Joey F. has many roles at Lamppost. Learning very
quickly, he became one of our coffee educators,
trainers, and part of the community team. Joey
has always been extremely passionate about coffee, and has used his time at Lamppost to further his knowledge and practice it more and more.
Originally from Wisconsin, Joey moved to Georgetown, Texas, in 2016 with his family. He began working at Lamppost before he graduated from high school and has stayed with us since. When we spoke about the differences of where he has lived, he said some of his favorite parts about Wisconsin are the many different aspects of nature that are available there, the agriculture, and being able to actually observe all four seasons. He really appreciates how seriously agriculture is respected in the North, and wishes there was in Texas. However, he does really enjoy that Texas is much more motivating for careers because there are so many opportunities here, especially near Austin.
Joey has been enjoying coffee since he was a baby. Literally. At three months old, his grandpa began spoon feeding him coffee, and ever since, Joey has been drinking coffee. Coffee was always around his family, but he says that he only drank an “average amount” of coffee. When he was a little older, he began to understand coffee more and how you can change the flavors by adjusting the recipes instead of just adding sugar or milk to it. This then led to him diving into the craft coffee world.
Joey’s favorite drinks are pour overs. He loves the process of making a pour over more than just drinking them, and really loves the chemistry behind making the drinks. He has always enjoyed chemistry, and coffee has allowed him to experiment with something he can actually drink and enjoy. He finds that pour overs can seem quite simple to many, but once you get into the complicated aspects of it, it can be very complex. Joey prefers traditional coffees that give more control and a more blank slate to build upon. He likes natural processes, and his favorite origins are Costa Rica and El Salvador. His favorite brewing method is using the Origami Brewer, specifically in the color Monarch. He likes the Origami brewer because it’s an affordable way to experiment with coffee, and provides solutions to many of the issues that other brewers have.
Outside of coffee, Joey loves music, and is even a part of a band. Some of his favorite artists are Muse, Vulfpeck, and Jacob Collier. Joey plays jazz piano himself and is inspired by many of his favorite artists to explore different aspects of his own creativity. With Vulfpeck specifically, he told me how they have limited themselves to low volume funk, which has made their creativity more limited, but allowed for super unique sounds. Muse, a band from the UK, is interesting because they explore many electronic routes in a mostly alternative rock space, and have many interesting views on America from their outsider perspective. Joey also considered Jacob Collier to be a modern pioneer of music, as he has created new rules of harmony. Joey enjoys seeing his work and innovation in real time, and compared it to seeing how Mozart or Beethoven were doing similar things in their time.
Joey’s favorite movie is Interstellar. He loves the exploration and curiosity it provides, and finds the curiosity inspiring personally. He finds himself to be much more logical, and the curiosity of the movie inspires him to be more curious himself. He also loves the Star Wars realm, and was wearing a baby Yoda hat during our interview.
As his last statement, Joey somewhat-jokingly said “Don’t be a baby, drink black coffee.”
As always, thank you for reading, and we hope you can meet Joey soon!
The Post xx
