A relationship with coffee can be deeply personal. This is exactly how it is for Sam Kjellberg, a choral conductor who has discovered the beauty of roasting his own coffee. As a conductor, Sam’s job is to manage the experience of the music for the audience. Sam calls it "having agency" pulling together every aspect of the music and the performance such that the audience hears and feels exactly what Sam wants them to.
Sam Kjellberg and Nils Clauson
Sam took that same desire to create the perfect experience into his relationship with coffee. For Sam, coffee was perhaps getting a little too elitist and in the process was becoming less accessible to those unwilling to acquire the knowledge and the language to "speak coffee." The audience was growing more distant from the authenticity of the coffee.
Sam turned this challenge on its head. By getting to know the beans better, by learning what it takes to roast coffee in a way that brings out its full and diverse flavors, by choosing, roasting, cupping and tasting his coffee over and over again until he got it "right," Sam created "agency" with coffee.
Musician - Billy Dean Thomas
While investing deeply into exploring the coffee experience for himself, something still missing. That something was the audience. How could Sam share his coffee experience and make it accessible to others without putting them off or making them feel ignorant?
That's where The Pour came in. By understanding Sam's coffee experience better, by seeing the parallel path between his love of music and his love of coffee, The Pour created an event where Sam’s love of music and his intimate experience with coffee could be shared with others. Bringing together a diverse group of people who liked coffee and music, The Pour created a stage where Sam could share his experience of coffee in a way that was more accessible his audience. The result is right here in this video. Enjoy the music of coffee as conducted by one very passionate leader.
