The perfect cup of coffee is more like music than just a morning beverage. For hundreds of years, baristas and connoisseurs from around the world have roasted, toasted, and brewed their beans in hopes of creating the best coffee melody. You have rock n roll the classic black coffee, I don’t care where it’s from just as long as it is hot and nothing added. Pop music is the very sugary sweet coffee that is more about the experience than the actual substance. But now we have a newcomer into our world bringing an operatic depth to coffee, aficionados like myself haven’t ever seen.
The man behind this elegant opera in a cup is none other than Amir Gehl the founder of the appropriately named, Difference Coffee. The pioneer and visionary is winning every award and breaking down the wall for people anywhere to have a cup of the greatest beans from around the world. Difference coffee has exclusively found itself being served in Michelin Star restaurants from all around the globe, and ships their goods to nineteen different countries. I recently had the rare privilege to sit down and talk to Amir about his story and ultimately how he and his wife stumbled onto making a coffee experience no one has ever tasted before.
Amir is charismatic, confident, and not afraid to even be a little goofy. With wit and charm, he told me about his early life and how he worked closely in his family business but there was always something in him that told him he was going to do something by himself. He admits that very early on he didn’t know what that was going to be and he certainly didn’t ever expect it to be anything with coffee.
“I didn’t even like coffee at first,” he told me. “Coffee always tasted to me overly bitter and even burnt.” He loved tea and loved the complexity and variations. But one day Amir made the decision that he wanted to know what all of the hype was about. He wanted to like coffee. “I didn’t like bleu cheese at first, maybe I can acquire a taste.” He quipped with a smile. Little did he know that his little passion project would spawn a worldwide phenomenon. His wife told him to buy a Nespresso machine and to try his hand at making coffee from home.
Amir noticed a gap in the coffee industry between high-end restaurants and coffee companies. “I noticed that the coffees found in restaurants were worse than what I could have at my house. Why is that?” He also saw that if you order tea while you are dining, the servers will ask which varietal you would like, not just preparation. So why not coffee? With coffee, you were just asked “Cream and sugar?” Why not region or varietal?
So he embarked on his caffeinated campaign to find the best coffees from all around the world. “I drank all of the capsules I could find and I am sure I didn’t sleep for a week!” Amir drank coffee for about an entire year until the idea of Difference Coffee started to percolate. “Younger I was a purist, I wanted to find the best.” He would trek to distant lands and jungles in search of the best beans
Eight years later you can finally taste the beauty and elegance Amir traveled to find. From their award-winning Jamaica Blue Mountain capsule, the rich and creamy blend that drinks easily and leaves you with the mellow, chocolatey, and nutty flavors you look for in a classic cup of coffee. Or for more of the explorers, from the world’s most coveted coffee estate, the Esmerelda Geisha Washed will certainly take your taste buds to places they have never been before. The Esmerelda is an incredibly juicy cup of coffee with plum sweetness and a citrusy aftertaste. Complex notes of jasmine flowers, bergamot, and stone fruit. It is a cup of coffee you have to taste to truly understand the complexity.
As Amir recalled his amazing journey to Difference Coffee, I asked him about the future and vision of Difference Coffee. What did was his desired legacy Difference Coffee would leave on the coffee community. “I admire Nespresso and Starbucks because Nespresso made it possible to drink good coffee from home. And Starbucks made it cool to drink coffee. My hope is I’d like to be known as the one who shifted the market from generic coffee to specialty coffee.”
Sustainability is at the core of Gehl’s mission. “The elephant in the room is fair wage and child labor,” he explains. “If I can get people to drink specialty over commodity, I can end child labor in the coffee world.” Gehl is not afraid of competition; in fact, he welcomes it. “I love a dialogue,” he says, eager to engage with others who share his passion for coffee. Difference is not just the name of a brand but the desired result of their hard work.
After talking with Amir and tasting his amazing selection of capsules, I was caught up in his vision. I was swept up by a man on a mission, and as the famous quote says “Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.” Many are coming from miles and miles to taste something they have never experienced before. With Amir Gehl at the helm, the Difference Coffee adventure is just beginning. As he continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, one thing is clear: coffee will never be the same again.
Words by Tom Burleson
