Interview: Amanda Salisbury (Dolcezza Director of Coffee)

Coffee Washington D.C.

Amanda Salisbury has helped shape the Dolcezza Artisanal Gelato coffee program. [Joshua Cogan]

INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

What does a coffee have to be for you to brew it at Dolcezza?

In coffee, as in life, one of my mottos is “Expect the unexpected or you will not find it.” So, I’ll try anything from any roaster once or two or three times, even, just to make sure that I like or dislike it. In the end, though, any coffee we choose has to perform well as a V60 pour-over (currently the only drip method at all four of our shops) and has to add something to our overall menu in terms of variety for our customers. As a multi-roaster program we’re lucky that we get to shop around for the best-tasting coffees from each region; we’ve forged our regular relationships with those roasters who are able to consistently roast amazing coffees and provide the highest level of transparency in their own relationships with coffee producers. We use Intelligentsia, PT’s, Ritual, Stumptown, and Madcap for our rotating pour-over menu, but our espresso roaster changes more often. That actually might be one of the hardest parts of my job–just finding an espresso that can do all the things we need. Each of our shops have only one espresso grinder so we need the real package deal: something stable and consistent that punches through milk and also shines as a naked shot. We’ve been using Madcap’s Third Coast for about a month now and it’s doing a fantastic job at all those things.

Who else in the specialty coffee community do you look to for inspiration, guidance or advice?

For a while, knowing who to listen to and when was the hardest thing as a barista! I soaked up every tidbit of information I could get my hands on, but didn’t really have a filter. Eventually I started to pick and choose little bits to incorporate into my way of thinking or my techniques on bar by watching and listening. The internet is also a goldmine if you know where to look; when I found out about the US Barista Championship, I became totally addicted to watching videos of competitions online. Some people don’t put any stock in competition, but the people who win aren’t just good at making coffee—they’ve spent considerable time learning how translate the things we love about coffee to consumers. Hearing what they have to say completely changed my outlook on what my job as a barista really is: to provide an amazing coffee experience, not just a good cup.

Now that Trevor Corlett and Colin Whitcomb of Madcap are in D.C. and we’re buying the Third Coast espresso, I’ve been looking to them for coffee advice. They’re some of the nicest and most knowledgeable coffee professionals out there, so I feel lucky to have their support.

What will it take for the D.C. coffee scene to become great, if it isn’t already?

The scene in D.C. is definitely expanding fast, but I think there is still significant growing up as a community that has to happen before specialty coffee as a whole in the District is “great.” Most of us are using amazing coffees now, which is a great starting point, but I think the way cafés conceptualize customer service is going to need to shift—we need to be more intentional about the way we present coffee (and ourselves) to customers. Each café owner has their vision as to what specialty coffee means to them as a company, but it’s a challenge to get these ideas to filter down to that person at the cash register who has first contact with the customer. You either have to find people who are like-minded that will fit in with your shop culture or hire people you can cultivate to have the same values. Neither of those types of people are particularly easy to find. Then you have to find ways to retain them as staff in an industry that’s not always a sustainable career option. I find myself talking about these issues with other coffee folks a lot these days and it’s obvious that the problem is a multi-faceted one. The solutions are going to be different for each shop, but we’re all only getting better so I think it’ll happen in time!

What’s a typical coffee consumption day for you, drink by drink, from when you wake up to when you go to sleep?

It varies pretty wildly depending on the day. Obviously, I have to taste my shots when dialing in, but I usually prefer to save my first full cup for a nice quiet moment after the morning rush is over. I tend to go for my favorite pour-over, a sample I’ve been meaning to try, or a cortado. If it’s a training day, though, the caffeine can get a little out of hand. I want to give baristas-in-training feedback throughout a session, but there’s almost always a point where I have to force myself to say “uncle!”

If you brew coffee at home, what’s your preferred brewing method, and why?

I feel a bit silly admitting it, but I actually don’t drink coffee at home. There’s such an opportunity for getting over-caffeinated at work that I stick to loose leaf tea, which was actually my first love before coffee. I’m trying to set aside some cash to invest in a whole set up for my house (probably Chemex), but haven’t decided on the right pieces or kit yet.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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