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Ghost Writer: Darius Fong - Not So Ordinary

February 19, 2016

Darius Fong is, first of all, a friend. But he is also a music entrepreneur, and Grammy-Award-winning audio engineer who produces as thePREFCT. His production credits span from rock bands like Weezer and Cold War Kids to jazz legends like Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes and Natalie Cole. In 2013, Darius founded weeSPIN, a social music app that let's people listen to music together, like a digital jukebox. We always like what he has to say and we hope you do too.

I fell in love with coffee in LA. Or maybe I should say, I fell in love with LA through coffee.

When I first arrived in Los Angeles I was intimidated. I was not intimidated by its massive sprawl or by its traffic flow. I was intimidated by its creative energy that spreads miles and miles. I felt like a painter staring at a blank canvas. It was nerve racking, thrilling and inspiring all at the same time.

As a young producer trying to make waves, there aren’t too many cities like LA. I guess you could say that I was a skeptic at first, but coffee changed my mind. When Handsome Coffee Roasters opened in downtown LA, I witnessed an entire community coming together, and I finally got it. I began to understand coffee. And through coffee I began to explore cities and meet other like-minded individuals. It is no coincidence that both areas like SOMA in San Francisco and Culver City in Los Angeles are becoming hubs of some of the most disruptive businesses, and at the same time have the best coffee to offer.

I recently took a trip back to Hong Kong where I was born. Most people know Hong Kong as the high rise jungle. But they rarely get a deeper look into what makes this city special. The spaces in between. The life that happens all around. Whenever I return, I become hyper aware of all the nuances that I didn’t notice before. I begin to explore everything, and this time through coffee.

The many characters of coffee are often simplified by being strong or weak. When I finally started to explore the tastes of coffee, I began to notice unique notes that characterized different regions of the world. I began to develop a repertoire of notes that I can pull from and compare. Diving deeper into a cup granted me a heightened sense of everything else around me. And my daily adventures are always a cup away.

In a way, coffee has granted me a fresh perspective of home. Home is not where you live but where you belong. What was ordinary is not so ordinary. Everything is amplified. Every alley becomes beautiful in its own way.
- Darius Fong