ALL CHANGE AT THE POUROVER

It has been almost a year since I started the Pourover. I began researching it (ie drinking a bunch of coffee) in October 2016, and published my first article in November. Since then I’ve tried coffee from roasters all over Scotland, sampled innumerable flat whites (and still have no idea what a flat white really is), and even traveled all the way to Carbost on the Isle of Skye to write about Caora Dhubh Coffee for Sprudge. In the past year alone, plenty of exciting new coffee companies have sprung forth from the Scottish soil. The aforementioned Caora Dhubh; Kaf and It All Started Here in Glasgow; even Aberdeen has joined in, with the Cult of Coffeeopening its doors fairly recently. I’m sure there are plenty more that I never got a chance to discover.

So Scottish coffee is doing well; this country deserves proper coffee. And I’m glad that my little blog has played even a tiny part in helping to fuel this growth. But life always intrudes, pushes its way in from the outside, takes over. Hence, in a week’s time, my wife and I will be leaving Scotland and moving back to the US.

We came here around this time last year, hoping to build a life (and eventually a business) in Scotland. However, unforeseen circumstances (beginning with a B and ending with a -rexit) have forced us to reconsider. Such is life. It has been a lot of fun to write about coffee in Scotland, and I’m happy to have encountered some truly excellent people bringing specialty coffee to the Scottish public. Maybe someday I’ll be able to play a bigger part myself.

The Pourover will continue, in slightly altered form (it’s difficult to write about Scottish coffee from Michigan). I will probably be posting monthly rather than weekly, and about coffee in general rather than Scottish coffee in particular (the url will also change, for what it’s worth). I already have a few people this side of the pond lined up for coffee swaps, so I’ll still get a chance to drink Steampunk and Artisan Roastand hopefully many more. If anyone else is interested in joining my little swap, give me a shout.

I’m aware that I will probably lose some followers, and that’s fine, as I’m sure there are people understandably following me specifically because of the Scottish locale. Instagram will continue as normal, albeit I’ll need to find a new fence on which to precariously balance a Chemex (#chemexonafence). I might even splash out on a new brew method (Siphon on a fence sounds rather terrifying, so maybe an Aeropress).

I love Scotland. It’s the country of my birth and, some day in the future, I hope it will be my home. The time, however, is clearly not right. My wife and I have a chance to build something in Michigan, to give our lives a structure and purpose that it has felt for the past year was missing. I’m going to keep writing, and I hope you continue reading my little coffee ramblings. Maybe you’ll learn something about coffee in Michigan because of it.

Cheers,

Fionn