SCAA Roundtable Video Explores Specialty Coffee In the Media

SCAA this week released a video of a panel discussion held hosted by Wrecking Ball‘s Nicholas Cho at the 2012 Symposium entitled “Media Perspectives on Specialty Coffee.”

The video introduces panelists Oliver Strand (New York Times, GQ), Melissa Allison (Seattle Times) and Julie Wolfson (Cool Hunting), providing a series of background interviews with each. At some point, each of the coffee writers discusses the difficulty of covering a post-Starbucks subindustry that occasionally struggles to define itself among strong personalities and emerging methodologies.

“The industry has taken what is a very complicated product and has made it more complicated,” Strand says during a background interview. “Most other industries take very complicated products and make them simple in terms of perceptions, in terms of understanding. The iPad is incredibly complicated. But the story of the iPad — the narrative of the iPad — is very easy. Wine is incredibly complicated, but the story and the narrative is very easy. In the case of wine, it’s tasty, it can be really tasty and when you drink it you have fun.”

He adds, “With coffee, I find that nobody is satisfied with the coverage of coffee no matter how much depth you get into, because there’s more to it.”

In its promo copy for the video, SCAA asks:

How can specialty coffee craft a more compelling story and reach broad audiences? At Symposium 2012, we explored this question and examined what information is getting through, what’s getting lost, and what stories are yet to be told. With insights from several influential writers who each follow trends in specialty coffee, Nicholas Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters hosts as we explore trends, off-messages, and opportunities.

In this session, What’s Cool About Coffee: Media Perspectives on Engaging and Expanding Interest, we welcome Julie Wolfson, a Freelance Writer, Oliver Strand, Food Writer, and Melissa Allison, Business Reporter as panelists.

This video segment includes a preface from Cho along with video interviews conducted with the panelists prior to this event. Additional videos will be made available in the coming days with the on-site interviews conducted with the panel at Symposium 2012 in Portland, OR.