In the picture to the right is the very talented Shanna Germain, Editor of Roast Magazine, and she has the bag I am getting for Mark!

I dropped by the booth after meeting Shanna only briefly on Friday evening at the Intelligentsia Party; she was quite busy, and in the middle of finishing up a new subscription signup when I arrived. Roast Magazine has these great bags for the show - they are essentially soft briefcases with lots of pockets perfect for your portable office. I told Shanna I wanted to get one for Mark and was about to hand over the $10 for it and she said oh no no no! For Mark?! No, I can't charge you!

But Mark can write an article for us in return! Oh oh!

Just a few minutes ago, I was with Mark when we ran into Shanna at the barista competition area, and that is when I told Mark he has to write an article for Shanna. He was surprised, but grabbed the bag and said "well, it is a cool bag! - OK, but I have a counter offer for you Shanna!"

I am not sure if they formally agreed to this deal or not so do not quote me, but it looks like Mark will probably write an article for Roast (which he says he's very honored to do so, but he doesn't feel he's capable of doing that community any justice with his writing), and Shanna agreed to look into us having a closer relationship with Roast Magazine. Mark is sitting here, and I asked him to type the next paragraph in.

Yo. ;) Well, it's true - I'm terribly honoured that Shanna wants me to write for their magazine - I don't know if I can do it justice since those folks are so hardcore about commercial roasting and what the heck do I know about that kinda stuff! But I also suggested to Shanna that we set up a regular article space on CoffeeGeek for a monthly reprint from Roast Magazine's archives. I know, from being a (comp!) subscriber that while most of the content is really geared towards the commercial artisan roaster, there are always a few articles every issue that I really feel would appeal to the CoffeeGeek reader. I also hope it will be a boon to new Roast subscriptions; kind of a teaser for the kind of content you'd read each issue if you subscribed.

Shanna seemed really open to the deal, so when I get back to Vancouver and have a chance to settle, we'll see what we can work out - but it looks good for some fresh content on CG, and a great informal partnership with Roast Magazine!