ok - I am going to be terrible at updating this thing - but oh well.My wife and I just purchased Black Dog Coffeehouse, and take ownership on June 1, 2008. So excited!If you're in the area, stop by!
Read more…
I feel that most people would do a much better job in articulating the technical aspects of coffee equipment. James Hoffmann, no doubt, could talk circles around me when it comes to his knowledge of coffee theory and equipment (if you don't believe me, check out www.jimseven.com). So, in light of that, let me pose a more philosophical question. What is the purpose of the doser?Let me clear the air by letting you know that I have an amazingly superficial emotional attachment to my doser. I like the feeling of flicking my wrist rapidly and watching the coffee drop down from the chamber in neat little piles to the left in my portafilter basket; it makes me feel as if I have something very significant to do with the whole grinding process. Nevertheless, I have come to question its function as I spend more and more time in coffee.As I understood it, dosing chambers were created with a very specific purpose; to make dosing consistent and quick in a busy shop. If a dosing chamber is half full of coffee, then, within reason, each click of that handle means a set amount of grounds dropping into the portafilter.Now, if you have surveyed the technique of the modern barista, you find that the doser does not quite serve the same function as its intended design. As soon as the barista flips the switch or timer of his/her grinder, he/she begins what I can only describe as a percussive and violently fast dosing cycle. I, too, am in the habit of dosing this way. I believe we do this because, as our understanding of coffee freshness grows, we only grind exactly what is needed for our double shot so as not to let any residuals go to the wayside of 2 minutes without extraction. I heartily agree with this philosophy on dosing as it maintains a high standard for freshness, but what practical use or functionality does the doser prove in this situation?I took a Mahlkonig K30 to the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition and was met with wide-eyed stares of curiosity and wonderment. Amongst the towering, stately Roburs my short, fat K30 stood out like a steak at a vegan restaurant. I had many people come up to me and ask me about the grinder. Most had only heard of the grinder, and many met it with skepticism (though I'm not sure the skepticism was over the flat burrs and grind speed or the fact that it had no doser). With all the blank looks and confusion, I would have thought that such a thing as a grind-on-demand grinder would fit in the ranks of a super-automatic espresso machine in the minds of the American barista.Yet the Europeans seem fairly comfortable with such an idea. Many people in the UKBC, The North Ireland Barista Competition, and others have been using grinders like the K30 with confidence in competition with great results. I even had the pleasure this year of feasting my eyes on Kyle Glanville's prototype Rubor doserless g.o.d. at USBC. His grind times were about 3 seconds with no waste, and he managed to win the competition using such a grinder. Even people using the new Anfims are modifying them to time out their dose like Billy Wilson did in competition this year.Am I too progressive in my thinking? Maybe. Am I too quick to throw out a traditional element of coffee that has been integral to the preparation of espresso? Possibly. But I do know that the doser does need questioning. I don't think getting carpal tunnel is fun. I don't think it's fun to tear apart a 14 piece, spring loaded debacle to replace little plastic cogs from excessive doser usage. Whatever the case, I hope that people question the wheel every once in a while in hopes that tradition never becomes a barrier to progression in this industry.
Read more…
Drip coffee is not only the coffee made of the drip machines, but also vacuum pots, French press, and so on. It is good for brewing single orgin beans, specially for arabica beans.Theoretically, all brewing tools can make the same drip coffe with proper management and control. Essentially, they are same.Espresso should use specially processed beans, and can be very well tasted. Although in several countries, all cafes serve only espresso drinks, not drip coffee any more. I do believe that drip coffee can be another choice.Same as espresso, one has to make drip coffee well. For example, *$s has its drip coffee much deep roasted and so all their drip coffee has "burnt" taste. Is that a difficult thing to know to solve? They must have their "experts" for roasting, but that simple mistake kept till now. What is wrong with them, or maybe the problem comes from the whole coffee industry.Another example is a cafe of one German chain, in Beijing. As franchised, the owner was trained for roasting because they all have to buy a Probat 5kg roaster for their shop. But, they were not trained for coffee brewing, neither coffee knowledge. When they want me to taste their single origin beans, they made it by a small superauto machine, and made a caffe lungo, to about 120 ml. Is that because the German company would care of training them well, or they do the same in their own shops?If drip coffee can not be well made, it may disappear for sure. So, try to improve drip coffee if you do like it or even love it. In our local market, most drip coffee are drinkable but never taste good. Probably, they want to make it bad, but not able to do it as bad as their espresso. Poor guy, they need a big "holloware" to "boil" the beans, not even grounds.
Read more…
I was going to say something about this problem, but soon I found a post in some forums about it. The guy who made that post remain in that forum on in Feb of 2007, and dispeared totally after that.It was clearly stated that "we would concentrated in the quality of the drinks, but not the paintings", or similar. It was not due to the creater of the forums, but the participants to get "those" people having different opinions out of that forum, and shut up to talk about their own opinion about coffee and this duty, or passion or work.I had recognized that I am not alone, but those had been kicked out of the sights and hearing.In Chinese language, we used to say that "to better show on the perfect bases", that means that one can make a some very good things in a better look or something. If the shots are perfect, one can make it in a better look. But, the fact is normally not this as we all know around the world. We are still in a very low developing level of understanding espresso and its brewing skills, as well as its quality standards. Not even a single language to talk about different coffee drinks.But, never try to define the tastes, it simply not possible.I do not do the latte art almost, but train people how to prepare for it and how to practise for it, if necessary and they would. I spent a lot of time to practise of brewing espresso and find problems and solve the problems. I would not practise for latte art, and I do believe it takes a lot of time from practising brewing espresso.I do not do latte art, not even brewing espresso for myself to enjoy. Although I know how to do it, I do not fix a set of machines, grinders, blends and working status for the machines, so that I am not experienced to make it perfect very soon. From our trainees, I can get a better one to enjoy.Suppose I spent a lot of time to practise the latte art, I am sure I won't have enough time to think about espresso and its brewing.For example, I used as firstly a computer in 1986 and bought my first notebook computer in 1992, and set up a forum about using of application softwares in 1997-98, which is still there and very active without my attention from many years ago, but I never be enrolled into software programming, neither coding.Many people can learn to make latte art perfectly, but not many people can really understand espresso, and set up a new and well organized theory about coffee. So, that is what I like to do.Recently, I had new trainee, who had see a lot of message about those rules and undestanding of brewing espresso from websites, forums, and books (all books in Chinese he can find), and so on. After my course of our coffee theory, he understood why we are right and why others' are wrong. How can I convince him? I am not a magic teller, but only tell the trueth, and the reason, and practise until to make a shot.Tamping force? Theoretically, he understood, and practically he experienced it. So, for him, there is no way to refuse to believe us. We did not hide your opinions aside, but telling them all directly. They can even try different ways until they find the trueth.The "Golden Rules" are printed on a large board and attached on the wall in our practicing room. For each item, we have our own explanation and our trainees can see it every time when they are practising.What do we really expect?
Read more…
I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Kampala, Uganda and I can't quite come to terms with the fact that I'm actually here. The sound of croaking frogs covers up any noise from the city down the hill from us. We went about 30 mins. outside of the city to an orphanage/school called "Watoto" today and it was an utterly overwhelming place to see. As I was riding out there I kept thinking about how this was a coffee country. I saw signs everywhere bragging about it, too. All the sights and sounds and stories today prompted something in me that has been brewing for awhile...and may very well be sacrilege to some.People are more important than coffee.My thoughts riding out to Watoto were about this being coffee country, my thoughts on the way back were on the 700+ orphans that I just saw with my overly American eyes. None of them mentioned coffee. The adults in charge mentioned it in passing, asking if we'd gotten to enjoy any of their native beverages. It sparked a thought, and this isn't a "Bono-ish" thought about changing the world, or erasing poverty, or fair trade, or shade grown, or anything else. My thought is still underdeveloped, and will probably be poorly stated, but it's a work in process so forgive me.As baristas we don't serve coffee, we serve people. Coffee is the product, and we should strive to be the absolute best at what we do, but at the end of the day it's STILL a product. It's not the final step in the process from field to shop. It's not even field to cup. It's field to stomach.(not a romantic idea, but true nevertheless).I've been poorly treated more times than I can mention in coffee shops that serve great coffee. Even in my hometown. No more. I can't change Uganda or the plight of the people here, but I can treat people in my city well. How many times have I seen the beverage honored over the person? Here it's a commodity. I could learn a few things from that attitude.
Read more…
Brazil Carmo de CamberaAttributes: Acid: 8,Body: 7Texture: vanilla and honey syrupFlavor: Sweetly citrus like lemonade with a hint of cherry- mostly aromatic similar to cherry pipe tobacco. Malty carmelized ginger root, almost brown sugar molasses. Surprisingly thick in body with a mix of hazelnut and vanilla in a honeylike syrup. The high acid stays perfectly in balance with the sweetness throughout without turning sour.Special note: Carmo de Cambara is located in the Minas Gerais region of brazil. They separate their crops and process them separately according to elevation and plant type. This particular coffee is grown at the highest elevation of their farms at an elevation of 4,900 feet and above. The result is a highly sweet, fragrant and balanced coffee. The farmer often submits these coffees to competitions such as Cup of Excellence, the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) and the Minas Gerais Agricultural Extension Services (EMATER). They routinely place highly and the small yield lots are sold well above market prices as a result. This coffee is a departure from most people’s norm but should definitely be suggested as something not to be missed.Available 5/27/08 until it's gone. $12.50 per 3/4 pound bag.
Read more…
As some know, we like to hold cupping sessions on friday afternoons open to anyone. I'll be travelling to Vancouver BC this weekend so I won't be around to hold a session but am planning on the following week.Take care,Scott
Read more…
Between May 21-19th the 2° Argentinean Barista Championship was held in Buenos Aires.
After the event, it became clear (at least to me) that the national championships’ rules should be modified, in those countries where the barista profession is not developed, yet. At least the one that applies to the disqualification of any competitor exceeding the 15+1 minutes.This year only 7 baristas sign in (last year we were 11). From those seven, four were disqualified for exceeding their performance time; consequently the remaining 3 baristas passed to the finals without taking in consideration their scores.With this rule, it’s possible that a barista serving 12 crappy beverages (with no proper knowledge or techniques), could go to the WBC for his/her country.It’s really essential that a barista finish his/her performance in due time, or that flaw could be solved with proper training between the national championship and the WBC?In the barista profession, is really time more important than quality? Than passion and knowledge??How is this rule helping the development of the barista profession? Is really helping the coffee farming communities to improve their livelihoods?In Argentine there are thousands of employees making coffee based beverages, but only a few of them are real baristas. World-class equipment (La Marzocco, Mahlkoenig, Compak, Probat, Fetco, etc) and specialty grade coffees, are not available in our market, yet. The 70% of the competitors are home-baristas, just related with coffee for pleasure, and without time or equipment to practice.It’s really better for these competitors, and their markets to have the same rules (at their local competitions) than more developed markets?Are these countries really sending their most skilled baristas to the international competitions?Ok, I know you want to read about the Argentinean Championship, and here is a brief summary:The competition started last Monday at 12:00hrs with a brunch for the competitors, judges, sponsors, and media.I was very busy at work (I’m still working as a Foreign Trade Consultant) and I had to rush back to the office when my lunch time was over, and I couldn’t watch any of the 3 competitors of that day.When I left the office at 18:00hrs (as most of the people working in Buenos Aires), the competition was over for the day.At 10:00hrs on Tuesday, a Latte Art workshop was conducted by Matias Lama, one of the International Judges. It was free of charge for the competitors, but only one of us could enjoy it, due to the time when it was scheduled.
I was the first barista to perform on Tuesday, but as was still busy at work, I could only take an additional extra hour for lunch. Within those 2 hours, I had my practice session, and my set-up/performance/clean-up time.During my performance, I realized I was running out of time, but I decided to finish my presentation … I was disqualified.
My blend was specially developed with Establecimiento General de Café for the competition (40% peaberry Santos Brazil, 40% yellow bourbon Brazil, 40% Costa Rica Tarrazu, 40% Papua New Guinea).My signature drink (Sting) still has the same ingredients: an Argentinean variety of Bishop’s crow red hot chilly pepper, a citric foam, and a cream made of chocolate, dulce de leche and honey), but the technique to make it changed, as well as its taste.
After the clean-up time, I had to rush back to the office and for the second time I couldn’t watch any of the remaining competitors.When I came back after 18:00hrs to wash my stuff, the competition was over for the day.On Wednesday I wasn’t so busy at work and could go to the Competition at 10:00hrs for the debriefing, which unfortunately wasn’t made.The finals started at 12:00hrs. The first competitor was Sofia, who runs a very successful catering service. She got the 2° place.
Then came Maria, Exxon Brew Master Challenge’ Champion, and actual Argentinean Barista Champion (as she got the 1° place).
Finally came Gustavo, a home-barista who came 4th at the 1° Argentinean Barista Championship, last year. Unfortunately he was very nervous and exceeded his performance time.
I’ll be loading the finalist’s videos soon and the final scores (as soon as they are released).Best regards,FedericoRead more…
According to the definition of Mr. Le Bon, the members of a group of people normally behave differently as they were individually. Originally they could be very gentle and kind as individual, but after enrolled in a group, they will behave quite differently, much better or much worse.As an individual, one may mostly care of himself and has his own target or purpose. such as win a game, and so on. If not, it can be a sight of difference. In this case, they may also do something, which they would never do as individuals.Such as a lot of things we can see during the Culture Revolution of China, people never care of their own purpose, willingness, and all private things. They may even kill someone for the common reason of the group, because they believe that the group will be in charge of its duty but not their own. Or, they may hurt other people for their own reason without care of human being's rights.For the people out of the group, they can never understand how people can do it. But, it is never a problem for the people in the group. That is the reason why I would compare "the Culture Revolution" of China with the WWII. Basically, they were happened due to the same reason. That was what I thought twenty years ago, much earlier before I heard about the Le bon's theory.Unfortunately, this kind of things happens almost everyday, and for many of people.This is only an initial idea and understanding. I need more time to think about it, and we can talk about it later in another time.
Read more…
A good friend of mine is looking for work.He's a good barista. He pays attention to detail, exhibits excellent customer service, can pour latte art, has a drive to learn more and a drive for excellence.He's only going to be there for about two months, and he's looking for barista work while he's there.His name is Andrew McCaslin, and he currently works for Day Break Coffee Roasters here in Lubbock.Does anyone have any leads? Anyone willing to help out with a real-live barista exchange?I do have his resume to forward to you if you need it. Just let me know.Thanks in advance.
Read more…
hello bX'ers. I have decided to upgrade the calendar feature to a full on "events" page. I think you will all find it much more interactive and informative. It is also integrated so that you can invite other members to events, RSVP, comment on, set reminders, etc. This is just one of the many features I am working on.
I am calling out to all members to help add events to this page. I am leaving the Global Calendar up for a while, until all the events from there are transfered over.
Thanks! I hope everyone finds this helpful.
- Matt
Read more…
For those who have not experienced a barista competition, it can be daunting. In fact, it can be overwhelming. The sheer thought of standing in front of stoic, seemingly lifeless judges with their calculated movements and presenting both yourself and your assumed skill as a barista amidst a crowd of coffee professionals can be downright overwhelming. Moreover, the piece of competition often unseen in preparation can be equally stressful due to lost serving ware, malfunctioning whip cream dispensers, and pitchers with spots that seem completely impervious to any amount of scrubbing. However, with the intimidations that the environment of competition inherently offers, their is a wonderful balance that exists in the people who come to compete at such an event as the United States Barista Competition.This year was my first time to the USBC. I had decided to brave the long trek from Muncie, Indiana to the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition looking for some perspective and hoping to develop my barista skills. Having a reasonably healthy experience there, I still hesitated to enter into the USBC. Going to a regional and having a good time attempting to compete for the first time is one thing; standing among the seasoned and reputable, competitive espresso craftsman is quite another thing. Yet, compelled by a desire to continue to learn and an encouraging nudge from solid barista competitor Chris Deferio, I decided to push myself in a new arena of competition. When I arrived to unpack my competition set I noticed the mood to be quite different than the presupposed intensity of other competitions that I had been a part of. I saw some of the most recognizable and "famous" competitors having casual discussions and conversing about the general substance of the year past. The atmosphere of intense rivalry and stiff competition, though present in the actual presentations, seemed to be non-existent behind the closed curtain of the preparation area.As I made my way to the dish sink to scrub, rinse, and obsessively polish my drink wares I found people openly introducing themselves and sharing about their lives with me. There were many great conversations about the love of coffee, the need to be stretched and grow in the craft of espresso, and even some "star trek convention-like" moments about equipment and the barista community. It all came as a pleasant surprise to me. I had wrongly assumed, prior to the competition, that I was in for a weekend of intimidating stares and cold shoulders. I found quite the opposite. I felt quite at home.One of the most moving conversations I had was with both a coffee shop owner and connoisseur of fine cuisine by the name of Jay Caragay. He shared with me, in my opinion, one of the most insightful understandings of the purpose of competition when he said, "I do not compete necessarily to win or even to do exceedingly well; I do it to pay homage to coffee professionals that I truly respect. If you look at the world of gourmet food, you see that most famous chefs do not receive accolades largely on how they compete; their true success is measured by their ability to bring joy to people in their restaurants by what they serve day in and day out. I wouldn't mind being known as a great competitor, but I would much rather be known as the humble coffee shop owner who serves the kind of coffee that brings people joy."Competition is wonderful to be a part of. It helps one understand how they react under certain types of pressure and it helps one understand the significance of every detail's importance in creating an immersing experience for the customer. But, the most important is, and will hopefully always be, that people are committed as a community to be a home of joy for coffee and for life.
Read more…
I received this email from Jason Prefontaine in regards to the upcoming CPRBC. Cool!
Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let you know, that we will be streaming the Canadian Prairie Regional Barista Competition, live from Calgary at the following URL:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prairie-regional-barista-competition
The competition is Saturday 11:00 - 3:30 and Sunday 11:00 - 1:30. All times Mountain Central.
If you're in Calgary, feel free to come by Espuccino/Fratello and watch everything in person. If you know of anyone else who maybe interested in watching online, please forward them the link.
Thanks !!
Jason Prefontaine
SlayerEspresso.comRead more…
There has been some talk of planning a DFW Jam on the tx-coffee.com forums. It seems there is enough interest to actually get something going.Dallas is WAY past due, and if you'll be in the area sometime around early July, you might want to join in on the discussions.If you won't be, but are interested in giving suggestions, opinions, or just want to see what's going on, you can get in on it too.Click Here for the ThreadRead more…
One of my hobbies adjunct to coffee is collecting coffee-related ephemera. While on staff at SCAA I acquired on behalf of the association a decent little collection of approximately 50 pieces, which includes two hand-written invoices from James Folgers that are over 125 years old. One of my favorite pieces is an 80 year old sales brochure--in fine condition--for roasting equipment.We had planned to create a small coffee ephemera collection that depicted the history of 19th and 20th century coffee in America through mundane items, such as invoices, letters, brochures, etc., and display it in one of the hallways. The budget was just a few hundred dollars but ephemera is relatively inexpensive to collect (unless you collect Lincoln letters or old rookie cards or something like that). Needless to say, events suspended this project.If you’re ever at the SCAA offices and have an interest in this sort of stuff, ask to review the collection. I think you’ll find it fascinating. Also available is a complete collection of bound Tea & Coffee Trade Journal magazines from 1916-1941.I am still a “coffee ephemerist.” My personal collection includes things like very old invoices, a 90 year old letter of apology from a roaster to a customer for late coffee, over 50 paper one pound and 12 ounce coffee bags, all of them over 50 years old. The variety of bags is astounding and they demonstrate that the coffee industry was once as dynamic and regional as it is today. I am a proud and card carrying member of The Ephemera Society of America (a fact Mark Inman once joked I should not brag about). I am particularly interested in connecting to others who collect coffee related ephemera.So, my larger point, and I do have one, is that I as inspired by Matt Milletto’s launch of Barista Exchange to do something similar with ephemera: The Ephemera Network.If you collect any type of ephemera (“transitory written and printed matter, not intended to be retained or preserved… derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day”) or might collect ephemera or just don’t have enough websites to visit every day, you’re invited to join now before the official launch and help me “seed” the membership.Many people are “ephemerist” but don’t know it. If you collect trading cards or playing cards or posters or comic books or old advertisements, guess what, you’re one of us. In a few weeks I will be inviting my fellow members of The Ephemera Society of America to join but until then I’m asking others to join if they are at all interested in the subject. If you’re not interested, believe me, I understand. I’ve had many conversations in which I talk excitedly about an old letter or invoice or coffee bag only to watch eyes glaze over.I’m trying to get a few sympathetic members on board before I invite the hard core ephemera geeks (especially any secret coffee ephemera collectors that might be out there). Also, ephemerist can be an exacting bunch so I’d like as much feedback as I can beg, borrow and steal before I invite the “card carrying” enthusiasts. And I guess I should note that this is not a money making venture.Thanks, and, as always, sorry for the voluptuous verbosity.
Read more…
From the very start of my study about Le Bon's Theory, I thought what we can do even if we learn and know such a situation.Today, I recognized one application for it.In China, in most of authority of industries and societies, there are always related "Expert Groups" for making the necessary policies. Such as medical and hospitals, tele-communications, and so on, the member experts of those groups can be intelligent individually but within the groups, even if they are great in their own reseach field, they became "stupid" or in very low level of intelligence as any of low educated people.Solution:For some of governments, the presidents or leader of the governments normally have their own "expert" consultants, who do their work seperately, not in a specific group. In this way, they can be as great as they can be as individuals.To avoid more mistake, there should have more "experts" working independently, not be in any groups.
Read more…
As existing customres of SP-1 For Coffee by SelbySoft know, we have been spending some serious time upgrading the look and feel of our POS software. While we realize that this is nowhere near as exciting as one of the latte art competitions, WE still get jazzed about showing it off.Version 7.50 represents a significant re-skinning of our software. Over the last 15 years we have added hundreds of features and listened to our customers by enhancing our software with their suggestions. But, like any product, you sometimes have to re-think the packaging. With 7.50 we have re-skinned all of the buttons and colors while still keeping the underlying reliabilty there. In a number of cases, SP-1 will be even faster for our customers!We showed off the new version at the SCAA show recently and were pleased with the response. We're hoping that our next version will make an even bigger splash!
Read more…
Because of our friendship with our attorney, Robert Stolle, my Dad and I were invited to a private luncheon last week with Ted Kulongoski, the Governor of Oregon.
About 12 other people attended and we all participated in about two hours of heart-to-heart political discussion. It was very interesting to be able to ask the Governor questions, and we discussed many issues including immigration, transportation and the forecast for population growth in PDX, health care and of course the upcoming Oregon primary.
Our host, Robert, is not just any attorney — he is world famous for various cases he has tried over the years. We feel very lucky to have him represent us. On the friendship side, Robert stops in for an espresso from time to time, and recently we hosted him and a number of judges and attorneys at ABC’s for box lunch and a two-hour coffee training.
Even more amazing... Governor Kulongoski asked us if we would give him a tour of our school and a crash course on coffee. He was SO interested in coffee, and we must have talked coffee with him for 20 minutes after the lunch was finished. It is so cool to see someone so passionate about coffee, who you may never expect. This beverage and industry is so important to so many people, not just those of us who work in it.
He was a very sincere, intelligent, personable and real person and I feel lucky to have had this opportunity, in fact we are invited to go back next month! :)
Read more…
