I'm a roaster and barista in Denver, Colorado. My background is in Social Work and Spanish, but I fell in love with coffee when I took my first coffee job in 2013. Since then I've been getting deeper and deeper in the coffee world and the community surrounding it. There is so much to depth, from social and environmental justice to scientific discovery and creation to networking and relationship building to continuing education and developing skills. I am constantly impressed by the myriad routes folks can take in the many realms of coffee.

I have noticed that the people who work in coffee usually have other creative projects on the side. It was at an art show for a coffee person and artist I admire very much (Breezy Sanchez) that I first had the idea for Coffee People. I went to see Breezy's show opening at Port Side in September of 2017 and just thought, "everyone should see this." I then realized that there were many other coffee people in Denver who might be having art openings, band gigs, book releases, movie screenings, or other creative things that I had no idea about. And I thought that was a shame! I wanted to support my fellow baristas and roasters and coffee professionals in their other works. But where was I to find all their work in one place? I created Coffee People to connect the creatives in coffee and coffee-adjacent fields with one another for the purpose of mutual support and enrichment.

Probably slow going at first, I hope it eventually fulfills this goal. But I'll need your help to do it! If you have art/poetry/articles/etc submissions for the zine, you can email me personally at kat@coffeepeople.org.

Well now you've gotten through this whole spiel. You rock. Coffee is awesome. Thank you.