Andytown Alumni Highlight: Sandra Loofbourow and Cafetera Intelectual Podcast!

Sandra (left) and Doris (right). Photo by Lindsay Shea.

This week, we interviewed an Andytown Alumni, Sandra Loofbourow, about Cafetera Intelectual, her new podcast with Doris Garrido Serrano.

Corey: First, let's do an intro! How did you get into coffee, and what do you do now?

Sandra: Our second episode "Brewing", which is out now in Spanish, goes into our coffee histories a bit. I've been lucky enough to work at several phenomenal coffee companies in the Bay Area. Most notably, I worked with Andytown owner Lauren Crabbe at Blue Bottle; we worked in the trenches of the Ferry Building together. When she went to open Andytown I jumped ship and became their first barista, eventually going on to roasting and green buying for Andytown. Currently, I work at Royal Coffee's The Crown in Oakland as Tasting Room Director.

Doris spent 10 years in the wine industry before starting in coffee. She first got into coffee through 1951 Coffee Company and has fallen in love with this industry. Doris is a barista at the Crown, where she's worked since they opened in 2019. She does coffee analysis, roasting, brewing, and spends most of her free time learning more about coffee.

Don't forget to check out our "About us" page!

Sandra from her days at Andytown—notice the hand-stamped cup!

Why was it important for you to start a podcast in Spanish? Who do you hope to reach?

The first episode "Introduccion" (still only in Spanish) explores this quite a bit. Doris and I often talk about how many incredible stories there are in the Spanish speaking coffee world. Working for an importer we get to meet people from many different coffee producing origins and all across the supply chain. We realized that Latinx stories were an essential part of the coffee industry, but that we don't often see these stories told. We wanted to create a platform where Latinx coffee professionals could speak for themselves, and share their stories directly.

It started with wanting to carve out space for Spanish-language coffee stories, but the concept has evolved further. Being bilingual, Doris and I are able to straddle worlds and communicate with people across the supply chain. With Cafetera Intelectual, we want to share what that's like. People still need to tell their own stories, in their own language, but we also want to facilitate understanding across borders and languages.

That's why we decided to make two versions of each episode: one in Spanish, and one with English narration explaining some of the conversations. We're also offering fully translated english transcripts of each episode, so even if you don't understand Spanish you can read the entire interview. The goal is to shorten the distance between consumers and producers, to bring the entire supply chain into one room - or at least, into your earphones.

Photo by Lindsay Shea.

What topics are you most excited for?

There are many! For one, I've been diving deep into Bolivian coffee and I'm really excited to share interviews with some of the founding members of the Specialty Coffee scene there. We also were lucky enough to interview Rosalba Cifuentes of Mayan Harvest who's done some really incredible things with her coffee in the pandemic. The episode dropping this week is with Paola Victoria, a Barista League Online Competitor. Honestly, I'm just so stoked to share these stories and showcase the wide diversity of Latinxs in this industry.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

We're still navigating how to make this accessible to both English and Spanish speakers. I would ask listeners to be patient with us while we figure out what works, and to be vocal about what works and what doesn't. You can follow us on instagram @cafeteraintelectual or twitter @cafeterapod

Keep an eye out for some sweet swag - stickers are already in house, and T-shirts are coming soon!

Sandra (left), pouring coffee from a mokapot. Doris (right), presumably drinking said brew! Photo by Lindsay Shea.

How can the Andytown community support Cafetera Intelectual?:

Patreon is here, you can also just buy us a coffee! It turns out that recording an independent podcast in two languages takes a ton of time and money. Your support is deeply appreciated!

Thanks for reading, and we hope you’ll listen to Cafetera Intelectual! Patreon supporters will also get advanced access to episodes and English transcripts!