Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the balance between pursuing new and innovative ways to approach coffee, and the craft of daily excellence—the idea of doing the same thing really well every day with little change. Innovation may well help achieve daily excellence more easily, but perhaps the very concept of maintenance doesn’t get enough attention in speciality coffee and is often overlooked.
This balance, sometimes a tension, plays out throughout coffee from farm to cup. A team member at our London shop wanted to know what we would be exploring that’s progressive or new. It got me thinking about the idea of doing new things just for the sake of it, compared to exploring improvements where there is a clear need.
On my train journeys between Bath and London, a podcast episode by Freakonomics called “In Praise of Maintenance” popped up on my feed. The episode explores the obsession with novelty and the glamour of innovation in contrast to the less glossy, quieter work of maintenance. It is much of this work that actually makes the world go round and underpins our societies and civilisations.
It got me thinking about the different ways you can approach coffee. I think innovation and maintenance can work in tandem, with the daily craft benefiting from innovation over time. However, in coffee shops, roasteries, and coffee farms, the work that creates a great coffee and a great experience largely stems from an approach of maintenance—the ambition to do something to a high standard day in, day out.
I shared a few thoughts on LinkedIn about the podcast episode and the concept of recognising maintenance in coffee as crucial and valuable. Chris from the podcast Keys to the Shop invited me to join him to discuss this topic. I enjoyed our conversation, and if you have some spare time this Sunday, or in the coming week, you can join Chris and me as we discuss the balance of innovation and maintenance in the pursuit of running great coffee businesses. You can find the podcasts I have mentioned in this newsletter linked below and on the usual platforms.
Best,
Maxwell