T Q&A

The next time you make fun of Twitter, think about Josh Calhoon,
owner of Café Van Go. His coffee trailer is parked at the
Bookmans at Grant Road and Campbell Avenue. When Calhoon started his
business last year, he was parked on a vacant lot off Ruthrauff
Road—but then a Bookmans’ executive with the Twitter account
EspressoJunky discovered Calhoon’s Café Van Go tweets. You can
follow him on Twitter, too, at CafeVanGo, or become a fan on Facebook
at Van Go Coffee.

A friend told me you’re an award-winning barista. How does one
become an award-winning barista?

There are barista competitions that happen every year. … I won the
Southwest regional.

Did you enter on your own?

Well, kind of. Some shops will sponsor someone, but this time, I
entered on my own, although a coffee company ended up supplying me with
their coffee and one of their machines for the competition. … Before
I even had this business open, a buddy of mine talked me into going to
Las Vegas. It was challenging. I didn’t even have a machine to practice
on.

How long after that did you start your business?

Not long, really; about a year. I had started researching coffee the
past few years. I decided to go to this coffee school in Portland
(Ore.) that teaches you about coffee and how to make drinks the right
way.

Was the goal to strike out on your own and do your own
business?

Yeah, I owned my own business before this. For seven or eight years,
I was an independent distributor for a bread company in town.

Why coffee?

I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 8 years old. I liked it, and
the only way I could drink it was if I made coffee for my dad, too. He
said if I wanted coffee, I’d have to make him a cup in the morning.

But you weren’t making espresso, like you are now. Why this kind
of coffee?

I couldn’t find a place in town that made a cup of coffee I liked,
until I found out there’s this whole other area of coffee. In Portland,
I learned about how to make traditional coffees, none of this foo-foo
blended stuff. Macchiatos, for example: Starbucks tainted the name and
makes macchiatos that aren’t really macchiatos. At coffee school, I
made drinks all day for a couple of days with all different kinds of
machines the school provided. I got hooked, and they’ve helped me every
step of the way.

How did Bookmans recruit you?

I had my own personal Twitter account, and I would just Twitter
about coffee. I have this special coffee brewer that brews all the hot
coffees by the cup, so I carry at least four to five different coffees.
… I started Twittering what coffees I had. I think that’s how they
found me. One of the Bookmans execs, his Twitter account is
EspressoJunky. That’s how they found me. He and Bob (Bookman) came out
and talked to me about coming out here.

I heard you take payment in Bookmans credit slips (in addition to
cash). How does that work?

Basically, you come out and tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you
what it costs. While they are inside getting their slip from book
trades or their credit … I’m making their coffee. I cash those in at
the end of the day or week.

I love it.

It really works well. … I have one lady that has a hundred and
some dollars of store credit, and she comes by three or four times a
week. She comes by and says, “Hi, I’ll take my usual,” goes inside to
get her slip, and I have coffee waiting for her.

You could be here a while, I guess until the Grant Road project
starts.

I remember them talking about (widening Grant Road) eight years ago.
I remember getting my first tattoo across the street, and they were
thinking they were going to lose their tattoo shop, and here it is.
Everyone is still here.

Wouldn’t it would be great for this Bookmans to move
downtown?

We could really use them there, and we could use a good coffee place
downtown, too.

Now that you’re an award-winning barista, and you went to coffee
school, is it OK to call you a purist?

Yeah, I’d say I’m a purist, but not a snob. I try to explain why we
do what we do. … People who try … my espresso shots learn that when
something is done right, it’s good. My espresso is like candy.

This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2009.