This image is a chalkboard at Barrington Coffee Roasting Company that represents a tiny slice of the vast knowledge, experience and passion that our client has for their product. What a telling image! Most of us think of coffee as something to look forward to in the morning, a warm, aromatic pick-me-up. For the folks at BCRC coffee is a whole world – of growers, environments, economies, technologies, communities and communications. Of course the ongoing revolution in coffee sparked by Starbucks, the Seattle coffee scene, and others is nothing new. Gregg and Barth at BCRC have been there since the beginning, always focused on crafting a product of impeccable quality and uncompromising values. An images like this board really speaks to the depth of their passion for the subject.
Our society celebrates the accomplishments of the giants – those individuals and institutions that grow explosively into cultural megaliths. We have the Fortune 500, the richest people in the world, the fastest-growing, etc… But how about the BEST? In our community we have some amazing craftspeople and creatives, people like Walter and Tim at McTeigue and McClelland, or Peter Fasano in Great Barrington, or Michael and Seth up at Berkshire Living, or Nancy Fitzpatrick and team at Red Lion Inn and Porches, or Joe Thompson up at MassMoca, or Laurie Norton Moffatt at Norman Rockwell Museum and Ellen Spear at Hancock Shaker Village.
These people are the best at what they do – and that is what they focus on. If there is a core word to describe them, a unifying value, it has to be “obsession” – a singular passion, pursued for its own enjoyment and pleasure.
Who is the Obsession 500? Any nominations?