A Symphony of Molecules

I love Autumn.

It opens some of my favorite old rooms in my life.

Photos.

Video clips.

Articles and handwritten notes.

Earlier today, I found a collection of marketing pieces written years ago and left in storage.

I started reading.

There he was.

Ernesto Illy Sr.

The notes carried me straight back to 2007, near the beginning of my professional life in coffee.

I was learning, tasting constantly, experimenting with single origins, developing specialized blends, and working with an intensity that regularly followed me home.

Coffee had my full attention.

Three of ours had already moved beyond specialty standards into what we regarded as luxury class.

Black Label.

Seattle Reign.

L'Chaim!

Independent evaluation from that period placed each within the 95 to 100 point range.

Years later, in 2016, a client challenged me to pursue something audacious: become the first coffee brand to offer exclusively 100 point coffees.

That chapter remained ahead.

In 2007, I was still asking questions.

Refining.

Exploring.

Experimenting.

I could look into a cup and find something else I wanted to understand.

Sometimes those questions kept me awake for days.

Then came the opportunity to send our coffees to Signor Ernesto Illy.

That mattered to me.

Praise can stroke the ego.

Ernesto's judgment carried a different weight.

He had devoted his life to coffee.

I wanted to know what he found in mine.

Ernesto and I spoke twice.

He was pleasant. Thoughtful. Measured.

He listened carefully.

There was calm intelligence in his voice. He took in the conversation carefully, including thoughts I was still trying to put into words.

Getting the coffees to him became an adventure of its own.

We were shipping from my office in Seattle. Getting them directly into Europe created complications.

A military friend stationed in Germany became our bridge.

Seattle to Germany.

Germany to Ernesto.

Black Label.

Seattle Reign.

L'Chaim!

Three coffees packed with years of work, ambition, obsession, and belief.

Their origins and selections were familiar territory to me.

So was the roasting.

I knew the aromatic profiles, the flavor, the balance, the remarkably low bitterness, and the long, smooth finish.

Those coffees lived in me.

Then Ernesto Illy tasted them.

And I cared very much what came back.

He responded to all three.

Then he gave me language I have carried ever since.

"A Symphony of Molecules."

That was Ernesto.

Coffee through science.

Coffee through sensation.

Coffee through experience.

He understood aroma and flavor through chemistry, volatile compounds, heat, extraction, perception, and the human experience waiting in the cup.

Then came another phrase.

"A Journey of the Senses."

He spoke about acidity and sweetness living in balance.

Harmony.

Clarity.

He paid particular attention to the unusually low bitterness.

Then Ernesto gave me another phrase.

"A Spark of Joy."

He spoke of coffee as an elixir that awakens the mind and brings people together.

A man who had devoted his life to coffee had tasted ours and found language that beautiful.

That meant plenty to me.

Then the conversation shifted.

I told him I still saw significant work ahead.

More variables.

More refinement.

More mastery.

Ernesto stopped me.

He asked how I could suggest mastering what was already perfect.

That one hit me.

I could still see another adjustment.

Another possibility.

Another improvement.

Ernesto was asking me why.

He tasted completion.

I tasted the next move.

I have carried that with me ever since.

Then he moved beyond the cup.

He spoke directly to me.

I remember his counsel this way:

"You have something beautiful, rare, worthy of attention. Don't rush a thing. Step back and consider where you are, and where you want to go. Build experiences around your espresso lines. Remember you are a family man. Love them. Care for them. Keep your priorities straight. Keep your vision in front of you always. Communicate your vision and mission to your team clearly, ensure it is understandable, and relatable."

That reached deep.

I was a single dad raising three wee lads.

His words about family were real to me.

This had started as a conversation about coffee.

Now he was talking about my boys.

My priorities.

The people around me.

The experience I wanted to create.

The vision itself.

He was telling me to know where I was going and make certain the people traveling with me could understand it too.

I had sent Ernesto coffee because I wanted his judgment of the work.

He began talking to me about the man carrying it.

I understand that more fully now.

Ernesto knew science.

Coffee was his life's work.

He also knew what growth could demand from the person standing behind the product.

He pointed me toward the center.

Coffee.

Family.

Then he asked when I was coming to meet him.

He had tasted the coffees and studied them closely.

My instinct for continued refinement became part of our conversation.

So did family, priorities, experience, and vision.

Now he wanted to continue the conversation in person.

That was when I knew the coffees had reached him personally.

All these years later, autumn brought me back to those old pieces and the time Ernesto gave me.

I understand the value of it differently now.

I sent Signor Ernesto Illy Black Label, Seattle Reign, and L'Chaim! because I wanted to know what one of coffee's great minds thought of my work.

He gave me three phrases I still carry.

A Symphony of Molecules.

A Journey of the Senses.

A Spark of Joy.

He gave me a question too.

How do you master that which is already perfect?

Then he gave me something larger than what I had gone looking for.

He reminded me that extraordinary coffee remained one part of the life surrounding it.

Three boys waited at home.

A company was taking shape.

People around me would need to understand what I saw.

Building all of it would continue shaping the man carrying it.

I went looking for his judgment of the coffee.

I came away thinking differently about everything the coffee touched.

That was the greater gift.

Bryan-David Scott

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