SPEAKER_01 0:02

Why, hello, coffee friends, and welcome back to episode four of Tiny Sidecar. I'm Kate, your coffee loving friend and Sidecar Sidekick. Today we're doing something a little different. So Tiny Sidecar is officially one month old. Which, what? Like, when did that happen? It's still so new, but it already feels like this little corner of coffee that's just starting to find its rhythm. Today's episode is more about taking a beat and celebrating how far we've come in the first month and all of the delicious good parts behind starting a podcast. I'll share a few things like what I've learned, some real talk about making a podcast while working full time, and what's coming next, including a coffee-filled road trip through Wisconsin that I'm about to take. I've got my cafe list ready and my mic packed, so who knows what stories will come with that trip. But for today, let's celebrate us. Let's celebrate the just over 400 people following Tiny Sidecar on Instagram and the 150 podcast listens, which may seem small, but to me it's mind-blowing because when I started this, I didn't know if it'd be 10 people that came along. And to have such a small community already is really something to celebrate. So grab that cozy cup of coffee and let's catch up. So oh my gosh, we're a month later, and I feel like this was so needed. I feel like the coffee community is starting to show up. I think more people are sending DMs to me and commenting, and just the response to Tiny Sidecar has been incredible. You know, when I started this, I felt a little bit alone as a woman in the coffee industry. I had my small group of friends and family who I truly cherish and love. But starting Tiny Sidecar has been such a reminder that this was needed. You know, so many women have reached out and been like, thank God, not another man talking about coffee. And listen, we love our men in coffee, right? But we also love our women in coffee, maybe even needing to hear them more. And it's been so incredible to meet more and more women in the industry. And also like the little segment of the coffee industry that my mind and eyes were open to has like exploded in four weeks. I continue to meet such trailblazers and people that are working on these incredible projects. And it's like I find one project and it leads to another project and another project. And I feel so inspired by this industry. If that's the biggest takeaway from Tiny Sidecar that anyone has, is just me being in awe of all of you. That's a hundred percent worth the price of buying a mic. You're cool. Thank you for being here. Thank you for showing up the way you are. With all of us working together to create a better coffee world and to continue to elevate other voices, we're just we're unstoppable. We need to know about each other because it's gonna keep us inspired to do cool stuff. And I kind of knew that going into this, but now I truly feel it. And speaking of you, I reached out to four of like the most supportive people when I first started the Instagram and how loving and caring they were, and asked them to send me some sound bites. And I got one ready for this episode. This comes from YouStream Coffee. I'll link her Instagram below. Her name's Brit. And she has over 20 years in the coffee industry, and she's kind of done it all. She's been a roaster, barista, community builder, and she's poured into this craft with everything she's got. Whether it's roasting, traveling to the farms, highlighting fellow baristas, or connecting people through stories and good coffee. She carries a deep love for the culture and the people who make it what it is. Here's a little bit from Britt.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

One of my favorite coffee memories was traveling to El Salvador and spending time on the coffee farms during harvest. There's something unforgettable about waking up to the mist rolling over the mountains, walking the road with a basket around my waist and picking ripe red cherries alongside the producers themselves. Meeting the farmers and being a part of the harvest completely changed how I see every cup. It wasn't just about the coffee. It reminded me every bean has a story and every hand that touches it matters.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Thank you again, Britt, for sending that over to me and for being a part of the tiny sidecar family. Hearing your voice and hearing your stories definitely is just the start of telling more stories through this podcast. And you might be wondering why I haven't had an interview on quite yet. And honestly, that's just me being in my head, and I need to get over it. I want to make sure when I elevate someone else's voice that I'm doing it correctly. And I'm not the most tech-friendly person. I want to start adding little sound bites from you guys into each podcast episode. I think it's really important that we hear your voice through this and not just mine. Feel free to send me a sound bite either in Instagram or you can also email it to me at howdy at tiny sidecar.com. I'll keep both things linked in the description. Hopefully, we can get your voice on an upcoming episode. So, other than the surprise of how many of you have shown up so quickly, and honestly, I think it's just that imposter syndrome of thinking that I could start something that could take off, but it makes perfect sense, you know? Like I feel like women in coffee are so community focused and community-based. Like the more that I ask questions on Instagram, the response is always like friendship, community, elevating other people's voices. Like I think the way women think about the coffee industry is so centraled around community. I mean, we love a good cup of coffee, we love learning, we love what's going on in the industry, but we also know that that comes from building relationships. And I'm not saying that other people don't know as well, but it just this makes sense. It makes sense that you would want to be here and that I want to be here with you. You know what I mean? The other things that have surprised me along the way are how many people have congratulated me about starting a project so quickly and just going for it. If you feel that way, then you should start your thing. A hundred percent. I have felt so much more creativity. I have felt so much more connection to the community. It's been something I've been incredibly excited about, and it's brought a lot of joy to my life. If you know me, you know I love the coffee industry. I love what I do, I love my career, I love connecting with people in coffee. Do your thing and just go for it. People will show up, people will support you. Don't worry about failing. Even if you do fail, you're gonna love the failure because you're gonna learn so much along the way, and that's all that really matters. So, number one advice after just four short weeks is if you have a project in mind, just go and do it. I assure you, people will show up and people will be there with you. On an opposite note, the thing that's been harder for me than anything is honestly, is just like learning all of the editing. I knew that podcasting took some time to edit and like clean up everything, but my perfectionism side of me has like really been kicked on. The idea of just getting it done and getting it out there is so much more important than it being completely perfect. And I think that was hard for me in the start, but as we've gone on and as people have been supporting me, it's been easier and easier to just this is what we're gonna do, and it's gonna go out and it's gonna be just fine. And with that, I think some of my favorite moments honestly are just knowing how similar, how different, but how similar we all are. These people I've never met before in my life, and they feel like close friends that live all over the country, and it's really opened up this side of me where I definitely do want to do some more traveling and seeing different areas of the world and what coffee's doing in those different areas and learning from more and more women. One person that I will particularly shout out is Catherine. She is the owner of Cherry, which is in Fort Worth, Texas. If you didn't know, now you know. But she is such an incredible person and has been so supportive through Instagrams and liking things and just encouragement from afar, just willing to be such a kind person to me when I was starting out after she's never met me. She just seems absolutely incredible. And so I think next time I go to Texas, I am making my way to Cherry. It also looks like they have just incredible drinks, and I cannot wait. Now, I would say probably the hardest part of starting this passion project is that I'm incredibly busy at my full-time job. Now, granted, I love doing this, and I also love my full-time job. I am lucky enough where I have this incredible team that I work with, and we're like way too close sometimes, I think, but we all just like truly love each other and are so excited to hang out. And we also all love what we do. So I feel incredibly lucky to work with the people I work with because they make the stressful days better every single time. I couldn't speak higher to the team that I work with. They're just all incredibly amazing, incredibly passionate, and just funny people. And I think when you find the right place for yourself and the right team for yourself, like you'll instantly know it. So that makes it a lot easier. But I have definitely had to have check-ins because I'm so passionate about both things, where I'm like, I could easily fill every day doing something for either tiny sidecar or for my job, settling in the last like week or so and giving myself some grace to like slow down and maybe read my book. But it's good for me to remind myself that this isn't going anywhere, right? And slowing down, letting things naturally unfold and enjoying the other pieces of life and summer, especially when you live in a cold state, is so important. And what can you expect for the next couple of weeks? Well, the next two weeks I'm gonna be in Wisconsin, and I know that the Instagram will have lots of content coming from it because I already talked to two of my best girlfriends, and we're planning on visiting some amazing coffee shops, definitely some shops that I have my roots in, and I'm so excited to see them. But also just some incredible people and incredible coffee world stuff. So the Instagram will definitely have a lot going on. I do think I'm still gonna try to put out two episodes while I'm back home, but give me some grace if I miss them. It's definitely the episodes that are coming up next, though, will have a strong focus on Wisconsin coffee. I don't know, Wisconsin has such a good food scene, and I think people think of like beer and cheese, which I mean, rightfully so, that's delicious too. But there's so many cool coffee shops. And if you didn't know, I uh went to college in Milwaukee, ended up living in Milwaukee for like 10 years, and I grew up a city outside of Madison, like 30 minutes outside of Madison, and so I'm lucky enough to be in kind of some hub cities, and I'm so excited to visit some amazing shops in both. So I'll take you along for that. And then we're gonna revisit some more origin trip stories. I think continuing to spotlight different people that I've met just in the journey of creating tiny sidecar is gonna be coming up. I really want to continue to elevate and give you more sound bites. I'm also just curious. I have this thought myself, and you tell me if this is you too. One of the biggest challenges for me starting this podcast was letting people listen to my voice because I was always self-conscious as it. And I was talking to some of my male friends, and they're like, Yeah, sometimes I don't like my voice, but I would never tell someone that I just speak. And now I'm kind of wondering if it goes back into the gender thing of women being silent and not liking to hear their voice and being self-conscious about it, and if it's a lady thing, which listen, we all have beautiful voices and they should be heard. So if that's you, don't be like that. Let me hear your voice. Everyone wants to hear you talk. Be proud of yourself. I'm proud of you already. So, anyway, back to it. I would love to just keep elevating more and more women's voices, and it should be your voice that's telling your story. So let's do it together. And yeah, I don't know, a lot of coffee stuff, obviously, coming together. Probably some like more rambly podcasts like this too. I'm really excited and going to push myself to try to get an interview in here rather, rather soon. Um, like I said, I'm bringing a mic back to Wisconsin with me, so maybe even some short ones will come from that trip. I'm so excited for you to hear a bunch of Midwesterners say Wisconsin and bagel. If you have ideas and if you're excited about a certain part of the coffee industry and uh want to hear more, then shoot me a message, either email me or message me on Instagram. I'm so excited to chat with you. And speaking of y'all and some of your thoughts, I did put on an Instagram story the other day what has got you excited in coffee, and I want to share a couple of responses because they are really quite sweet. So Kelsey said the simple yet magic moments of connection that happen with a cup of coffee. And I couldn't agree more. There's so many like core memories that I have over a cup of coffee. Well before I was visiting producers, cups of coffee really are these like key staple moments in my brain, and they simply are magical. And Field Notes from her is really excited about working closely with origin countries and same producers for years and seeing their progress. I absolutely agree with this as well. It's one of my greatest joys is going back to a farm I've already visited and noticing all the differences they've made throughout the years. And they get to see you grow. It's just an incredible part of the industry, for sure. And Jenny's pretty stoked on interesting decafs and low calves, which I didn't realize how much I enjoyed a low calf until DeTERRA started serving me up some amazing low calves, and now they're one of my favorite kinds of coffees. Now, it also might mean that it's just I'm drinking them with my friends from DeTERRA, but I absolutely love low calf coffees. And last but not least, Armadillo Coffee Roasters is really excited about finding exceptional coffees from women producers and sharing their stories with our customers, which you obviously know that you're talking to the right person if you're feeling that way. So, with that, I know it's early days, but this podcast already means a lot to me. And if you've listened, shared an episode, sent a DM, or just followed along on Instagram, thank you. This space is growing because of you, and honestly, it means the world to me from the bottom of my heart. She's a little scrappy, but she's also something that's becoming so real. I just, again, could not thank you enough. So thanks for being here. The next few episodes are gonna be so fun. We're gonna dive into some Coffee Careers 101. We're gonna continue the series of From Origin with Love and maybe even a few recordings from the road. If there's a story that you want to hear or a story you want to tell, please feel free to send me a message. Again, I'm always all ears for you. And until then, I'll see you so soon. Thanks for being here. Bye.