Black Aprons and Baguettes

So the reason for these blogs is so you can get to know the pastors here. Well, here’s some insight into me.

I spent about ten years in retail management for Starbucks and Panera Bread. If you would’ve asked me seven or eight years ago where I’d be in twenty years, I would’ve told you I’d be at Starbucks. I loved the atmosphere and culture! Part of that culture is taking coffee WAY TOO seriously!

Starbucks has a training program that is designed to make you a coffee expert. It’s called the Coffee Master Certification. One of the rewards for completing the program is a black apron. When I completed my certification I was one of less than 1500 certified Coffee Masters. All that means is that I could tell you way more than you really want to know about any of the coffees Starbucks carried at the time. I learned about pairing coffee with different foods. I once paired a cup of coffee with grilled mushrooms, and it was great! One of my favorite things was getting to see someone’s eyes light up when they experienced a coffee in a new way. It was fun to take some from a casual coffee drinker to a connoisseur. 

At Panera I learned how to bake baguettes. Did you know that a baguette is basically four ingredients; Water, flour, yeast and salt. That’s it! But they taste so amazing! I used to take unbaked baguettes from the cooler and bake one, just for myself! A baguette with butter or jelly is hard to beat. One of my favorite things to do was walk through the dinning room with a fresh hot baguette and hand them out. People open up when they have fresh hot bread on their plate. I had many interesting conversations over a baguette.

I love helping people learn.
I love how food makes people comfortable enough to talk.