On the field, at the coffee machine, Twins grinding daily

A quick scan of the Twins’ locker room would show much of what you’d expect to find in a Major League clubhouse. Jerseys hanging neatly in players’ lockers. Cleats and sneakers lined up at the foot of every chair. Shelves of sunflower seed packets and gallon buckets of Dubble Bubble.

But a closer look would reveal some unconventional items: an electric kettle, a manual coffee grinder and bags of beans from around the world.

The portable caffeine station is courtesy of first-base and catching coach Hank Conger, whose interest in coffee spans multiple continents.

Following his seven-year Major League career, Conger worked as a catching coach for the Lotte Giants in the Korean Baseball Organization from 2020 until he was hired by Minnesota ahead of the '22 season.

While in Korea, Conger was inspired by the country’s appreciation of coffee and was taken under the wing of the Lotte Giants then pitching coach and coffee expert, Yong-hoon Lee.

“He was the one who really told me about all the spots in Korea," Conger said. "I remember I bought these beans for him as a present, just like as a thank you, and he was honest with me like, ‘Ah this is more for espresso machines. You want to find a single-origin bean that has more of a distinct flavor.’”

What started as a thoughtful gesture quickly evolved into an appreciation for coffee culture and the countless methods behind assembling the perfect cup of joe.

Grind and brew
While Conger’s coffee connections stretch across international waters, manager Rocco Baldelli’s might be traced back to Woonsocket, R.I.

When Baldelli was a child, his father Dan -- who Rocco describes as a businessman “not afraid to start a company” -- had a vision for the empty space in the building he operated two businesses out of: A coffee shop. Despite having no background in the industry, Dan Baldelli sourced beans and created Hava Java Coffee House.

“That's when I started slamming some iced coffees and things like that,” Rocco said. “That's where we would hang out.”

At its main level, Hava Java was an unassuming coffee shop. But below the hustle and bustle of the cafe was a basement turned training facility, complete with a homemade batting cage where a young Baldelli practiced his swing during harsh Rhode Island winters.

“One of our very close friends [Karl Allaire] -- manager of the store, very close personal friend of ours -- he would throw BP, and he was a former player, too,” Baldelli said. “So it was fantastic. It was a fantastic setup for us.”

Though his routine no longer involves taking hacks in a coffee shop basement dubbed by scouts as “The Dungeon,” Baldelli has made a habit of exploring road cities through his love of coffee. The cafe expeditions give Baldelli something to do in the mornings before the commotion of a gameday sets in.

For Conger, coffee-making helps provide a few stabilizing moments amid the chaos of a 162-game regular season. Specifically: using his hand-grinder.

Though Conger owns an electric grinder which he purchased after feeling the impact of hand grinding beans daily for a growing number of customers, he prefers the peace that manual grinding offers.

“That’s the coolest part for me is the grind,” Conger said. “It gives me the sense of routine of smelling the coffee, measuring, pouring over. All that just kind of gives me peace, which you wouldn’t think it would, because it’s so tedious.”

When he’s in need of a real workout, Conger reaches for Ethiopian beans, which are small and hard and require more elbow grease, compared to a Costa Rican bean whose larger size makes it easier to grind.

“I use my espresso machine, but pour-over is the one that’s actually therapeutic for me,” Conger said. “It kind of gives me like five or 10 minutes to myself to just try to create the coffee. … I think I actually enjoy the process more than I actually like drinking the coffee at this point.”

Sip and share
If you’re looking for a cup of coffee in the Twins’ clubhouse, you have options: The coaches’ room is host to Conger’s pour-overs, while the training room boasts a collection of beans for drip coffee brewing.

Among the contributors to the bean share are Conger, Baldelli, Griffin Jax and Joe Ryan, all of whom have their own method to sourcing. Baldelli often runs into Conger on the road as the two go out of their way, separately, to find shops known for their coffee.

“This is not, 'On the way to the ballpark, I stopped and grabbed coffee and saw Hank,'” Baldelli said. “I'm talking, 'I'm in some neighborhood, totally off to the east from where the ballpark is by a half-mile or a mile, and there's Hank sitting there and testing a few things out.'”

Others like Jax just follow their nose.

“I don't really know too much about coffee or the roast process, all that stuff,” Jax said. “I just know, if it smells good, I'm probably going to like it.”

Though Ryan tries to limit his in-season caffeine intake to a shot of espresso a day, the 27-year-old California native enjoys visiting breakfast cafes and sharing his findings with Conger.

In addition to their bean sharing tradition, the Twins find camaraderie through coffee via an Instagram account created by Conger in 2023: congercoffee. The account, which is followed by a number of current and former Twins, houses photos and videos of coffee shops Conger visits both at home and on the road, with detailed reviews in the caption.

“I tell everybody now that I’ve turned into the coffee snob guy,” Conger said. “And if you follow my page -- I actually want to make sure you put this on record -- I actually purposefully try to sound extra snobby on there when I’m writing my [captions]. So I’ll post, ‘It has notes of this,’ or ‘I can taste a hint off my tongue of a blackberry.’ I try to sound extra snobby on there, but it’s more so just for comedic relief.”

As the Twins kicked off their season on Thursday with a 4-1 win over the Royals, so too did congercoffee, with his first post since September 2023. A shot of his hand grinder, paper filter, a cardboard cup and a bag of Honduran beans overlooking Kansas City.

“I’ll be right there,” Ryan commented.