"Behind the Seasons" is a post series we're doing to shed some light on what we do backstage. With BtS, you'll get insight into the inner thoughts and workings of Seasons Coffee.
The following BtS post is by Benza Cox Lance, Director of Coffee and Co-Owner of Seasons Coffee
BTS 1: What does "V1" mean?
When the Seasons idea started to percolate in my mind, one of the main factors I wanted to focus on was the lifestyle of the coffee professional. The specialty industry has always had a disconnect in truly being able to convey why and how specialty coffee is different from, say, Starbucks. Our culture, in our level of coffee, is much akin to specialty bartender or beer brewer cultures; we're so geeky that's it's kinda cool, and we produce awesome tasting product as a result. Unfortunately, because of the standards set on the "traditional cafe system," much of our industry has been maligned to the side of "snooty hipster baristas." This was one of the main focuses that I wanted to extrapolate on: we're much more than sniveling tattooed skaters making $4 cups of coffee. Our focus with Seasons is bringing you the depth of culture that our industry has. We're not the first to do this, but we're the one's solely focusing on this issue.
Seasons is not reinventing the wheel here: we're just putting on 22's and giving the ride a bumpin' soundsystem.
You've probably noticed that specialty coffee folks love rocking tees, hats, hoodies, and mugs from other specialty companies. We dig the style and flow: that's part of what makes us specialty: Style and Flow.
Every season, one of our goals is to bring you appropriate themed fashion and gear. Things that both coffee professionals and the everyday consumer can enjoy. Right now, we're naming them Versions .
Version V1 is our first package, and we've just completed it. It's perfectly themed as a solid introduction to specialty coffee: T-Shirt, Lid, Mug, and the GFA Chemex Wrap. Each were designed with beautiful aesthetic balanced with simple functionality. Our collaborators so far have been Findaly Hats (Lid) and GFA Aprons (Chemex Wrap), both small independent companies that share the same focuses that we do.
Now, since we are a seasonal company, these items wont be around forever. Come Autumn time, a new package, V2, will be available. Each Version has a limited run, so it's super imperative to get on that as soon as possible. Plus, you don't wanna be behind the times, do you?