Jenn Chen

Summer 2020 has been one for the coffee history books.
A global pandemic. A generational uprising against police violence and systemic racism. And a wave of public accusations regarding toxic work environments, claim after claim playing out across the hot summer months on Instagram, on Twitter, and even sometimes in the pages of the local press.
“If you are Black, but you are too Black, that’s too much for them,” alleged former Kaldi’s Coffee employee Jeramy Perry to the Riverfont Times, a St...

What makes a snack a snack? I’m not trying to prompt a “what makes a sandwich a sandwich” debate but let’s sit with it a little. Is a snack solely finger food? Does it need to be sweet? Salty? Must it be in small portions? I think most would agree that chips are snacks but what about ice cream? Is that more of a dessert, and is a dessert a snack, or vice versa?
I come from a snacking culture. And before you say, “Jenn, the US is filled with chips and candy,” let me elaborate. When I was a kid...

The San Francisco Bay Area is known for being a hotbed of entrepreneurs and new ideas, and home to some of the world’s most profitable companies. But the reality is that it can be exceedingly difficult to launch anything here—it’s one of the most expensive places in the United States to live and have a retail store, and the never-ending pandemic only complicates things further.
In this story, we’re checking in on four different coffee companies who either launched or rolled out significant ne...

What is it about the tininess of everyday objects that make us go all mushy and googly-eyed?
It seems like the smaller the version is, the cuter it becomes. A three-cup baby Chemex is adorable. But a Chemex that fits on the tip of your finger? Unsurmountable amounts of cuteness.
The existence of miniatures is nearly as old as civilization itself. The idea of reproducing things or people on a smaller scale has been documented across many cultures and for tens of millennia. But while miniatures...

Close your eyes and picture the gentle metallic curves of an Airstream trailer or the classic rectangular outline of a VW bus. Now turn it into a cafe.
If only vintage camper build-outs were that simple.
Vintage campers—a phrase with a hotly debated definition—aren’t admired solely for their build or design. Instead, they’re tied to a lifestyle that harkens to a mid-century Americana dream of open, dirt roads and obligation-free travels. “From the cars and trailers to the music and culture, t...

“I remember a big scandal because McDonald’s was serving coffee with a little bitty teaspoon for your sugar and people were using it for drugs.”
I’m speaking with antique expert Terry Kovel, whose story about the ill-fated McDonald’s teaspoon has become the stuff of legend. Though the spoon had a short production lifespan in the 1970s, collectors like Kovel knew it might be wise to save some for the future collector’s market. She says, “I thought that was pretty funny that people were so smar...

You may have seen it referred to as “The Great Resignation” or claimed as a “labor shortage.” A medley of think pieces have emerged across American media in the last year, many of which refer to the pandemic as the root cause of organized labor issues today. But when it comes to the coffee industry, root causes run much deeper than the Coronavirus, and the fight to organize coffee workers under the banner of labor unions has its own unique historical narrative—one that is far from settled her...

Faye* watched the smoke billowing up around the backfiring roaster. The chimney was rated for a wood stove and it required maintenance every six months, especially since the open vent didn’t have effective fans. On this particular day, it had just rained, thus pushing the chaff back down the chimney. As experienced roasters know, chaff floating around is a fire hazard and production should immediately stop.
She showed her boss and company owner what was happening and said, “Listen, I’m not go...

The overlap of coffee and mysticism is where biodynamic farming exists.
To believe in biodynamic farming, one has to either extend belief or suspend disbelief. The term might be familiar to wine connoisseurs but the farming approach is still largely unknown in the coffee world.
The best descriptor for biodynamic farming given to me came from Jason Long, Head of Sourcing and Partner at Cafe Imports, who called it “organic plus mysticism.” It’s also been described as “organic plus” or “alternat...

From the department of things you never knew you needed until you hear about them, now you can enjoy the scents of a Dunkin’ store without ever stepping outside. Back by popular demand, Dunkin’ and home fragrance and lifestyle brand Homesick have released limited-edition soy wax blend candles just in time for the holidays.
“After last year’s response, it was an easy decision to team up with Homesick again to bring back those fan-favorite fragrances and allow people nationwide to experience Du...

For an updating list of barista resources, click here. For relief efforts for service workers, click here.
The new normal is wild. It’s turbulent and unexpected and is going to test the strength of many around the world. COVID-19’s impact is not just rescheduled events or a temporary upheaval of our social lives. Government mandates that ask for businesses to close have a very real impact on coffee workers’ livelihoods. Cafes are historically community gathering places and with their closures...

Traveling around and soaking in nature is one of human’s easiest sources of mental health rejuvenation.
Plants don’t solve everything. But goshdarnit, they have such a wide array of benefits, they’re practically miracles in themselves. These benefits cover everything from reduced anxiety and stress to better sleep to reduced community crime. A pairing of plants and coffee is one of those magical, no-brainer combos that provides one with a sense of third space while reaping the benefits of gre...

If a cupping spoon could tell stories, imagine all of the stories it could tell. The travels, the coffees it cupped, the times it got lost, the people it met.
As so often happens in coffee, the spoon represents the adaptation of an existing tool, fitting it to coffee’s specific needs and creating a whole culture around it. The cupping spoon is a valued member of one’s set of coffee tools and this is especially true for those who use it daily.
But before we get into the familiar cupping spoon,...

The perfect home coffee bar is something to aspire to.
When you get deep into a hobby, you eventually accumulate a lot of stuff, and coffee is no exception. Sometimes you get your own counter space or cabinet, other times you make do with what you have. In the home coffee making world, there’s a fine line between function and beauty: you want your coffee area to look good, but you also need it to work for your routine. Coffee is personal, and there’s no way we all have the same wants and need...

Imagine yourself speeding along the highway and catching sight of a giant coffee pot poking its spout out of the ground. In the 1930s, chances are that it was a functioning cafe. Today, it’s more likely to be a historical icon worth stopping at.
I’ve written about miniatures before so it makes sense to u-turn for the opposite end: gigantic, towering coffee pots. I’m talking about a two-story coffee pot that if real and working, could hold 819,000 cups of coffee, but instead it houses a restau...