the flying thud

bye blogger

2006-11-12T23:11:00.000Z

So I'm fed up with blogger. You can now find me here. Its still a bit basic, but expect more fancy stuff in the near future. good bye blogger.

Italian coffee and Trieste

2006-11-10T00:39:00.000Z

(long post)-and for some reason blogger is ignoring my having paragraphs, so I'm sorry if its hard to read. I first travelled to Italy when I was 18. Along with my two best friends, and my girlfriend we bought an interail ticket and journeyed by train from Slovenia, down to Venezia, over to Verona, through Firenze, to Sorrento and finally Rome. I was only really into latte art then but had a fairly good sense of what espresso should be, at least in UK and Ireland terms. I sadly had that young barista arrogance where I’d snob entire cafes just because their grounds chambers were full, regardless of how nice the space might be. How I didn’t notice that practically every grounds chamber in Italy was full is beyond me. But it wasn’t all bad. I remember noticing how I never got the big long pale shots that sadly still swamp the market here. The shots were short and the extractions seemed good. But what stuck in my mind the most, was the cappuccinos.
On my last morning in Italy, I was waiting for the Ryanair flight home in some small airport outside Rome. There was a small cafe bar at the gate with a semi automatic 2 group, a grinder, a fridge with a few sandwiches and a barista. Its likely that I was recovering from the previous night’s last night drinks, but I remember that wasn’t the reason I ordered around 4 cappuccinos in a row. They were so small, so sweet, and so wonderfully not boiling.
So essentially I always had good memories of coffee in Italy. As I learned more about coffee I think I probably thought back on some of the technical practices in Italy and ultimately labeled the country’s coffee scene as good but a little sloppy. So it was very interesting to have the opportunity to go back to Italy and not only re-check the scene, but do so at a coffee exposition.
As mentioned in the previous post, I was working for Glasgow based EspressoWarehouse, who are a sister company of MatthewAlgie Coffee Co. and who in turn distribute Elektra machines in the UK. So the deal for Trieste was that I’d be working on Elektra’s new concept K machine and making drinks for any customers Espresso Warehouse might have. Fool around on a prototype machine and play with the latest espresso parephenalia? Yes please.
We flew in last Wednesday and were picked up by Frederico (Mr. Elektra) and went straight to the Elektra Factory. It was a public holiday and so apart from a few guys, the place was closed up, leaving the place free for us to stroll about. I’ve never seen a neater or cleaner factory ever. (I’ve probably visited around 4 factories ever, but still) Frederico showed us some very old, very beautiful machines and it was interesting to see just how significant Elektra’s role was in espresso machine development. For example, they own the patent on the three way solonoid valve. They prioritise the look and style of their machines as much as they do the function. Unlike other companies they also build every part for their machines, even down to the screws. They might not be my first choice of machine but I was pretty excited about their new grinder. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of it but if I were to open a cafe tomorrow, this would be the grinder of choice. (300 rpm, conical, doserless, a very steep chute and particularly fancy, a built in fan under the motor.)We finished the evening with a fantastic meal and a few glasses of wine around Treviso, including one house wine for only 70c, which amazingly wasn’t bad. The following morning we were picked up by Elektra and travelled to Trieste. The show wasn’t huge but then that was kind of a relief in itself. The new machine is still a prototype and so some parts were still cast in plastic. As you can see, both steam wands and the hot water dispenser are on one side, which is intended to better facilitate two baristas working simultaneously. I loved the toggle steam switches and as far as I know this is the first machine with a built in water filtration system. It analyses the water and adds or subtracts nutrients, also notifying you if it needs a cycle. Another variable looked after it seems. I didn’t see many exciting new products save a few nice cup designs and the odd new pitcher. Reneka had a new machine which at this point all I’m qualified to say is that it was very pretty. I saw a few nice tampers from Coffee consulate and Steffen Schwartz very kindly gave me a nice 54mm tamper which I need for the Dalla Corte currently installed in the cafe. I also luckily got a chance to check out a fantastic old machine exhibition in the city centre. Jim’s already talked about this on his blog but I need to say too that some of the machines were just beautiful. The artistry that went into them far outdoes any modern machines on the market. Even this early Cimbali got me. I love the lines and the colours.So how was the coffee? With 6 years in the coffee industry did I still see the Italian coffee scene as good but sloppy? Yes and no. I got a lot of weird looks for grinding each shot to order, flushing between shots and taking such care in my distribution and leveling. One criticism I was glad of though was when I was making my milk too hot for my cappuccinos. I generally make my cappuccinos a little cooler but evidently not cool enough. Since getting home I’ve tried going cooler but feel now that I still like around 135f - 140f.I think the general standard in Italy is far better than any other country I’ve visited. There is an understanding of what espresso should look like and roughly taste like. Obviously there must be competition baristas who are aware of wbc standards and practice them in their cafes, but you get the clear impression that Italian coffee has been the same way for quite a while now and really feels no need to change. And thats fine with me. Its something worthy of a lot more discussion but alas I need to sleep. check my trieste and elektra sets on flickr for more pics steve

interesting

2006-10-31T21:13:00.000Z

I'm just packing, and should be finishing an essay about interpretation of French music, but I found myself reading a news report on the flood in Ethipioa. In doing so, I saw a link to this article. night all

Trieste

2006-10-31T16:16:00.000Z

Off to Trieste tomorrow for the apparently huge machine expo. I'll be working on the Espresso Warehouse Stand which I think is sharing with Elektra and Mahlkoning. I'm really looking forward to it for a number of reasons.

I get to play on an Elektra which I've never done before
I get to meet another hundred coffee people who I'm sure will all be lovely.
I get to meet up with old friends.
I get to go to Trieste and hopefully visit the Illy Concept bar.
Hoping to taste some really frsh Illy.
I'll hopefully get to fool around with the latest goodies Espresso Warehouse are offering.
I get to eat these, which are really very good.

As always I'll probably fail to supply any good posts but I do feel I normally come through on the picture end of thing. Keep your eyes on my flickr. Other quick news:

Still not decided on whether I like aeropress
I feel standards are higher than ever in the cafe at the moment, however we can always get better. Trying to get grinder cleaning a bit more of a routine. It was always just Deaton and I who did it but I've been trying recently to expose all the baristas to more than just bar skills. I feel a broader coffee knowledge can only help create better pride in their work.
Bought a new Mac book, and have been importing all of my Vancouver photos. Miss that stupid city. The mac book is simply wonderful. Its black too, which makes me better than you.

Been thinking too about the perfect bar design recently, and if I've ever seen it. I keep seeming to think up or see new things that just make so much sense and aren't currently being employed. As is the case with many cafe's, people often get it 80% right. Its normally the coffee that screws it up, but even in quality focused bars, I always seem to find a few issues that really bug me. I'm terrified that when the day finally comes that I open my own bar (10 years away), that there'll be some external factor that I have no control over that will ultimately effect my flow, or bar layout, or something. Is it ever possible to get everything perfect in the planning stage or will you inevitably run into knots at some point?

Rosetta's in the early hours

2006-10-19T20:02:00.000+01:00

rosetta's in the early hours This was taken early last summer in elysian. My good friend and fellow coffee blogger Matti Kolehmainen poured the first one and thats me pouring the second. The quality of the original video is much better and I'm quite annoyed with how much its diminished on you tube. If any of you know a better quality video posting sites, please inform me.

European Team Challenge

2006-10-12T22:46:00.000+01:00

It was the best coffee event I have ever attended. I have never had so much fun, learnt so much, or met so many cool people all at one time. It was so well organised that I swelled with pride to be Irish. I suddenly realise that I'm not yet an official member of the Irish Chapter of the SCAE and now feel quite strongly that this needs adressing. It was great to meet baristas from Russia, Germany, Iceland, Estonia and the UK. Some I had met before, and I only wish I had spent more time getting to know them all before they left. I think I probably met them all, but some of those encounters occurred under sever intoxiation and so I'll hold back from declaring any new bosom buddies. It was great to catch up with old aquaintences and friends such as Jim Hoffman, Simon Robertson, David Cooper, Se Gorman, Ben Townsend, Gary Mc Gann, and new friend, Steve Leighton. I am writing this with a head cold strong enough to knock out a small family, so please don't feel offended if I don't mention your name in this post. Needless to say though, these sort of events are nothing if they don't have great people involved. As regards competing, we were put through a considerable number of workshops and tests including roasting, green bean seminars, analysing the new and current wbc rules, cupping, machine maintenance and blind latte art. I will avoid going into too much detail as many of you will hopefully read about it in Barista Magazine in an issue or two. If you can't wait that long, Jim should have his account of the show posted in a matter of minutes. I was really quite happy with how well we did. If we hadn't come first in the Blind latte art we would have placed around 5th. Although we came last in it, amongst the Irish team we agreed we enjoyed the triangular cupping competition the most. Possibly because it pulled on our team spirit more than the others or possibly more because it was just so much fun. But if I had to pick the workshop I learnt most from, I would have to say it was the Filter Brewing Workshop. Paul Stack, who helped organise most of the competition, did a fantastic and thorough presentation. I apologise for the level of detail in this post, but I am still suffering from the considerable amount of drink consumed over the event. I will leave it to more adequate others to fill in my blanks. If I feel something wasn't covered enough I will cover it. The comp was quite tight in the end with Russia and the UK apparently neck and neck. Well done to the UK on a thoroughly deserved win. However, I would like to say I totally agree with what it says on the SCAE Irish site, 'The experience of competing is the prize. Winning the competition is a bonus'.

European Team Challenge

2006-10-07T00:01:00.000+01:00

So tomorrow sees the beginning of the first European Team Coffee Challenge in Dublin. The Irish team, myself included, spent a day out in Bewleys HQ recently to practice for the competition. We dabbled in blind latte art and received some advanced cupping advice from Bewley's master roaster Paul O'Toole. The other members of the Irish team are current Irish Barista Champion Karl Purdy, current 3rd place Irish Barista Champion Ruslan Mocharskyy and Barista trainer Julia Mc Fadden of Fallon & Byrne. You can find the whole schedule of events on the Irish SCAE website. One particularly interesting thing is that admittance to the various courses is all free, something I have not seen before at coffee events. I hope to update you all about the competition as it progresses, and will try avoid covering the same stuff as Jim and Steve Leighton. I'm really looking forward to meeting a whole new bunch of coffee persona and catching up with old acquaintances. I'm a little nervous about the competition, not because my barista skills and general coffee knowledge will be put on test, but more because each time is required to do a 5 minute routine as a display of team spirit. Now its quite a while since I have been on stage and I have no intention of putting my vocal talents back in action. However, time is running out, and the only possibility that seems plausible now is a possible shaving of beards,....... Those of you who read my blog, are almost definitely also readers of James Hoffmannnn's blog. I look forward to catching up with Jim for lunch tomorrow and flailing him for his poor spelling of Irish Stouts........(just one more 'n') edit: Jim has since corrected the error, but I will leave this comment up regardless as such an insult to an Irish institution requires just criticism. On another point, Jim and I shall be exchanging gifts today from our different coffee travels; his trip being the Nordic, mine being Vancouver. Both presents are inexpensive but coffee related and shall be revealed in a matter of hours. So exciting. On another quick note, along with my good friend Deaton Pigot, the roaster in the cafe, we have set up a new blog to help showcase the coffee personalities and artists in our cafe. Please add it to your feeds and comment away. more soon

I won the CBC!,...

2006-09-27T21:20:00.000+01:00

....not seriously, but well done to Colter on what I hear was a great performance. So that was the first comp with new rules, interesting to see the lower scores. No more 800's for a while then I guess. I judged both Colter and Barrett in the Western Canadian regionals and was equally impressed by both. Fair play guys, I'll hopefully see you in Tokyo.

home

2006-09-25T13:37:00.000+01:00

I have been home now for just over a week. Since setting back into my final year of college and catching up with friends, I have come to realise a number of things;

I do not blog enough
I do not upload enough pictures to flickr. (I have around 400 that need uloading)
I miss Vancouver and all my friends there terribly. (whether they miss me as much is questionable)

I would like to say a sincere thank you to all the people I met in Vancouver and Seattle. It has been a fantastic summer and I have come home even more passionate about coffee. I learnt an awful lot from all of you and I'm only sorry I didn't have more time to get to know you all better. Its really a matter of time before Jen and I make it back over to visit you all again. I am determined to get to Tokyo, even if I have to compete to do so.... I probablys houldn't do this as I know I will forget and offend certain people, but I'd just like to give a quick shout to all the people who help make the summer great. In no particular order; Alistair Durie Aaron DeLazzer Andrew and Linzhyee Friesen Robert Goble and Narrrrrr (spelling?) Brad Ford & Arthur Wynne Vince Piccolo Lindsey Parker Matt, Matti, Drew, Nathan, Sandra, Randy, Johnathan and Johnathan, Mandy and Justin, John, Claire, Arlo and Ella Mark Prince, Beata and Marzocco (the pet not the machine) the GS3 (the pet not the machine) Sean Barber Sam Jones Amadeus Pizza Lucas and Irene Frankie, Javier and Wayne Les Kuan Anji Loff Michael Yung Toshi's Spencer, Murray, Matt and Jaclyn John Sanders Phil Robertson Peter Van de Reep Noodle Box Reg Barber I am sure I've forgotten some really important people and if I do I shall add them to the list promtly. But in all seriousnesss, the above people and establishments are all wonderful and shall be sorely missed. I promise to blog some interesting stuff very shortly. I'm applying for a loan today to buy a laptop (macbook) and I shall be investing my loan in some fluke goodies too.

last part ending on a tangent pondering

2006-09-07T03:36:00.000+01:00

After our mini barista jam in Cafe D'Arte, most of our troup drove back up to Vancouver while Jen and I stayed for the night. (A quick thanks to Sarah for letting us stay at hers and for the fresh fish for breakfast). After a few hours sight seeing and checking out the shops, we headed over to Sitka and Spruce. I was hoping I might get a chance to meet Bronwen Serna who works there but unfortunately she wasn't working. Although I knew it was located across the road from the old Hines Public Market location, where I've been before, I was still surprised at the location of Sitka and Spruce. For those who don't know, its in a sort of strip mall. On walking in though, I found the space so charming it really didn't matter where it was located. I loved the design of this place. I pretty much adored every detail and I apologise for the poor quality of my pictures; I was playing around with the features on the camera. We'd a really really good lunch and then two capps for dessert. The capps were very traditional in their build with the foam spooned on. I'm not a huge fan of this, but whatever it was, it tasted really sweet and was a good dessert to our lunch. What I found really interesting is how Jen talked about her capp here as being the best of her whole trip. As a newbie's palette thats been exposed to some of the world's best cafe's and coffee's, she still doesn't get muddled up trying to nail the description and instead just calls what she likes; sweet, not sweet, bitter? Dirty? So in saying this, Jen rating this capp as her best of the summer says something in my book. It also makes me wonder which third wave techniques are singing back to the consumer. What is the impact of temperature stablilty, slower flow rates and new tamper design when the average consumer perhaps doesn't notice. This is not to say that a cafe will not succeed if their focus is on maintaining quality, but I wonder what factor in bar practice will carry through to the customer's palette the most? Machine cleanliness? Temperature stability? Level tamping? Fresh coffee? Good coffee? Or just the easy answer of a mix of them all? This leads me onto another topic, one more immeadietly associated to the present. (I've been back from Seattle nearly a month now.) I've been doing a fair bit of training for Brad over the summer and one thing that bothers me is that I never do the exact same training. Sure we can always expect variation depending on the alertness and skill of the trainees, but I'm more concerned with my own sequence in the session. Sometimes I start with the grinder, others with seed to cup and then others with basic machine technology. I suppose I adapt depending on the training context and the various factors inherent; How many people am I training? How long do I have? How good is their english? What sort of business are they? Swift or manual? How busy are they? I don't make any conscious decision from the outset with these questions but I think I probably alter my training each time accordingly. In saying this, I'm still not sure if its a bad thing to be varying. I generally find myself simultaneously seeking and avoiding absolutes in coffee. I wonder if I should have a number of documented training manuals with different levels if necessary. I know I always do a number of things in a training session especially with regards to cleaning but I find myself varying my level of detail I go into in distribution and extraction. My premise has always been to make sure the trainee understands why they take each step in the process, and I rarely stray from that in my training. The trainees all learn eventually what I want them to learn and I'm always satisfied with their progress in the end. I dunno. I'm really just thinking outloud here so I'm sorry if its a bit of a rambly post. I know I don't like the idea of have a regimental training guide and applying to everyone regardless. So maybe I'm ok. If I've ever trained you, and you now make nothing but shit coffee, please call me.

part 3 ,quickly nearing the end of this 'part' malarkey

2006-08-31T20:55:00.000+01:00

From Victrola we headed off for lunch in a restaurant that can only be described fabulous, though not because of its food. Vita was next on the list, though oddly I took no pictures. I love the way this place is laid out, however the lack of natural light made me feel sleepy and irritable. (I like natural light in cafe) The espresso wasn't bad but didn't tickle any of our taste buds either. I absolutely love the way they've put a glass partition in the cafe allowing customer to see into the roaster in the back. I also liked the amount of space immeadietly in front of the bar. I like the idea of owning a small cafe but to do any sort of 'to go' service requires ample space for customer flow in and out of the cafe, preferably not winding through the seating area. Vita was great for this as the seating area was in an adjoining room, allowing customers to relax in their own space. It did have a wireless feel but thats not such a bad thing in my view. I'm writing this right now in a cafe, sipping an Intelly Harrar, and looking around I see people chatting, reading books and papers, i poding, and theres even a small women sleeping in the couch in front of me. Shes been there quite a while now and she's old too. I'm starting to suspect the worse..... After Vita, we went to the new Vivace store. As touched on in my last post, this cafe was also in a location I didn't expect. It's located in a modern looking building, where most of the shopfronts are uniform in design. At least thats how I remember it, please correct me if I'm wrong. I love the thought that clearly went in to desiging this cafe. If its not the beautifully functional, barista friendly bar, its the latte art mosaics on the floor, or the espresso timeline painted in coffee on the bar front. You may not like Schomer's way of doing things, but you have to take your hat off for doing so many new things in this industry. I love the two synessos gleaming at you when you walk in. I like the seperate room for meetings and wireless. I hated the picture on the wall and I'm still not sure what the hell it was about. It wa sout of place and gaudy. I had my best seattle espresso though. It was red. It was bubbly. But it was sweet and it was different to everyone else. I'd prefer to have it with a lower dose but thats just my preference. It was interetsing to see they sold a small selection of beer as well as a large number of small pastries. I liked that idea; moving towards small bites as opposed to heavy muffins or danish. I was going to buy some coffee to bring home and play around with but they were awaiting a fresh delivery later that day and I just didn't get time to go back. Above you can see three taps rising up and over a drip tray. The middle poured sparkling water and the others poured regular. I presume it was filtered too, either way it was something new and looked great. I'd imagine its nice to work with too. Unlike the first store we visited, it was a little harder to gape at the barista's technique with being too obvious. That said, ordering an espresso and a mineral water usually gives your coffee enthusiast identity away. This Vivace store is probably one of my favourite espresso bars in the world. There is very little I don't like about it. Being more of a filter kid now I would miss that option, but I guess espresso requires a cafe's full attention and so sticking to one type isn't without logic. We spent the rest of the day playig around on the machine in Cafe D'Arte courtesy of our guide Sarah Dooley. She closed the cafe early and let us all start pulling shots and pouring off her Nuovo Simonelli and 5 espresso grinders. We were all pretty tired and full of coffee, but being barista's we couldn't say no to a bit of ego flogging. See my flickr for photos.

belated part 2

2006-08-31T19:54:00.000+01:00

These are becoming sort of a staple introduction I know, but once again, I'd like to apologise for my inexcusable lack of communication. That said, I have been very busy, and thankfully my social life takes priority over blogging. (The day it doesn't, hit me hard in the gut) So, after Vivace, we ambled up to Victrola. It was only a few blocks away and it was nice to see some of the quieter neighbourhoods in Seattle. The well known neon sign marked the spot on the street, and it was one of the few cafes I've visited on my trip that was located in an area I had sort of already imagined. Often you're working off photos or descriptions online when you hear about well known cafes, but when you actually visit, their location can be very different to what you had in mind. The Elysian Room and Artigiano Hornby would be two good examples. I really enjoyed the Victrola space. It was a little dark and gloomy in the back, but the bar design seemed well thought out and spacious. There was a lot of seating and the cafe had a cool atmosphere with more people chatting and reading than buried in their laptops. As for the coffee, well I differed in preference when it came to the espresso's we were served in Seattle. The guys seemed very impressed by the Victrola espresso, Streamline, whereas I just found it ok. I mean it was tasty, and I feel the barista's were of a high enough skill set that I couldn't taste them in the cup, but I wasn't particularly wowed by it. It was an espresso free of defect, but just not exciting or different. Urgh, as I type this I'm kind of cringing cause I hate when people use one espresso to represent an entire organisation. But in saying that, I did have a shot of streamline in Cafe Grumpy in New York and that wasn't much better. AJ bought some of their single origins though, some of which really shone. These were a lot more enjoyable than the espresso and stood out from other seattle coffes we cupped. On this visit, Victrola for me was a classy cafe, with good baristas but a boring blend. Too tough probably. Everyone else I went with though really enjoyed it and for most of them it was their favourite coffee in Seattle.

Seattle part 1

2006-08-08T00:15:00.000+01:00

At six thirty on a rainy Sunday morning, four barista's and three of their relative girlfriends (all coffee enthusiasts themselves) set off for the three hour drive to Seattle. Our mission was to check out the much hyped coffee scene in Seattle and see if it lived up to our expectations. After a short interrogation at customs and the driving compilation cd to end all others (midlake, al stewart, hot chip,sufjan and knife to name a few), we arrived at David Schomer's Vivace cafe on Denny. I had visited the cafe a year before when I went to the 2005 WBC, and so wasn't suprised to see the que of people leading onto the street. We ordered all our drinks and huddled around the serving point, trying hopelessly to blend into the non barista customers as we gauked at the barista's every move. One of Schomer's cooling fans built onto the back of one of his DRM belt driven grinder. I'm told that these grinders are sadly now unavailable. The walls were all adorned with framed latte art pictures and the bar looked very barista friendly. They had two three group synesso's, both set up at different bar heights with shorter staff on the lower one. Although quite tasty, the shots were all low volume and extremely bubbly and it was also really interesting too see his barista's pull the drinks away without stopping the shot. Apparently they believe the cup should contain only espresso brewed under pressure, and not any last drops. I'm yet to test this but I know I definitely didn't like the spillage on the side of each demitasse. The other odd thing was watching the barista's take the pf out after a shot, place a cloth to the spent puck, and then re insert the pf. I suppose they wanted to ensure temp stability in the pf and maybe avoid an overly dry puck that might be difficult to knock out??, but this seems unlikely. Any ideas? I will post again tomorrow about the other cafe's. I'm off now to do some wedding shopping and then later I'm hosting a private screening of Black Gold in my apartment. I would gladly have all of you over but sadly tickets are sold out for this gourmet, cinematic event. More tomorrow!

any good cafes out there?

2006-07-29T09:05:00.000+01:00

So I've had a lot of really bad shots recently. They were all relatively fresh, brewed by very fine barista's, and roasted by well respected roaster's. So why did they taste bad? Was one of the known variables out of sync? Were the barista's not focusing? ( I feel confident the barista in each case was of a consummate skill level to make a good shot, as I've had definitely had great shots from them on previous occasions.) So perhaps the machine wasn't performing on top form that day? Or the heat from my person affected the humidity in the room and knocked the extraction off? (sadly a more likely reason) Was the espresso not blended enough and perhaps I got a little too much sumatra in that last ounze? Or perhaps instead I'm experiencing some bad fortune in the pot luck arena of espresso. I have trouble believing in the notion of consistency in espresso. Being the product it is, how much consistency can we really expect from branch to branch an cherry to cherry. Clearly some farms take the time and effort to deliver a cup that is consistent in its clarity and flavour and I guess organisations like COE are rewarding such farmers accordingly. But I think I can fairly say most COE's are being used for non espresso type brewing, and not espresso. So why is espresso so bloody hit and miss? Am I the bad workman blaming my tools? Am I just highlighting my own need for improvement, or am I facing the very challenge that espresso presents, and perhaps its very appeal. I don't know any cafe in the world were they're pouring great shots constantly every day. Does it exist? Is it possible? Sure I know cafe's that are trying their best to make that claim, but is it a realistic aim considering the sheer scope of variables facing us at every point in the chain? The three cafes I visit most regularly in Vancouver are The Elysian Room, Artigiano on Hornby, JJ Bean on Main St and my own place of employment, Wicked Cafe. I have had great shots and bad shots in all. Its almost getting to the point now where I think I don't like espresso, instead I think I strive to be consistent in brewing a cup lacking in any nastiness. Every time I pull a shot for myself or taste someone else's I am waiting for the bad part. If it doesn't come, I declare it a nice shot, taking no real notice of any exciting nuances in the mouthfeel, instead only having the finish and a memory to go by. sigh.. here's some new pics; a big globule and some demitasse art and sone poor attempts an imitating Jim's camera's macro skills. I'm off to Seattle with friends for a quick visit on Sunday, so I'l hopefully take lots of photos and will have something comparisons between there and Vancouver. cheerio

sorry

2006-07-20T07:18:00.000+01:00

so , yeah, I guess I don't have the self discipline, or high enough regard for you reader to put a proper post up. But instead, here's some pics.

how does one open their mouth and not come across an idiot?

2006-07-18T07:06:00.000+01:00

So, briefly. I have done a podcast. It was fun. Its no. 43 I suspect I made a fool of myself. Jenny (my better half) is also on the podcast and Mark said it will be up in a few days. I spent a few days afterwards wishing I hadn't said this or perhaps said more about other stuff, but now I'm just waiting the slaggings. Luckily, I think I muttered characteristically enough so that people will find it difficult to understand anything I said! So in saying that, I was very astute and witty on the podcast, and if you don't get that, then its your loss. I realised today why my latte art was going through such a bad patch; I've been using around 5 different pitcher designs without knowing it. Now of course I knew they were different designs for the most part, but there are two models in the cafe that are identical at first glance but behave very differently in the pour. I can't remember the name right now, but its a make that brought out a newer model in the last few weeks. Its good practice I guess, and it's trained me to pay more attention to the pour and my pour rate. I feel my latte art has definitely gotten better but will post pics for you good people to judge very soon. Over the next three days, I will be doing a latte art course with Alistair (he makes good coffee) Durie on Wednesday morning, I'm judging at the western canadian regionals on Thursday, and I'm helping out with some basic and advanced barista training courses tomorrow. So I'm a busy chap. I'll take a lot of photos, and perhaps, if I can muster enough self discipline, I'll give some daily posts on how things are going. Chat soon folks.

Barista as a profession?

2006-07-09T07:23:00.000+01:00

So,...I've been thinking,.... If, like me, you pay attention to all the online chatter, the various coffee podcasts and all the hype surrounding competitions, you're probably aware of the clear message trying to promote the barista craft, with many attempting to get it a respect equal to that of a chef or a sommelier (depending who you talk to). We all want better pay for barista's and also for more communication between the growers and the brewers. Read any issue of baristamagazine to see examples of this. While I would be the first to preach the importance the barista plays in the chain of seed to cup, I don't however know how much I'd recognise it as a full blown profession. For me a 'profession' suggests something a person could happily do all their life, but do we really think many barista's out there still want to be barista's in ten years time?........... I'm not so sure. I understand this depends greatly on how we define a barista and whether their skills can be compared to that of a chef or rather a technician instead. And yes, if we define it as incorporating roasting, cupping and engineering skills, then I suppose such a job would prove a sustainable source of interest for many years. Sadly, very few barista's are exposed to these avenues in coffee. Even for those that do, and who want to learn more and develop, they'll usually find themselves experimenting with roasting and cupping extensively, so much so that they spend less and less time behind the bar. So if they're not working behind the bar, are they still a barista? Have they surpassed that level as a professional in the coffee industry? Can we then look at a barista as an entry point into the world of coffee? Or should it be held in high esteem as the role of the true coffee professional? I find it hard to imagine a place in today's speciality coffee society for the professional barista of 30 years experience. The general absence of roasting gear and pricey new brewing equipment, in the majority of the world's cafes'. would suggest there is only so far a professional barista can develop in that limited environment. Vancouver is known for its higher number of quality focused cafe's and while here I've met many working baristas who've been exposed to the latest technologies, roasteries, and indeed some of the world's best coffee's available. But this is not the norm, and even if it were, I would question still whether these baristas would be content in their current roles 10 years down the line. If the WBC continues with its message and gradually raises the bar for specialty coffee around the globe, I'm sure we will see standards improve in all our cities. But do we really expect each city to have cafe's capable of feeding the knowledge hungry barista? It is almost a case that as we try to educate and inspire barista's, they will only want to move beyond the role. I'm just wondering lately whether its too much of a romantic notion to idolise the barista as much as we do in the industry. thoughts?

tardy blog keeping is a habit best avoided.

2006-07-01T05:53:00.000+01:00

I apologise for the lack of noise coming from this blog recently but I assure you I have been busy. I am writing this post from my new luxury apartment in Granville Island , courtesy of one of my new neighbour's wireless connections. Also, Arthur has arrived and I will be picking up my infinitely better half (Jenny), tomorrow from the airport. (I say picking up, however I do not drive so it will be either a bus or taxi job, and should you have interpreted 'picking up' to mean I'd actually be picking Jenny up, well sadly I have neither the muscle or the stamina for such activities. She'll get a hug and kiss and she'll be happy with it) So where was I,..yeah Arthur has finally shown himself, after being in the country for three days recouperating from three days of travel difficulties and subsequent baggage loss. For those who know him I can happily report he is looking as glowing and inky as ever. I also met Lyndsey from Artigiano for the first time. She is the manager of the bustling Artigiano Cafe on Hornby St, and is famed in particular for her latte art skills. I think I've convinced her to give me a tutorial or too, especially as I feel I've developed some bad habits from attempting multi art lately. I met her in Artigiano at roughly the same time that the Panama Hacienda la Esmeralda arrived, as well as an interesting Sumatra that I forget the name of. Lake something or other. Brad?? For those who don't know, the Esmeralda reached a record price in the Best of Panama this year. ($50.25 a pound of Green, which is even higher than the Brazil COE #1 Santa Ines.) There was an interesting air of excitement in Elysian when it arrived. There was around 7 of us all tasting it at the same time off the clover, and yet no one really said much about it. We all enjoyed it, and agreed it was a beautiful cup, but there wasn't exactly a brainstorm of flavour identifying. It is interetsing too as Alistair had decided to pre-sell 12 cups of the for $10 a cup, so I think its fair to say the expectations were running high. Did it deliver? IWell I really liked it, but I'll have to try taste it again I'm afraid, as I'd already had a lot of coffee beforehand. It'll be cool to see how it shines in a french press. right. I'm sure there's spelling mistakes left right and center in this, but its late, and my bed ( a dusty mattress) has been calling my name for some time now. so I apologise yet again for the rambling manner of this post, although as it's becoming the norm I think I should probably stop apologising for it. anyway night folks.

a night in the elysian,....fun fun

2006-06-22T11:57:00.000+01:00

like these

2006-06-21T05:44:00.000+01:00

ha ha ha

2006-06-20T05:40:00.000+01:00

(I just got a phone call saying the apartment isn't available anymore. A kick in the face is ever there was.) Just a quick post, I found out today that I definitely passed all my exams, and then... a few hours later, I found a fully furnished apartment. Its close to work, has free internet,a dvd player, a bbq, a playstation, an x box, a guitar and a piano!! A ha ha ha ha ha ha. I'm delighted! To top it all off, the clouds have pissed off, and the sun is shining in BC. Whats next? Yes I'll take that free GS3.

A good day today.

2006-06-19T01:19:00.000+01:00

As you know, I've been having trouble adapting to the espresso style of Vancouver. Well,... today I popped by the Elysian room just around lunch time. I had a quick chat with the coffeed administrators and barista Matt before I went to see a documentary about Frank Gehry (which was only ok,...i had a bad seat up the front). But anyway, as I was chatting about the unwarranted high price tag of the alessi steaming pitcher, Mattie, came down and gave me an espresso. I didn't really feel like it, but took it anyway. In a word, it was perfect. I simpy really really enjoyed it. It was sweet and balanced, but not too heavy. It had wonderful juicy fruit, but wasn't overly acidic. I told the guys there how good it was pretty much straight away. I really really enjoyed it. I'm probably going back this evening, hoping I'll get it again. I now have a new standard in the cup to aspire to. Interestingly, I've tasted shots from the same batch of their Hines espresso, made by Mattie on their Linea, and they weren't nearly as good as this. It was honestly hard to believe it was from the same blend, nevermind the same batch. Was it that particular part of the batch? Did Mattie just nail it? Or was it the machine? For those of you who don't know, the Elysian room is now operating off a Synesso......Telling? check my flickr for some of today's pic. Go Oilers.

report

2006-06-17T04:55:00.000+01:00

Life is good at the moment. I've been working seven days in a row which was a little hard going, but then I really wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I've really enjoyed being a full time barista again, getting to know the staff, the regulars, and seeing my latte art return to form. There's something so satisfying when you clear a line knowing that your drinks were all of a high quality. Its an ego thing I know, but I love people's faces when they respond to latte art.

I'm not nealy half as annoyed by the complicated orders as I thought I might be. For some disturbing reason, a customer ordering a '16oz half-caf, non fat latte with an extra shot and with semi sweet vanilla, extra hot, and with soy milk' doesn't really bother me. Possibly because such orders are simply the norm. But I would question each customers ability to detect the difference each preference in the order provides.

Its been a bit of an education using the swift grinder. Its something I was initially quite skeptical about but now suprisingly respect. It felt really weird at first; sorta like handing over a central part of well engrained routine to somebody you don't know or necessarily trust. You can still make superior shots on a manual grinder, but I'm quite suprised the Swift didn't take off more in Europe. If you train your staff to dial the grinder in properly, you could be capable of a standard of espresso far higher than the averafe cafe, at least in Dublin.

After work today, Brad came in and we headed down to Granville island. Before we left, we grabbed, a couple of tampers, pitchers, cloths, group handles, coffee, a grinder and milk, and threw it into the back of Brads Honda. There was just enough room for the lot,... in between the boxes of Intelligentsia coffee, equipment from the shop, oh, and a La Marzocco GS3.

There was a digital media conference on in Granville Island, and Brad had agreed to provide free coffee in the break. We rolled our equipment in, set up on a rocky plastic table, and were up and running in around 5 minutes. People started coming over pretty quickly, especially when they realised it was free. Brad was on shots, and I was on milk. We did around 70 drinks in rougly 15/20 minutes. The shots were just beautiful, although the steam pressure couldn't reallyt keep up (especially after a round of Americano's) I should mention that this was one of the prototype gs3's and that many features, such as the steam pressure have been tweaked. I would talk more about the shots, but I've been going through a funny spout of not wanting coffee for the last three days. I really can't explain it though Brad thinks I just coffeed out on the first few days (excuse the pun), and that my body was just re-adjusting. I've been a bit ill as well which didn't help, but knowing all you readers are out there wishing me well, I'm sure I'll be fine in no time, thanks for that.

If you wanna see pics of the gs3, click here for my flickr photos.

more soon,

steve

Cupping COE's, and espresso in Vancouver.

2006-06-13T06:42:00.000+01:00

A quick post. Spent Sunday afternoon in Mark's place cupping the top five Colombian COE's from the spring harvest. It was pretty interesting as apparently the #1 scored first as it was considered a perfect representation of what a Colombian should taste like. I had been under the impression, that as we expose ourselves to all the different collaborations of growing factors from farms across the globe, we are learning that nothing is absolute and that each country is capable of producing coffee's unlike anything in their region, or even country. So how can Colombia, have a favour profile? That said, I have cupped far too few coffee's in my short time in the industry, and so I can only presume that cuppers by trade must encouter many similar coffee's from the same country. Yet, how long is it now since Colombia stopped blending all their countries greens together? 2 years? I am sketchy on the details here, but its interesting that for a country that only recently allowed their farmers to sell directly to buyers, it can already be labelled with certain characteristics in flavour profiles,.. I'd appreciate clarity on this, especially if I'm working off false information. Briefly, I've now had a chance to taste shots in Artigiano, JJ Beans, Continental , The Elysian Room and Casa del Princhay; all fine espresso serving establishments in Vancouver. However,...I've spent so much time in Ireland trying to recreate the espresso flavour profiles I read about online and although successful now and again, I would have appeciated knowing that nearly all of these Pacific North West Cafe's were using triple baskets, and were pulling straight into one demitasse with naked pfs. Silly me on the other hand was struggling with double baskets, and splitting the shots. (essenially 8g espresso) So am I behind the game? Should I be encouraging cafes back home to saw all their spouts off, and pull 1oz triple ristrettos? Fecked if I know. But its taking time for me to adjust to the higher dosage here and so I'll hold off from giving my top 5 espresso in Vancouver just yet. This post is not really short, and I'm sorry that I siad it was. But I'm not scrolling up just to delete it for you sorry bunch. Latte art is easy in 16oz ceramic cups. I am yet to try it in 20oz take away cups, but lets pray that I never have to. If Brad trys to introduce it,..I'll walk....actually I'll run. ..............well, no, I never run, but I'll trot, yes, I'll trot right out the bloody door! silly post I know, but its late. night

the story so far

2006-06-10T22:27:00.000+01:00

So,.....I'm in Vancouver! For those of you's eager to hear any news, I'm sorry for not writing anything sooner. (Are any of you eager to hear my news?) Anyway, the reason I haven't posted yet, is that yesterday morning, I wrote a 1000 word post on all my antics so far and lost it all when the battery on my laptop died. Which was particularly annoying. So, right now, I am sitting in Wicked Cafe with my laptop securely hooked up to a power socket, and grudgingly rewriting the post. So after a long day of traveling on Thursday I arrived into Vancouver at half two local time. I rang my boss Brad and found out he was very kindly waiting outside to pick me up. Unfortunately, instead of taking the normal 20minutes to get through to the arrivals lounge, immigration had other plans and I ended up not leaving the airport for a full three hours. Even more annoyingly, Brad's mobile died, and as neither of us knew what the other looked like, he ended up staying at the airport a full four hours, till he eventually realised I'd already left. It was really odd to leave a heat wave in Ireland and be greeted with I'm told unseasonable torrential rain. To add insult to injury, the hostel I was required to stay in on the first night was a bit of a kip (an Irish term), so I decided I'd move into my house share straight away. My apartment turned out to be really nice, and so after I'd unpacked, I rang Alistar Durie of Elysian Cafe, and joined Brad, and others for dinner. I was pretty late and only had time to say a quick hello to the group, and enjoy a really enjoyable glass of 30 year old port, courtesy of Mark. I then got a quick tour of the local area off Brad and went home to bed at around 6 am my time. The next morning, I got up early in an attempt to tackle jet lag and walked the 4km walk to my new job at Wicked Cafe. Thankfully, I wasn't on the roster till today, so I had a chance to go in and soak up the feel of the place. Its quite a small cafe, around 20 seats, and is equipped with a gleaming gb5, an lm swift, and a mazzer major grinder, and a twin fetco brewer. As Brad is the distributor for Intelligentsia, the back wall behind the bar is adorned with a range of coffee's offered by the company. I then got a taxi into town to do an orientation course, another mandatory feature of my work visa, but one I have to admit that proved very helpful and informative. The weather had cleared up quite a lot and I got a chance to walk around downtown a bit. On first impressions, I have to say Vancouver really is charming and always feels safe. I met up with Brad in the afternoon, and we drove around the city, dropping off a few orders for his Intelligentsia customers. We also got a chance to check out Artigiano. More importantly, and I ha dno idea of this, but this was also the first day Artigiano were selling the famous #1 Brazil Cup of Excellence, Santa Ines on the Clover in their store. I had been under the impression this coffee would have been finished already, but instead, I was there to taste on its premiere! What was it like? Well before I answer this, I should talk about the significance of the moment for me. It has been discussed before by others, but living in Dublin, and trying to keep up with cutting edge developments in speciality coffee can be a little disheartening as often you have no benchmark, to compare to. So I make a press pot at home, thats freshly ground, with fresh water and fresh coffee, and I enjoy it. But, is it as good as what Jim makes for breakfast in London? Or what they serve in the Annex or Elysian? Its easy to presume from online chatter that what I make at home isn't as good. So for me, to get the chance to sit down in one of the world's most famous espresso bars, with arguably one of the best coffee's in the world, and brewed on the machine thats wet many pants both for its quality mark, and its price tag, was a great benchmarking moment for my palette. So what was it like? Well, I won't attempt to describe alla coffeereview style, but here's what I thought. It was incredibly well balanced with no one note jumping out at me. It was quite sweet and had more fruit come out as it cooled. It has quite a winey texture, and an interesting acidity. I did really really enjoy it. However, it wasn't so radically different to coffee's I've tasted before. Now, perhaps my palette isn't yet capable of properly recognising the quality in the cup, but for me, I found tasting this coffee a very reasurring experience. Reasurring as it told me I was capable of making very good coffee. Sure people throw such praise at barista's often, but for me, that moment was the coffee speaking, not a customer or friend. The clover , whilst definitely requiring a certain level of care and attention, takes so many of the factors under control, and allows the coffee to shine. I also recieved some extraordinary shots in Artigiano, pulled by one of their barista's Robert. He gave me a great shot of their house blend as well as one from Sammy's blend. I will talk more soon about the espresso I've been tasting, but for the moment I'm gonna go check out the Elysian room. I apologise if this post was poorly structured, but if you've ever met me, and seen my own physical features, you'd understand.

I'm off

2006-06-08T06:56:00.000+01:00

Hi, so, this is very quick. Its half six on Thursday morning, and I'm just about to leave for Vancouver. After going through an indifferent couple of hours last night as I was packing, I'm suddenly very excited, and a little nervous. I couldn't decide whether or not I'd bring my barista case as I felt I might not get full use out of it. But as it looks like I'll be doing a bit of training anyway, and I'm still under the weight resrictions for British Airways, I decided sure feck it. I might as well. I was talking to Mark Prince last night over gmail chat, and he's very kindly invited me to dinner, with himself, Alistair Durie, Brad Ford, Kent Bakke and a no. of other top people in the PNW speciality scene. So I'm really looking forward to that, even though when we sit down to eat, it'll be around 5 am my time, so I'll be reasonably exhasuted. So unfortunately, I think my first shots in Vancouver will be all about the buzz and not the quality. Sorry Mark. See all you European heads when I get back, and any of you in the Vancouver area, well hopefully I'll meet you soon. I'll hopefully post a lot about my experiences over there, so stay tuned if your into that sorta stuff. bye for now

World Latte Art Championship

2006-05-28T10:20:00.000+01:00

World Latte Art Championship Originally uploaded by American Barista & Coffee School.

Found this on flickr today, if you don't recognise the cupalready, this is a pic of Arthur competing in the World Latte Art Competition. Nice shot I think.

The rest of the photos are from the same flickr account (American Barista & Coffee School), and show Arthur competing in The World Coffee in Good Spirits Competition.

Buzz, training, photos

2006-05-24T19:55:00.000+01:00

I'd a good day today. My orchestration exam went just swimmingly, and so I headed out to see Buzz in Donnybrook Fair with my friend Susan for lunch. Buzz has recently changed coffee supplier and is now using an espresso blend by Londonbased UnionCoffee Roasters. After a gorgeous lunch (blue cheese and pear topped with rocket, poached egg, black pudding and mustard dressing), I ordered an espresso. I knew Buzz was excited about the new blend and he'd mentioned it was a hit with his customers too,so I was eager to taste it. And what was it like? I've never had such a hit of dark chocolate from an espresso. Thinking of it now, I don't even recall much of a coffee taste, just waves of cocoa. He said it was a blend sourced solely from Rwanda which might suggest the solitary flavour profile, but regardless I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was possibly one of the best espresso's I've been served in Dublin in quite a while. It was unsurprisingly great as a macchiato too I think its important to mention at this point, that I believe there's probably quite a lot of good coffee companies in Ireland, who don't recieve enough praise for their coffee. This however, is sadly often their own fault as many just don't put enough emphasis on training. The reason that Buzz's espresso was so good was because yes it was a good coffee to begin with, but mainly because Buzz knows how to serve great coffee. Hoffer (as I never call him except for right there) often makes a point of saying he doesn't make great coffee, rather he serves great coffee. There are a lot of different Irish roasters making great yet there is only a few cafes serving it. A stupid state of affairs. If every roaster in Ireland had one cafe that did their coffee justice, coffee culture in Dublin would be a lot more interesting. So what I'll do is, I'll head off to Vancouver for a few months, and the rest of you sort your game out. Reasonable? Perhaps, but not realistic. There was an article in a paper the other day about 25 crap things in Ireland (not the exact article title) and one thing it included was the low quality of coffee down the country. The article lamented on how the great coffee boom in Dublin wasn't through the isle. All I'll say is, I don't know how proud I'd be to say that rural towns have cafes serving coffee 'dublin style'. I feel like I moan a lot about this issue, and maybe I have good reason to, but until respectm especially financial respect is given to good barista's then things aren't gonna start changing for quite a while. A tired topic I know, but I needed to vent. My thanks for your time. In other news, I also caught up with Arthur again today, and as he's rarely online, I took all his photos from Bern and posted them on my flickr. Enjoy. ps: I'm getting very good at hyperlinks.

Vancouver on the horizon

2006-05-22T16:09:00.000+01:00

After a refreshingly easy exam today, I had lunch with Arthur who was fresh off the plane from Bern. Once I got over the initial blast of jealousy, I got really excited and wanted to hear everything! He finally ended up entering three competions; the latte art, coffee and alcohol, and the cupping. As always in these comps, if things are ever gonna go wrong, they will on the day. Arthur seemed to suffer from some abrupt cases of invasivecamerameninyourfaceitus. Something I can recall from competing in Greece last year. Despite this, he is now a wbc certified judge and actually came 6th best in the sensory. Which considering the calibre of people involved is really an achievement in my books. Now you'll notice that my tone regarding Arthur so far is one of great admiration. Well, theres a reason. The kid did well;

He also got some stumptown coffee's that I can't wait to cup tomorrow. I've only got three more exams left and then a week before I leave for Vancouver. I'm just getting silly excited about it now. I've been living on craigslist trying to sort an apartment, but to no avail. I'm guessing I'll sort it when I arrive. I need to find some hard foam for my training case before I leave. You'd think that'd be easy but its proving difficult. Any help would be appreciated.

On another quick note, I ordered a capp after lunch today and got served this. It was a little bubbly, (due mainly to it being lunch time, table service and me sitting far away from machine) but its so easy to forget just how nice it is to get served a coffee of this standard. I don't mean to plug my own cafe, as that is not the purpose of this blog. So I won't.

James Hoffmann UK WBC 2006 Finalist

2006-05-20T19:36:00.000+01:00

James Hoffmann UK WBC 2006 Finalist
Originally uploaded by CoffeeGeek.

Big congrats to Jim. I'm delighted for him, especially as he didn't think he'd made it after his performance. I really think he could win it if he does a good set. That said, I'm sure the same can be said for all the finalists. (the point of being a finalist)

Also, fair play to Karl Purdy! 15th Best Barista in the World! I'm so proud, especially as this puts Ireland way up in the top 20! Which is pretty cool considering our previous ranking.

Enjoy the rest of the show guys, and take lots of photos.

Some of you can't even spell digree.

2006-05-15T20:30:00.000+01:00

Well you can all stop holding your beadth, my three hour style and interpretation exam went ok. But seriously, I just want to say a quick word to all those participating in Bern this week. Best of luck to the lot of you, and I just want to re iterate our previous conversations when I say please don't waste time in the middle of your competition performance wondering how my 19th century Composition exam went, or whether I'm lonely back in Dublin,. ..no no, you just focus on the task at hand, bring me back as many goodies from Bern or face me holding you in low regard (see pic)oh, and do yourself justice. Meanwhile I'll continue with my college education. So Best of luck to everyone, but especially to Karl Purdy of Ireland, Arthur Wynne of Ireland (,...and Australia , oh and the Philippines, )and to Jim Hoffman of Macadonia.

cheerio

cool isn't it

2006-05-09T21:38:00.000+01:00

comiclife.jpg
Originally uploaded by default espresso.

I saw this too when I should have been studying, but was chuffed to see one of my photos included. They be my beans in a circle. I used to have it as a disply on the retail counter but one too many young kids said otherwise. Pretty all the same. Cool poster though isn't it.

just lovely

2006-05-08T20:23:00.000+01:00

P1000905.jpg
Originally uploaded by dwelltimester.

was browsing flickr when I should have been studying, and found this. That right there is my latte art challenge this summer. If I can't do that after I get back from Vancouver, well you can slap me. (Not too hard mind, I bruise like a peach.)

the competition barista

2006-05-02T19:17:00.000+01:00

I've spent a good bit of time recently helping Karl prepare for the WBC in Bern. We've been lucky enough to get a La Marzocco gb5 in to the training room, allowing us to get familiar with the competition machine of choice. Of course a good barista should be able to work off any machine but it's certainly no harm to get used to the feel of it. We spent most of Sunday and Monday morning tasting around 60 different ingredients looking for something that might add that extra spark to the signature drink. Since then though, I've been wondering which is the best way to go about developing a Competition Signature Drink. I'm not too sure whether the practical feasability of these drinks in working cafes is a crucial feature for the judges , or even whether it should be. Is practiality so important an issue that a competitor should feel restricted in his/her experimenting? Should they always be on the look out for new flavours or culinary techniques to adopt? Or should they first start with the coffee, and work from there? Is this good advice?

Find or develop an amazing espresso blend.
Make your technique flawless so you can show the judges just how special this coffee is.
Show the new flavours that come out when combined with the right amount of smooth textured milk.
After deciding what flavours are inherent in the cup, then develop a drink using ingredients that either further bring out the flavour profiles of the coffee or compliment them.

I kind of agree with this except that it is a barista competition, and not a coffee competition. So should I add 'be charming, clean and informative' to the list? I probably should. I worry though that there'll be a point in the future, where the machinery gets so advanced that all the brewing variables are controlled and the barista's role is more alike to a waiter's. Even if you ignore the machine side, is it fair to say that as barista education spreads, the standards will keep rising, and perhaps the margins of difference in barista skills will narrow and it will fall to the charm of the barista's personality to win, not their technique?

I know I'm looking very far ahead of what the reality is, and I think the bar can still be raised much much higher, but does anyone else think about this? I've heard it said before, but is it the role of a barista to be invisible and let the coffee shine? Ugh. I haven't a clue. Leave a comment, am I barmy? I hate exams.

all for now

the monarchy and my brother

2006-04-23T10:54:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the tardy blog keeping friends, but I have been busy entertaining my girlfriend, a full time if worthy job, in itself. We spent a weekend in Edinburgh which was beautiful but a tad lacking in the specialty coffee scene and also recently spent a night in the 4 seasons in Dublin. Do you care readers? Probably not, but staying in the 4 seasons, with all it's extravagance got me thinking. They charge around 5/6 euro for quite a poor meringue like cappuccino and I hear most high end restaurants in Dublin can charge anything up to 7 euro for an espresso. I understand the price is more representative of the level of service, the scrumptious freshly baked biscuits and lavish surroundings, but I got started wondering if the Queen in England drinks coffee, and if she does is it any good? I'm sure we can presume she gets the same level of service, and enjoys the very definition of lavish interiors, but do her staff employ their famous attention to detail to the brewing process? or how they store the beans? or how fresh they are? or whether they even use beans? Surely not instant? Can we be sure? Even if Liz doesn't drink coffee, I think we can safely presume that guests at stately dinners will drink a cup now and again. Do you think she has an espresso machine? If so how many? Buckingham Palace is pretty big and we all know the problems with an espresso left idle too long......a 2 group in each wing?? I'm sure we can presume each of her country estates's are all kitted out properly. And what about other world leaders? Tony Blair? Somehow I all too easily imagine a filter coffee jug stewing away in No. 10 Anyone know what Bush drinks after dinner? In other news, my brother is an idiot. Who would think the person that originally got me into coffee would be so stupid. Yes I was silly leaving a sample of green beans around the kitchen, but you never think it will happen. I wasn't there when it happened but I've since cleaned out the whole burr system and put it back together again, and changed the fuse in the plug, but she still ain't working. I presume now that the motors busted. So for the time being, a trip to my house does not guarantee a good coffee. Sad times indeed. RIP pro-line.

grr

2006-04-06T12:38:00.000+01:00

According to this piece of paper, also known as my exam timetable, I will not be going to Bern this year. Out of every weekend in the year, they chose the one bang in the middle of my exams. Needless to say, I'm pissed off.

good cafes

2006-04-06T09:22:00.000+01:00

So, for anyone thinking about travelling to Dublin, or anyone who lives here, I thought I'd put down a list of the few cafes in Dublin I think are worth checking out. Once I get my new camera I'll throw some pics in too, so if you're interested check back on this post in a week. in no particular order; Avoca Cafe. It has to be one of the nicest cafes in Dublin. They serve great food, fresh scones that are baked in house daily,and the coffee is excellent. However, sadly only when Arthur works. He just got a 3 group Linea in and a robur grinder which as far as I know he prefers to the battered Gaggia he used to have. Although the Gaggia always ran too hot he still managed to serve coffee well above the average quality, which in my mind is a testament to his skill as a barista. On Arthur's days off, the quality of coffee does drop which is a shame as I love everything else about the place. They have some of the best waiters in Dublin and I love the red and white interior and the wooden floors. One of the best spots great lunch and excellent espresso in town. It goes without saying that latte art is a given on every drink. Donnybrook Fair. Strangely I've only ever been here once. Its in Ballsbridge in Dublin which is a little off my daily path, but I do hope to get there more often. To me it has a more restaurant feel to it, with sleek interiors and a long bar incorporating the espresso bar and a cocktail bar. If my sources and one visit are anything to go by, you can expect to see great latte art on every visit and taste really good coffee. Also Buzz who runs the coffee over there is really good guy and a great Barista. Coffee Angel. It can get very annoying when you only have a select group of cafes that you can visit and get good coffee, so I was delighted when I found Coffee Angel before Christmas. I say 'found', but its been around for ages and I was just too lazy to go and check it out. Often when a barista from a certain cafe wins a competition, people talk about how the standard in the cafe is not the same as in the comp. Well, seeing as Karl Purdy, the current Irish Barista Champion, and owner of Coffee Angel has no other staff, its fair to say he's serving competition standard coffee all the time. The man is a bloody workhorse. You'll find him working off his mobile espresso bar down by the IFSC on the liffey every morning rain or shine. Although Karl runs a take away stand, and so serves in paper cups, ask nicely enough and I'm sure he'll serve you an espresso in a ceramic or heavy glass vessel. I'm confident he'll improve on the current Irish ranking. Great espresso despite the best efforts of the elements. Bewley's Cafe on Grafton Street. I sort of feel I shouldn't be including this one as , well I work there, and I'm responsible for all the in house training and barista supervision. I should mention that Deaton does this as well. I'm still not sure if its his job description or not but having a lot of training experience already, Deaton can't but set examples and educate whereever possible. The standards wouldn't be as high in the building if it wasn't for Deaton being there full time. (I work part time). I won't go into too much self promotion here but I believe the quality of espresso and the average skill level of our thirty or so barista's is very high . All the coffee is roasted in house as well so I believe we are serving a unique coffee offer in Dublin. Enough of that, here's some pics so you can decide for yourself. Neither Deaton or I made any of these drinks.

customers appreciating

2006-04-03T22:40:00.000+01:00

Popped into work after college today and met up with mates Deaton Pigot, and Arthur Wynn. There's far too few coffee professionals actually passionate about the craft in Dublin, and its fair to say that these two set examples. Deaton's a roaster and barista trainer, working with me in Bewley's Cafe on Grafton St in Dublin, and hails from that topsy turvy part of the world called Australia. Arthur is one of the best working barista's I have ever seen and as far as I can tell, doesn't train more simply so he can stay behind the bar. He works in Avoca cafe on Suffolk Street in Dublin, and unsurprisingly enough, he is also Australian. He's forever slagging me for not putting more time in behind the bar, which I really do miss, but unfortunately, my college timetable rules the roost these days. In between people watching and enjoying a few espresso's, we talked about how we could improve standards in our cafe's. Its interesting how after a certain point in learning about coffee you begin to focus on the faults. You wish your triple rosetta's was more defined and as you take your first sip of your first morning espresso, your eyes dart left and right seeking out any imperfections. It does however, make it all the more wonderful when you get those great shots, which, I'm chuffed to say, seem to becoming more and more common. Its something I've talked a bit about with James Hoffman, who, just so you know, I will refer to as Jim from now on. Can we only appreciate coffee if its perfect? Because many of us live and breadth this stuff, do we devote enough time to doing what initially got us into it? I hate myself when I peer into every new cafe I see, and dismiss it immediately when I spot the absence of a tamper, a crammed grounds chamber, or the portafilter's lying beneath the machine. Or those times when you go out with friends who don't share your passion. They choose the cafe that although lovely on the inside, with good food and music, annoyingly serves mucky coffee. Your friend glares at you, daring you to moan or begin critique. You avert your eyes from the 'bar' only to cringe at previously unnoticed flaws; the poorly located sugar stand, the misspellllings on the coffee menu, the various claims of freshness and fairly traded etc etc etc But do the average customers notice these things? (How could they not I know I know.) But from my experience in various cafes, the most common complaint is still that of too hot or too cold. Lack of chocolate on the cappuccinos assaults my ears now and again, and very occasionally, complaints of the espresso being too strong. We know we'll always foster barista development where we can, but I wonder what areas will impress the customers more? Appearence? Taste? When they don't like a coffee, due to a particular flavour, what 'flavour' don't they like? The Dublin cafe scene could better be described as a milk scene considering the litres of milk I see stacked outside cafes in the early hours as I stumble home.(didn't disturb the peace don't worry) Espresso is sadly a rare order, bar Italians, so nearly all our coffee's are presented through milk. It's so rare that the milk is really off that I wonder what faults in the shots cut through and affected the consumer's pallette? Granted there are definitely more and more customers these days that understand what they're tasting and will complain when provoked by a burnt thin cappuccino. However, in my opinion they are still a small minority. Furthering customer knowledge is clearly an ideal, although some cafe owners might not appreciate the added pressure. We are lucky enough in Grafton Street to have a shop roaster opposite the bar, providing informative eye candy to accompany their drink. Hours are spent each day explaining the bean to cup process to customers, a revelation I think I will never tire of. But apart from this, is latte art, high quality service and cleanliness the only way to impress every customer? Do we resign to the idea that some people will never like our coffee regardless how superior the taste to the nearest cometitor? When we put all that effort in a fluid ounze of liquid, and they still call it bitter, arer they wrong? Crafting great tasting coffee will always come first but if all they want is their latte not too hot, surely it brings a whole new angle to the stable temperature debate?

More at ease already

2006-03-31T20:21:00.000+01:00

Had a good day today. Met up with my friend Brian, a chef, for some lunch and a few drinks. Through congested sniffles, I mentioned how I was frustrated with myself as I was suddenly having trouble in identifying flavour profiles and technical defects in the cup!! Brian , the chef friend, immediately pointed out how being as congested as I disgustingly was, would easily have affected my palette. I realized then that I'd been a bit blocked up for the past week. No wonder I wasn't tasting well the other day! I suddenly felt so relieved as I emptied my bottle of Krombacher. I'm now feeling a lot clearer in the head you'll be glad to hear. Roasting and cupping all day tomorrow so I'm looking forward to getting my skills back on track. We're working on a new espresso blend which is never easy so I'm sure I'll be kept busy. I wanna do some checks on the roburs in the building too as although they're still too new to be blunt the machines are getting a little too hot for my liking. I've always thought the lower rpm prevented this but hat said we do have a low ceiling over the bar so maybe its the temperature in the room. Will do some tests tomorrow.

dirty shots

2006-03-31T08:59:00.000+01:00

sweet jesus I'm a blogger

2006-03-30T23:07:00.000+01:00

Hello reader. It was a matter of time till this happened. I'm a bloody blogger. I feel like its a swear word. However I spend enough time reading other peoples I took the jump and presumed people would want to hear what I have to say. I hate myself already. The reason it didn't happen sooner is that I strongly suspect I have very little to offer in terms of interesting narrative. While I reckon I know an awful lot about coffee, this can only be declared if if I compare myself to the neighbour's dog Anakin. (yes, I think it has to be a star wars reference too, but you should see his multi art!) But I do like coffee, and I am trying very hard to learn more. In fact I might as well make that the subject of my first post. I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon covering espresso technique with my friend Deaton and the current Irish Barista Champion Karl Purdy. We were experimenting with different dosing and tamping techniques as well as trying to understand the taste difference in the cup between a flat and a convex tamper. In addition to this we were using three different espresso blends which ranged from 3 hours to 10 days old. So here's the problem. Too many bloody variables. Despite working off a machine I'm very familiar with (3 group linea), so many of the shots just weren't playing by the books.

The shots that ought to have sucked were ok and vice versa.
I got depressed when I couldn't distinguish the flavour profiles in the shot despite having the scaa flavour wheel in front of me.
We were trying to prove certain 'truths' in espresso technique but kept getting differing results, especially regarding tamping.
As I spent time judging the Irish regional competitions recently I was that bit more attentive to things like crema appearence, which yesterday went from a melted butter to woody golden red.

I just felt that the whole time, I needed somebody to walk in and point out the faults in my technique. I need to humble myself and get a battering off a greater espresso mind. I know it the beauty and the beast and all that but I wish I could hold my hand up and say I can consistently make great espresso. I hate not knowing exactly how a shot will taste when I make one for somebody. I'm so aware and increasingly terrified of all the factors involved, that I recently considered the idea of doing what cocktail barmen do when they stick a small strw into the drink to sample. I tried it with a few shots but I'm not sure if you can discern enough from it. Perhaps when I get some practice on temperature stable machines I'll become a little more at ease. Doubt it though.