Schomer became known within the
coffee industry for his innovations, such as how he customizes his grinders and
espresso machines with
PID controllers to achieve a more constant water temperature. His methods have influenced latte making at Portland's
Stumptown Coffee Roasters, New York's Ninth Street Espresso, and Chicago's
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea. Ninth Street's Kenneth Nye said Schomer's work developing his techniques, "was light-years ahead of the conversation at the time". Schomer thought that when he opened Vivace in 1988, he had "missed the peak" of the espresso explosion, when in fact his scientific exploration of extraction methods was not happening elsewhere. Besides training hundreds of
baristas who went on to influence coffee shops across the country, Schomer
self published a book on espresso techniques in 1994, while also writing columns for
Café Ole magazine in the 1990s. Schomer's 1996
Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques has been described as "the industry bible". Schomer credits
Espresso Vivace's survival in a competitive market to his own "absolute fidelity" to the goal of "making a better cup", together with the sound fiscal and
operations management of his business partner and former spouse, Geneva Sullivan. Espresso Vivaces's first incarnation was a coffee cart, at 5th and Union, serving mainly financial industry workers, whom Schomer says did not consistently frequent the same cafes or pay close attention to quality. ==References==