Eugene Cho

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 • 1:15 am 6

double tall vanilla latte and a goat?

Q Cafe

Let’s first get the coffee espresso snob question out of the way:

What’s “your” espresso drink? Or are you a tea person?

In the face of some incredibly shocking statistics about extreme global poverty, it’s easy and understandable to feel paralyzed. I’ve often felt this way but instead of feeling the burden to change the world, just think about making an impact on one person, or one family, or one small village.

As some of you know, I also serve as the executive director of a non-profit community cafe called Q Cafe. I’m joined on the Advisory Board by Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Q Cafe, justice, non-profit, , , , , , ,

Saturday, April 25, 2009 • 12:20 am 3

dream job: wanna be barista & music promoter

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What would be your dream job?

Mine would – in part – encompass my current roles as “Chief Barista and Music Promoter.” Okay, maybe not my ultimate dream job since that would be playing shortstop for the Seattle Mariners but being the Executive Director of Q Cafe is one of the best parts of my job.  I love being a pastor but wearing one hat or at least working in a traditional box of what a pastor does [aka - work just in church building] would drive me insane. About six years ago, the then 40+ people of Quest took a huge step of faith and helped start Q Cafe with the hopes of blessing our larger neighborhood.  The vision of the cafe is pretty simple:

Q Cafe is non-profit neighborhood cafe in Seattle featuring direct trade espresso and tea, live music, art, and community events.

or in four words:

Be a good neighbor.

Why do I love my work at Q?  Free coffee, hang w/ the baristas, love the Advisory Board, meet neighbors, enjoy local artists and musicians, sponsor community events, and donate 10% of sales to a new local non-profit every month.

Anyway, I had the chance to swing by Q Cafe last night to enjoy a show.  I don’t get to go too often but try to check in to keep my youthfulness. Here’s a crappy video to give folks a glimpse of the show from last night: Read the rest of this entry »

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008 • 2:31 am 35

the soul of starbucks?

Yesterday, Starbucks was again in the local and national news because about 7100 of the national Starbucks stores were closed around 5.30pm so that their 135,000 employees could undergo about 3 hours of training for:

Part back-to-basics tutorial, part pep rally, the teach-in aimed to reacquaint baristas with the art of pulling the perfect shot of espresso and steaming milk to add a subtle hint of sweetness to a latte and give the velvety foam on top just the right thickness. [full article]

This is one of the many recent changes that have taken place at Starbucks since the return of Howard “I Sold out the Seattle Supersonics” Schultz.  There are too many to name but I’d love to hear what your thoughts are about these changes.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008 • 1:34 am 8

q cafe 2.0

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After a month of closing the Q Cafe to rest and re-examine our identity and purpose, we are very excited to re-open our doors today [redeem your coupon]. As we marked our 5 year anniversary recently, I am thankful for the many things we’ve accomplished over those years.  But, I’ve also learned how unsustainable it was to pursue all that we initially wanted to do.  In a sense, we wanted to change the world.  Now, we’re rebooting with the hope of simply being a great neighborhood cafe.  As I work with our newly forming Q Cafe Advisory Board, I’ve been trying to explain to our potential new customers that our identity is:

“Q Cafe is a neighborhood non-profit cafe featuring espresso and tea, art, live music, and community events.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Saturday, January 12, 2008 • 1:44 am 13

the barista champion

Last week, I was bored and wrote a short post asking people’s feedback about  Zoka’s or Stumptown Coffee as we change coffee roasters for Q Cafe 2.0.  I was lookingn for a few responses but the comments kinda went crazy.  I guess it speaks to the fact that people many people feel strongly about coffee and that Seattle/Northwest truly is the coffee capital of the world.  That or people in the Northwest really are coffee snobs.

One of the posters was someone named Dismas Smith and he also gave his opinion.  He later emailed and invited me to visit him at his cafe in Fremont, Seattle.  Initially, I didn’t even consider it because it seemed sort of random and well, I have a fear of the occasional blogger stalker…

Well, little did I know that Dismas Smith happens to be a superstar in the coffee industry world.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Saturday, January 5, 2008 • 1:24 am 63

zoka’s or stumptown coffee?

Been working hard with a handful of volunteers to revitalize the space of Q Cafe.  We have a very limited budget but I think folks are going to be pleased with the new kids’ room, counter level work corner, benches, and more desks for laptops users and students, etc.  We’re only spending two weeks on the remodel so next week will be crunch time as we reopen the cafe on Monday, January 14.

But it’s not just the space.  We’re working on the quality of the “product”.  We want it to be a great community cafe where we feature great coffee and tea, free WiFi, an art gallery, and an all ages live music venue.

After some thought, we’re switching coffee suppliers and considering  Zoka’s or Stumptown Coffee.  Who would you choose? Read the rest of this entry »

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Friday, December 21, 2007 • 1:33 am 4

q cafe revitalization and 10%

So, the Q Cafe is closed for about one month. Q Cafe is a non-profit/non-religious cafe birthed by Quest Church in our efforts to “be a good neighbor.”  We’ll be reopening on Monday, January 14, 2008.  During this short break, we’ll be taking some time to reorganize and revitalize the cafe.  We’re excited about our two new staff:  Anu Orebiyi will be the cafe director [anu(at)qcafe.org] and Bethany Peterson [bethany(at)qcafe.org] will be the live music/art coordinator.  Feel free to contact them if you’re interested in volunteering with either the cafe or live music.

One of the things that we’ll be changing is the website.  I’ll simply redo it via a wordpress blog for the time being until some web guru can take it to the next level.  But having said that, please enjoy the current Q Cafe Website before it gets taken down next week.  It’s really a beautiful website.  Many thanks to Hage Creative for his work with both the website and the photos.  Please do me a favor and visit his photography site…it’s not easy starting your own small business.

As we have this past year, we will be giving away 10% Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: religion, ,

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 • 1:24 am 5

Q is alive and kicking

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In a city where there seems to be a cafe [mostly with those dang mermaids on the logo] on every other street corner, the path to viability and visibility has not been the easiest thing for our non-profit Q Cafe.  We are still alive and kicking but barely.  It’s been very tough and the church and cafe leadership have taken some time to really examine the mission of the cafe.  Through these conversations, we’re collectively reminded how significant the cafe is to the ecclesiology of our church.  Q, a non-profit and non-religious community cafe, is essential to our commitment to be an incarnational presence to our neighborhood and larger city.

Personally, I’m excited to grow back in love Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: emerging church, ministry, religion, seattle, , , ,

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