What’s the one thing held in common between James Hoffmann, former WBC champ and don of Square Mile Roasters, and the character Tevye from “Fiddler on the Roof”?

Both men have thoughts on the concept of tradition.

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From JimSeven.com:

I’m a little conflicted when it comes to the idea of tradition. I firmly believe that an understanding of the past, especially its mistakes, is crucial to understanding the present and composing a reasonable guess at the future. A lot of coffee’s past is covered with the blanket of tradition, but I think we often neglect to look underneath to try and understand why and where they’ve come from.

I don’t really want to write this as a response to the articles Giorgio Milos has been writing, though they’ve probably helped crystalize some thoughts. We, as an industry, are continually struggling to deal with the impact and importance of Italian espresso traditions.

James goes on to write thought-provokingly on the origin of the Robusta espresso “tradition”, evolving economic factors, and the 7g dose orthodoxy. As always, the comments and discussion on JimSeven.com make for a fantastic read, this time featuring contributions from Jay Caragay, Ben Kaminsky, and Vince Piccolo among others.

Read more about tradition at JimSeven.com

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