{"id":22601,"date":"2019-04-26T09:44:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T16:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/?p=22601"},"modified":"2019-04-26T10:22:13","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T17:22:13","slug":"waltdeezy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/waltdeezy\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversations from the Specialty Coffee Expo: Dee \u201cWalt Deezy\u201d Traylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Name:<\/strong> Dee Traylor, better known as Walt Deezy
\nCompany:<\/strong> Rosalind Coffee Company <\/a>
\nPosition:<\/strong> Owner, Roaster, Barista, Green Buyer, Renaissance Man
\nBased:<\/strong> New York, New York
\nExpos Attended<\/strong>: Lost count (\u201cDouble digits, for sure\u201d)<\/p>\n

JJ: So you love Expos?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been doing this for a long time and I love Expos. I go to every tradeshow I possibly can go to.<\/p>\n

JJ: What are you typically going for? What are the typical activities that you seek out when you\u2019re at an Expo?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> Definitely support the baristas when they\u2019re competing with the Brewers Cup and all the major competitions. But I personally love the latte art competitions. You meet so many fun new people, even just now people who are just getting into coffee, they understand latte art, they understand what pretty is. Right? So it is really cool to be around like-minded people competing. I\u2019m very competitive so, I win a lot. I\u2019ve never been to a tradeshow and not won.<\/p>\n

JJ: What all have you won here?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> This time? So far I\u2019ve won Breville latte art throwdown, the Elmhurst latte art throwdown, the Pacific Latte Art throwdown, and the Califia latte art throwdown. And there\u2019s three more going on today.<\/p>\n

JJ: Have you seen any unique trends this year at the Expo?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> Yeah, a lot of good latte artists and a lot of alternative milk producers, a lot of them are turning to oat milk, it seems like everyone is doing a really good job at it. I like how [there\u2019s] a lot of competitions with artists, milk providers, and also machine providers. So everybody\u2019s getting better cause everyone wants to overtop the person. Competition makes us great, lack of competition can get us stagnant. I\u2019m liking how everybody\u2019s getting better, at a rapid rate. It\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n

JJ: Before, we were chatting about how you\u2019re a hustler, you really like to make things happen. I\u2019m curious how you got into coffee and what makes you so excited about it.
\n<\/strong>WD<\/strong>: A guy named Jason Ally, we were at like Starbucks, and he told me to get passionate about something. He looked around and he like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you work here?\u201d Why not? My first job was Starbucks, and working as a barista was so much fun, I was like, \u201cOh yeah, gotta have that!\u201d<\/p>\n

I also wanted it because I wanted to hang out with a lot of people from all walks of life. You can\u2019t just go up to a guy in a really nice suit and say, \u201cHey, let\u2019s be friends,\u201d that\u2019s weird. But you could do that over coffee. You can do that while you serving. You can do it like, while speaking about a like-minded thing, and coffee was my vessel to have those relationships. So that\u2019s why I stuck with it, and did for as long as I have. I\u2019ve never done anything else for as long than being in coffee. I am an old man in coffee.<\/p>\n

JJ: Oh? You\u2019re an old man in coffee?
\n<\/strong>WD<\/strong>: Yup, a thousand years.<\/p>\n

JJ: Really? You\u2019re looking really great for a thousand.
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> Thank you! See? I got the\u2026 you know. What\u2019s that disease called? Benjamin Buttons! So I look good, but I\u2019m old as dirt.<\/p>\n

JJ: Hey, whatever works. So for the newbie baristas, coming into their next Expo or their first tradeshow, what advice do you have for them?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> Watch the show. Watch, learn, and also, don\u2019t be afraid to talk to people. Point someone out like, \u201cMan, I love that art\u2026can you show me?\u201d Compete. Don\u2019t be scared because it\u2019s your first time and you see these guys that are like veterans. Losing builds progress. Practice doesn\u2019t make perfect, it makes permanent. I get those muscle memories going and you\u2019re facing really good people, you see what they do and you\u2019re like, \u201cOh man, next time I\u2019m gonna do this,\u201d and don\u2019t be afraid of losing. After you take a couple of L\u2019s, you\u2019ll stop shaking, you\u2019ll stop getting as nervous, and that helps you get better. Don\u2019t be shy, seek a sensei, and be open to new ideas and new pours, and new adventures.<\/p>\n

JJ: I feel like you\u2019re pushing what a barista competition looks like. You\u2019re pushing it in new directions and I\u2019m curious what your strategy is when you\u2019re developing a presentation?
\n<\/strong>WD:<\/strong> For a longtime, I used to go to throwdowns and they weren\u2019t boring, because there was still competition, it was cool, but it was just cool. I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is amazing <\/em>right now,\u201d it should be presented as that. I really wanted to make it big, so started working on \u201cOkay, how can I make this even more fun? How can I keep people\u2019s eye on us? Okay, I\u2019m gonna throw some baby powder around now. Okay?\u201d People are amazed when they\u2019ve never seen me do that before. Throw in some fireworks. Oh? Y\u2019all used to me doing fireworks now? Alright, let me get a fog machine and a cape. Cool. Alright, y\u2019all seen that before now too? Lemme get a panda head. Who knows, maybe next time I\u2019ll get a panda and me and the panda come down the stage together. I don\u2019t know. I got to keep topping it, keep making it fun and a spectacle because what we\u2019re doing is a spectacle and people love it. A lot of people don\u2019t understand the barista competition. Even though I love it personally, a lot of people don\u2019t understand it. A regular guest would not understand a barista competition. It\u2019s very tactile and its very unique and it\u2019s very niche. You\u2019ve got the cream of the crop competing, like those are the best baristas possible! But regular customers kind of only understand regular stuff and they understand pretty. What we do is pretty, let\u2019s keep doing it. It\u2019s something that everybody can relate to and come together and watch. I like to put on a show.<\/p>\n

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read all of our conversations<\/a> from the 2019 Specialty Coffee Expo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owner, Barista, Roaster, Green Buyer, & Renaissance Man for Rosalind Coffee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1145,"featured_media":22569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[26,18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nConversations from the Specialty Coffee Expo: Dee \u201cWalt Deezy\u201d Traylor - 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