Danielle Glasky

She is not a Southerner. I can relate to that, myself being a transplant to Atlanta. I found it very easy to identify what Danielle is not, but it is quite another thing to find out what she is. When I meet people I often find myself digging deep to find the admirable qualities, to reach beyond the flat first impressions, and look beyond the obvious conclusions that present themselves. With Danielle it has been quite the opposite, I have seen so many excellent qualities on the surface that I found it more difficult to pin her down at all. Here is my attempt to sketch out some of the details of who she is and consequently where she is going. People like her always seem to be going interesting places.

Born in Oakland, California in the mid Eighties, Danielle spoke proudly of her Pacific North West roots. After spending her younger years in the Northern California area, she was relocated in 1996 to an Atlanta suburb when her parents moved for job opportunities. As a young teenager she resisted the culture shift, she hated it, but she had no choice in the matter. As time passed, however, shallow roots began to grow. After high school she stayed in Atlanta to attend Georgia State University where she studied Childhood Psychology and Linguistics. Slated to graduate in 2007, thoughts of a career seemed a distant prospect during the first few years of college. This was the time to explore and try out different things to see what might keep her interests. The most convenient place to get lost in thought or to be distracted over the possible goals for the future was at Aurora Coffee Shop in her Highlands neighborhood. It was her boyfriend at the time who got her into the habit of going, eventually she was hooked.

soon she was going without cream and sugar, finally she began playing with the idea of working in a coffee shop.

Personally I have seen it happen, the occasional visit turns into whole afternoons, then a few days on the weekend becomes a near daily habit. The space that was a once quiet place to study becomes impossible to do anything but socialise. You end up talking to friends and acquaintances on the way in, then you spend a while chatting with the barista, finally you take your drink to an empty spot, only to be joined by more friends who you need to talk to. Soon it is late and time to carry your laptop back home not having opened it once. It was at Aurora Danielle says that she first began drinking coffee, soon she was going without cream and sugar, finally she began playing with the idea of working in a coffee shop. Not wanting to ruin the comfortable atmosphere she had at Aurora she decided to seek a job down the street.

During her first shift at Java Vino, her trainer asked her if she knew how to work the espresso bar. Having seen it done a thousand times at other shops, she confidently ground up some beans, dosed the grind, tamped it into the basket, plugged it in and pressed go. “I waited until the espresso cup was full then turned it off.” Is how she described her process. Java Vino told her she was good to go and Danielle confidently went home to tell, her boyfriend, that she was now a barista. He was appalled that they would let her coast through with virtually no training at all, Aurora makes their baristas train for months before they get to make drinks for customers he argued. “But they told me I was good.” She responded, slightly hurt at the lack of encouragement.

Grind, tamp, plug in, go, she pulled the cup away when it was filled and waited for a response.

She continued to work for Java Vino and started learning about other coffee shops in the city. She had heard good things about Octane Coffee in West Midtown and about Tony the owner. With the same naive confidence with which she breezed through her barista training at Java Vino, Danielle approached Tony at a party, where meeting him for the first time she told him that he should hire her. He said okay. “I heard that Octane was doing really good coffee, so I wanted to work there.” She explained. She started working for Octane in September of 2006.

In what seemed to be a simple repeat of her training at Java Vino, Tony asked her to show him how she pulled espresso shots. Grind, tamp, plug in, go, she pulled the cup away when it was filled and waited for a response. Tony waited until she was completely finished and calmly, graciously commented, “So… you pull Long shots?” In his patient and even mannered way Tony shared with Danielle a little bit about what makes up a good espresso shot. He split a shot three ways, the first ten, middle ten, and last ten seconds of a single shot. That thin watery bitter tasting last ten seconds he explained to her, you want to avoid. Her coffee knowledge started coming together.

She was learning from Tony and began attending weekly cuppings at Counter Culture just down the road. Finally Tony approached Danielle and asked her if she would be willing to go to an espresso lab training in Charlotte offered by Counter Culture Coffee, he would even pay for her to go. She was amazed and excited about the opportunity. “Tony was a great example for me, and he set the tone” She explained, “And once you catch that bug, its all downhill from there.”

and that was the moment she says that she verbalized her growing desire to make coffee her life.

One summer during her break from school Danielle had room in her schedule for extra part time work on top of her Octane hours. Tony suggested that she work for a friend at local tech company, Ripple. She took the job and began working long days, coming home exhausted from her extra part time work. It is not that the work was difficult, she is was very capable and tech savvy, but at the end of the day she felt like she was missing something. She wanted to be at Octane. It stemmed from more than the place, it was the people, and it was the smell and taste of great coffee, it was the exciting opportunities available. She asked Tony to meet up for a drink at Six Feet Under and that was the moment she says that she verbalized her growing desire to make coffee her life. It was comfortable, she explained, to finally have something solid.

In the time since that conversation with Tony, Danielle has come a long way putting down solid roots into the oddball community of specialty coffee. “Coffee is an industry of outcasts.” she told me and each coffee nerd is able to obsess in their own unique way. Though Danielle has done well in barista competitions she told me that is not where she wants to be. Her place is at an early morning cupping with other like minds, excited to taste great coffee. All of us are learning she explained, “I am still a newborn in coffee.”

“It is gonna blow up.” She told me with a confident anticipation that sounded as if I was receiving word from the future.

Newborn perhaps, but she is quickly growing up. Concerning her future plans, “If you had asked me a few weeks ago I probably would have said that I planned to stay in the Atlanta coffee scene forever.” But something happened during the recent Specialty Coffee Association industry gathering in Atlanta that gave her a new perspective on the potential opportunities available to her right now. “I am twenty-four, and I am able to do whatever I want.” She called up Stumptown and asked if they needed her in Brooklyn, they said yes. It was a hard decision for her to make and she tells me that Tony was very surprised but supportive.

Danielle has been a key part in helping grow the local Atlanta coffee scene, and it will be very difficult for her to say goodbye to the people. She will always be connected to Southeast coffee but this is something that she has to do for herself. So what about Atlanta? “It is gonna blow up.” She told me with a confident anticipation that sounded as if I was receiving word from the future. She warned however that Atlanta always needs to remember who they are. “You aren’t New York or San Francisco, you are Southeast espresso.” She advised, “be open minded, do not think you know everything and hold on to the Hospitality.” Danielle may have become more of a southerner than she even realises. (a)

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