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2008 SCAA Conference Official Live Blog

We've assembled a team for an unprecedented SCAA pilot project: live blogging the SCAA Conference in Minneapolis.Team members:Nick Cho, loser podcaster and coffeeshop ownerZachary and Katie from zacharyzachary.comTravis, a video-production specialist who made the murky training videosErin Meister, of Joe the Art of Coffee, as well as BIYNYC, Time Out NY and BUST Magazine... and Meet The Press Pot blogand a certain barista from the UK 8)Highlights:- LIVE ONLINE VIDEO of the USBC, in addition to backstage videos, and ongoing blog coverage- Video highlights of Coffee of the Year competition- video highlights from the show floor, skill-building workshops, seminars, etc.- blog-coverage from ALL OVER Conference- full-video of keynote address- interviews galore- and more!Gotta throw in a quick acknowledgement to Zachary and Katie for their pioneering work last year at the WBC, and Mark Prince of CoffeeGeek.com for having provided the best coverage of the SCAA Conference each year. We hope this new SCAA project will build on that work and provide more than a taste of the SCAA Conference experience to everyone who logs in.Stay tuned for more info! URL coming soon!
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So I was at a party Saturday night for a friends engagement and I had the pleasure of meeting Clark who, after some copious amounts of wine and great food, overheard that I was in the coffee business. We started talking as he mentioned he and his friends had a new coffee concept/cocktail recipe, and have started a new drinking trend revolution across the US. When Clark first told me about the Whynatte I didn't really take him seriously, as you can imagine, but the more I think about it, I am dying to try one. Jagermeister and a great latte ... two of my favorite things. :) I developed quite a relationship with Jager when I lived in Italy, back when currency was Lire, and the dollar was incredibly strong, I would pick up a bottle of Jager and sip it with friends before going out for the evening. Anyway, I wanted to welcome both Clark and Jesse from the Whynatte crew to bX! Already in the works ... having a bX meet up and incorporating this drink into the debauchery. First thing I thought of was the latte bong clip from Seattle after looking at their site. So it may be a bit crazy but who's down for Whynatte's in MN? I can only imagine one would tasted oh so sweet when prepared by Baca or another USBC competitor! :)
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Dear Providence, You will love the coffee!

In an old warehouse building nestled on the Providence/Pawtucket line a group of coffee folks got together to drink some Narragannsett beer, pull shots, cup and talk coffee. The first RI based coffee jam (to our knowledge) but certainly not the last. From the state who claims coffee milk as the official state drink comes the beginning of a coffee revolution.

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Lacking Brains + Coffee

I have never had a blog, but right now writing a blog entry on barista exchange is the only option. Why? Because I am in the midst of a coffee crisis. Well, not in midst, I guess, because I am currently enjoying a tasty cup of Papua New Guinea Kunjun that I picked up from Trabant earlier today. But I am definitely on the brink of a crisis here, because soon it will be gone.It is 3:20am. The first day of my KEXP internship is today and starting in less than two hours. I'm catching a bus to the station at 4:09, and I have not slept because I decided it wasn't worth it to try seeing as though I tend not to go to sleep until 2 or 3am most nights anyway. I have never been in a position where I have had to get up this early, except to catch a plane or two, and I haven't pulled an all-nighter since finals in college. I am not used to this fuzzy-brained feeling that comes from staying up all night and knowing that I won't be able to crash until... at least 8 or 9 hours from now. And during that time I will be assisting not just any DJ, but one who I have been listening to since high school and admire a great deal; I will need to do things right today. On no sleep.Which brings me to the problem, which is this: I have to be at the station at 5am, and probably will be continuously busy until 10 or so, and there is no place where I can get coffee that opens before 6. I am almost out of the coffee I already made, and I have no travel mug to bring it in anyway. I think I am going to be forced to stop into one of those 24-hour diners out of desperation, when what I really want to do is break into Trabant (and by "break in" I mean unlock the door with my key during closing hours) and make myself a latte with many, many shots, but thankfully I am not yet sleep deprived enough to think that this is a feasible plan. I foresee wandering around downtown in the dark and probably stumbling into the Hurricane, where reviewers on yelp have reported having the worst coffee of their lives.
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Website preview

http://tulsa.360ideas.com/preview/Restaurants/StonewoodCoffeeAndTeaCompany.htmlPlease take a look at the link above for a preview of our soon to launch 360 website, any feedback is welcome.Also, what have been your best most successful gorilla / grassroots marketing activities or stratagies??
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Coffee Kids' 20th Anniversary Dinner Sold Out

20th_CKlogo_vert_color2.gifThanks to all of our sponsors and those who signed up early, Coffee Kids’ 20th Anniversary Celebration Dinner at the SCAA Conference in Minneapolis is sold out. We look forward to celebrating two decades with everyone attending.If you weren’t able to get tickets to the event, be sure to visit our booth (#1241) in the exhibition hall. We’ll be featuring information and pictures of our with coffee-growing families.
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Roasting Plant’s Javabot

grind.jpgFound this article in Design News, and have heard of this cafe before. Interesting concept but I can see some components that would be up for debate, and may come off a bit gimmicky. Was curious what some other bX'ers thought about this system. (Excerpt of above article link)If Willy Wonka designed a coffee store, he would likely end up with something like the Roasting Plant Coffee Company in New York. Built around a complex machine that takes automated coffee production to a new level, Roasting Plant functions as much like a small factory as a retail coffee shop. Coffee beans travel overhead in pneumatic tubes, whooshing between storage bins, a roasting station, a grinder and a brewing machine. You can learn more about the company on their website.
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Win Tickets to SCAA 2008

All our Barista Exchange buddies know all about the SCAA show in Minneapolis, but if you don't have conference passes and would like to go, comment here for your chance to win:http://imbibemagazine.blogspot.com/2008/04/win-tickets-to-coffee-mecca-in.html
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Finished!!!! (dances round room madly)

Hey everyone,this is a bit of a cop-out blog post, but I thought I'd publicise today's Happy Thought.I HAVE FINISHED MY UPGRADE PAPER!!Wuju!!I am currently registered as an MPhil student at university, and in order to be upgraded to PhD, I had to write an enormous paper, explaining exactly what I want to do in my research, and why I want to do it, and why it's remotely interesting to anybody else. Mine is all about the coffee industry. 4500 words DONE. YAY!A few people on here have expressed an interest in my research before, so if anyone wants to have a look at it, send me a message. It's a bit academic, obviously, and I don't want to publish it on here cos I'd bore everyone to tears, but if anyone wants to have a look, I'll happily email it to you.Off for Wine now (I love coffee but not for celebrations...)
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April's Informal Barista Jam! With Pics!

Well, the second Dilworth Coffee Informal Barista Jam is in the books, and it was another success. We had a great turnout, and even with quite a few people who couldn't make it. We had about 15 people, and it really seemed like alot of people were picking some good stuff up. I started out by going over cleaning the espresso machine, with backflushing and grouphead cleaning. From there, we went into latte art, followed up by an all out jam. There were many levels represented, but overall, I feel like everyone got something out of it. And it was really cool to see different people from three of our Dilworth Coffee shops in attendance, including two owners. A great success, but the one I am the most excited about is next months. I am not going to reveal it yet, suffice to say it's gonna be awesome. Like nothing else around here, that's for sure.Here's the pics from tonight's jam: (You'll have to cut and paste and put in your browser address bar)http://gallery.mac.com/jasonandapril#100169&view=carouseljs&sel=0
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I am bummed to be here on the left coast, not in attendance of the NERBC, but and trying to follow along with this weekends events. Yesterday was the semi-finals, 26 competitors I believe. Last night was the official bX meet up and dance party in Ithaca, and I am waiting to hear how everything went, hopefully some photos too. The finalists are: Chris Ganger (Ithaca Coffee Co) Lance Nichols (Gimme! Coffee) Jay Murdock (Cafe Grumpy) Chris Deferio (Carriage House Cafe) Katie Carguilo (Counter Culture Coffee) Amber Sather (Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea) Check out Liz Clayton's blog for more up to minute details from the event. Good luck to everyone competing today and I'll post more later. - Matt
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no-foam customers (GRRR...)

I am curious to see how all of you handle customers asking for no-foam. I just cringe every time I get that in an order, but I don't want to insult customers - What is your advice?2nd question, is it necessary to rinse your portafilter after every use? I thought it was, but one of my coworkers disagrees. She thinks that the small amount of grinds left in the bottom and around the edges doesn't make a difference in taste or quality. Again, I disagree.Thanks for your input!
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Even if we decided not to have any cafes recently, we were asked to set up a cafe in a big office building, in Beijing area, with the most attractable conditions in the market.Yes, we decided to take it for such a good condition and also a chance to educate people how good an esresso and coffee drinks can be tasty. As the market need more cafes where people can find good coffee drinks, we can do it slowly and one by one. It seems that there will be more people knowing what a good coffee drink can be and where to find it. We shall have more and more chance to set up our own cafes, in such a big city. Or, maybe also for other cities.Chinese clients are new to taste coffee, and need longer time to get used to it. It takes more longer time to know what is good or not. For this reason, we have waited for years and at last, it is started.About months ago, a Singaporean market runner offered a good place and condition to the runner of *$s for northern China, and one of our trainees in 2002 was their chief of coffee operators, baristas. What they do is obviously a copy of *$s, and as you can imagine, what it will be. In my understanding, *$s is really succeeded in commercial and marketing, but not products of coffee drinks. The most important can be the time of end of 1980s, which no one can copy at all.My comments:As my business experience, the one who can win the game with *$s is only the one who has stronger conditions than *$s in some way, to compensate the time which *$s owned. A simple copy of the original can make no sense, I believe. Such things had been seen so many in different fields of the world market.Forget about the different opinions of espresso and its quality, let's concentrate on the marketing and the business side of the coffee market. It could be happened around the world.Blenz Coffee, came to Beijing of China, five years ago. Their first cafe was closed due to the poor business and poor organizaiton. They have only a copy of *$s, but worse than it. So, they are not able to open their own cafes, but receive only franchisees as investers. They are limited only in Beijing and Guangzhou, but almost not seen in Beijing, at least not in the downtown. For Guangzhou, there are not many cafes use prof. machines, so we have to educate local investers and to change the situation.For other cafes, from different countries, no osunds can be heard, neither good comments from clients.Welcome to comments and discuss about the business of coffee market around the world.
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Atlanta SCAA Skill Building Workshop.

This past weekend found the wife and I in Atlanta to help out with the Skill Building Workshop. I volunteered as a station instructor in the espresso labs headed up by the incredible, the legendary Ellie Matuszak. Nick from Stockton Graham helped out, as well as David LaMont, from Counter Culture-Atlanta. (On a side note, David used to frequent the coffeehouse I ran in downtown Athens, GA.) These workshops cover Intro to Espresso and Hands-On Espresso, and I highly recommend them for anyone beginner to intermediate. They are a great resource that give you the building blocks you need to be successful making quality espresso everyday. There were people there from Pittsburgh, Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and several other places I can't remember.Whilest there, I visited a couple of cool shops, one I have been to before, one a new one. I went to Octane, one of my favorite shops out there hands-down. What they do is so cool, it should come with gloves to keep your hands from frostbite. Plus, I walk in the door, and who do I see? Millrock Latte Art Champion Ben Helfen and last month's Barista Magazine covergirl M'lissa Muckerman. The Dynamic Duo. So, I got one of M'lissa's kick-butt lattes, emblazoned with art from above, and we shot the crap while I drank up. These really are some of the nicest, coolest people in coffee, and it was great to see them there.I also got to see newcomer Loren Anthony's shop Breueklyn Mojo. It's a great family run shop that has a great vibe. Loren's one of the most cheerful people, and they have a really cool thing going there. She's a graduate of ABC, and poured a great rosetta in a paper cup. It was great to see her and hang out, and I hope you can get out to her shop if you're in Atlanta.Here's a few pics from the trip. Enjoy.2403230955_455d1c5f2e_m.jpg2404058376_c479267bcb_m.jpg2403230923_5d5e7fdcb6_m.jpg
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Super-Automatic Espresso Machines

So, it appears this blog is turning into a question (from me) and answer (from the gallery! Thanks!) section of my page. Sorry about that! I do have another blog, A Thought Over Coffee that has better content if you are interested.Ok, back to my thoughts here. I have a friend/client that is a busy corporate guy that is looking for a super automatic machine for his Oklahoma City office. He is not there all the time and wants something that will do a cup at a time - grind beans, the works.He has asked me about it and I just do not know much about this market. Does anyone know of a great one that works well and is top quality?i would love to send him a few options - across a range of price levels - so that he can take a look at them and make a decision.Thanks for your help - AGAIN!
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Itzel Guadalupe is a member of a youth training group and the radio production workshop sponsored by AUGE, a Coffee Kids partner in Cosautlán, Veracruz, México. itzel_auge.jpg

"I have been a part of the youth training group since 2006. I began by participating in a survey that we conducted and other topics. Itzel of Cosautlan in the area of Teocelo. The idea was to learn what the youth enjoyed and liked to do, to know what they think, where they are from, what they study, what they see for their future, to learn why they emigrate or stop studying.

"After that, I got involved in other groups with the trainers including music, theater, painting and dance. I’m currently working in radio production and training. There I’ve had the opportunity to participate in the production of radio spots for a world campaign to prevent AIDS for which we won the UNICEF/OneWorld Radio Prize in 2006. We went to Mexico City to receive the prize.

"I have also participated in a Mesoamerican Network of Youth that they conduct every year on a national level. It was a wonderful experience and it’s interesting to participate in the workshops and meet other youth from other regions, states and countries that have similar ideas and a different vision for the country. And it’s rewarding to meet other young people who not only think about having fun, but also think of the future.

"Another part of the work I do at my school. As a part of my social service, I spend time teaching women from the savings groups in my community to use computers. That way they can track their savings and loans using Excel in the computer that AUGE donated.

"I have enjoyed working with AUGE because from them we have learned and had many experiences that will serve us well in the future."
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