THE CONVERSATION
Ray: Okay today, on Unpacking Coffee we are….unpacking Cat & Cloud of…they’re around Santa Cruz that’s not their actual city though is it? So this is an interesting company. It’s actually apparently run by the Beastie Boys. SUPER nice people…
Oh do you have that? On the invoice they wrote a very nice thing…
Kandace: Did they call you a brother from another mother?
Ray: That’s right. Something like that, some sort of brother.
Kandace: Yeah.
A nice note from one brother to another.
Ray: They only sell two coffees! And they seem to sort of schedule them out ahead of time so, they kind of have a date on the website, which I thought was cool. It’s like this is your choices: A or B and they’re fresh, and then when they’re gone you know. Is there something else here?
Kandace: Let’s start over. Let’s just introduce ourselves, and say they’re from SLO (San Luis Obispo) California. Just relax. Okay.
Kandace: Hi. I’m Kandace.
Ray: I’m Ray. Welcome to Unpacking Coffee this week…
Kandace: Cat & Cloud.
Ray: Cat & Cloud.
Kandace: Yeah.
Ray: Of San Luis Obispo.
Kandace: Their packaging caught my eye on Instagram. It’s super playful…fun.
Up close view of Cat & Cloud’s unique bag design.
Ray: They have a lot of attitude. I like it.
Kandace: They have a lot of good attitude.
Ray: I like the cut of their jib. They only sell two coffees, because that’s how many you should sell.
Kandace: I think that this is, sort of a side project.
Ray: Yeah I think so too.
Kandace: And so…I don’t think that they have a cafe that they can…But these guys are both…
Ray: Spoiler Alert!
Kandace: Barista Champions? Is that fair to say?
Ray: They’ve competed yeah.
Kandace: They’ve competed? yeah.
Ray: I don’t know if they’re champions or not.
Kandace: They’re champions in my heart.
Ray: I’m not gonna vouch for them.
Kandace: Yeah. Their coffee is amazing. I think their packaging is really great.
Ray: Its kind of punk rock it’s like it looks like they just kinda wrote, here it is. They just wrote it on there.
Kandace: They have a great blog post on building brands online. And they’re fantastic at it!
Ray: Well that’s great.
Kandace: I found them online. I found their podcast. Everything I’ve discovered about them has been via social media. We have a sense of who they are and what their brand is and what I loved about what they talked about was, instead of spending hours perfecting photos with succulent plants behind them and red brick walls..what they were basically saying is, just be authentic, take photos, and then spend that extra time focusing on your craft and getting really good at it and getting that out also.
Ray: You found out about them through social media right?
Kandace: Yeah and I think that’s one of the first things that I noticed about them is they seemed to be…real. And they seemed to be…having a good time making something they really love and just putting it out there. I think they do all that incredibly well.
Ray: They met at the USBC in 2007.
Kandace: 6.
Ray: I have here in my notes, 7.
Kandace: I think they’ve been hanging out since 2006.
Ray: It says here that they met in two thous…
The United States Barista Championship is an annual competition to decide the most well-rounded Barista in the United States. Competitors prepare and serve three courses of espresso-based beverages, consisting of espressos, traditional cappuccinos, and signature drinks. The winner, represents the United States in the World Barista Championship.
Kandace: Okay, so their podcast, I listened to a few episodes over the weekend.
Ray: Yes.
Kandace: And ah, they interviewed the folks that just did the “Barista”. The new documentary. That was kind of an interesting insight. Anyways their podcast is, they keep up the energy it’s like 45 minutes a week and they actually put it out every week.
Ray: Yeah. That’s hard.
Kandace: And they seem super interested and energetic. I know! They’re, they’ve got a lot of energy. They also seem to skateboard, and one of them works full-time at another coffee roaster. They must be like 22, or something.
Ray: Mmhm. That kind of energy.
Kandace: Yeah. Okay then.
Ray: So Cat & Cloud.
Kandace: Are we done?
Ray: Should we get footage of both of us asleep?