Articles by Ken

About Ken

Kenneth R. Olson (he/him) is co-founder and publisher of Barista Magazine the worldwide trade magazine for the professional coffee community. He has written extensively about specialty coffee, traveled near and far for stories, activities, and fun, and been invited to present on topics important to coffee culture. He is also an avid fan state parks, public libraries, and physical media.

Cool Colombian Cupping

November 1, 2011 Ken 1

I headed over to Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importing company based here in Portland, earlier today to take part in a cupping they were hosting. It’s part of an effort that they’re making to help […]

Chinese Coffee Ritual

October 31, 2011 Ken Comments Off

Here’s a little story out of the Bay Area that caught my eye today. It’s a report from SFGate on a new café in Beijing, China that is using Ritual Coffee. I like the backstory […]

Keeping Up With the Colombians

September 28, 2011 Ken 2

I don’t know if you’ve been over to the Colombian Coffee Hub yet, but it’s pretty awesome! We’ve been watching all these recent videos submitted for the Camp Pull-A-Shot Scholarship, but meanwhile, former WBC Champion […]

Colombia Revisited

September 16, 2011 Ken Comments Off

No doubt the World Barista Championship held in BogotÃ¡, Colombia this past June was one of the best ever. Not only with the winning barista hailing from a producing country (you can read all about […]

LA interlude

July 15, 2011 Ken Comments Off

(This is a little post to tide us over until Sarah gets a chance to report from the road in Brazil.) Some things about Los Angeles are obviously cool: the beaches, the sun, the movie […]

2011 WBC Final Standings

June 7, 2011 Ken Comments Off

It was a helluva competition in Bogota. One of the best I’ve ever had the opportunity to cover. And the Finals round was simply out of this world in the level of competition, professionalism, and […]

Brewing News

April 6, 2011 Ken Comments Off

Two news stories out today caught our attention, and while they came from opposite sides of the country, they both feature the growing pour-over and manual-brewing movement in cafés. The first is from the Washington […]

Online Latte Art Contest

March 25, 2011 Ken Comments Off

The online magazine Salon is holding a latte art contest. They’re looking for photos of the best pours (though etching is allowed too), with a chance to win some fine Bodum products. Ok, so it’s […]

A little video from Nuova Simonelli

March 22, 2011 Ken Comments Off

Sarah posted this video earlier today on our facebook page, and it seems pretty popular there, so I thought for everyone out there who’s not on the book of faces, you might like to see […]

Record Earthquake and Tsunami Rock Japan

March 11, 2011 Ken Comments Off

News broke this morning here in Oregon of the tsunami, which started yesterday after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake shook the ocean floor just off the coast of Japan. The waves reached our Pacific Coast, […]