The challenge is simple – pour latte art in something unusual and post a link in the comments or use trackback.
I’ve been thinking about this for a little while and was inspired by a few amusing pours like these:
Tonx:
Owl3:
If enough people get into it then maybe there will be some sort of pointless prize suiting the silliness of this. I challenge you – pour somewhere stupid!
UPDATE: A rather excellent first offering from Tim Styles in the comments.
With sadness we left Anette behind for a day as she had to collect her visa and the rest of us ventured down in the United States of the Americas. It was nice there – warm, sunny and not as cold and mean/rainy as Vancouver had been.
We went up to Elysian Brewing for some beers and some food, which was pretty good, suffered a terrible mojito on the way home and were up and raring to go the next morning.
First stop was the newer Victrola up on Pike. It is a lovely old building, formerly an garage for car repair (I refuse to lower myself to the American terminology!). I love the colours on the outside and it looked great in the sunshine.
We went in and had a few shots that were pretty good and then introduced ourselves to the manager Sarah Jane and Keith and Perry who were doing the roasting in the space through the glass. Sarah Jane then made us a press of their Yirg that was really great, and sitting in the wide open space at a massive table with the sun streaming through the large windows it was a great coffee experience. We had a little look around the roastery and around their training rooms and it really is a good place to be on a sunny day.
Just up the road was Caffe Vita and we snuck in for a quick espresso and also to press our faces up to the glass wall into their roastery. Their Probat looks beautiful and you can see a little up into their offices where the sample roaster is. It is beautiful. The coffee was interesting – mine had an odd parma violet note that I’ve never had before.
By this point my camera battery had died and my charger was in a car with Anette and Alistair stuck at the border in a big queue. Which was very frustrating – hopefully Stephen will upload a few.
The final serious cafe moment of that day was up at Vivace Roasteria on Broadway. I gather they are tearing the building down to make way for a light rail station which seems a shame. Vivace seems to have a very strong identity and the roasting room in that store, whilst clearly now barely used, is very pretty. Apart from the obvious espresso and capps in there I also tried a Cafe Nico. It was pretty good – orange zest, a little syrup, coffee and milk in a small cup with some spices on top – nicely balanced and not screamingly sweet. Interesting to see someone basically offering a signature drink, especially a cafe that doesn’t have a strong interest in barista competition.
Whilst in Seattle it would seem criminal not to go over and catch up with the guys at Clover. It was great to see David and Zander again, and to meet (the now infamous) Tatiana. Despite being extremely full of tongue tacos and burritos al pastor, I had room for coffee. They had some of George Howell’s coffee up there and whilst it isn’t my place to say how or what they were doing they were finding innovative ways to get his coffee to really sing in the cup. We tasted the Mamuto and it was stellar, really clean strong fruit in the cup that remained loud and balanced as the coffee cooled. We tried a couple more and then went to meet up with a few people from Zoka and other places that were planning to go and roast on the beach.
Beach roasting was memorable. It was also very hot and having to slowly rotate the metal ball roaster by hand over a very hot fire pit was challenging (in the good way of course). All the roasts I got involved in were a little uneven but the last one before the light completely went was great and surprisingly even.
Trish from Zoka and Chris from Atlas (who owns the roaster) led the way and it was great to meet Dismas and a load of other people and to get a feeling of the community down in Seattle. It was also nice to see Anette freshly allowed into the States and we went and had more amazing Mexican (it has become the official cuisine of the trip!) food with Bronwen to celebrate.
The next day we went back to Victrola so Anette could see it as well the newest Vivace. We were all sat down at a table and one of the guys with us went off to order 4 capps. He asked for them to be wet in his very Irish accent and the looked pretty good when they arrived. The first sip was a confusing experience. They were sweet, but not ordinary sweet – more like someone had stirred 2 sugars into every drink. I know their milk is well textured and sweet but it was just ridiculous. Turns out wet had been misheard and instead we had order white – as in 4 white chocolate capps, which explained everything. We went back for a load of espressos and I have to say that the taste of their coffee is very distinct and consistent store to store. (Anette is visible in the spoon).
A little later that day word had gotten out and David from Clover was on the phone (rightly) mocking us drinking white mochas in Vivace.
From speaking to a few people they recommended we try and find a new start up called Seven. Its a small neighborhood shop near Greenlake and they are roasting in the back on a little 2 kilo Ambex. The feel of the store was great and Carl (or maybe Karl) made us feel very welcome.
I recommend dropping by if you are in that area and have a little time. Some nice details in the place. Afterwards we popped over to the Zoka store in Greenlake. We wanted to swing by the roastery but (typically) time got the better of us. The Zoka store was totally different, bigger and pretty much packed out. By this time I had had a lot of coffee, and at that point yet another cup (no matter how good) was going to be hard. I hate leaving behind half finished cups of coffee, but they dose quite heavy with their Clover and it was a 12oz cup – I am just not man enough I guess. However, just around the corners is the masterful Hiroki who does rather splendid desserts. Naughty but nice.
Breakfast the next morning was a chance to see Bronwen one more time before we left as she was working over at Sitka and Spruce. I wish I lived near a place like this – I would be happy and fat. The brunch was amazing and the cappuccinos Bronwen made really hit the spot.
We then got a phone call from David Schomer saying he would love to meet us and make us some coffee. This is not a call you say no to, so after a very brief visit to Trabant we were shamefully running late.
We headed back down to his new store and the bar setup means that one machine can very much look after a busy queue and yet there is still a three group available for “guests”. David jumped on the machine straight away and started pulling some shots. What was interesting is that his were better than his staff’s. Maybe he just knows his coffee inside out. Mine had a really great, light fluffy mouthfeel and whilst the actually flavours may not be what I am into I can understand why his coffee tastes like it does.
He was very chatty about his coffee and his equipment and it was clear that he really looks after his staff and there is a nice friendly, family atmosphere there. One of the barista’s mothers was there and he was making her drinks and she was clearly proud. Pretty soon conversation turned to latte art and a couple of his baristas started to pour. It is interesting to watch people with a totally different style to my own – back to the whole fat leaves thing I guess.
What really surprised me was when David dragged both Stephen and I behind his bar to steam some milk and pour some drinks. I know David is strict about who works his machines and you have to really put your time in and earn your place, so I guess I felt a little uncomfortable just jumping back there. I also had to ask for the small cups to pour in because I have yet to get my head around anything bigger than a 12! Both Stephen and I were a little disappointed with our pours though one of the baristas pointed out that you never pour better than when you are working the line and it becomes automatic and you stop thinking so hard. It was surprisingly nerve wracking too and I felt very much on show and I am sure Stephen felt the same. Still – I doubt there will ever be another opportunity to work behind the bar next to David Schomer.
Our last stop in town was a small place called Zeitgeist near Pioneer square. They have a beautiful set up and a nice vintage GS paddle group Marzocco. I loved the feel and theme of the place and just the building itself. Worth a look.
And that was Seattle, Portland was beckoning and we needed to get in the car and go. I think that every one of these city reports will have a tinge of regret for the places we didn’t see and people we didn’t get to meet despite really wanting to. I have to say that Seattle on a sunny day is a great place to be, and it has a lovely feel to it. That, however, was totally different to the feel of Portland….
Wandered into town today having seen that Starbucks were giving away free coffee between 2pm and 4pm. Turns out it was part of FairTrade fortnight (let’s not get into ethics or labelling in coffee) and they were giving away a tall cup of their Cafe Estima blend. I timed it just right for the first cup of a fresh brew. I wandered out of the store, cup in hand, only to be cornered for a “taste test” which I was happy to partake in.
They were brewing the Estima as both drip and french press and wanted people to taste the difference. Oddly they seemed more interested in asking me which one tasted stronger. This isn’t something I usually think about, as I was paying more attention to the coffee itself. It tasted a bit flat and lacking in character. I asked what was in the blend. I was told the coffee was a blend and from Latin America. “All of Latin America?” I asked, and was greeted with a confident “Yes.” I asked when it was roasted and was told, quite confusingly, that it was roasted for at least 12 minutes. Having asked the question again it they didn’t really know, but the bags did have sell by dates. Turns out french press coffee is stronger too. Still at least they are trying and the coffee wasn’t that bad.
What captured my imagination a little more today was a nice glass cup I found in Muji. Snuck some time on a machine this evening just to see how capps looked and then it crossed my mind that making an americano in it might be quite pretty. Turns out I was right! If you click the pictures it will take you to a larger image on Flickr. I took some pictures of the coffee just hitting the water, and it was a lot of fun and I am quite pleased with a few of the pictures:
The very first drop hits:
The coffee starts to mix (I like you can see the drip tray!):
I wish this one had come out a little better – it is quite cool though:
It is also quite nice to see how much foam you are really pouring without having to spoon it around…
The problem we have with milk is that drinkable doesn’t necessarily mean foamable. Many people tell me that they find skimmed milk easier to foam than full fat, and yet we know that it is all about the protein when it comes to milk foam. Are these people right? Yes and No.
Today was the first barista jam run by the SCAE UK and the fledgling UK Barista Guild. We held it up in our offices at La Spaziale.
It was a lot of fun, though I am pretty shattered now. We decided to divide people up into small groups and then run rotating workshops to make sure everyone got a lot of practical time doing whatever they were supposed to be doing. We ran four different workshops:
Latte Art (run by Simon Robertson)
Simon talked about milk, techniques, equipments and all things latte art. There was quite a range in skill levels present from seasoned barista trainers through to those who had only been in the industry a fortnight. This didn’t stop anyone from pouring some pretty stuff:
A nice mid pour shot
Not bad if you’ve only been a barista 2 weeks!
Simon mid explanation
Single Origin Espresso (run by me)
We set up three rigs for this session, and put a different coffee in each grinder. Pairs then had 20 minutes on each machine to brew the coffee as many different ways as possible (faster/slower, updosed/downdosed, hotter/cooler) before they had to rotate onto the next machine. After this they then had to create a blend and compete to serve the best possible espresso. I got a few really great shots.
The coffees were Fazenda Cachoeira de Grama Yellow Bourbon (Brazil), Finca La Fany Bourbon (El Salvador) and a Kalosi (its traceable down to the co-op but like many coffees from that region it gets a bit sketchy after that!)
Emily and Miranda pull some shots
Mid pour, fairly light roasted La Fany
Typical mess mid blending
Introduction to Cupping (run by Anette Moldvaer)
Anette talked about the basics of setting up a cupping, which things it was important to keep constant and why, and how to put on a cupping in your shop for either staff or customers. After that they cupped 6 coffees (all quite different), 2 of which (the Cachoeira and la Fany) people had tasted during the espresso blending.
Getting stuck into the cupping
Anette talks about the cupping
A spoonful of coffee
Introduction to Roasting (run by Steve Leighton)
Steve brought along two types of sample roaster – a small electric Probat and a double barrel gas fired one. Having had a brief presentation on what is actually going on with the coffee during the roast the workshop group worked together to produce three different roasts of three different coffees (a light, a medium and a dark) which would be judged at the end. This got a bit smoky but I think was a favourite amongst a lot of people attending (and not just cos Steve gave everyone chocolate)
Checking the roast on the Probat
A dark roast for the competition
Some of the greens for the roasting (no prizes for guessing the prep method)
Epilogue
After everyone had finished and made their way home, and most of the machinery cleaned down Steve Leighton, Anette and I had a little treat. Steve had bought the pack of three top Panama coffees as green from Sweet Marias and very kindly brought us along some to cup so the three of us cupped this much hyped coffee (for Anette and I the first time we had done so).
I don’t really know what to say about it, or whether it was right to cup it knowing what it was as I dipped my spoon in. I can’t think of another coffee I have had that has tasted as little like coffee. Lemony, fruity, utterly weird goodness. I was impressed. I can’t every imagine drinking a coffee like that casually. I took a little home to very (very) careful aeropress at some point tomorrow.
Freshly roasted Esmeralda
Steve breaks
Overall it was a great day. I feel I ought to write more, but right now I am pretty tired and should just go to bed (and enjoy the extra hour of sleep tomorrow!)
[tags]barista, barista jam, espresso, coffee, roasting, cupping, coffee cupping, single origin espresso, latte art[/tags]
Having had a little time to recover, it seems time to write it up. Warning – Long Post!
The Team
Me – you know
Lou Henry – UKBC 2nd Place, owner of Opposite Cafe in Leeds. Extremely talented barista and artist to boot. Came 2nd in competition this year despite only having been making coffee for 6 months.
Ben Townsend – UKBC 4th Place, Barista Trainer. Ben picked up his skills at Maltitude in Melbourne, a cafe familiar to anyone into their latte art. Ben had been doing some independent work but now has begun the epic taste of educating those at Kenco.
Simon Robertson – Three times UK Barista Champion, 8th WBC in Seattle. Simon very kindly stepped in when Anna Tikey (UKBC 3rd) dropped out due to illness. He does a load in barista training as well as being the owner of Leoni’s Cafe in Malton, Yorkshire.
Team UK – (Lou, Me, Simon & Ben)
The other teams (in alphabetical order):
Team Estonia:
Team Iceland:
Team Ireland:
Team Germany:
Team Russia:
Day One
The event was to be held as part of a trade show, but the competition started the night before with a coffee quiz in the top floor, apparently very exclusive part of Lillies Bordello. The quiz was organised by the nice people at Java Republic and David McKiernon was reading the questions and had promised a bottle of 12 year old Jameson to each member of the winning team. Russia hadn’t yet arrived, so sadly missed out on any points (I suspect they would have done quiet well!) This was a great opportunity for everyone in the team to reveal an almost perverse level of random coffee knowledge and we were delighted to win the quiz.
Day Two
The event opened with two lectures for all of the teams – green coffee and roasting. Here I will voice one of my very few complaints about the event, and it applies equally to the Nordic Barista Cup: group lectures are unlikely to be able to cater to everyone present. There are those that will take a lot away from it, whilst others may have already been over that ground a few times before. I think having a two tier system of lectures would be great. This is a minor concern, and this is not saying the lectures were poor – they were great and I always pick up new stuff. After the lectures we were split into three groups of two teams (we were partnered with the Estonians, who were really fun throughout) and we began the workshops. The idea behind the workshops was that there would be something educational as well as some test where the teams could be scored.
Roasting
Each team was given 5 different coffees – generic Brazil, Java, Honduras, Colombia and a robusta and a Probat sample roaster. We had about 80 minutes to roast and blend as best we could. As the only one with any experience (though not that much!) on a sample roaster I got the duty of inhaling the roast smoke and poking it with a spoon occaisonally. The rest of the team set about cleaning up the samples of green coffee – especially the Java and helping keep a roasting log. Once we were a few roasts in the team began to taste the coffees. There was an espresso machine available but we decided it wouldn’t really much help if the coffee was minutes out of the roaster so Simon and Lou devised a simple cupping method where we would see how the coffee was tasting and what characteristics it had and would make roasting decision based on this. We also had to talk to the judges as we went explaining what we were doing and why. It seemed to go ok, and we took second place overall in this one – having been beaten by the Russians.
Me, Lou and Stuart (from Masteroast who was judging us)
Lou screens some of the green coffee:
Filter Brewing
This is one aspect of coffee where I confess to being a little light on knowledge. The lecture was done by Paul Stack of Marco, who also did an incredible job of organising the whole thing. I think this was my favourite of all the lectures because it was really well presented, practical and most of all really interesting. We were scored partially on a taste test of different grinds and doses but mostly on our ability to brew to an exact TDS and percentage of extraction. We kind of messed this one up, running out of time and pulling the brew before it was finished meaning the TDS was way too high. I think we placed 5th overall here.
Paul Stack presenting:
That night they took us out to a famous tourist pub (note the word tourist there) called Johnny Fox’s for “hearty” food and lots of Guinness. After the meal the music began, under the guise of traditional folk but there is only so much cheesey diddly-dee music I can stand. Ended up just hanging out in the bar chatting to folks til the bus came to take us home.
The table:
The band:
Day Three
Having learnt my lesson early on I skipped the hotel breakfast and went with Stephen Morrissey into Bewleys Cafe on Grafton street for a proper breakfast, a nice latte art topped cappuccino and an espresso. And a cupping. A few other people turned up for the impromptu cupping which was only five coffees but nonetheless fun, and also a chance to use my 49th Parallel roasters spoon Stephen had brought me back from Vancouver.
Some coffees:
Espresso Machine Workshop
We (by which I mean La Spaziale) were sponsoring the machines for the event so I stepped out of the competitive parts of this one. There was a written test and then a lecture. I think everyone’s favourite bit of this was the video of the perspex portafilter during an extraction, and Luca from La Spaziale Italy had to play it about 5 times for every group! After this there was a practical test where you had to fix 5 faults on a machine against the clock. To find out the UK had won was a mixture of pleasure and worry about how it would look with me being on the team, but they won it fair and square with the same test score as the Russians but being 30 seconds quicker on the practical test – Simon enjoys messing with machines and isn’t afraid of a bit of engineering which I think really helped.
Grinding/Sensory
Here the groups were switched around and we shared the next sessions with Iceland and Ireland (we never did share with the Russians which was a shame). After a lecture on grinding from Dr. Schwarz each team then had to brew the coffee they had roasted the day before. The twist was that 1 person had to make 4 espressos, 1 had to make 4 cappuccinos and you had ten minutes to do it, but you had to set the grinder (from very coarse) in this time as well. The teams before us struggled a little bit, so it was an advantage to go last. Of our group we were the only ones to serve all 8 drinks, Simon doing the espressos and me doing the cappuccinos. I even managed a little latte art! In the other group the same thing happened with Russia being the only team to finish, and I think their advantage in the roasting workshop carried through as they won it and we took second.
I quite liked our coffee, even if it was a little excitable!
Irish Teamwork:
Me dosing, Lou prepping and Ben explaining the coffee (courtesy of Stephen):
You can see we didn’t have much coffee to work with, which made us very nervous!
Cupping Competition:
This was one of the big highligts of the event. Alf Kramer came over to compere it and did a great job. We were split into two heats of three, with the top three overall facing off in a final. 8 triangular cupping tests and also working against the clock. We went up against Ireland and Estonia. Estonia got 6, we got 5 and Ireland 4. The second heat was awesome. I may be wrong but I think Russia and Germany both got full marks (Russia were quicker) and Iceland only got one wrong so the same three went again in the final.
The cupping isn’t that interesting to watch – it is the reveal. Each team takes it in turns to lift up the cup they think is the odd one out. If it has a red dot underneath then it is right. This way the tension builds pretty quickly. It came down to Germany’s final cup. A dot and they would win and beat Iceland. They drew a blank and Iceland got a deserved win. Really great to watch and all three teams were absolutely amazing.
Speedy German Spoons:
Alf lets the crowd in on the slurping:
German disappointment but Icelandic joy in the background:
A happy Sonya:
That night we went on a bus tour of Dublin (by night, which was both cold and slightly bizarre – though mostly down to the narration as we went from a very odd bus driver.) He then dropped us off at the venue for the night’s entertainment. An open bar and a bbq meant things got going pretty quickly. Once people were suitably “lively” it was time for the Team Entertainment presentation. You had to fill 5 minutes and be entertaining and it was worth as many points as any other event. We went last (which was great cos everyone was really, really drunk by then) and performed the “World’s Crappest Irish Joke”. The credit for this one goes to Simon (for the joke and the onstage narration) and to Lou for her awesome set and prop design (oh yes people – no expense spared). Somehow we got second place, with the Russian’s comical performance of Swan Lake taking first. My favourite was the Estonians surreal interpretation of “My hat it has three corners”. Very, very funny! Like many of the nights it ended pretty late, but was incredibly good fun and hanging out with all the baristas was great.
Day Four
By this point I had come to realise the true genius of whoever it was that decided the events shouldn’t start each day til midday. Every minute of sleep/recovery was precious. We started the day with our final workshop:
WBC Workshop
David Cooper talked us through the new rules for the WBC next year, which was quite useful to know. What followed was a written test on the WBC – very hard! and then each team had to nominate a member to produce 4 cappuccinos to a set of judges under full WBC conditions. The twist was that they had to get the coffees from the stage to the seating area without using a tray and they had to serve them all at once. Most people either carried all four (very brave, but very impressive) or used the drip tray (resourceful). Simon had a stroke of genius and when it was his turn he picked up the judges table, brought it on stage, loaded it and brought it back to them. The coffees weren’t bad either….. we won the workshop!
Karl making his coffees (Stephen’s photo):
Simon’s traditionals:
Blind Latte Art:
As if latte art wasn’t hard enough on stage. This was the final event of the competition and one for all the teams. We were drawn out of the hat first. The way it worked was that three members were blindfolded and one sighted. One had to grind and dose and tamp, pass the handle across for a quick flush and then the extraction. The final member would then steam the milk, pour lovely latte art and then serve the drinks. They would be guided by the sighted member who was not allowed to touch anything. I was the one talking (on a mic so the audience could “to your left…. left…. the other left…. etc…) Ben was grinding the shots, Lou pulling the espressos and Simon steaming milk for the 4 cappuccinos and all credit to him for pouring what I thought were awesome rosettas. The drinks were then judged for taste, and we were tech judged too. Russia were amazing, Ireland were incredible. We picked up 4th place but the Irish took a much needed and well deserved win. A couple of Ruslan’s rosettas were stunning…
Olga’s Heart (Gary McGann’s photo):
Simon pouring under my instruction:
Blindfold Iceland:
The results:
Here is where it got a little embarrassing for me. I knew in advance I would be collecting a trophy on behalf of the UK for the competitions in Bern. It turns out that if you take every countries scores from the WBC, World latte art, world cupping comp and Coffee in Good spirits (5th, 5th, 9th, 3rd) then we did the best overall. This trophy will be passed on year to year. Alf handed it over and I was delighted to accept it on behald of Stephen Hurst (cupping) and Paul Meikle-Janney (coffee in good spirits) and meself.
Recieving the trophy (a mounted old grinder):
Next trophy was The Cow. The Cow had had a bad flight over, being briefly seperated from its feet due to Ryanair’s rough baggage handlers (just to clarify – this is a porcelain cow we won in the last Team comp which was Ireland Vs. UK and will be handed to whoever places above the other in future competition). We beat the Irish team so I went up on stage again to collect that trophy. Already I suspect the audience is growing sick of my face.
I will find a picture of the cow!
Finally the overall European Team Coffee Challenge winners were announced. In reverse order:
5th Germany
4th= Iceland
4th= Estonia
3rd Ireland
2nd Russia
1st UK
(I will find a better picture!)
We were delighted to win it, the team worked really hard throughout, and I feel like I haven’t talked enough about how much everyone contributed. It was weirdly embarrassing to be back onstage yet again! Stephen has already noted on his blog that the SCAE website makes a very good point about the goal of the competition:
The experience of competing is the prize. Winning the competition is a bonus.
I felt a bit odd after winning, because it had felt like a goal to work towards but winning it didn’t make it different. It was a great event and I would have had as much fun coming last as coming first (ok, maybe coming 3rd or 2nd or something….)
I must say publically that Paul Stack from Marco did an absolutely amazing job making it all happen as smoothly as it did, and I think everyone who came had a great time. It renewed a little of my faith that had been lost in team competitions after the Nordic Cup, and I think they are a really great thing (especially if you are participating). It was great, thank you to all. I won’t list names.
Things to click:
SCAE European Team Comp Homepage
Stephen Morrissey’s Flickr Set
[tags]coffee, coffee competition, barista competition, SCAE, European team challenge, espresso, latte art, dublin[/tags]
Just got back home from Copenhagen, despite a flight determined to be both a bit bumpy and constantly delayed just a little bit more….
(custom made shot glasses for the event. In no way have I stolen a few of these…..)
Anyway – the NBC, did it live up to expectation? Did I learn much? Would I go again? I would like to say from the off that overall I had a very positive experience, but I know well enough people will wish to dwell upon and discuss the negative aspects I may raise here. I shall try and go through the two days I attended explaining what I saw and participated in.
I hope I don’t just end up doing what Barista Magazine have already done on the NBC website, only worse!
Friday
I missed the first day due to a tradeshow in Birmingam so La Spaziale bought me a two day ticket (400 euro) for the event. I got up scandalously early and met my boss at the airport (worryingly we were the only two from the UK there attending and not involved in sponsorship!) and finally arrived at the venue about 11am. We had missed the first sugar lecture fand having said a quick hello to everyone I had a quick dip into all the different sugars laid out on tables. (Having missed the first lecture I was not really sure what I was supposed to be doing.) I was delighted to see the Clover guys, though I confess my initial delight was fuelled by a desperate need to caffeine myself – which they did in style with a Kenyan from Estate Coffee. And then cup of Los Nubes fro Guatamala, also from Estate, and then another cup and then another cup. I was a coffee hog. I almost felt bad.
(Is it me or does the clover puck remind anyone else of a chocolate brownie?)
I settled in for the second sugar lecture and was pleasantly surprised by it. It was given by Danisco who I assume are a Danish sugar company. Not only was sugar’s role in diet discussed but also information on the sweetness profiles of different simple sugars – fructose gives a great burst of sweetness than sucrose, but does not linger as long. I found the science side of it fairly comfortable, and no one really seemed to complain about the level at which he was talking.
Europa provided the lunch. The open faced sandwiches were simply awesome. Back to business.
After lunch was the roasting lecture from Probat titled “Roasting Secrets”. I broke out the notepad and settled in to try and grab as much as I could. I was a bit disappointed by the content of the lecture. It was extremely basic and seemed to gloss over a great deal of information that I am sure many baristas would have liked more of. Most of us know that Maillard reactions turn the coffee brown, and that the longer you roast the more bitterness you get. I hope to learn of how to adapt techniques to different coffees with different ages or densities, to learn about developments in their equipment, to gain something new but also practical. They also talked about the colorette machine, but I confess that once the subject of software and time and date settings came up it seemed a good time to grab another cup of coffee and a little desert (again – so very tasty!).
Roasting samples by the Probatino:
The lecture I was looking forward to most that day was Morten’s on water. I’ve met Morten on a few occaisons, usually when he is presenting something for the Copenhagen Coffee Academy at a show like this. His lectures on milk are a must so I wanted to hear what he had to say about water. I thought his explanation of the polarity of water, illustrated by magnets and then the use of a pipette and a cd to show surface tension were both inspired. Sometimes I don’t get complete clarity of an idea when I just read it in a book and it was great to have it presented so well. Best of the day for me, though I am aware a few people were uncomfortable with some of the science.
There were team competitions going on after each lecture, and after the water there was a triangular cupping test trying to spot the odd water of three cups. More interesting to try yourself after than to watch but still interesting and very different.
What I did find very odd were the four pristine machines sat in the hall, provided by La Marzocco. Having spoken to the people who were there for the first day it seemed that in the entire first two days not one single competitive espresso was pulled by anyone in the teams. Which seemed weird for a barista competition. I had a play, and was interested and excited to see the machines all equipped with teflon coated portafilters.
I popped a couple of baskets open to see how the dirt was building up and was pleasantly surprised. I’d still like to see them after a heavy day though, but they seemed to be having a positive effect.
After a dinner the Norwegian’s talked through their winning trip to origin from last year, where they visited Brazil for the CoE as well as seeing the Barista Championship there. The photos and commentary were pretty funny.
The day ended with Jeopardy, which was a bit random though again quite amusing.
Saturday
Running a little low on sleep I’d overslept slightly and gotten to the venue where the competition was a little late. The NBC had taken over a part of a square right in the middle of Copenhagen. They had a marquee and each team had a station inside it. Their challenge was to sell as much coffee – drinks and whole bean El Salvador CoE – to the public or just anyone around, as well as anything else they could get their hands on. The Icelandic’s bananas were excellent, a cup of the fresh brewed El Salvador was nice. I popped over to see the Norwegian’s to grab a coffee only to find I had no change left and considering it was for a good cause – kids in El Salvador – I somehow ended up handing over a 100KR note for a macchiato. Probably the most expensive I will ever drink, but like I said – for a good cause.
Whilst this continued Anette and I wandered down to Europa which was pretty close by. We had a couple of espressos (they were using the teflon pfs on the machine there which was interesting). Outside Steve Penk, Gary McGann and Conell (from Espresso Warehouse) had some cappuccinos that looked pretty good.
Heading back I caught up with Troels who very kindly organised me some of the Kontra coffee to magically appear from the roastery, which I was very grateful for and am looking forward to trying very much. It was nice to see people and to chat and to hang out. There was the option of a coffee crawl with 8 or so coffee shops agreeing to give free coffee to anyone who came in with an NBC badge but I ended up chatting to much and, in truth, being too lazy.
The next team event was the attempt to serve a record breaking number of drinks with latte art on. They had 5 minutes and the drinks had to be between 55-65C or they were void, which caught the teams out a bit on their first attempt. Everyone seemed to do better the second time though I have no idea whatsoever if a record was set!
I confess to kind of drifting in and out of the event here. I wasn’t really sure what was happening a lot of the time so just ended up chatting to people. Was really great to meet Chris from Gimme! (whom you should all know from this article) who was over for the event with his girlfriend whom I hope I didn’t bore to death talking about rubbish as I do. There was a sig drink competition but people were so tightly packed around each serving area that I had no chance to see (or taste) what was going on. Of course it would have been lovely if there could have been some sort of screens but I know how much that sort of things costs!
The teams had roasted some coffee earlier in the day and then they had to brew it on the Clover for a tasting panel. I think Chris was part of this, so I am sure he will blog about what he thought and how the teams did.
Raw Clover power:
Denmark cooling their roast:
The day ended with an auction of everything that had been supplied by sponsors. Loads of coffee, pitchers, DVDs, milk, chef’s knives, chopping boards and in one surreal moment a Nespresso machine. All went up and hopefully made a fair amount of money for charity. I headed back to the hotel to try and recuperate before the evening event.
The 80′s party
My eyes….
The teams went all out on this one – some superb outfits. (my excuse for not dressing up is that I didn’t have time to bring anything. That and a vague fondness for dignity)
Halvard looking very serious:
Clover again representing:
Just not right.
Anyway – the evening was great fun. The food was very good, the coffee obviously excellent (Las Mercedes from El Salvador CoE), but the entertainment was really what we were there for. Each team had a little Eurovision performance. Awesome, terrible, frightening, dazzling and very, very funny. Finland won (it didn’t count towards the real comp) but Iceland were my favourite.
At the end of all this the winner was announced: Norway.
I hadn’t really been involved at all so had no idea who had been doing well. Norwary are undoubtedly a serious and well practised, and also experienced, team. They have now won it three of the four times, which I suggest means they can’t win next year and are runners for the other teams! (Though getting interested participants may be tricky).
So – overall: Did it live up to expectations? No. But then I guess I probably had wildly unrealistic expectations about what I would learn (That was the side of things that I really was interested in). The best thing about the event is, and will always be, the people. To see so many people agian, to catch up and hang out a little was great (especially Luis from the Consejo in El Salvador who seems curiously absent from this post, but I figure he deserves one of his own on the blog). I wish I had had more time to chat to Klaus and Morten and Troels and Tim and and and…..
The problem I have with the event is that it needs to either be all about the teams (in which case you can’t charge people to watch and attend) or it needs to be more aware of its attendees. There were long gaps where nothing happened (unless you were in a team) and I had higher hopes for the level that the lectures were pitched at, especially the roasting one. One rather good idea – I cannot take the credit – would be to split those attending into Basic and Advanced depending on whether they wanted an introduction to the topic or to take it to the next level. It is expensive to attend, and a little annoying that for the whole three days it was only 20 euros more, though I would have had a cupping, more lectures as well as a very nice meal in a great restaurant. It felt a bit like I was funding things I wasn’t getting.
This is not to take away anything from those who organised it and did a great job doing it. It ran incredibly smoothly, on time and everyone who went to it gained. I had other frustrations during my time there but they were not directly to do with the Cup, more to do with people in this industry and their attitude to others and the attitude to learning. I’d like to see a little less of people believing they are absolutely right and being a bit patronising and closed with it. This is a small number of people, and I must stress this is nothing to do with Danish guys organising or teams participating. I am wary of writing criticism but I think the WBC has benefitted from an open exchange of ideas and thoughts and this is nothing different to what I wrote on the feedback form and handed in during the dinner last night.
Would I go again? I think so. I’d need to go to the whole thing, and I would hope that the program for the attendees who are spending a fair amount to be there (not just tickets but flights, hotels and food) is continually developed. I think my expectations will be a little less wild next year and I think the guys in Sweden will do a great job hosting it.
Again it was great to see people and I’d list everyone here but I’d get 40 or more names into it and still forget someone!
I look forward to seeing what other people have to say. Congratulations to one and all who competed. You were awesome.
[tags]coffee, barista, barista competition, nordic barista cup, latte art, espresso[/tags]