained and Enjoyed” by James Hoffmann. So I will keep y’all updated on any discoveries I make while reading.
Gabe’s Response: More power to you! I am actually just about to start “Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug” and will let you know how it is.
Experiences
Along with books, I think that curated coffee experiences are on the docket for this year. The first that comes to mind are coffee tours. Milwaukee’s amazing coffee roasters offer opportunities to see how the coffee they serve is prepped. Might as well start with a Milwaukee Favorite, Stone Creek!
And beyond tours, I think that I did not hit my new coffee shop threshold in 2024. Last year, I stuck to my favorites (Fuel and Pilcrow). While these places are great, I think I would like to be better at keeping up with new shops. So to hold myself accountable, I will state my goal here: visit 5 new coffee shops. While this number may seem low, it’s because I want to dedicate each place its own blog and that may take some time to “brew” up.
Gabe’s Resolutions:
Sip & Savor
Borrowing the nap of a Chicago-based coffee shop, I want to spend a bit more time just enjoy the smell, taste, and experience of the coffee itself, as well as the feel of the places I drink it in. Don’t get me wrong, I will still be drinking all kinds (including - cringe - my early morning reheat) but I want to lean into the mindfulness of it all. Whether its a treat at Discourse, a coffee meeting at my office away from the office at the Stone Creek factory store, or a pour over at home, I just want to step out for a second here and there and appreciate.
It’s easy to say this resolution and envision it while I am sitting at my computer in the dark quiet of the morning. Much like many resolutions, the hustle and bustle of the day will make it harder to follow through. So feel free to ask me and keep me accountable, whether you are just curious or happen to be one of my possibly-too-many coffee meetings.
Building Community and Capacity
As I write this, I am looking ahead today to meeting with some colleagues to discuss a new coffee-related project. Our coffee shops across MKE often serve as informal community centers. Folks of all sorts get together, interact, and sometimes bring their needs and issues with them. Coffee shops are relatively open spaces - some allow folks to come in and just sit (whether explicitly or implicitly) and in all of them, for a few dollars you can take refuge from the cold and just be in the space with others.
But, at the same time, coffee shops are not set up to serve the way different folks' needs may manifest. What if someone has an acute medical emergency, a mental health episode, or is coming off of a bad drug trip? Our project we are trying to develop would build a network and supports to harness the unique potential coffeeshops offer to provide services, while also helping the businesses navigate the questions that arise.
To turn it all into a resolution, I want to see this project through. I can’t tell you where it will end up, but I want to explore it and see where it goes. Keep checking here for updates!
Conclusion
What are your coffee related resolutions? Is there a new drink your going to make your daily option? Is there a new brewing method you are trying to perfect? We are hearing the French Press is making a comeback.
Any and all comments are welcomed below!
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