When we think about big name coffee professionals, we often imagine them in the shop setting, tinkering away intently on $20,000 machinery most of us only wish to try out at least once in our lives. Rarely do we ever imagine how these real, actual humans make their own real, actual coffee on a daily basis in their own homes. In a new video series released today, La Marzocco is peeling back that curtain. Titled โEspresso At Home,โ the quarterly-ish series by La Marzocco Home talks to coffee professionals about their coffee at home and the ritual surrounding it. And it all kicks off with Blue Bottle founder James Freeman.
Working with Los Angeles-based videographer Anthony Diazโa Regional Emmy winner for The Migrant KitchenโLa Marzocco Home catches up with Freeman in his hyper-clean, minimalist kitchen, home to aย Linea Mini, Mazzer Mini, Baratza Sette, Ikawa roaster, Fellow Stagg kettle, and Acaia Pearl scale. Itโs basically exactly like the sort of house youโd imagine the very composed James Freeman to live inโconsider this a coffee-focused amplification of the NYT profile his house received in 2018.
Over the course of the three-and-a-half minute video, Freeman discusses the importance not just of being able to make good coffee at home, but how the home coffee making ritual came into his life:
My parents were frugal, and they drank horrible coffee, but they were very conscious of their process and their rituals around the horrible coffee. I have an appliance timer on the back of my espresso machineโit turns on about an hour before everybody wakes up. They had that on theirs, too, so there are these odd threads in common about how important it is to have something, like, ready to goโฆ That ritual of having a warmed-up espresso machine waiting for me, making a quick cappuccino before I do basically anything else, including put on pantsโthatโs been a feature of my life for many years.
The Espresso At Home series is tentatively planning to release new videos on a quarterly basis and will include coffee professionals from the world over. The company already has a few other big names in the works (including at least one very well known coffee producer) but arenโt yet able to officially announce them.
But for the time being, please enjoy James Freeman making a cappuccino and imagine him making it for you, having a chat in his very calming way of speaking. It sounds like a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.
All media via La Marzocco
Disclosure: La Marzocco and Blue Bottle Coffee are advertising partners with the Sprudge Media Network.ย
