A Patreon Update

Hello everyone!

As many of you have noticed, this community has grown a lot in the last month or so. I promise it isn't tired hyperbole when I say that this has massively exceeded what I ever thought possible. As a community, you're investing into the channel and I want to talk about that investment and what it means.

Firstly, I'm hiring. I need some more help producing videos, and the goal here is to have someone with production experience join the team and professionalise those things. (I'm not saying we're unprofessional, I'm just saying that someone who has done this for a living for a while is probably better at this stuff than we are!) When it comes to resources, time is the biggest one for me and what often stands in the way of more videos getting made - having more time to focus on the content, as well as making sure I don't burn out, are investments in the sustainability of the channel.

Secondly, you're encouraging me to think bigger. I am aware that this Patreon will allow me to make videos and projects that no one else can feasibly do. That's very exciting and also helpful in that it will encourage me to focus on the projects only we can make. A good example is the planned decaf project. That project will require about £100k of cash flow. (Note cash flow, not budget as I should be able to recoup 80-90% of that money by the end of the project). I know this seems like an absurd amount of money for a video on decaf, but when it drops it will make sense. The project is travel dependent though, so I don't yet have a timeline for it.

Third, I'll continue to need your help and input. There'll be a survey link later this week as the next round of espresso machine testing (I'm thinking up to £1,500 for this one) because sourcing ideas from comments on Patreon is really hard work (comments just aren't well executed here). 

Lastly, thank you for being such a great and positive community. This is, I think, the best coffee community online. I know some people are hesitant about installing Discord and having one more thing to look at, but it has been such a lovely space and community and you've all been so helpful and generous with your time and advice and insight. And the memes have also been excellent. So if you're new, I'd strongly recommend connecting your Patreon and Discord accounts and joining the server. 

One final thank you for supporting the guest contributors in February, I think some aspect of this project will return in the future - it's been great to showcase some different creators, perspectives and coffee cultures. (There is one more guest video that was delayed and should be live in early March)