Jackie Billings

 

 

A former Anthropology and Third World Development Studies major from Smith college, with a thesis entitled “More than just a Better Bean: Coffee Quality through the Support of Indigenous Agriculture,“ Jackie comes pretty much as close as you can get to having a bachelor's degree in coffee. She’s still trying to convince her parents that said degree was worth the ridiculous amount of money that they paid for it, so she encourages you all to buy lots and lots of Mocha Joe’s coffee.

Jackie first “discovered” coffee on a high-school semester abroad in Costa Rica, when she lived with a coffee producing family in the San Luis valley. Having grown up on a farm herself, Jackie was struck by the similarities between the problems facing farmers in both the first and third worlds. Her interest was piqued. Since that time, Jackie has visited farms in Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala, and hopes to add to the list in the coming year.

Ironically, Jackie was not a coffee drinker until April of 2007, when she started working for Mocha Joe’s pulling espresso shots in their café. Though she had previously been crippled by a medical condition which kept her from consuming caffeine, she defied doctor’s orders to cultivate an appreciation for the brew (she and her stomach ulcer have reached some semblance of peace). She prefers more “exotic” coffees, her favorites generally being (George Howell forgive her!) natural process Ethiopians and Indonesians. Recently, however, she has also developed a taste for El Salvadors and encourages everyone to give this oft overlooked origin a try.

In her free time, Jackie enjoys thinking about coffee, drooling over coffee technology, boring her friends with snobby coffee talk, and meeting with her co-workers over drinks to discuss coffee industry gossip. She therefore makes a point to schedule time for gaming (table top, computer turn-based strategy, CCG), quilting, running, riding her bicycle, working in her garden, scrutinizing grammar, and visiting with her grandmother. She lives in Brattleboro with her lovely husband, Pete; her 18 year old yellow tiger cat, Banana; and her housemate (and fellow roaster) Anders.

Email: jackie@mochajoes.com



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