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Episode Description

This is part 5 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is George Howell, founder of George Howell Coffee, returning for the 2026 edition of our annual series, “The Coffee Industry According to George Howell.”

In this final episode, we explore one of the ideas George has been championing most strongly in recent years: more people should be drinking black coffee.

For George, black coffee gives consumers the clearest opportunity to experience what the farmer actually produced.

When coffee is heavily altered with milk, sugar, or other ingredients, the experience becomes something different. That can still be enjoyable, but it changes the role that the coffee itself plays.

George explains why he sees single-farm black coffee as a way of putting the spotlight back on the producer. When a customer discovers a coffee they genuinely love and begins seeking out that particular farm or origin again, the relationship shifts away from the roaster and towards the person who produced the coffee.

We also discuss why blends and milk-based drinks still have an important role in cafés, how different coffee formats serve different purposes, and why encouraging more black coffee consumption does not have to mean taking other beverages away.

The bigger challenge is accessibility.

How do you take a customer who usually drinks cappuccinos or lattes and invite them to experience black coffee without making the process intimidating?

George describes the tastings at George Howell Coffee, where customers are given small amounts of coffee at cooler temperatures so they can experience sweetness, aroma, texture, and flavour without committing to an entire cup.

We also discuss how curiosity can create opportunities for baristas to introduce customers to black coffee, why temperature matters, and how cafés might build small tasting moments into the customer experience.

The conversation then moves into restaurants, where George sees enormous untapped potential. He argues that restaurants already know how to guide customers through food and wine, yet coffee is often treated as an afterthought.

We explore whether simple, consistent brewing methods such as French press could allow restaurants to serve high-quality black coffee without requiring a dedi