Solo #16
170 x 240 mm, 216 pages
Valencia, Spain (Bilingual, English with Spanish-language section)
Biannual
Editors-in-chief & creative directors: Albert Jornet and Bea Bascuñán
‘People, life, coffee, places’
Smart, yellow-hued coffee magazine Solo takes a slightly bolder approach to its subject than the other magazines covering our seemingly endless passion for coffee. Yes, there are plenty of stories here about coffee—the people who make and sell it, and the people that enjoy drinking it—but, you’ll also find opinion and thoughts about the state of the coffee industry: this new issue opens with an honest editorial reflecting on the struggle of keeping up with the commercial demands of running an independent magazine today.
For its sixteenth issue, Solo presents a curated coffee guide to Manchester and Stockport, celebrating the genuine sense of community within the region. Elsewhere, Óttar Nordfjörd investigates the hidden complexities of dairy with Shaun Young of The Estate Dairy, reframing the common narrative that ‘milk is just milk’; Valencia-based writer Katherine Plumhoff pens an erotic short story, titled ‘Wants and Needs’, touching on themes of ageing, hunger, and objects as agents of sensory pleasure; and Ona Bascuñán tests Oye Yaar, Benjamin Rousseaux’s new botanical entry into the alcohol-free drinks market that ‘brings Indian ingredients and long-standing knowledge systems’ into conversation.
Top fact: ‘Solo’ is the word people in Spain use to order an espresso ‘usually in a small cup and with more water than a ristretto’.