NECA Convention 2009 Seattle: The Blog

By Ginger Wilson

Bet you didn’t know that there’s a right way to taste coffee. That’s okay, most of us don’t.

So we were happy to have Major Cohen, a art teacher-turned-Starbucks Coffee Educator, brew 500 cups of coffee using French presses give us a lesson on the finer points of tasting at this morning’s Lifestyle session.

You might feel a little strange the next time you head out for your caffeine fix, but you should taste your coffee much the same way you taste your wine: sniff, then slurp. Slurping your coffee allows the brew to hit your entire palate so you can experience the full acidity and the body of the coffee. Today’s selection was Starbucks La Candelia, a Costa Rican coffee farmed by the Sanchez family.

One more hint from Cohen? Coffee is only good for seven days. It’s a fresh food, and there’s nothing you can do – including putting it in the freezer – to make it last longer.

After the coffee tasting, there was wine. David LeClaire, a certified sommelier and Washington state wine expert, led the group through sampling several local varietals. Washington offers some wonderful wines from nearly 600 wineries, owing to the fact that area east of the Cascade Mountains has long, hot summers and very little rain.

LeClaire’s number one tip for tasting wine? Try more than one sip. Your mouth is never ready for that first sip, so a wine that seems too sharp at first taste might be just what you’re looking for on the second try.

What are your favorite coffee or wine choices? Let us know in the comments below.

Coffee is everywhere in Seattle, and as in most cities, Starbucks seems to dominate the market for caffeine-seekers. We had a great opportunity to hear from Howard Behar, the man who oversaw much of Starbuck’s stellar expansion, at yesterday’s opening general session.

Following his second retirement as Starbucks’ president in 2003, Behar put nearly 50 years of lessons on business leadership he’d learned into a book, It’s Not About the Coffee. He brought those insights into an industry-tailored message for NECA members.

Given the tough economy so many NECA members are currently working in, Behar’s message of putting people first was especially timely.

Behar pointed out that Starbucks made the commitment to its workforce early in the company’s history. “People are the glue that hold an organization together,” he said. “You have to care about every person in your organization, and every person you serve.”

He encouraged NECA members to define their values – the ideals that define their businesses – and then be prepared to pay the prices to remain true to those values.

One of Behar’s key points was “the person who sweeps the floor should pick the broom.” He echoed the same commitments NECA members make to workforce training and learning from other companies’ best practices, but encouraged the audience to not walk away from new ideas, especially new ideas that come from the field.

“Leading with compassion never stops,” Behar said. “As leaders, we must show we care about the people first, not protecting our own backsides. It’s a non-stop responsibility, but it’s worth it.”

What do you think about Behar’s message that real business leaders care about people? How do you show this in your own company?

Edited to Add: Check out PaulsonElectric’s tweet about the session!