The Coffee Photographer, Chérmelle D. Edwards Community, What the Club is Talking About Above Image By: Chérmelle D. Edwards At the cultural intersection of coffee, culture, and community, Chérmelle D. Edwards, most commonly known as the Coffeetographer, is truly one of a kind. A wonderful and bright world citizen, Chérmelle has empowered people, shared inspiring messages, and singly-handedly contributed to defining and celebrating coffee culture throughout countries near and far with her Coffee Photography and website, The Coffeetographer. Photo By: Chérmelle D. Edwards Featured in the Washington Post, selected as one of the best coffee bloggers by The Kitchn, and highlighted in Bloomberg, to name a few, Chérmelle is certainly a person to get to know if you haven’t yet! We were fortunate enough to catch her between travels and get her to share a bit about her journey, her thoughts on the evolving coffee culture, and the world… So what are you up to today?! What’s new?! Where are you?! Today, I’m catching up on coffee and culture news from around the world. I’ve been traveling in Africa and practically unplugged from so much media and content so I’m re-immersing myself. Photo By: Chérmelle D. Edwards For those who are unhip to Coffeetographer, can you give them the Movie Trailer introduction? The sun is revolving. Golden light comes upon a street and people move in and out of its shadows. A woman with a camera points at a scene unfolding, twenty-five feet from her. A click doesn’t shutter yet but her eye remains an extension of the lens. Then, a few clicks and with camera in her grip, she approaches the people of the scene. She talks. They talk. Together they walked through a glass door whose stenciled lettering names the café. Bells chime. They enter and then… what unfolds is the kind of stuff that makes TheCoffeetographer.com. Coffeetographer seems to be very much a cultural intersection between coffee, culture, and community. With that, what do you think people connect with most? It is very much that! That intersection is a result of looking through a lens – a perspective: coffee – and then filtering it through culture. You know, I don’t think about that so often. I only know what a person individually connects to when they tell me, but because the mission is an intersection its whatever is a touch point for that person that becomes what they gravitate towards. For example, if they are into coffee a lot, then they veer towards the coffee coverage, if they are really into culture, they enjoy when I cover a lot of cultural events – from music festivals, to art events and show how coffee is influencing and shaping the culture. Photo By: Chérmelle D. Edwards How has coffee culture evolved over the past 5 years? Where do you think it’s headed? My webzine started five years ago and specialty coffee has become more of a communication tool for lifestyle expression, drawing from culture. Specialty coffee has thankfully lost some of its pretentiousness and its become a welcomed and modern communication tool for more than coffee, but the lifestyle of it. Photo By: Little Nap Coffee Stand Since launching Coffeetographer – what’s been your favorite part? And most valuable lesson learned? My favorite part is the people I meet; talking to them, documenting the spirit of who they are and then sharing those stories. One of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned has been learning how to say ‘no’ and having a vision. To further that, what’s the one bit of advice you’d give to aspiring writers and or people hoping to get into the coffee culture space?! Have a point of view and create from the place that’s true for you – no one else can get to that place but you. Give your work a value, otherwise, other people will and more than likely it won’t match what you know your worth is. If you could get more people hip to one thing about coffee – what would it be? To see coffee as a real culture. When we drink coffee it is more than a beverage it is the sum total of a culture – a people’s style, thoughts, customs, rituals, beliefs etc. Photo By: Chérmelle D. Edwards If you could have coffee with any 5 people – who would they be? Dead or Alive, I’m assuming. So my great-grandmother when she was in her twenties, I would love to have coffee with her then. The character ‘Bob’ from ‘What About Bob’. Picasso. Thomas Newman. and Maya Angelou. Stay up to date with the wonderful Chérmelle with her Instagram account and dive further into coffee culture on her website Coffeetographer! Photos Left to Right By: Chérmelle D. Edwards, Jess Chamberlin, Chérmelle D. Edwards. Thanks for reading our coffee culture blog! Do please let us know your thoughts and feedback 🙂
