The Internet is Fueled by Coffee
There are rumors and urban myths out there that have completely shocked me. Whispers of Tom Cruise being an alien, the Slender Man is actually real, or that alligators live in the sewer are just a few. But the one that beats them all? Some people don’t drink coffee. Can you believe it? Well, I’m here to tell you… the internet is fueled by coffee.
The Basalt team takes coffee seriously. Around here, we do everything with our five core values in mind: Passionate, Practical, Intentional, Cohesive, and Skillful — even our coffee brewing (and drinking).
In our SE Portland office, we exclusively drink Central City Coffee to support our local community, specifically workforce diversity. It also helps that the coffee is expertly roasted. The beans are delivered once a week, and we follow our CEO’s personal belief (and pickiness) that: you must have a good quality whole-bean coffee, you can only grind it just before you’re about to brew it, and you have to use a quality brew method.
For our fellow coffee aficionados, here are a few other tips from our in-house “experts” (mostly Chris Strahl and Jake Love):
1. Use a burr grinder — it “crushes” the beans instead of chopping them and creates a uniform size, so the coffee isn’t “muddy”
2. Use filtered water, or at least water you’re used to drinking so you have a flavor that is complementary to the beans
3. Have a quality filter (recycled paper filters are probably best)
4. Have exactly the same amount of coffee (68g in Basalt’s case) at a grind that you vary by origin of the coffee
And if you aren’t impressed with our coffee passion and expertise yet, take a look at our summer project. One of our developers, Jake, took on leading the path to creating the perfect cold brew.
As you can see, at Basalt we don’t do anything halfway. If we work this hard on our coffee, you can imagine what we do for the work we love.
Just to give you an idea of how big coffee is in the U.S., did you know?
- 52% of American adults drink coffee every day
- The average coffee drinker consumes 3.1 cups per day
- Coffee won’t actually stunt your growth
- Coffee can improve memory recall and lower the risks of some cancers
- The caffeine in coffee can help ease asthma attacks
As I look around the office, 8 out of 10 of us are indulging in the caffeinated goodness. All the hard work we do for our clients: design systems architecture, apps, client consultation…is all fueled by coffee. I think my next blog should measure productivity hours against numbers of cups of coffee per person. Stay tuned.
And just to grind the point a little finer, National Coffee Day is coming up on September 29. So pour a hot (or cold) cup and enjoy.
