This Slack-channel group seeks to have unbiased discussions and education about the coffee industry.
BY YKER VALERIO
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Ever Meister
Earlier this year, I watched High Density presentations out of curiosity. As an enthusiast, I expected to learn about coffee, brewing methods, even some sensory skills. But after I discovered coffee professional Ever Meister’s (she/they) talk on ethical marketing, the event went above and beyond my expectations.
Since then, I have been following Meister’s work closely, and when she announced the Facticity Coffee Club, I decided to join immediately.
A few weeks have passed after starting group discussions at the club, and after interacting with other club members through Slack, I can’t stop thinking about the potential of such a club and the conversations we’re having. Read on to learn more about Facticity Club and Meister’s reasons for starting this club.
What Is Facticity Coffee Club?
In short, Meister explains that Facticity Coffee Club is “partly a discussion group and a research club about coffee that seeks to focus on a single topic at a time, gather and share information within the group, and change the way we think about coffee.” According to Meister, this club isn’t about debate or having a fully formed idea about any topic, just informing our points of view.
The first point for discussion has been the definition of specialty coffee. Currently, the club has around 90 members, and some have already questioned their understanding of coffee. To advance this conversation, members have been reading and analyzing a white paper that the Specialty Coffee Association released in September 2021 on updating the definition of specialty coffee.
So far, club members haven’t shied away from complex topics, and it’s engaging and interesting to find out so different points of view around a definition that many took for granted for decades.
Facticity Coffee Club: Purpose and Goals
From Meister’s point of view, we experience too much pressure to take a side and process information without having the opportunity to think and reflect. That’s why they started Facticity Coffee Club. Many have expressed their enthusiasm and curiosity about learning and sharing about coffee from other members’ perspectives.
So, after reading dozens of messages on Slack and learning more about both the topic and the club dynamics, it may be too early to understand where it’s going to progress. Still, we know that it has started to discuss and challenge our assumptions about coffee. Assumptions include its definition as a product, the business processes, and the valid sources we don’t commonly acknowledge.
As Meister puts it, she started this club to challenge the process of finding information about coffee, looking for the people who aren’t usually in the room when we talk about specialty coffee.
How to Be Part of Facticity Coffee Club
Currently, Facticity Coffee Club is open to more members. If you’re interested in joining, just send an email to facticitycoffee@gmail.com. It’s free, and Meister wants to keep it that way. So, it’s more likely that if the club keeps growing, new roles may emerge, rather than actually having to pay membership fees.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yker Valerio (he/him) is a freelance content creator. After more than 10 years of working as a management consultant, he started his blog Bon Vivant Caffè to share his passion for specialty coffee.
