Coffee People: Double J, Black Rabbit Service & Coffee Breath
Double J follows in his family's hospitality footprints.
Coffee People: Double J, Black Rabbit Service & Coffee Breath
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S9:E2
Guest: Jason “Double J” Johnson, Black Rabbit Service & Coffee Breath TV Show
Role: Co-Founder & Co-Founder/Producer/Host
Based: Portland, OR
Online: @coffeebreath on YouTube • blackrabbitservice.com • www.coffeebreathshow.com
What they order: Little Buddy (a short Americano)
It’s fascinating how an early job experience can dictate the trajectory of your career. For Double J, he got his start at the family's restaurant. That led to a passion for the culinary arts and a career in the kitchen. When the fulfillment he was seeking wasn’t there, he got a job at an influential local coffee shop. The desire to move upward inspired him to pursue an opportunity in the service department. By the time the company grew so big it was acquired, Double J and his business partner were ready to put out their own shingle.
Well, maybe not ready, but they did seize the opportunity to fill a gap in the marketplace. The need for more coffee technicians and service companies is real. Most of the roasters and cafe owners I know have at least some experience fixing their own equipment. Not because they really want to but because they can’t find someone in their community to do the work in time for the next shift!
Coffee Breath is another chance for Double J to fill a gap in the market. He's shining the spotlight on the industry that has helped sustain his family and his parent's family for the long haul. His new television show is still looking for its forever home, but for now, you can watch it for free on YouTube.
Episode 3 of Coffee Breath will be available on YouTube on Friday, November 3rd. The new episode is presented by Yeti, and it's a Day In The Life episode featuring three coffee professionals shot in three different formats. Watch the pilot episode below.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Stumptown is a big corporate name now. They were sold to Peet’s in 2015. You can probably find their bags in your local grocery, but there was a time when they were still small, local, and part of the neighborhood. Double J was there for a growth period, during which, he began to learn the ins and outs of coffee equipment maintenance.
- With his former boss (Alex Lambert) at Stumptown, he founded Black Rabbit Service Co. to fill a need in the industry and also to fulfill an intrinsic entrepreneurial desire.
- There is no fast route to become an excellent coffee technician. Double J tells aspiring techs it takes up to two years just to feel comfortable. BRS hasn’t started their school for techs just yet. If you’re looking for more information on that corner of the coffee industry check out the Coffee Technicians Guild.
- Show reference: The God Shot: It’s a term used to reference an espresso shot so sublime, so lovely, so perfect that only God (choose your favorite) their-self could have pulled it. The term is not used lightly.
- Show reference: Pressure profiling an espresso shot occurs when a machine is able to vary the pressure at which water is pumped through the coffee puck during extraction as opposed to a consistent force of pressure (9 bars is standard).
Espresso machines that are capable of pressure profiling offer baristas more variables to modify during the pulling of a shot. Often the tool is used to ramp up and ramp down the pressure during the shot instead of having a consistent level of pressure from beginning to end. - Show reference: “Super-autos” is a shorthand for fully automatic espresso and coffee machines. With a super-auto everything can be preprogrammed based on the user’s preference. When you’re ready for a shot, just press the brew button. Spend a little extra and you’ll be able to get one with a milk frother.
- Is the robot barista the future? Double J doesn’t think so, and I don’t either…to a point.
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BARISTAS RULE THE WORLD!
We have a new column on R!WC featuring those magicians who are making our morning cups of coffee. Check out the first two featured Baristas and be sure to bookmark the page. New Baristas will be added weekly for the foreseeable future.
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I spent a day over the weekend hanging out at Ascend Coffee Roasters in San Marcos, CA. They were holding their bi-monthly Maker’s Market and I set up a Guess the Bean Contest.
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