A Conversation on Coffee with Tradecraft’s Michael Kaiser

Did you know that the average American worker spends about 24 minutes per day making and drinking coffee? Don’t worry, that’s not time wasted. Studies show caffeinated employees are actually more productive! Not to mention, “grabbing a cup of coffee” builds a sense of community among teammates. Here at Canteen, we work with our partners at Tradecraft Outfitters to bring the best coffee and tea experiences to your breakrooms or other areas. Today we’re speaking with Michael Kaiser, Tradecraft National Director of Sales, on who Tradecraft is and what makes them different. 

Welcome to the blog, Michael! Can you tell us how you describe Tradecraft? 

To put it simply, Tradecraft is a portfolio of partners and a team of experts who help to imagine and deliver craft coffee and tea experiences for hospitality and office clients. In a deeper sense, Tradecraft is an innovator and portal to meaningful stories, relationships, and conversations within the craft coffee and tea space. 

How do coffee roasters and Tradecraft work together to provide the best choice for clients? 

Being powered by Canteen enables us to extend craft coffee selections from anywhere in the country to clients and allows our roaster and tea partners to focus on sourcing and creating the best, most unique products. The ability to experience new and exciting coffee and tea from every origin of the world, delivered to every corner of the country, is what makes Tradecraft the best choice.   

Now we need another cup of coffee! Thanks to Tradecraft, the top-of-the-line equipment makes us want to keep coming back for more. What is the importance of having great equipment to brew craft coffee and tea? 

Exceptional brewed coffee and espresso is fundamental to any program and the confidence that this equipment will function day in and day out is the backbone to Tradecraft’s trusted partnership with our clients.  

Draft coffee and tea/kombucha, as well as cold coffee beverages, continue to make up a bigger share of overall consumption. The ability to access innovative equipment offerings to execute those styles of beverages is what differentiates many spaces. 

Along with the best equipment, what kind of training does Tradecraft offer and why is it essential?

Tradecraft offers complimentary training to all craft coffee and tea partners that includes courses on everything from farm production and processing to supply chain and manufacturing to brewing fundamentals. We even have advanced brewing training and trainer development courses.  

Education is critical! The execution of any beverage represents the moment where we bring all the elements together in a cup to tell a meaningful story.   

As coffee and tea experts, what are you excited about for the future of this space?  

I’m excited about the opportunity to bridge the gap between the current consumers’ office coffee or café experience and their home coffee and/or tea routine. I’m also personally most excited about block-chain and the opportunity to leverage technology and retail packaging to better connect the end consumer to the place and people of origin, where their coffee is from. 

We’re excited about this too! Finally, we have one last question. What is your favorite way to take coffee and tea? 

My favorite is black coffee brewed any type of way, but I’m especially fond of the AeroPress method. At night, I love to drink herbal tea with honey.  

Thank you, Michael, for joining us on the blog! Tradecraft is an essential part of Canteen in addition to the snacks, drinks, and fresh food we provide to keep clients energized and engaged throughout their day. To learn more about how Canteen and Tradecraft can help bring craft coffee and tea to you, visit our website to get started.