The Compass in Your Cup

Travel is one of life’s most enjoyable privileges, one worth careful planning and consideration to ensure all wanderings are enjoyable and enriching. Because the morning cup is a universal ritual, coffee shops often set both the pace and temperature of a city. Don’t believe me? The next time you’re somewhere new, try strolling as the sun rises—when most venues are still shut—to see how different life feels before brews start being slung across counters. That’s why I sought advice from three industry professionals who regularly trot the globe for their work and learned how they maximize their time on the road.

Find your people

Upon landing somewhere new, it’s important to get one’s bearings before embarking on heavy exploration. Good hospitality, one-of-a-kind flavour experiences, and enriching storytelling are at the heart of specialty coffee, making cafes the best starting point for any journey. In a place like Tokyo, for example, where one can easily get lost in its mind-boggling array of possibilities, the best guidance will make a profound difference.

Sitting alongside the city’s Meguro River, Switch Coffee’s Masahiro Onishi serves some of Tokyo’s most expressive roasts. Although he is deeply connected to the local coffee, food, and wine scenes, he remains unassuming and unpretentious. Masa and his team’s primary focus is looking after the countless locals who regularly perch at the cafe’s long bench, or who stop in on their commute or while walking their dogs. Having started his career in coffee while studying at university in 2007, Masa cut his teeth first in Melbourne, Australia, where he perfected his craft under the guidance of roasting legend (and brief housemate) Toshi Ishiwata, and later at Katsuhide Izaki’s Honey Coffee in Fukuoka once he returned to Japan. By the time he opened the doors to Switch in 2013, he’d already become part of the country’s rising wave of innovative coffee professionals who now captain today’s local industry.

That’s why it’s not surprising, then, that Masa finds the best way to unearth interesting places to visit on holiday or sourcing trips is simply by ‘asking friends who live there’, rather than relying on the numerous Top 10 lists algorithms regularly feed us, which often lack the depth of knowledge a personal recommendation offers. While Masa recognized these lists ‘are good for typical travellers who lack access to good, local places,’ solely relying on them overlooks a crucial benefit of our devotion to coffee: through brewing and tasting, we’ve already developed a shared language compelling enough to transcend culture and place. In this sense, the coffee-obsessed rarely lack access to friends.

While doing research ahead of a trip is a must, the best people to confirm if a place is worth queuing for will undoubtedly be local baristas—followed by any fellow enthusiasts you’ll likely run into while waiting for your morning cup. I will concede, though, that demanding personal recommendations from a fresh acquaintance is not the best way to make a good first impression. The solution is rather simple: don’t remain a stranger. ‘Going to bars and joining a community is my regular way to make friends in new places,’ Masa confessed, sharing his strategy for success. ‘When I opened Switch in Meguro, I was new to a new area […] so I tried going to bars and restaurants nearby, and those that served tasty wines or beers had good communities.’

At the beginning of your next trip, make it your top priority to find a cafe that truly resonates with you—one that, like Switch, is for locals first, but beloved by many—and include it in your daily routine. In the process, you’re bound to be rewarded with good stories, memorable spots worth trekking to, and names of people to look out for. Of course, once you find your people, be prepared to strike with your best queries. When doing so, remember to approach your conversations with sincerity and thoughtfulness. Asking open-ended questions like, ‘What’s the best coffee shop in Tokyo?’ will likely yield poorer results than a more specific, ‘Which other shop would you recommend for someone who enjoys transparent, washed Ethiopians?’ It’s also wise to be open about any foods and drinks you avoid, or if you have any budget limitations, because no one understands the need to get a meal or experience just right quite like caring hospitality folks.

Leave room for side quests

Each breath of fresh air during a vacation—especially during its first couple of days—has a unique way of restoring and revitalizing the spirit. In an attempt to maximize this vital renewal, many are tempted to pack each day with as much action as possible, leaving little room for the unexpected. Yet, according to Carly Green, it’s these capers on the side that have the greatest chance of revealing a city’s wonders.

Carly loves a good side quest—one could almost argue her impressive career in specialty coffee actually began as one. While studying to become a social worker and taking part in a university volunteer programme in Uganda, she met a coffee producer who asked her to help him sell his crop when she returned to the United States. In the ensuing journey, Carly landed at a cupping table with Charlie Habegger, then green buyer for LA’s Handsome Coffee Roasters (which later became Blue Bottle Coffee’s roastery in the city after its acquisition). From that first experience tasting and assessing coffee, Carly knew her ‘social work career wasn’t going to capture my interest in the same way.’

Since then, Carly has worked in sourcing, quality control, marketing, and customer education. She started at Blue Bottle, where she ‘watched them grow from about 15 cafes to 135 globally!’ and later moved to start-up Cometeer. Eventually, she took the plunge as a freelance consultant, relocating to Europe, and became an educator through her @coffee.with.carly Instagram handle. Travel, and getting lost in it, has remained a priority for Carly through this transition—a passion she shares with her partner. Like many of us, when planning a visit to a new city, she ‘usually starts with my Google Maps favourites list that I have shared with my partner.’ Yet, she goes further by also looking up ‘favourite neighbourhoods by locals in that city. Those neighbourhoods almost always lead to great cafes!’

By focusing on clusters of interesting places within specific locations, rather than myriad individual spots across an entire city, travellers can fill in the gaps at a leisurely pace. ‘I’ll search where the locals like to go,’ Carly explained, ‘choose one cafe as a starting point, figure out the local transit, and wander around that area until I’ve gotten a feel for it and want to tackle a new neighbourhood.’ Racing from place to place without taking the time to calmly and deliberately enjoy one’s surroundings isn’t just potentially frustrating when a delay arises; it also detracts from the sense of discovery and adventure new locations are supposed to evoke. As Green best put it, ‘Travel already stretches your brain because everything is new, but spontaneity pushes it further by forcing you to adapt in real time and actually engage with what feels right instead of just following a plan. The unplanned moments are usually where the perspective shifts happen, and you never know who you’ll connect with along the way!’

Thus, keeping an open mind is necessary for those gallivanting through a new location in search of good coffee and a great time. Carly admits that while cafes with ‘a fun brand and a strong online presence often also meticulously design their space and ensure quality experience,’ spots following the typical Specialty Cafe Playbook aren’t the only ones worth considering. Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding, or in her case, ‘if it looks like they can make a mean batch brew, I’m happy.’ When less effort is spent analysing gear or scrutinizing tasting notes, more time can be spent seeing a place through the eyes of its most astute denizens. Echoing Switch’s Masa, Carly agreed, ‘Once you’re chatting with the cafe team, that’s the perfect opportunity to ask for more local recommendations, because baristas always know best,’ even if these aren’t part of the day’s original plan. Side adventures are not a prerequisite for a memorable time; they are, of course, good encouragement for one.

Bring a notepad

The clarity of mind gained while travelling should not be left behind once a visit ends, especially after one has thoroughly scoured a region for its finest offerings. So long as you remain vigilant of your surroundings and taste everything judiciously, you can uncover what makes them remarkable and unique. This knowledge, in turn, will prove invaluable back home.

For Pedro Echavarría, General Manager of Pergamino—a Colombian exporter and Medellín-based roastery and cafe chain—the inspiration gained from visiting clients abroad and sourcing partners interstate has been pivotal. This inspiration has allowed him and his team to build an operation that successfully implements novel ideas from overseas while still feeling 100-per-cent Colombian. ‘Really, our first special coffee experience, when we had our ‘aha!’ moment, was in Portland, Oregon in 2012, during our second year exporting,’ Pedro reminisced. ‘We went to cafes like Stumptown and Coava, which showed us where specialty was adding value for the consumer and the entire chain. I’d already been working on the green side, understanding quality and cupping, but this is when everything clicked.’

Following these meaningful encounters, Pergamino opened their first cafe later that year.

Here, Pedro and his team introduced concepts that predated their prominence in the country’s specialty scene. These included a focus on perfecting their roasting skills, a manual brew bar, cold brew drinks, and offerings of different origins and processing methods. As Pedro recounted of those early days, ‘I remember explaining to people what a Chemex and a siphon were. We were also one of the first to serve naturals. Because we had a connection to the rest of the world, we had cupped naturals from Ethiopia and truly understood the high quality the process could achieve.’

With the company now operating 12 venues in the city, the lessons picked up while travelling have only become more important. ‘It’s weird because you’re always navigating these two worlds: wanting to think very originally and build stuff from scratch,’ Pedro asserted, ‘but travelling is really a way of calibrating what we’re doing with the rest of the industry. Ours is an industry that grows together. As primarily small to medium-sized companies, we really need to grow as a community to make a dent and to define what consumers want and expect from us.’

Over the years, even as the company has grown, many of the notes taken while procuring coffee throughout Colombia remain at the core of Pergamino’s identity. As Pedro recognized, ‘We’re a big part of that bridge from sourcing to the cafe. But that final experience—the story you’re telling, the brew you’re serving—is the most authentic connection.’ Their guandolo cold brew, which celebrates a well-known drink from rural Colombia made with panela, lemon, and copious amounts of ice, perfectly exemplifies this sentiment and has become their best-selling cold drink. ‘We connect the farm and the city to really showcase the people behind our coffees. Our entire brand is inspired by what we encounter during our trips to rural towns, what we see from our chiva buses, in our architecture, and in the colours we paint our houses with,’ Pedro surmised. There’s no denying travel is great fun—but it can also serve a greater purpose if one comes prepared to learn.

Regardless of how consumed by wanderlust one may become, there comes a point in every holiday when the body begins to yearn for the familiarity and comforts of home. It’s important to keep this reality in mind when planning time away because, however unlikely it may seem, it is possible to sojourn for too long. Not only will your bank account thank you, but knowing there is an end in sight also grounds the final moments of any experience. There is no better nudge to sharpen your focus on the person or sight before you than an app notification reminding you to check in early for a return flight. There is also no better time to start dreaming and plotting your next adventure, no matter how distant it may be.