An Old Town Throw Down and a New View Into Coffee
By Jayy Terrell, Partner
I was about one month into the NKG PACE program when a co-worker — Junior Trader Pablo Lara, who is not only a fellow member of the queer community but has been instrumental in bringing together different communities for coffee events and competitions in San Diego — approached me about an upcoming latte-art throw down at Por Vida Café in Old Town San Diego.
Looking up from his lunch one afternoon, Pablo nonchalantly announced, "I entered us in the throw down." It was at this moment, my mouth full of salad, that I realized I had no choice in the matter. Truthfully, I was both excited and nervous about my first night out in the San Diego coffee world. But I felt well taken care of.
This feeling was solidified when I arrived to find Pablo in a camel-colored cowboy hat and cowboy boots, with a yellow bandana wrapped around his neck in a particularly Western fashion.
Turns out, the theme of the throwdown was "Old Town Style," and if participants wore a Western-style costume, they received a free ticket for the raffle to be held later that night.
Oh yes, this was happening.
Old Town, Throwing Down
The author, Jayy Terrell, competing at the Por Vida Cafe throw down in San Diego.
I ordered a drink and settled in amongst the other coffee enthusiasts who, by this point, had gathered around the entrance of the shop to get a closer look at the two contestants at the espresso machine.
The judges sat at a small table between the contestants, and us onlookers huddled outside. I was struck both by the physical beauty of the community crammed into the space and by the vibrant energy radiating from the crowd. Coffee-patterned chatter, and flashing phone cameras, eruptions of boisterous laughter and scattered cheering filled the room as contestants — two at a time — poured their best in an attempt to advance to the second round and then, hopefully, to the final round and prizes.
While the "action" was presumably inside the shop, Pablo set out to introduce me to several roaster and shop-owner clients of InterAmerican Coffee. We even bumped into a customer who had joined us at the office earlier that day for a cupping! These small interactions and coincidences exemplified how small and tightknit the San Diego coffee community really is.
I met and chatted with a number of InterAmerican clients who were so warmly interested in my journey from Houston, Texas, to this little shop in San Diego. I explained the details of the NKG PACE program and what a monumental step it was for our company, and for the industry at large, and shared the details of my experience so far. I also invited several of them to come to the office to cup with us. Watching Pablo, a fantastic junior trader, network, handshake and hug his way through the crowd really gave me insight into the world of a coffee trader and the importance of making genuine personal connections with clients and the community.
As someone who has spent the majority of my coffee career engaging the community from an obvious place of service, I was ablaze with the knowledge that those very experiences had led me here, and that my appreciation for coffee in all its iterations had paved the way for a new way of existing in this industry.
I often flippantly compare myself to a coffee bean, but by the end of this night, it became clear that I was, in fact, witnessing the very active acceleration of my evolution. •
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Jayy Terrell is a 2022 NKG PACE Partner in the InterAmerican Coffee San Diego office. They can be reached at jayy.terrell@nkg.coffee