Name: Joshua Idehen
Occupation: Poet, vocalist, rapper, spoken word performer, barista
Nationality: British
Current release: Joshua Idehen's Mum Does the Washing EP, featuring contributions from Hanakiv and The Social Singing Choir, is out via Big Wednesday.
Barista & Coffee Recommendations: SLOW HANDS CAFE, HAGERSTEN, STOCKHOLM. Also big up @big.kod who’s an absolute legend.

If you enjoyed this Joshua Idehen interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, collaborations, and performances, visit him on Instagram, Soundcloud, and Facebook.

For a deeper dive, we recommend our earlier Joshua Idehen interview about his creative process, and our conversation with him about lyrics.

Over the course of his career, Joshua Idehen has collaborated with a wide range of artists and bands, including Metronomy, The Comet is Coming, Sons of Kemet, Addict Ameba, Daedelus, and LV.

[Read our Danalogue of The Comet is Coming interview]
[Read our Anna Prior of Metronomy interview]
[Read our Daedelus interview]
 


Foods can trigger a wide range of responses. What happens in your body when you're drinking a cup of coffee? Do you prefer to taste it with your eyes open or closed?

Erm, I hate coffee. Hate bitter tastes. Tea, on the other hand …

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did coffee mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

The same thing I feel happened to me when I first tasted alcohol.

I truly believe there is an alternate universe where I am a successful, constantly amped and well functioning alcoholic with lots of friends who don’t believe in therapy.

Unfortunately, I am in this universe, and I hate alcohol and coffee.

It is possible to learn about making a great cup of coffee by trial-and-error or Youtube videos. But we can also learm from other great baristas. Tell me about your own learning curve please, and potential eye-opening moments.

Oh, I am still a Padawan, very Luke Skywalker, Episode 4. I work at Slow Hands Cafe, owned by Francis and Martin, two Liverpudlians with great taste in music and an almost obsessive approach to coffee making.

Martin, in particular: just watching him make a cappuccino is like watching the sun sculpt an evening. The artfulness involved; it all looks and seems so effortless. a genius at coffee art, a Da Vinci.

I am currently a Jackson Pollack.

How do you define a great cup of coffee?  

What I’ve learnt: Good beans, good grind, a summer day, a window, your new favourite song, and something to read.

What were your very first steps as a barista like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

Now, see, I spent a lot of my working years as a bartender and always had an adversarial relationship with the coffee machine (unless I was making an Irish coffee. That I loved making) So working at Slow Hands Cafe, a for-real-for-real cafe was a real Face Your Fears moment.

But I can tell you the team has been kind and everyone has said my Pollack cappuccinos taste good, at least.

When it comes to brewing, roasting, selecting the right beans, etc – what are currently concrete topics and aspects that interest you and where you want to improve or simply challenge yourself?

I am going to make the perfect cappuccino. The rest is noise, for now.

How and for what reasons has your brewing set-up evolved over the years and what are currently some of the most important pieces of equipment for you?

Ah, my g, still in my fifth month. Give me time, abeg. Let me die before you bury me.

But to answer your question: My ability to tell when the milk is too hot, humility, and patience.

To paraphrase late music producer SOPHIE: “You have the possibility with modern equipment, automation, and scientific insights to generate any quality in coffee. So why would any barista want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?

I agree with what SOPHIE said. I think the new coffee machines with screens that tell you the temperature of milk, screens to tell you how water gone into the grind, the grind pressers: it makes the process a lot easier and approachable than back in the day.

And again, I just want to make a good cappuccino with a bit of art on the top right now.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for making a cup of coffee? What role do music, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Usually someone orders a coffee and I get to work, lol!

But seriously, Slow Hands is an incredible, relaxed space, the complete opposite from everywhere I’ve ever worked and I guess that helps get me in the mood to make. I also like Liquid DNB.

Do you feel as though the right mindset, intention, or even a sense of “inspiration” matters for a quality cup of coffee? Or will the results always be satisfactory as long as you follow the steps of the process?

I’m slightly autistic. I still make pasta the exact way my ex showed me, when she threw whatever she found in the fridge into the pot.

Tell me about your current brewing process, please.

I honestly, honestly do not have one.

How much freedom is there in your preparation process? Do you try to achieve the exact same result with each cup or do you allow for or even look for variations with each cup?

Oh god, no variations unless the customer asked for one. I mean, i’m trying to get better, but apart from that ...

Do you listen to music while making coffee? What are your favourite pieces?

We used to play/ still play mostly jazz and leftfield, eclectic. But liquid DNB is currently the motivator.

Once brewed and from the perspective of enjoying the finished coffee, how do you see the connection between taste and factors like sound/music, the cafe environment, conversation or silent enjoyment etc?

Well, we put a lot of effort into the vibes and the atmosphere of Slow Hands Cafe, to make it feel like a home away from home, you know. And everything works in tandem to make that vision complete.

Some cafes are designed to feel like liminal spaces, like your time is limited and you can’t relax too much, if at all. And the coffee is crap. I’m talking about Starbucks. Fuck you, Starbucks. Free Palestine.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? Do you feel we can express something beyond taste through brewing coffee?

I am way, way more comfortable making music than making coffee. Coffee is a task I am learning. Music is where I am free.

A cup of coffee is fleeting and disappears with its consumption. Is there a cup of coffee that was so good, however, that you still remember it until today?

I once had a hot white chocolate in Camden. The place is closed now: I want it back more than any person I have ever loved and lost.

It’s a Starbucks now. Also, Fuck you, Starbucks. Free Palestine.