Archive for January, 2009
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Last year I wrote a post with 6 tips for barista competition. This year, with the rule changes and all, I wanted to write another little post (though still give the first a quick re-read…).
I really want to encourage people to enter, it isn’t as difficult or scary as it seems. Everyone who competes, as long as they do it for the right reasons, gets a lot out of it and doesn’t regret a minute of it. What’s more – I guarantee it will make you a better barista.
1). Make sure you put an espresso into every sig drink.
Now to begin with this might sound painfully obvious, but every year people make this mistake and up until now the rules haven’t been very clear. Just brewing those 4 espressos isn’t enough. If you blend them into something and don’t pour it all out then it doesn’t count as an espresso per drink. Under the new rules you would get 0 from all sensory judges for this category so DO NOT make that mistake.
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Tags: Barista, Barista Competition, competition, Espresso, howto, judging, learning, rules, tips, ukbc, wbc
Posted in Barista Competition | 5 Comments »
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
I’ve tried to avoid writing about the current economic climate, and the outlook for coffee in 2009, and using the two “c” words that lost any meaning months ago.
Nonetheless it has been interesting to see what they industry press are writing about, what advice is being offered, what strategies are being deemed wise. A word I am seeing more and more is ‘diversifying’.
Starbucks are in a mess right now, and they have been for some time. To me the problems are linked to a gradual loss of identity over the last few years. Right now they are putting out mixed messages – on one hand promoting better coffee, on the other hand discounting it. Worrying about breakfast sandwiches, selling CDs, whilst still trying to claim that they are all about the coffee.
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Tags: Coffee, consumer, customers, diversifying, identity, pricing, promises, quality, sales, starbucks, tonx, trust
Posted in Coffee | 15 Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
I think everyone in coffee knows deep down this is true. The wine model only works for wine, we can’t transplant it to coffee and expect some immediate understanding and increased sales of quality coffees.
First and foremost – we don’t drink coffee like we drink wine. Broadly speaking we buy wine in two different circumstances: to enjoy ourselves and to enjoy with others. Generally we spend more, buy better, buy more interesting when we are enjoying it with others. We want to know more, want a little story, want something worth discussing. Wine’s great success was making it culturally acceptable/desirable to discuss what you drank at some length. Coffee isn’t quite there yet. We drink coffee in different circumstances – mostly it is a solitary affair, though sometimes shared but rarely the focal point the way a stellar bottle of wine can be. We experience it in different environments, with different goals and different focus on the sensory experience.
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Tags: chocolate, consumer, education, marketing, microlots, models, Opinion, sales, tea, tea smith, trust, william curley, wine
Posted in Opinion | 32 Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
I’ve written a lot recently with an industry readership in mind. This post I write with the consumer firmly in mind. This isn’t about exonerating lazy cafe owners and baristas, or excusing the chains or making allowances for restaurant coffee. Anyone who loves or even likes coffee will often complain about how bad a lot of it is, how hard it is to get a good cup.
You, the consumers, are to blame.
Now you certainly can’t take all the blame but consumers have an enormous power over the people making the coffee. After all – you’re paying for it. You are staggeringly tolerant of incredibly poor product. You can do something very simple that would have a huge effect on the quality of coffee served: when it is bad – take it back.
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Footnotes:
Tags: Barista, Cafes, cupping, customers, drinks, feedback, job, not too serious, Opinion, quality, trust
Posted in Opinion | 32 Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
I suppose I consider my previous predictions (with your support) reasonably successful.
Just for fun I am going to make another 5 predictions and we’ll wait and see how they turn out!
1). Coffee packaging takes a big step forward
Think for a moment about how many kilos of espresso are brewed every day. Think about how many bags are thrown away each day. Good packaging is a necessity for quality, but it isn’t recyclable and that is becoming more and more of an issue. The reusable, valved buckets we’ve been using at Square Mile have been great, and I am glad the bulk of our production goes out in them, but we still have to bag a good deal up. Hopefully this year we’ll see someone clever devil make a breakthrough and move coffee packaging at least a little closer to closed loop recycling.
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Tags: 2009, coffee press, espresso grinders, Green Coffee, grinders, packaging, prediction, uk-coffee
Posted in Opinion | 8 Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Just a quick post for those of you partial to podcasts. Should you desire you can listen to me ramble on (in a very caffeinated way) after the Taste of Sweden event last month. There is obviously more to the podcast than me (thanfully!) so have a listen here:
Common Grind Episode 5
Tags: interview, podcast, talking and stuff
Posted in Opinion | 1 Comment »
