Further Up, Further In

So.  By this time next week, a whole lot of coffee folks are gonna be focused on the second location for Louisville’s Sunergos Coffee.  It’s no overstatement to say that it’ll be the most anticipated opening for a Louisville coffee shop in over a year, and it does, in my estimation, deserve every bit of the hype that is driving that anticipation.

The fact that the new shop will be armed with a La Marzocco Linea 2MP, Compak K10s, Baratza Varios, and more is not enough.  Sure, they’ll have the big fatty roaster — machine, not person — in the back room, same as they do in the old shop.  Yes, the new shop will be swathed in that same heinous-but-nostalgic mustard-green paint that surrounds me even now as I sit and type this in the old shop.  Most assuredly, the new Sunergos will have an even more efficient flow to it, as Matthew and Brian have taken everything they’ve learned and dreamed of in the years of running the old Sunergos and poured it, ever so lovingly, into the crafting and polishing of this new gem they’re to unveil shortly.

While those things add to the hype, they’re not at the core of it.

In my mind, to my way of thinking, it’s the people.  Matthew and Brian, yes.  But behind them, chomping at the bit, are the staff.  Jesse… Kane… Kenny… they all get ridiculously excited about coffees in a way that get me excited.  They bring knowledge and talent to the table.  They have a light in their eyes when they talk about roasting profiles and brewing parameters.  Espresso preparation is an exercise in methodical passion and precision, over and over and over again.

Is Sunergos where it needs to be?  No.  Not by a far cry.  Is it headed there?  Slowly but surely, yes.

On a slightly different note, check out the new shop.  That was taken last week while we visited in the midst of some work being done on it.  It looks just like the old shop, but bigger; it’s uncanny!  It reminded me of The Last Battle, where, at the end, Aslan tells everyone to go “further up and further in.”  By this time next week, the coffee geekeratzi of Louisville will be wanting to do just that.