Unpacking Coffee with Kandace and Ray: Barista Parlor

Barista Parlor’s unique 8-ounce coffee boxes. Managing Director Christopher Ayers said the company is also working on a new concept for its 12-ounce packages. Needmore Designs photo.

Today’s episode of Unpacking Coffee opens the door to the Barista Parlor, which has grown right in step with its home city, Nashville, Tennessee, since opening in East Nashville in 2012.

Launched as a multiroaster cafe — and, in the process, introducing many locals to coffees from big specialty names such as Stumptown, Coava, Sightglass, Intelligentsia and Madcap — the company now has four BP-branded locations throughout the city, plus the Drug Store Coffee bar inside the Noelle hotel.

Each of those cafes is now getting coffees roasted in-house from BP’s Golden Sound location, which includes a hefty Diedrich CR-25 machine.

Needmore Designs photo.

As Barista Parlor Managing Director Christopher Ayers explains to Kandace and Ray, roasting was an inevitability for the company, as “passion gives way to passion.”

Here, Ayers goes into more detail about Barista Parlor’s position in Nashville’s growing coffee scene, its innovative 8-ounce boxed coffee packaging design, its numerous collaborations with local craftspeople, and its support for the coalescence of creativity and commerce.

Without further ado, here’s K-Ray:

Unpacking Coffee is a show discovering new coffee roasters one episode at a time led by Kandace and Ray of the Portland-based studio Needmore Designs, which specializes in coffee, wine and lifestyle brands.