Profile
Marketing and communications professional with over 20 years’ experience in the specialty coffee industry and currently Chief Storyteller for Providence based importer, Covoya Specialty Coffee. Author of nearly 100 long-form blog posts on behalf of Covoya on a variety of coffee related topics with an emphasis on history and producer of the The Exchange podcast. Non-fiction published in numerous coffee industry trade magazines and author of over 100 articles for The Specialty Coffee Chronicle while serving as its editor. Regular contributor of non-fiction and Coffee-themed fiction for Sprudge.com, the widest read publication in the coffee industry.
TLDR
Education
1998 MFA in Writing | Saint Mary’s College | Moraga, California
Recent Published Non-fiction
A Brief History of the Price of Coffee
January 2023 Sprudge.com
100 Years of William Harrison Ukers’ All About Coffee
October 2022 Sprudge.com
The Mystery and Majesty of Coffee Milk
October 2019 Sprudge.com
Remembering Erna Knutsen, Coffee’s Feminist Pioneer
August 2018 Sprudge.com
Published Fiction
Oct 2019 Sprudge.com
Oct 2018 Sprudge.com
June 2015 Sprudge.com
Sep 2014 Sprudge.com
Professional Blogs
Describing Coffee to Coffee Drinkers
I Often Drink Beer and When I Do I rarely Drink Dos Equis
People at the Stomach of Huehuetenango Coffee
Speaking of Coffee Prices – Thoughts for Roasters and Their Customers
Words About Words About Coffee 1722-1935
Sometimes a Cup of Java is Just a Cup of Joe
How to Complain About Coffee During the Holidays
Kenyan Coffee, Gifts from the Owner of Snow
Juan Valdez: The story of “Uncle Juan ” and Colombian Coffee
On Folger’s Shoulders: Lessons from the Early Years of a Coffee Giant
Yemen Coffee and the Birthplace of an Industry … Probably
Ethiopian Coffee History: From Chewing to Brewing
Coffee Advertising of Yesteryear: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Ethiopia and the Story of Kaldi – One. More. Time.
A Wholly Unremarkable and Yet Totally Remarkable Coffee Roasting Company
When Every Coffee is “Specialty” Coffee
What We Talk About When We Talk About Specialty Coffee
Long Road. Long Miles. Burundi.
Personal Projects
Essays
Travelling Through Time in Providence
The Snow and The Grass—Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg
Hamlet and Me, A Reflection on Story
A Question of Magic—Magic Bone Magicians and Everyone Else
Five Years Without a Hitch—Marking the Fifth Anniversary of Christopher Hitchens Death
I Always Drink Beer, and When I Do, I Rarely Drink Dos Equis
Your Company Writes Stories Every Day
Why, Maybe, I Don’t Talk Baseball
Fabled Obituaries
They live for ages within the collective human imagination, embedded in the folklore of many different peoples and cultures. Do they want out? Fabled Obituaries.
Poetry
@pvdnowandthen on Instagram with over 5700 followers.
“A Little History. A Little Architecture. A Lot of Walking Around.”
The Archives (no links)
Remembering Coffee Kids
Jun 2014 CoffeeGeek.com
Fighting the Good Fight—How to deal with dishonest competitors
Jan/Feb 2013 Roast Magazine
Once Upon A Coffee
Oct 2013 Specialty Coffee Chronicle
Coffee Kids, The Farmer, and Coffee Drinkers
Nov 2012 CoffeeUniverse.com
And the Coffee Farmers Thrived
Summer 2011 La Voz
Buy My Coffee—Notes from the fractal frontier of coffee marketing
Jan/Feb 2009 Roast Magazine
90 Years Ago in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Jan 2009 Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Instant Convenience, Mermaids, Good Enough?
Feb 2009 CoffeeGeek.com
Book Introduction
Effective and Essential Marketing for the Specialty Coffee Retailer by Bruce Milletto, 2004
The Micro-Chain Link: Branding, Community and Quality
Apr 2003 Fresh Cup Magazine
Uncharted Territory: Exploring the Possibility of Specialty Coffee Origins
Jul 2001 Fresh Cup Magazine
The Supersizing of Specialty Coffee: Is Bigger Really Better?
Jun 2003 Fresh Cup Magazine
A Connecticut Golfer on King Arthur's Course 