EP 1364 Mark Bartlett - Is Quality Subjective? - The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward episode artwork

EPISODE · May 29, 2025 · 19 MIN

EP 1364 Mark Bartlett - Is Quality Subjective? - The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward

from The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by MAP IT FORWARD · host Lee Safar

Join our Mailing List - https://www.mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistWorkshops Available: - https://mapitforward.coffee/workshops1. "Introduction to Regenerative Coffee Farming"2. "Biochar for Coffee"3. "How To Become A Coffee Consultant"4. "Grow Your Coffee Business"Upcoming Mastermind Groups - https://mapitforward.coffee/groupcoaching••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••This is the 4th in a five-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward. Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products and host Lee Safar have a fascinating discussion about the bastardization of quality in restaurants and cafes.The 5 episodes in this series are:1. What Is Quality? - https://youtu.be/dh5n6Q2_WcA 2. A Shift Away From Quality In F&B - https://youtu.be/sipMDLsjU3g 3. The Relationship Between Cost and Quality - https://youtu.be/6hev2oz2Qhs4. Is Quality Subjective - https://youtu.be/_VEvXBQi5VU5. What's Eroding Demand For Quality in F&B? - https://youtu.be/QF7fKK8i3-MIn this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by Map It Forward, host Lee Safar continues a lively discussion with Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products. In this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by Map It Forward, host Lee Safar converses with Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products about the subjectivity of quality in food. They delve into how personal experience and exposure shape our perceptions of quality, illustrated through examples of wine, oysters, cheese, and pizza. The discussion highlights the significance of trusting one's taste and the inherent subjectivity in defining quality. Additionally, they explore the role of mentorship and ingredient selection in culinary education, concluding with a teaser for the next episode on factors eroding society's demand for quality produce and ingredients. Connect with Mark Bartlett and Bon Accord here:https://bonaccord.co.nz/https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bartlett-5709a132/••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Connect with Map It Forward here: Website | Instagram | Mailinglist💡Support this podcast on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward📽 Watch the podcast on Youtube: https://bit.ly/3ouyFYW🎙 Check out the audio version of our podcast here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify🧐 Find out more about Map It Forward Mastermind Groups here: https://mapitforward.coffee/groupcoachingLooking for a business advisor for your established coffee business or startup? Email us here:📧 email: [email protected]

Join our Mailing List - https://www.mapitforward.coffee/mailinglist Workshops Available: - https://mapitforward.coffee/workshops 1. "Introduction to Regenerative Coffee Farming" 2. "Biochar for Coffee" 3. "How To Become A Coffee Consultant" 4. "Grow Your Coffee Business" Upcoming Mastermind Groups - https://mapitforward.coffee/groupcoaching •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• This is the 4th in a five-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward. Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products and host Lee Safar have a fascinating discussion about the bastardization of quality in restaurants and cafes. The 5 episodes in this series are: 1. What Is Quality? - https://youtu.be/dh5n6Q2_WcA 2. A Shift Away From Quality In F&B - https://youtu.be/sipMDLsjU3g 3. The Relationship Between Cost and Quality - https://youtu.be/6hev2oz2Qhs 4. Is Quality Subjective - https://youtu.be/_VEvXBQi5VU 5. What's Eroding Demand For Quality in F&B? - https://youtu.be/QF7fKK8i3-M In this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by Map It Forward, host Lee Safar continues a lively discussion with Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products. In this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by Map It Forward, host Lee Safar converses with Mark Bartlett from Bon Accord Products about the subjectivity of quality in food. They delve into how personal experience and exposure shape our perceptions of quality, illustrated through examples of wine, oysters, cheese, and pizza. The discussion highlights the significance of trusting one's taste and the inherent subjectivity in defining quality. Additionally, they explore the role of mentorship and ingredient selection in culinary education, concluding with a teaser for the next episode on factors eroding society's demand for quality produce and ingredients. Connect with Mark Bartlett and Bon Accord here: https://bonaccord.co.nz/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bartlett-5709a132/ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The Daily Coffee Pro by Map It Forward Podcast Host: Lee Safar https://www.mapitforward.coffee https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee https://www.instagram.com/leesafar

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EP 1364 Mark Bartlett - Is Quality Subjective? - The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward

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TRANSCRIPT · AUTO-GENERATED

There are a lot of contexts in that part of learning. But I got to see a couple of episodes ago. Was trust your time. I don't care how educated and way of food that you think you are or I'm not.

Your turn will not lie to you. On June 9 and 10 this year, our live online workshop by your child for farming is happening in English and Spanish with returning specialist professors Angela Bader and Maudilio Baderlo. Tickets are $10 for farmers and $100 for everybody else, which includes nine pay-of-all tickets for farmers who can't pay the ticket price. Hit them out before with .coffee, forward slash workshops, or check the show notes at the links.

Welcome to the early copy of Pro by Napa4 friends. I'm your host, Lee, so far. And this is episode four of an awesome five-part series like this specialty product of the kinds of things that you would enjoying cafes and ingredients that would be using kitchen. We are talking about the specialization of quality and cafes and restaurants.

We have run again, but of a lot of the conversation around quality, but something that I am very curious about your perspective on Mark is, we're going to talk about in this episode, which is quality subjective. And the reason I want to talk about this is because I feel like there's a lot of people in any different industries, whether it's a coffee industry, it's the burger industry, it's all the different industries within hospitality and F&B. They talk about this is what quality is. You should be aiming for an 80 plus coffee because that's when it's specialty coffee.

You shouldn't be having coffees that have life-fanted in anything in them because that funky flavor is not enjoyed. You shouldn't be drinking a city coffee is because, sorry, you shouldn't be drinking a city coffee because that demonstrates flavor. If you come to the middle eight, particularly in the GCC, nobody likes a city coffee. It's not something that's drunk.

So now we're saying that people here don't know what quality is. If we design that they don't like a city coffee, so these are the kind of things that plague my thinking when it comes to conversations that people have about quality. In your mind is quality subjective, or should we all argue people that know better than other people. Here's a can you give me your personal definition of subjective?

For me, subjective is your opinion. Like there's no actual hard facts, scientific facts that demonstrate, for example, a good quality chocolate has no cadmium in it. It has this many parts per million of all these different kinds of nutrition, and that is an objective way of looking at quality coffee. A quality chocolate subjective is when somebody tastes it and says this is a really good quality coffee.

The chocolate, sorry, everything coffee. And subjective by what your standards are. I think it's telling you. You've obviously heard the term acquired taste.

And I don't know if it's probably the wrong region that we'll be talking about it, but I don't know why. So put a sample there. You know, I remember as a 18 year old, we went a letter drink, and they said, I remember to see a relief from an old, an old bloke town. And this is an amazing, this is the best one I've ever taken my life, or essay.

It's better than bottle, I'm sure. You didn't know it was right, but I didn't know it. I didn't know it. And it was right, one of the biggest ones was all for many years in the 70s particularly, was all true.

And it was huge. Or I didn't say, not so long ago, one of the biggest times of the world that was used to be in the 1960s and 70s was meant to be resilient. Where's it now? Wow, nowhere.

No, where. And there was a quiet taste in that part of learning. But I got back to what I said a couple of times ago was trust your time. I don't get how educated and related food that you think you are or I'm not, your time will not lie to you.

And if you don't like something, then ask yourself to push away another joiners. And when I'm doing it because it's something different, it's something that I could learn more about and then understand why this should be enjoyable to me. Not saying it's because it's good to enjoy. It doesn't work.

Very good to say it's a couple of two times a day. Is it, wishes? And blue cheese. Yeah, now, I'm, oh yeah, I'm not.

I'm rich enough about that. And for a long time, the only thing I thought was decent was the front. Or to make it more interesting. Or more than I was like, either know, it's an awful change of use for it.

What is it? In my time I was in Sydney, I'm sorry, in prison, one of my best friends in Japan to use are best time in the world and taste and understand. Just tell it. Just tell it.

Just tell it, that it's okay. And we went to the especially Western of that, the best Western Australia. And the two sides, one was on our, it's a couple of times a while. And it's a bit like a Western, you got the meaning.

You're supposed to know what you're talking about. What are you doing? And you're going to be one of these voices. I will talk to you through what you should understand.

And you talk about the overall texture, the freshness. If it's something about it that's not right, it's usually wrong, don't eat it. And almost on a penny drop, just like that. And from there I was lovely, I was just like, 30 years in my life.

Supposed to know what I'm talking about. I'm not eating, but I'm considering a roaster. Very simple, nothing happened to me. And there was like, like enough to admit to me to my genre.

And he was a man who developed or invented new vibusing. It has got what you definitely got. And then the couple was that there's still in cheese. And I took back the restaurant.

I'm also short ones, and she said, I want to make it. I'm like, I didn't like blue juice. I'm 75 years old. I'm like, blue juice.

And then finally, the Japanese, she said, I was amazing. I was like, wow. So what the recipe had done was you took away the thing, I had to take a piece of blue juice off and then come from there. It was down another step.

And then, and if I taste, am I a person for them? Am I smart or is it all that? No. I just, maybe you want to join.

I'm interested quite. So in the end, no, for some people it's a bit further, but again, just coming down to trust your time. If it can be a visual, visual, it's very good. It's actually a long time to enjoy v6.

But what's a long time, it's a lot of it. I can see it's a lot of people so you can learn. And now, when you always start with it, basically in the boys, I'll choose what I've been with us. And I'll get it to learn.

And then I just want to, so I hope that I'll show you a visual degree. Well, it leads me to this idea of like I think different, what you're saying is this idea that quality and what each of us to find as quality is correlated to our lived experience and our education about what we've been exposed to. So if, I mean, we can say that we're connoisseurs in grilled cheese. If we have been eating grilled cheese all of our lives, but if we haven't had a grilled cheese that has been maybe the best quality or whatever it's worth, you know.

And there are some of these grilled cheese, because there are people that will say the best grilled cheese is some shittiest white bread, with the most simple of cheese that's had with the tomato soup, right? But you could go and make a grilled cheese with an amazing grille, and a little bit of a grilled, on a delicious sourdough, with the best, percilla butter on the outside, grilled on it in a pan, and just had on its own, with a little bit of a mild insult, and now you have taken a grilled cheese to an incredibly new level. And the only difference there is that you have had the opportunity to expose to a different, simple thing that is of a different perceived quality, but your exposure to that means that you are now at least being open to the idea that your best grilled cheese on grilled white bread and really cheap cheese is different. Now.

So you said I don't know what you've heard of the South and Cheese Roll? No, tell me. It's an institution. Maybe not to.

I've actually heard of it. I've read it. And for either of them, I've just tried it once and put it in. But there are people that feature an average.

And also, that's that. To me, it's very large and on either of. You don't really have to think about something. that's along with something.

And it's trendy or it's, or you should enjoy it. And people do. But I agree. I'll give you a pizza.

Yeah. It's very good. Talk to me about pizza. We forgot to what you were just saying.

Pizza is another one of those things that crosses the game. But we have the shittiest or shittiest pizza in my opinion that's filled with and go back to ingredients. It's filled with hydrogenated oils. It's filled with really processed products, even the vegetables that highly processed that go on there.

And then on the other side of things, you've got pizza that's made with the base minimum of ingredients, high quality, high gradient ingredients. And the simplicity of it is what makes it high quality. Yeah. I agree.

I agree. Pizza pieces are the best. I think minimal is not pizza is the way to go. So I was a shopping machine, anything more than three things.

Maybe four if you want to be a bit older. But we get pizza. We got 500 ingredients on the top. And maybe those.

That's just, that's a miracleized vision. And it's pretty quick into creating music on that for sure. But I mean, again, my first experience of what I was a good pizza before it was. It was a bit.

Yeah. And you know, slightly, usually slightly see the area. You're going to point. And this guy set up this pizza slice.

And I know that it's not a good idea. It's a little bit as a little bit as a bit as a bit as a bit. Yeah. A couple things on it.

And I'm going to try to know. Wow. That's amazing. Just how I was in the reputation.

So I wasn't ready to read it before that. Because I didn't like what. I was ready to read it. So you'd be happy in these younger Australians.

Yeah. So great experience. Then of course, I don't want to go early in the deep come. You think you know, you know, you're going to find some little three places.

So maybe it's like, or you might come to a restaurant that's something not been great at all. But eventually you learned less. There's a bit of pizza. I'm not here.

Basis. So we people want to have a different perspective on their own journey with regards to quality. If you have a new share that's starting at the brand new integration, has really not spent their life eating very much else than convenience food. How do you start them on the track of starting to figure out their journey around quality?

Because I'm sure you're tasting things that they've never tasted before. Experiencing things that they've never experienced before. How do they decide what quality is? Well, first thing they need a mentor.

So you need to have someone that can show that does a be their own or employ somebody. One of the things that one of these are little bit more difficult is that by now a lot of product is all being made. It's all going to be an ace in holidays. It's another time to have a white anybody advise some of your own resources to me.

Just, I don't get it. Lazy. Well, a lot of it was a it's going to make it as waste one. Like, but doesn't it be a boy, the what you deliver to the client.

If you're making an example of launching what any of those people follow those on the track that's been made that morning. It's just a little bit. more interesting. I mean, why they like them.

But what they didn't think about on a somewhat subtle, but they were they don't know. Well, that's actually delicious because you're made the holiday. You need to go into, I say people don't do your questions and look at every single injury that you use in the edge. Read it the backs of the back.

And understand what what it is. And inside yourself is the super important quality. And if you don't understand what it is, it goes out somebody. But my life as people will be able to tell.

I love that you need to know I'm all the talk. I mean, what are different settings? So you have to sit at any point. Any solid, any bread, anything, anything.

Yeah, just a bit. Yeah, a lot of people don't know anything. I don't know what the crack is in my. It will transform it.

Which is the sound. It will transform it. If you're having something special, I put it on paint a bit. I can't just pick it a bit.

It will be the molds and salt. Chest, it's pretty cool. You know what I'm saying? People are like, I've seen.

I've seen, my name is the same. I don't know what the crack is in my name. I don't know what the crack is in my name. I don't know what the crack is in my name.

Can't be. I'm convinced there's a kind of crack. They can't be replicant because I see other brains try to create molds and salt. I'm like, I understand why these should be so expensive, So expensive, but I don't understand what the actual ingredients are of assault because nobody else can make the assault case can make assault cases good as assault Absolutely, absolutely, which goes to the heart of quality, right?

That goes to the real heart of quality like are they doing something different than all the assault companies? I suspect I mean there are still local cell around so you know and and and modern they they said the beach night People aspire there so they need to have you don't need a traditional feed of your day But we want people to aspire to that and there's lots of fairly large operations of our fire and try to do them Then they know the job when you want them to see what that's especially say well I will think I'll strictly so they're literally where I saw that Yeah, nice. Okay. We've got one episode to go And it's one of the forces that are eroding societies and my quality producing ingredients and I suspect that the relationship between that and then being forced to is Quite an interesting place for us or so during the final episode of this series in the next episode folks Please don't be happy about that have an amazing recipe today.

I really hope you enjoyed this episode friends Please don't forget to show us some love by subscribing liking commenting and most of all sharing these podcasts with your friends Check the show notes for links including our sponsors and our Patreon and stay tuned for more great conversations on the daily copy pro by map of wood

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This episode was published on May 29, 2025.

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Join our Mailing List - https://www.mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistWorkshops Available: - https://mapitforward.coffee/workshops1. "Introduction to Regenerative Coffee Farming"2. "Biochar for Coffee"3. "How To Become A Coffee Consultant"4. "Grow Your...

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