STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 29 "During the city's shut down, many local coffee shops and roasters came together to do what they do best; serve," says specialty roaster Avi Katz. "We offered coffee to first responder groups, city officials, and FEMA relief centers and communica- tion hubs. Coffee shops around town opened, offering free cof- fee to anyone who could make it in and who just needed some human interaction." he said. Toomey shares a collective belief that coffee helps people. Sharing a hot cup is the backbone of camaraderie, of ritual, and normalcy. Regular customers become as much a part of the family as the baristas. Boomtown stepped up to roast for others where needed but mostly focused on donating coffee....so much coffee.... brewed, ground, whole bean. "We donated a few hundred pounds of whole bean as well as a metric shit-ton of brewed coffee (I'm not sure how many 6-ounce cups this is…) and fresh drinking water and food, mostly to the George R. Brown Convention center," he said. Boomtown also donated coffee to the fire department and local police department. "Many others did the same without fanfare, without hesitation. It was the good people of Houston," says Toomey. The storm forced Beans Café to close. Her flooding oc- curred after the hurricane when they released the Addicks Dam to avoid a breach, Toomey explains. "I have never seen anything like the undercurrents of chefs and business owners and volun- teers networking to provide meals. It was inspiring," he said. Boomtown considered closing at one point. Many cafes closed to repair damage, but the spirit and community of Hous- ton held strong. Matt stresses, "ensuring staff safety was paramount and the safety of our customers. The shop was second. Boomtown Cafe sustained minor water damage. Nothing serious." The Honeymoon Café had to close for more than a week. When the water receded, it was not over. Without power for the walk-in cooler, they donated the contents to others who could prepare and serve the EMT's, police, and fire crews. Any- one who needed a meal was served. Boomtown Coffee par- ticipated in a Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund sponsored by the greater Houston Community Foundation (https://ghcf.org/). The foundation collected $93,603,405 to date with donations at 11 shops amounting to an impressive $13,230. Matt founded Boomtown Coffee in 2011 "roasting my own and slinging shots at the now shuttered Café Luz and Kitchen Incubator. We opened our shop in the Heights (242 W 19th St.) in February of 2012 and the Honeymoon downtown (300 Main St.) in the summer of 2014. We currently employ about 25-30 partners on coffee. He opens a lot of espresso pop ups which keep his barista "chops" well-seasoned. "Sensory and education is where my passion is these days," he shares. Toomey shares coffee expertise with others outside of his business as an SCA instructor of level 1 and 2 barista, level 1 and 2 roaster, level 1 coffee taster and recently he completed his Q certification. Houston is an amazing city full of amazing people, he ob- serves, "That's the key...the people. We just want to live our lives and do what we can to make things right. I think that is seen throughout coffee typically and in Texas you see a little tighter camaraderie. When you zoom in on Houston you see a special group of folks who genuinely connect, unconditionally," he said. No one expected the hurricane to impact Houston. And yet it did - in a positive way. Sherri Johns is the principal at WholeCup Coffee Consulting with expertise in marketing, quality assessment, sourcing, cupping, education, special events, retail expansion, trade show and exposition support, origin travel, coffee cupping, and barista competitions. good folks," he said. "I run my business with the mantra of positive energy and love...it is quite simple really. Our cus- tomers are our everything," said Toomey. Nowadays he rarely finds himself working in the shop as a barista. More often he can be found sample roasting, cupping, and educating his staff as well as his wholesale Boomtown Cafe suffered minor water damage Hurricane Relief Fund poster Staff from Houston's Greenway, Southside, and Boomtown coffee shops at the 2017 SCA conference in Seattle

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