Cafe, Coffee Events, Education, Inspiring People, Mystery

New Barista Miraculously Dials In Espresso Despite Forgetting Extraction Theory

A barista looks in wonder at the shot he's pulling.

This piece is dedicated to Weihong Zhang, our excellent Patreon supporter whom we love and appreciate. By Josh Rank DUBUQUE, IA– New hire Stephan Grant was shocked to find the espresso he had been dialing in didn’t taste like hot garbage despite having zero recollection of extraction theory. “It’s amazing,” said Grant. “It’s truly like Perger was watching over me.…

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Cafe, Customer Service, Mystery, Roasting

Customer Seeking Freshest Beans Inquires About Beans From The Future

Coffee beans falling into a pile.

This piece is dedicated to Velton Ross, our excellent Patreon supporter whom we love and appreciate. By Caroline Robb NEW ORLEANS, LA— David Lewis, long-time occasional coffee buyer at a popular neighborhood roaster, has always exhibited the highest standards for his take-home pick. “It has to be the freshest,” he told Knockbox reporters in a press conference this morning. “If…

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Cafe, Customer Service

Customer Interprets Pour Over Bloom as Affront to Society

A man in a suit sitting on a couch looks at his watch impatiently.

This piece is dedicated to Umeko Motoyoshi, our excellent Patreon supporter whom we love and appreciate. By Josh Rank BIRMINGHAM, AL– Local mortician David Hallmark watched in horror as a barista at a local cafe started making his pour-over coffee and then, inexplicably, stopped. “He was chugging right along, grinding the beans, getting the water,” said Hallmark. “Then he started…

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Cafe, Inspiring People

Family-Owned Cafe Launches New “Dying Wage” Project

A paycheck shows 584 dollars and 36 cents.

A small, family-owned Erie cafe is changing how people think about compensation in the coffee industry. In what they’re calling the Dying Wage Project, they have made a public pledge to pay each of their nine employees as little as is legally allowed, even knowing that over time, this will erode their mental and physical health, leave them no safety net in the event of emergencies, and, essentially, slowly kill them.