Bleeding bunnies on bar

Lately I’ve become a little bit obsessed with work flow and efficiency in coffee bars which has been driven by a few factors of various importance. Barista Comps are always a great way to learn about double/triple tasking and saving yourself 30 seconds. Anyone thats competed will know how organising workflow in a routine can help you appear busier, do more, reduce stress and save time. The same logic applies to coffee bars.

An organised bar not only works faster but also gives you a huge advantage in terms of customer service. Yes, the service will be better, that is a no-brainer, but people often overlook something very important about calm, controlled efficient workflow and thats the perception your customers develop of your business.

There’s a rule in the service industry called The Bleeding Bunny rule which is based on the logic that the more distressed you appear the more likely you are to be criticised by your customers. This is true worldwide and is born out of the fact that bleeding bunnies will always be preyed upon before their more able-bodied comrades. If you appear distressed, you are opening yourself up for attack regardless of how much you deserve it.

I’ve worked shifts at both extremes. I’ve had very few orders and been in an absolutely tizzy. Drinks made badly, orders misplaced, orders made twice, customers pissed off. I’ve also worked ridiculously busy shifts in a state of near zen. These occassions often bring with them very little conversation between co-workers. everyone knows where they are, where they’re going and how they’re getting there. The system is clear and there’s no need to discuss it. Customers have waited a long time for orders without even knowing it because everything seems effortless, purposeful and worth it.

In specialty coffee we have for the last few years been caught between a place where we want to impress our customers and the constraints placed upon us by having to deal with said customers. The more people that come the harder it is to wow them, but the less people that come the harder it is to stay open. Pete Williams that works with me at 3FE once quipped “wouldn’t it be amazing if we had loads of money and no customers. Think what we could achieve!”

The brew-bar in a modern specialty coffee bar is a great example of this. I’ve seen many set up that were successful from a taste/experience perspective but as the business owner in me becomes more outspoken I can only question the viability of the “brew bar” going forward. I think at 3FE we have just about found a balance but its perhaps been the most difficult aspect of what we do day-to-day.

The brew-bar has become the weapon of choice for specialty coffee shops and although I feel its value should be placed more in the marketing budget than in the Z-read analysis it’s striking that we have very little discussion about how we should make this podium of ours a little more financially viable. Profit is a filthy filthy word in this industry but its one we need to face up to if we’re going to gain the recognition that we so crave and workflow is the key to this in every aspect of finding success.

Carrying on the theme of feedback from last weeks post I thought it pertinent to skip the permission phase and skip straight to the meaty bit by posting some feedback online that sits nicely with this weeks theme of workflow.

I am however trusting that both interested parties, namely Marco (Paul Stack) and Barartza (Joyce Klassen), will forgive me going public on this one as both products do come out rather favourably and I know both as people who have no doubt already copped on to whatever it is I’ve discovered.

A few weeks back Joyce sent me an Essato to tinker with and gather feedback. The Essato for those of you that don’t know is an attachment base for Baratza’s grinders that allows you to set a target weight for ground coffee and then grind that specific amount for you at the touch of a button (there are actually 3 presets). It differs from grind-on-demand grinders I’ve encountered so far in that instead of correlating time and dose and managing the former with fingers crossed, the Essato goes straight to the point and promises you a specific dose every time. Importantly, it consistently delivers on this promise.

The Uber grinder creates the best grind profile I’ve encountered and thus is the tastiest tool to make your filter coffee with. When things aren’t too hectic you can weigh-grind-weigh and create more beautiful coffee than you can ever imagine. Lovely grinder, lovely grind profile, lovely coffee. Simples.

Then real life kicks in and the reality of weigh-grind-weigh (perhaps repeat?) will start to hack away at the time you have to satisfy your customers. The fact that you must stand by the grinder when you do this adds to the time you must commit and thus slows you down. Slowing you down on bar usually leads to you trying to speed yourself up which I guarantee will lead to mistakes, errors and angry customers. Its the twisted logic of the bar, never go as fast as you can, because you can’t.

So, back to the Essato. No, it doesn’t have the amazing grind profile of the Uber but what it does have is smarts. I hit one button and then concentrate on the other things like rinsing papers, arranging cutlery and talking to customers. When I’m ready I pick up the grounds dispenser and dose my filter.

On a busy bar its innovations like this that really contribute to enabling us to achieve real excellence on a consistent basis. In truth I know Marco are working on something to enable similar benefits in workflow but I shall not steal their thunder, this time.

The real point of this post though is a statement that popped into my head as I walked back from the till to my 18g ground dose that was waiting for me on the Esatto.

Workflow will trump grind profile in the vast majority of cups handed out.

I’m not sure everyone will agree with me but I would like to know where you stand on this and what you think;

 

Feedback and the 151,200 minutes

This is a post that has been floating around my mind for a good while now but has been accelerated by Tim Williams talk at Tamper Tantrum Live last weekend. If truth be told, I actually preferred the conversation after it even more than the talk itself but I think that was entirely the point of Tim’s talk.

I have a certain standpoint on feedback that I’m pretty sure doesn’t sit with a lot of people in the specialty coffee industry, and this post is specifically aimed at the specialty coffee industry.

Negative feedback is gold dust. Its easy to get good feedback but negative feedback is harder to come by, to your face at least. I’ve served customers, asked them if everything was ok. They’ve said yes, paid and then slagged us off on the internet. Happens a lot and always cuts.

Negative feedback helps us understand how we can improve (thats obvious) but also points out where we’re not communicating effectively. I was once told our cups were too small. We have many reasons for this and my first instinct was to disregard this as we weren’t going to change this policy.

It struck me though that most people I explained it to understood why afterwards and the majority agreed on reflection. The feedback made me realise that if you’re doing something for the right reasons and someone doesn’t like it then maybe we haven’t communicated those reasons effectively.

If a customer thinks filter coffee takes too long, your milk isn’t hot enough, your roast is too dark/light or any other common “specialty coffee gripe” then maybe, just maybe, you should be communicating your reasons better rather than just dismissing their opinions.

I do, for the record, seek negative feedback so I think its important to point out that I’m not against it, more who, why or how it’s delivered.

Twitter is not, in most cases, an appropriate medium for feedback. I agree that sometimes a business can be so unashamedly awful at what they do that they deserve a public dressing down but there is a definite line. Lets do some rough maths here for a second.

When a customer is in a shop, we are being “observed”. Say we average 20 people in our shop at any one time and we are open for 9 hours a day over 2 locations. Thats 151,200 observation minutes per week where we are being watched, analysed and judged on various different levels of consciousness.

Every week at 3FE we serve bad coffee and give bad service. Every body does. It slips through the net, it happens and it takes a couple of seconds to happen in that 151,200 minute week. I really want to find out when it does but not through twitter.

Its no different for inter-community feedback. By all means tell me but I’d appreciate an email more than a tweet, blog post or forum thread.

The other issue I have with negative feedback comes down to whether or not they are stakeholder. We owe a duty of care to our customers, suppliers, colleagues and various other people but some people that have nothing to do with what we do (besides sharing an industry with us) feel entitled to have a pop from time to time.

On Saturday Tim gave me a bag of coffee and asked me for feedback. I’ve had coffee from St Ali before that was passed on to me by a friend. I didn’t buy it nor was I given it (by St Ali) so I am precluded from giving them feedback for that coffee. I’m looking forward to sending the feedback on for this current bag.

Before you pass on unrequested feedback, its important to ask yourself if this person owes you anything. Sometimes, its none of your business, keep it to yourself. I don’t buy that we’re all part of the same community so we have to keep each other in line. The community doesn’t clean my toilets, pay my taxes or clear my inbox so the community doesn’t get a say before my customers do.

Tim also raised the point on Saturday (I’m not picking on Tim by the way, I actually like him) that saying everything is great shows weakness and a lack of confidence. I agree, but I also see a massive weakness in slagging people off. Usually when I see someone say that another business doesn’t do X, Y or Z its usually a concealed way of saying “We do X, Y, and Z so why aren’t we getting more credit for it?”.

If you do something amazing, and you’re slagging people off for not doing it too, ask yourself what would happen if they did start and everyone else did too. Would you still be doing something amazing? Would you be happy then? If you’re amazing be confident and happy in your own ability and success, you deserve it.

Communicating what you do and why effectively will gain you all the plaudits you deserve. Slagging someone off makes you look just as weak as someone who proclaims everything is wonderful.

My own policy on this is based on the reasoning that there is power in an ommission. I’d like to believe that if I recommend something people will take that seriously because I have a reasonable track record in doing so (I hope). There are many coffee shops/manufacturers and roasters I will never mention and I think that speaks volumes to anyone who cares to listen.

Certain negative feedback will also come down to the fact that some people like being a dick for fun. I’m not sure why but there is a small section that like slagging people off as a recreational pursuit. I’d be against this.

Yes negative feedback affects jobs but its important to remember that bad service and products do too. In terms of our industry there seems to be quite a degree of negativity being batted about but I think that if it were communicated more effectively we could benefit more.

I’ve had a long week, I’m tired, emotional and aware that this post lacks a certain structure and perhaps reads slightly ranty. Indulge me though by allowing me one ridiculous analogy.

The coffee industry is an island and its being thrashed by a gale force wind called negative feedback. Lets build some windmills and use it for the greater good.

Col

p.s. I would really appreciate any feedback from TTLIVE over the weekend from those who attended. Thanks

Tamper Tantrum

 

Saturday sees the culmination of a lot of hard work, blagging and planning in the form of Tamper Tantrum Live 2012 at the Twisted Pepper. Anyone that follows me on twitter will know doubt have heard about it but I thought it appropriate to reflect via this neglected blog and aim for two birds with my solitary stone.

In a way Tamper Tantrum started with this hungover rant (pictured above) the morning after we managed to pilfer 4th place at the 2009 World Barista Championships, at Octane Coffee in Atlanta with Ben Helfen. Myself and Steve came away from the conversation with a sense that we’d perhaps come across something we both enjoyed doing.

Tamper Tantrum started a few weeks later and soon developed into a relatively (!) monthly video blog which drew more viewers than we’d ever thought possible. Half way through one of these recordings we had an idea to do a live version with guest speakers and so Tamper Tantrum Live was born.

Last year was a wonderful success with James Hoffmann, Cosimo Libardo, David Walsh, Gwilym Davies and Paul Stack all putting on excellent talks which have between them clocked up tens of thousands of views. The fact that all these talks are being passed on to those looking to learn about coffee is the real reward in all this. Every few weeks I get an email from someone thanking us for doing it and it all makes sense again.

This Saturday we have another great list of speakers including John Gordon, Kas Ali, Tim Styles, Rasmus Helgebostad, Ellie Matuszak and Keith O’Sullivan as well as one or two surprises along the way. We will also be beaming it out live across the internets and as always, posting the videos online afterwards on the Tamper Tantrum site.

No doubt a few of you reading this know already, but on Saturday afternoon we will also announce the next step for Tamper Tantrum live and to say we are excited is an understatement. Without letting the cat out of the bag, it will bring Tamper Tantrum to an International audience in a way that we never thought possible.

I’m looking forward to the weekend, thankful for all your support and excited about the future. I’m glad this has grown to what it is and looking forward to letting you all in on our good news

Tickets are still on sale here and we’re looking forward to a great day. We hope to see you there

Col

Coffee in restaurants and what Colin did next.

Eating and drinking is my hobby. I’ve had the pleasure of eating in some incredible restaurants in the last year. Some really exceptional places that do amazing things in every facet of the operation from the salt, to the oysters, to the beef to the wine and everywhere in between. Everywhere that is, except the coffee.

I do this strange thing where I insist on ordering coffee after an amazing meal because I know its going to be terrible and 99.99999999% of the time it is. I really don’t know why I do order it. Am I trying to make myself feel clever? Is it a curiosity thing? Do I secretly want to be proved wrong?

I’ve worked in a few restaurants and understand that everything needs to be weighted in terms of margin and speed but at €4 a pop I think some restaurants are well placed to actually serve a quality product.

The most frustrating thing for me personally is that when, inevitably, the coffee is awful, I say nothing. I don’t complain, i don’t send it back. I just sit there and keep my frustration to myself.

Its annoying because if the wine, cheese, fish, beef or any other offering isn’t right I’ll be the first to say so. When it comes to coffee though I don’t expect the same level of quality, even though I’m charged for it and often times a lot more.

Part of me thinks that as a barista it is my role to point this out to restaurants (who I see as the ultimate podium for all things culinary) and encourage them to improve their offerings. However, the other part of me feels that me having a pop at someones coffee because I can do better is just being, well, dickish.

So, I’m posing a question to restaurateurs across the country and I vow to abide by the majority results. This could get ugly, be nice….

Col

Compiling a list; “Tasting in Dublin”

The tasting bar at 3fe has always been a place for us to give customers a little extra in terms of tasting. They often get thrown samples, asked to taste things side by side and generally used as guinea pigs for us to try new things out with.

Lately, some of our more frequent customers have gotten to the stage where they don’t even ask for a coffee, because they trust us enough to decide for them and over the last 18 months we know exactly what sort coffees they enjoy. They just sit down at the bar and we let them know whats coming and make sure its good.

Asking for recommendations is not a new thing, but I’m constantly surprised at how badly its done in this city. What tends to happen is that you ask for a recommendation and the person serving you will simply list the choices to you. This frustrates me because whenever I’m asking for a recommendation, its usually because I haven’t a clue what I’m buying so listing the options is of no real benefit to me.

Once this has been done they’ll unfortunately suggest something that is so run-of-the-mill and inoffensive that you possibly couldn’t dislike it, but its not going to satisfy the sort of person who asks for a recommendation in the first place.

I no longer drink, but when I did I really enjoyed going to L Mulligan Grocer in Stoneybatter and just asking them to pick for me. The choice was usually good and even when I wasn’t mad about it I never felt short-changed. Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had with Colin et al were about drinks I hated. I’d pay the money for the taste experience rather than the drink itself.

Sheridan’s cheese mongers on South Anne Street is another place where they’re happy to lead you down a path with a recommendation. Fallon and Byrne’s wine cellar, Murphy’s Ice Cream, Hollands of Bray and Drink Store are other rare examples of places in Dublin that will take control of your tasting if you ask them to. I’ve also been assured that Lilliput Stores will do the same but to my shame I have yet to visit. I know.

There’s something very reassuring about someone who’s so passionate about their trade that they can have the ability and confidence to select something for you. Lately I’ve given up on asking for recommendations and started asking them for “something you’re not entirely sure that I’ll like”. The results have always been interesting, usually been tasty and I’ve consistently come away with an experience.

So, where else am I missing? Is there other places in the city where this sort of thing happens? I’m compiling a list of places for tourists to visit entitled “Tasting in Dublin” so all suggestions will be tested and tasted. I will also happily post the list once its compiled so pop your suggestions in the comments box!

Col

The Bloom

So. Lately I’ve been doing something wrong, and I haven’t really told anybody but its about time I fessed up because I’d like to hear what you all think. It’s about the bloom, or indeed, the lack thereof.

Recently I decided to prioritise temperature stability and do away with the blooming stage of my filter brewing. The reason was that I felt I could de-gas the coffee sufficiently by stirring a few times at the start and avoid the inevitable temperature loss associated with leaving the coffee to a 30second bloom.

My routine now consists of; Wet grounds slowly, stir after 80g of water has been added, leave the Uber to drip at the same slow rate over 2mins 30 seconds, stir once more towards the end and serve (30g/500g/3min/1.3%/19%)

The (brewing) temperature would therefore be more stable and I could also deliver the drink in a more timely manner. The results have been staggering insofar as they are exactly the same.

All my brews are as consistent (if slightly more so) than they were before and the taste results have always been good enough to serve. I can’t say for sure that its any better than when I did bloom but it definitely isn’t any worse and it certainly is less faffy.

I’m well aware that there is more than one way to brew a tasty cup and you probably need a new method like a hole in the head, but I would like to know if there is any reason why I should start to bloom again?

Col

Spoons at Noon! Open Cupping, This Sunday

Usually we like to keep our choice to a maximum of three coffees so you (and we!) can really get to know the coffees. This week however we’ve changed tack slightly and decided to get a mixed bag in, just cause its fun to really. In total we probably have about 15 or so coffees ranging from bright and fruity to more dark and chewy coffees but all are tasty and really interesting.

So this Sunday bring along a soup spoon and join in the free tasting session from noon at 3FE. This is not an exam, not a test, not a class even. Just a gathering of people who like coffee and wanna taste and chat. We’ll set ‘em up for noon and all you gotta do is turn up.

Col

Enter Dave stage left…

Tomorrow is a very important day for the coffee industry as we welcome one of our greatest contributors to our odd little microcosm. David Walsh of the otherblackstuff.ie starts work tomorrow at Marco and I know a lot of people in the industry are delighted that we finally have him on board. Dave’s been a huge influence on my career and I thought there’d be no better way to welcome him in than by compiling my “Best of Dave” moments from the last few years.

Welcome to the cabaret Dave, delighted you could make it!

Boards.ie Group buy; The Boards.ie group buy is a simple concept whereby “boardsies” share the cost of shipping to enable themselves to sample coffees from far away roasteries with excellent reputations. I’m not sure this was Dave’s idea but I am sure he’s been the driving force behind getting coffee treats from Intelligentsia, Supreme, Coffee Collective, 49th parallel, Terroir and many others to our shores. The fun part is always post-pick up when the forum thread becomes a week-long cupping. Dave has always been there to advise and guide coffee lovers throught the joys of the worlds best roasteries and helped the group-buy grow to the extent that it is now nearly too popular to organise. Nearly.

Cupping championships; Dave’s blog had always been admired by industry folk but always with the caveat that he had never really put his reputation on the line in any reputable public arena. When he then decided to enter the 2009 Cup Tasting Championships there was a sense of “now we’ll see what he’s made of”. It turns out that Dave was made of “eight correct cups in less than 4 minutes” and “second in the World Cup Tasting Finals”. That clears that up then.

Coach Dave; When I first met Dave it was clear that he could taste coffee, or at least do a really good job at bluffing his way through it. So when it came to entering the IBC I enlisted his help and he agreed to come by and pick holes in what I was doing. I joked that if I managed to win the IBC I’d take him to Atlanta with me and he nodded in reluctant agreement. Unfortunately we managed to win and that left him with the task of asking his wife to let him disappear off to the other side of the world with a new born whilst I was left to explain to my better half that my “plus one” was a scientist from Waterford who liked coffee in his spare time and she’d be paying her own way to Atlanta. The highlights of my time with coach Dave are too many to mention but the definite lowlight was screaming at eachother about cup positions when we had no coffee to use 2 weeks before we left for the States. Heady days.

IBC2010: I don’t think Dave’s ever gotten full credit for his performance at IBC, to this day it is my favourite performance from any barista that I’ve seen, and he wasn’t even a barista. He spoke about all the important things, had a risky but exciting sig drink, ticked boxes but in a fresh and innovative way and even managed to use freshly “squeezed” raw milk from his Uncles farm. On another day Dave would have won. In another more accurate way, he did.

Failures; Dave has  had many successes in his coffee life but I’ll always fondly remember his utter failures, if only to make him seem more human. The infamous meat jug created for the Absurd Latte Art Challenge was a lowlight (apparently beef is reluctant to form a spout), and his insistance that I (i) insult the judges (ii) draw place mats on a paper table cloth and (iii) create the worlds first oyster-espresso sig drink will be forever seared in my mind. The mother of all suggestions has to be last Mays launch of electrolosis espresso which had all the characteristics of  molten lead and battery acid.

Tastings at 3FE; We do a lot of events at 3FE and having Dave on hand to lead our first foray into public cupping was a huge help to us in our early days. Watching a non-industry person take to leading an event like this was really inspiring for us all and our customers were always impressed by his knowledge and ability to explain each cup in detail to even the most novice of coffee drinkers. Let it be also known that Dave was also our very first guest barista and once ushered the imortal lines “for fuck’s sake, of course your doing filter…”

Dave showing them the light…

Passing it on; This was a great idea. It took an outsider to pull all corners of the coffee industry together. A swap agreement that had coffee wizzing around the world not only had a wonderful feel-good-factor but also led to one of the few adult conversations I’ve seen on roast profile and coffee preferences. I hope it goes again, I regret being unable to join in.

Stats of Excellence; Dave took an analytical researchers mind to the Cup of Excellence and for a few moments had us all petrified that we were all as predictable as πr². The post outlined past results and predicted the upcoming Brazilian COE. Forget that he got it wrong and remember that he was bold enough to have a stab.

London trip; This was WAY back in the beginning and we took a trip to London town to meet the coffee heroes at Square Mile.  Looking back at that day now I remember meeting a load of really cool coffee folk that went on to become Gwilym WBC Champion, James Dose Espresso, Peter Kaffeine, Ross Browns of Brockley Undisputed Heavyweight MC of the World, Dale Hasbean Barista Hero and no doubt many other soon-to-be high achievers in the coffee game. Dave that day took over the tasting board and elbowed his way to the front to proclaim “Roast Beef” in large letters. He also nearly killed me by filling me full of espresso (I’d never seen anyone drink so much) and insist on pints and an overnight stay in Stansted Airport. As sharp a learning curve as anyones ever had.

The Little Shop that Could; 1st Birthday Celebrations this Saturday!

I might get a little teary on this one, but this week we turned one. Its been an amazing year.

We’ve had some great times like WBC, installing (and using) out Uber, weekend brewing classes, some amazing reviews and starting to work with some really great cafes in the city. We’ve also seen a few lows but always banded together and got through them unscathed.

What started out as a stop-gap while I waited for competitions to roll around has turned into a thriving coffee oriented “venue” run by a team of enthusiastic baristas who are constantly upping the ante. There are a five of us now (we also have an intern from a local cafe) and the sense of excitement and eagerness to really plough into this project is quite astounding to me.

In truth, there are six of us. Away from the shop, at the far side of the Irish Sea is Steve Leighton of Hasbean coffee who has come on board and really enabled us to serve the best quality coffees in store and supply cafes with products that excite us, them and more importantly their customers.

This Saturday to celebrate our 1st Birthday we’re going to have all our baristas in store and set up a brew bar for free demonstrations all day long. We’ll be focusing on filter brewing but if you have any questions at all about anything coffee (or milk!) related we’d be delighted to help out. We have lots of ideas too for christmas gifts as well as having plenty of samples to hand out so we’d love to see you pop by.

Steve Leighton is also flying in for the day to answer any questions you may have and give you an insight into how he gets the best from his coffees. He’s kindly agreed to make coffee, answer questions and give everyone a few hints on how to get the best from their coffee at home.

Finally, I (and all the staff at 3FE) would like to thank you all for the amazing support you’ve shown us in the past year. This time last year the concept of somebody selling coffee in a nightclub was nothing short of ridiculous. In the coming year we have plans afoot to again smash people perceptions of what 3FE is and create a coffee-oriented destination that really delivers on quality accross the board. We could not have achieved anything without all your support and we hope to pay it back in spades in the coming year.

Friends of the shop (Lunchblock!) tweeted earlier this week congratulating the growth of the “little shop that could”. I may have had a little moment right there. See you all Saturday!

Col