The Future is Bright

This blog post is way over-due.

The frequency of my posts has suffered in recent weeks due largely to three factors; I have been travelling quite a bit, I have a ridiculously large laptop that is not conducive to efficient travelling and well I’ve been a little bit all over the place. In recent months I have been to London, Barcelona, Vienna and a wonderful wonderful place in the west of Norway called Bergen.

Having briefly met in Atlanta at the WBC, I really only properly got chatting to Rasmus Helgebostad in Cologne this year where he was competing for Norway at the World Cup Tasting Championships. Rasmus is a member of SCAE Education Committee, Leader of the Norwegian Barista Team and pretty much an all rounder when it comes to coffee. He also runs and owns a number of small independent cafes in Bergen with his business partner Jan. Over a few beers, then a few more, we decided that I was gonna come visit. So I did.

Despite drastically underestimating the distance between Oslo and Bergen, I found my way there on a dark drizzly night and was greeted with a few beers by  Rasmus and his friend/colleague/protegé Ms Oda Misje Haug. Oda represented Norway this year at the WBC in Atlanta, and although I never got to see here perform (nerves restricted me to seeing only 2 performances) the murmor backstage was of the Norwegian competitor that was well worth a place in the finals. David Walsh later confirmed the astoundingness of her espresso, courtesy of Kaffa.

It was decided that I would work at Kaffemisjonen, the flagship cafe in Rasmus and Jan’s portfolio. What I expected when I got there was for me to go in behind the bar, pull some shots and just generally stay out of the way. I have many talents, each more fantastic  than the last, but speaking Norwegian is not one of them.

Rasmus however had different ideas. He plonked me in front of the till, showed me the colour scheme of the buttons, pointed at the espresso machine and smiled.

The first customer I had that day of course came in and start speaking all sorts of Norwegian. Feeling every bit the ignorant tourist I politely stopped them; “do you speak any English?”. While I cringed behind the till, they didn’t bat an eye lid and just skipped into ordering in English. Although I understood that most Norwegians can speak fluent English, I really hadn’t grasped how little they minded speaking it. I think Rasmus had foreseen this, but thought  it funnier not to mention it.

Local Salmon, smoked to order

Kaffemisjonen, which translates as the Coffee Mission, is located between a number of religious buildings on a hill rising up from the busy tourist port of Bergen in Norway. Behind the bar they have a Filter machine with Ditting Grinder at its side, a La Marzocco FB80 and four (yes four) Mazzer Robur E’s. To say this was by far the most impressive bar I had worked is an understatement.

They source coffees from some of the worlds finest roasters such as Tim Wendleboe, Kaffa, Solberg and Hansen, Coffee Collective, and Supreme Roastworks to name but a few. All their coffees are blind tasted and chosen on taste rather than reputation. It would be very easy to suggest that their success is down to having such great roasters at their disposal but if you spend any amount of time with their staff you would understand how dedicated, hard working and engaging each one of them is.

Cupping Samples at Kaffemisjonen

One such barista is Mr. Håkon Kinn the one they call “The Norwegian Sammy Piccolo” due to his tendency to finish runner up in Barista Competitions. During the course of the week Rasmus, Håkon and Oda taught me so much about service, professionalism and hard work even before we got anywhere near coffee. The work they are doing along with all the other staff under the Kaffemisjonen umbrella is truly inspiring to someone with aspirations to run their own independent cafe.

On the Thursday before I left I had the pleasure of blind-cupping a number of coffees with the staff of Kaffemisjonen. this a regular process that they undertake in order to select the coffees that they will sell in the shops. Only the best are selected and the rest are rejected, simple as.

I always know when I’ve taken a step forward because I suddenly have so many more questions to ask and so when it came to leave Bergen I knew I was leaving as a better Barsista, there’s no doubt in that. I hope in future to return to Bergen and spend more time working with Rasmus and his team and we’ve already laid plans for a Barista exchange once I get the shop up and running. If I get anywhere near the standard that Kaffemisjonen has set I’ll be doing well. Really well.

p.s. A huge thank you as well to both Tims (Varney and Wendelboe) who recommended a whole heap of restaurants, bars and touristy spots that really made our trip to Oslo!

Plaques Don’t Lie

Congratulations to Dave Walsh of otherblackstuff who stormed to victory today in the National Cup tasting Championships. Dave went into the final (6 finalists went into 2 groups of 3) knowing that he needed to get all eight cups correct in under 4 mins 30 seconds in order to take the crown….so he did it in 2 mins 30. Done

David Walsh accepts the plaque from Patrick Bewley

Congratulations also to Bela Zudor of Avoca Bray who was a deserved winner in the Latte Art Comp yesterday and to Ziad who was a really entertaining winner in the Coffee in Good Spirits comp. We’re off for beers and such so a full update will follow tomorrow!

Bela (second on the right) with the other finalists

Interview with Aaron Blanco; Brown Coffee, TX

Aaron and Steve in Atlanta

I met Aaron Blanco for the first and only time on the competition floor of the WBC in Atlanta this year. Everyone that was there to support and help me that week seemed to be walking on egg shells with me as soon as I came within ears shot lest they upset, enrage or simply make me nervous.

I did therefore take huge notice when Steve Leighton stopped me in my tracks, looked me in the eye and insisted that I talk to a friend of his. He didn’t care what I was doing or where I was going, Aaron was a guy I had to meet.

I have, since then, gotten to know Aaron a lot better through Twitter, Steve and the odd email. The first thing that strikes you about Aaron is that he is a man that doesn’t do things by half. His enthusiasm and will to succeed  in every aspect of coffee is both inspiring and bewildering.

The last interview posted, with Mr. Ben Kaminsky, was an article I felt was hard to follow but Aaron has in his own understated way presented us with something remarkable and intriguing without even realising it himself.

I think that in itself sums him up.

(p.s. You can learn more about Brown Coffee here)

How did you get into coffee?

I guess at its root I’m a purist at heart. So whatever it is I’m into–coffee, music, etc.–I quickly become obsessed with finding out how that thing should be expressed in its truest form. About 8 years ago I was a home coffee hack who stumbled upon the weird and crazy good coffee with the weird and funky name “Yrgacheffe” and was intrigued. The more I began to explore this world of cool coffees the more I found there was to discover. A hidden Xanadu! I had just left working on staff at a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one day on a lark walked into a Starbucks (2001, people! Starbucks was a VERY different company back then!) and something just hit me that this was the direction my life needed to go. I figured I could get some good organizational experience around coffee and so started as a barista making next to nothing, one kid and one on the way. Three months later I was promoted to a salaried position and a year to the day after putting on my first green apron I was the manager of a brand new Starbucks. (Incidentally, our store was one of the last in North America to still use the La Marzocco Linea/Super Jolly combination, so I hope that gives me some cred.) I worked for big green for 3 1/2 years before moving to Texas and starting Brown.

Tell us a little bit about your roaster?

Ah, Big Brown. When I started Brown in late 2005 I had a tiny loan from my in-laws and no prospect of getting any more $$ so I had to make every penny stretch. I purchased a 2.2kg electric tabletop roaster (“Little Brown”) and began buying greens from Sweet Maria’s to practice roasting. 2 years into it and Brown was needing something bigger to help us get to the next level. I simply couldn’t afford a new, big commercial roaster so I tapped my father-in-law, a retired aeronautical engineer, to help me design and build one on my own.

Short story long, we now have a 10kg gas roaster that was built completely from spare parts. There is not a single roaster-specific part on Big Brown. So for instance, it has a beer keg as the housing for the chaff collector; the burner assembly is a modified gas oven range top; the motor that turns the cooling tray arms is from a mechanical ice cream maker, we picked up a used PID from my landlord; the motor turning the drum used to turn a cement mixer; etc. A lot of the raw materials came from an obliging scrap yard at Purdue University (where he retired). Some parts had to be custom fabricated, like the front and rear face plates. But most of it was fabricated by my father-in-law in his Indiana garage and trucked down here to Texas. We’re always tweaking and bettering things here and there (next up is building an afterburner), but all told I think we’ve sunk just under $2000 into it. Not bad. Some older Flickr pics of earlier stages of Big Brown start here: 

Given the funds, would you buy a brand new Roaster or build Big Brown II?

That’s a great question I’ve been asking myself lately. I don’t really know the answer. Big Brown was always meant to be a bridge: the proof of concept machine rather than the final item. The creator in me says I’d like to take all the lessons learned and best practices from Big Brown and really let it catapult us into the next generation. My father-in-law have spent countless hours discussing how we would reinvent it all in the next roaster. This is of course because it turns out traditional drum roasters are not rocket science to get going; but as with so many things in this life, the devil is in the details. So I’ve thought about things like collapsing internal drums that could be used to better customize the ambient space and airflow for different size batches; or somehow creating a turbine scenario out of the drum rotation to help it use energy more efficiently; and so forth. As nice as I think it would be, if funds were no issue, to maybe just buy a brand new roaster built to my specs, there is something gratifying about watching something like that that is central to what you do grow from a speck in your mind to the final product.

Sometimes I just chuckle to myself as I’m in the middle of a batch on Big Brown and thank God that I can do what I love. The real irony here is that I am rather “mechanically declined.” I know what I want but building it is another matter entirely. I’m like the old saying, “A critic is one who knows the way, but can’t drive the car.”

What would you be doing if you weren’t a coffee roaster?

Hmmm…probably a) a professor of theology somewhere; b) a concert promotor; or c) running for some political office.

What is your pie-in-the-sky dream for Brown?

Two things. I’d like to open a coffee and espresso bar called Black. “Black” because there’d be no milk or dairy or sweeteners available in the place. Anywhere. It’s the mimimalist/purist in me. Two, maybe three espresso machines. Maybe as many as 6, 8, even 10 espresso grinders, similar to how you have multiple taps at the pub, with house espressos and guest espressos. Coffee via syphon, Chemex, pourover, Clover. And NO MILK. A pure coffee bar. We’d probably go out of business in a year! (Evidently, some good folks in L.A. must’ve gotten wind of my idea and tried out something similar in Venice.)

The second thing is pretty standard for smallish roasters: I’d just like more time to travel to meet quality-focused farmers in producing countries (I hate using the term, “origin” since it’s blandly generic and seems somewhat demeaning to the people living and working in coffee in these places) to continue developing relationships around tasty coffee. Ultimately, I guess just want purity in my coffee (business) and in the relationships surrounding the coffee.

What do you wish you knew more about in coffee?

I was gonna say, “I wish I knew a way to distill the complexities of quality coffee so that it’s easily and quickly understandable to the average person.” But I think that’s a lie. Or at least it’s probably not really desirable. If it were so easy to grasp it would be easy to gain ubiquity and then what was the point? As a former theologian I find similarities between doing coffee well and doing theology well: Everyone has their ideas and reflexive thoughts surrounding it, but not all of their ideas are truthful, accurate or even seeking to be so. People often just want a quick, neat answer or turn of phrase. “Fair Trade.” “Jesus saves.” Bumper sticker thinking can really be so damaging to the cause! There is (or needs to be, in my opinion) a bit of a systematic/mystical tension to it that requires something deeper of us if we are to really become students of it and refine ourselves.

In coffee I guess we would call that the tension between the art and the science of it: the beauty of honing your craft as you use your senses of sight, smell and hearing to create a beatiful coffee versus gluing your eyes to a timer and temp readout and following a graph on some computer screen.

Either way will get you to the desired end. But the best way is to somehow read by the light of both of these approaches and keep both of those in tension in the back of your mind. That is the refining fire that separates the kittens from the lions. That’s probably what I want most for myself in coffee. (Did that even answer your question??)

Being as hands on as you are, how big is too big for The Brown Coffee Company and how do you balance business expansion against remaining a craftsman in your trade?

That’s a very deep question with a lot of moving parts to it. My sense of it based on my own experience is that making selection and retention of quality people missional to your company is key. Making it part of your company’s DNA from the early, small stages will pay huge dividends as you figure the right formula for growth versus craftsmanship. Other people might include location, equipment, business skill, etc., as necessary components, and that’s true. But those things don’t live and breathe and positively influence your success like people do–in essence, they don’t interact with your customers, recommending products, troubleshooting customer complaints, making (and knowing when and when not to make) appropriate upsells, etc. They are more or less “defensive” aspects to your business. For example, a bad location for a cafe can definitely hinder customer counts. But it’s not going to be the reason the bulk of the customer base that selects you as “their cafe” are going to keep coming in. I never hear the kinds of customers I would want to populate my cafe say, “You know, the coffee there is pretty good and the people know their stuff, but holy heck! they sure are easy to access from the freeway!” I’ve seen great locations fail due to poor customer service and I’ve seen customers go out of their way to make poor locations profitable, all because of the people you choose to represent your company.

Selecting people can be a science and I’m down with that as far as knowing what ways can help you draw out better answers in the interview process, but I think people often overlook much of the human component to it. What I mean is you can train all the technical stuff; but you can’t train heart. People have to bring that with them. I can teach someone how to brew coffee (or clean toilets!) technically well time after time after time but people have to have that internal spark to keep themselves going, to keep from growing jaded about technical perfection and from turning into a cynical coffee automaton. I see that all the time in myself as I sometimes have to jolt myself out of becoming ho-hum about this 90 plus coffee or that great flecking in the demi. And I’ve hired and fired so many people that by now almost nothing surprises me in the interview process. But one thing always stands out to me is the internal hunger certain people have for truly taking care of customers. It’s just that special something that animates the eyes.

Yeah, we all get tired when we’re roasting hundreds of pounds a session and it’s hot in the roasterie, or if the line is out the door for the third straight hour. But those scenarios only make selecting people you’d want to go into battle with all the more mission critical. Retention is the other side of that coin. Making sure the back door is not open as widely as the front is a huge skill that I didn’t fully grasp for a good six months into my retail management experience.

In Starbucks, fortunately, it was pretty simple–they have a huge wealth of materials for training and promotion. Basically, if you can read, you can learn to become a great manager there because very smart people have already done the heavy lifting of building systems for training, recognition of good work and promotion for your people. And I think that carries over to the independent coffee bar because everyone at their core basically just want to know that you value them and what they are doing for you. When they don’t feel they’re getting that from you, from the environment and culture you’ve created, they’ll head somewhere else to find it. How far up and out does that scale? I don’t know. Maybe the big pitfall to avoid is opening your arms so wide to embrace new revenue streams as you expand that you can no longer embrace any one item well. You build a coffee empire–or even just a coffee fiefdom–and lose your coffee soul.

For Brown I just want to be happy doing what I do and creating something that makes other people happy and wanting to know more. If I can scale that to two, three, ten stores successfully, great. If adding just one more store comes at the cost of too much delegation and a dilution of the mission, then what was the point of working so hard to build the foundation? Maybe the metric for me (as I make plans to open a small cafe in the front space at our roasterie) is whether I could a) walk into any store of mine and feel like I weren’t being an intruder if I wanted to step in and help make drinks on some other barista’s bar or b) knowing that I could get a top notch beverage and experience if I walked in and were completely unknown to the barista. And both of those come out of having the right people in place executing at a high level.

Those of you lucky enough to live in London will soon get the chance to taste some of Aaron’s coffee at Dose Espresso, the venue for Tamper Tantrum’s first outside broadcast. Watch the site or follow us on Twitter @tampertantrum for more details

Interview with Ben Kaminsky

On the most recent episode of Tamper Tantrum we decided to experiment with the idea of having an absent guest. Truth be told we really weren’t too happy with how it panned out, due in most part to the second camera dying, but the content of the interview was something we were really chuffed about.

I’d heard a lot about Ben Kaminsky over the last year and his reputation was one of a Coffee professional who was passionate and knowledgeable if a little controversial at times. This kind of reputation is quite prevalent in the Coffee industry, but as soon as you meet Ben Kaminsky you realise that he is more than able to back up what he says with opinions based largely on fact and experience.

After a brief walk around the show floor I sat down for lunch with Kaminsky and he really began to irritate me. Not only was he the current US Cup Tasting Champion, Co-Owner of his own business Barismo and general all round Coffee know it all, he was also a really cool guy.

This interview was a candid and insightful insight into the minds of someone who will undoubtedly become a central figure in the US Specialty Coffee Scene. Kaminsky went on to finish 4th in the World Cup Tasting Championships after reaching the finals in first place. The nature of the competition meant that one bowl was the difference between him finishing first and fourth. Barismo’s shop, blog and everything else can be found here. Enjoy 

How did you get into coffee?
Short answer: Sweet Marias via close friends.
Long answer: I started getting into coffee my first year of university. A good friend of mine was living with a home roaster at the time and he turned me on to the idea of getting into it as a hobby. Admittedly, I was skeptical of this idea, having never experienced a coffee that wasn’t completely acrid and generally disgusting.
Being from the bay area, we were lucky to have access to the Sweet Maria’s warehouse, so the next time that we both home for christmas, we decided to roll by and see what they had to offer. We walked out with a fresh roast and their sample pack of eight different coffees. Needless to say, the first few roasts we did were extremely rough and by no means delicious or even intriguing (*french roast). I must have just butchered at least four or five roasts before deciding I needed to investigate the rest of what the local coffee scene had to offer.
At that time, the linden street Blue Bottle location had just opened, and Ritual followed suit shortly there after. Those shops really made it possible for me to begin thinking about coffee beyond its function as a caffeine delivery system, though it wasn’t for a year or two after that, that I started my first barista gig and actually considered coffee as a potential career.
Which 3 people have influenced you most in coffee?
I dont think they were always individuals. It’s weird to assign one name to the work of many people, no?
1. The team at the Mocca roastery, Oslo, Norway, circa fall 2006
I really think the crescendo espresso blend (from now Kaffa) is consistently one of the most impressive espressos available in the world.
2. Jaime Van Schyndel and George Howell
Two of the most talented and difficult people in coffee. They’ve both really had a large part in defining my taste preference in coffee. Definition = “clean”.
3. Simon Hsieh (pronounced SHE-YEH)
Probably one of the only (if not the only) people that I can confidently say is legitimately a master roaster. He roast in Taiwan and has his own company called “4-arts zero defect coffee”. He sorts all his green by hand three times before roasting and once afterwards (or something there abouts…) in 500 gram batches to order. He’ll do 15-20% rejections of Esmeralda batches, sorting out any possible defects or undesirable looking beans that will cause the roast to be less even. Delicious. Hands down, some of the most aromatic roasts and coffees I’ve ever experienced.
If you were opening a shop tomorrow which three baristas would you want working there?
This is an impossible question. Probably Chris Owens. Maybe Scott Lucey. Its difficult to say… In an ideal world, you will have shared some taste experiences that define your career. I think that it’s crucial to gain as much perspective as possible in this business, yet I find that so few baristas that I encounter really have gone out of their way to gain any…  It’s a sad truth to me.
What aspect of Coffee do you wish you knew more about?
Roasting. Without a doubt, roasting. I truly believe there are far, far more 90 point greens out there in the world then there are 90 point roasts. My business partner, once posed a question that I thought really profound. “What does a 90 point coffee with 90 point shipping and a 90 point roast taste like?” And I think the answer really is that we do not yet know and I’m truly excited to find out.
What would you like to see banned from the US coffee scene?
How many answers do I have time to list? There are so many… I think that the first really and truly has to be this idea that espresso really has to be a beverage with hair and bollocks (translation) on it, something akin to a sledgehammer to the face. I have to say that I really despise when a barista hands me an espresso that was dosed probably 22-23 grams, totaling maybe 23mls (.75oz). Just wildly strong and under-extracted. Those shots make me want to cry, yet to so many they seem to be the hallmark of a properly extracted espresso. Espresso can be light, delicate and nuanced… There’s no reason it has to hurt on the way down.
Ever had a coffee epiphone moment?
Yes, absolutely. Two actually. The first was in early september, 2006. My coffee friends and I had met up to pull shots of a recent arrival from Terroir. The coffee was the Addis Ketema Co-op washed Yirg. Vac sealed at origin. The second the espresso dropped from the spouts, the room was just filled with this vivid floral aroma. As always we started passing the demitasse around amongst the five of us. It was really unlike anything I had ever experienced. Beautiful earl grey tea with candied lemon and an incredible floral bouquet with a mouthfeel that was just silky smooth. It was just exactly the opposite flavor profile of what I believed espresso was capable of producing at the time, and a brilliantly pulled shot on top of that.
The second came a month later. Chris Owens was just traveling back from the Nordic Cup that year, and he dropped us a line telling us to meet him in New York so he could show us an espresso from his travels. He had brought back some Crescendo from Mocca in Oslo. The first thing I was able to note about this coffee was how incredibly light the roast was… In my memory, the roast looked like it was dropped just out of first crack. Super light. Chris pulled the shot and passed it over the bar. We all just stood there for a minute, looking at it, smelling the aroma. It was a spectacular shot. Perfectly flecked. The aroma was reminiscent of the Addis Ketema in its floral characteristic, but in the cup there were many different layers of flavor. Soft, dried yellow fruits with the earl grey character coming in again, followed by a sweet honey finish and a mild funkiness. We later found that the blend was composed of five beans, the base being a CoE columbia followed by some Injerto, a washed yirg and some Java in there as well (I cant recall the fifth coffee). Generally, I’m really not a fan of the Java’s, but it remained pretty clean in the cup, so it wasn’t enough to ruin the experience by any means.
 
You recently finished 2nd in the World Aeropress Championship despite being on the other side of the planet, what was that like?
Well, it sounded like a fun time. The Scandinavians all seem to be a little obsessed with that brewer. They really don’t stop raving about it… I had tried it a few times, but had never really been that impressed with the resulting cups, so I figured I would just enter and try my hand at it, thinking that I would at least be a good sport for showing up. I probably tried at least 20 different techniques before coming up with the technique I ultimately submitted just hours before the competition. It’s really not the easiest brewer in the world to use. I honestly think I could have won if I’d have been there. I guess there’s always next year. Many thanks to Mie Hansen for competing on my behalf.
Tell us a little about the US Cup Tasting Championships.
The competition was definitely an interesting experience. I was glad to have some friends on the roster. I’ve never competed in anything coffee related before, so I was definitely nervous about the whole thing not to mention that there was some serious competition to be had: Andy Sprenger, Oliver Stormshak, Phoung Tran, Colleen Anunu, Geoff Watts, Eric Ellison, Gabe Boscana. All of them, in my opinion, respected cuppers and baristas. I obviously assumed, like everyone, that Geoff would be in the running for the win, but didnt really know which way it would go. It was really exciting and nerve-wracking to be there with Geoff and Andy in the finals, but I did go in thinking that if I could apply what I had learned from the previous two rounds and maintain my speed, I could win it…
Do you think the competition maybe deserves a little more exposure?
For sure it does. I think that’s really my responsibility as the first champion for the U.S., just spark as much enthusiasm about the competition as possible to make sure that it’s has as much respect and attention as it deserves in the future, by both the public and the coffee community. I think as more reputable cuppers and baristas start entering the mix, there will be more fanfare over the comp itself. Like, if we saw Tom in there with Duane and Peter Giuliano, you could probably sell tickets to that event. We definitely wont be on the exact opposite end of the conference hall as the barista competition next year, that I promise you…
What would your perspective of the European Coffee scene and how does it differ to the US?
It’s funny. Sometimes I think the Europeans are miles ahead of the Americas as far as their customer base and general appreciation for great coffees, but then other times I think I might be completely wrong about that. On one hand, I see the Scandinavians with these really nice, transparent roasts of some beautiful coffees and espressos and think that they are operating on a fundamentally different paradigm then people in the States, and it is one that is much more in line with where I’m trying to go with coffee. On the other hand, I hear every week from James about how there’s essentially no market for filter coffee in London, which I believe is essentially the same situation for much of europe, including Scandinavia and I’m just so glad to have nothing to do with that battle. I’ve been loving brewed or filter coffee more and more these days and I’m really happy to have customers who are open and willing to experience it… I’d be interested to hear what you guys think on the topic.
Rainforest Alliance is something we’re focusing a bit on this month, any opinions?
All these certifications seems to have their own place, but ultimately, it’s not something that I would ever advertise on my coffee bags; the reason being that all the different aspects of sustainability that these certifications represent should ultimately be the rule, not the exception. I want my customers to be buying my coffees because they can count on the fact that my farmers are being paid sustainable prices and are practicing sustainable growing. I think that many times, what these organizations set out to do and what the are doing now may be very different things.
As you discussed last episode, much of the commodity market pricing lies above Fair Trade. Why then would Transfair not keep pushing the price up? There really are many facets to RA’s operation though, and I certainly wont pretend to know about all of them.
––
Benjamin Kaminsky

Science of Taste and Aroma

I have a vague recollection of a BBC comedy when I was growing up that was centred around two oenophiles who would open a bottle onscreen, pause for a  moment then pour their hearts out with the most ridiculous of descriptors claiming they could taste a “one-armed grape picker, swallows flying nearby and rare Nassau mango pressed through a turkey fillet (no skin) into a bucket of 3 day old daisy clippings”. These aren’t direct quotes, but I’m sure you get my meaning.

Anyway, when it became obvious to me that an integral part of Barista Competitions was interpreting flavours and aromas I signed up, a little wearily, to a course entitled “The Science of Taste and Aroma” being held at my old Alma Matter, the University College of Dublin.

Flavour descriptors had always seemed evasive and sometimes even ridiculous. It was quite daunting to try and portray in words how you perceive a taste. The biggest fear for most people, myself included, is that you could just be plain wrong. What if my “fruit” is another man’s “nut”, so to speak. There is also the fear that perhaps would be beyond me, that only a select few can really interpret flavours and aromas accurately.

The course itself ran for 8 weeks and I can say hand on heart became pivotal in the success I had in BaristaCompetitions thereafter. The lecturer David Jackson, a Scientist and Taster with Diaggeo/Guinness explained the reasons why a wine can smell like strawberry and helped everyone understand the science behind it.

The course helped me understand that there is a well grounded science behind interpreting flavours and that seeking blueberries in Sidamo was something that had a sound rational reasoning. Perhaps it is the natural skepticism that every Dublineris born with but once I had this fact-based foundation it became very easy for me to begin interpreting flavours and aromas.

Anyway, I am ridiculously pleased to be asked to speak at Davids upcoming weekend course in Trinity College on the 5th and 6th of July, specifically on Coffee and the flavours and aromas found therein. This course for me was an invaluable asset in appreciating not just coffee, but wine, beer, cheese and any other foodstuff I could get hold of. I hope to see you there

Colin

Now what?

So as you may have guessed, something has been afoot for the last few weeks hence the blog has suffered a little. I have lots to tell so I’ll just dive right in!

Perhaps the biggest news I have for you is the rather sad news that I am no longer with Coffee Angel. I decided a few months back to resign my post as Operations manager and instead began working part time. One of the main reasons for this was that I wanted to devote as muchenergy as possible to the WBC without becoming a burden on Coffee Angel, with regard to both time and money.

This way I could still pay the bills but still gave myself the best chance possible in Atlanta. This I felt was the best way to get the most out of my training. What I didn’t envisage was the extra miles that Karl went to to make this as  easy possible for me. When I needed less hours he knocked them down, when I needed more hours he bumped them up.

He also sent me off to Atlanta safe in the knowledge that there was a wad of cash hitting my account while I was away even though I wasn’t working. His support was not only hugely appreciated but was comparable to the support that any of the other baristas got, despite how big or illustrious their employers were. All this despite knowing that I intended moving on. I think this gesture says an enormous amount about Karl and his integrity.

So last week, as you can imagine, was a big one. First up was a trip to Birmingham (well, Stafford) to visit Steve at hasbean towers. In a nut shell we drank a lot of Ale, drank a ot of coffee and I learned how to sample roast with hillarious results

Listening for first crack..

We also bashed out a few ideas that we’d being toying with for the last few months and came up with a new monthly videocast. This is gonna complement and not replace Dublin Barista so dont worry, but its something I’m really excited about. Its still a bit rough round the edges but when you get a chance have a look www.tampertantrum.com

Next up was a trip to London for Caffe Culture where I had been asked to man a stand for Johnson Brothers Coffee, home to the always affable Philip Mills. Philip had been instrumental in my getting the WBC spec Aurelia as is the Irish distributor so I was delighted to touch base again.

Uber Boiler at Caffe Culture

The show was a lot of fun and I had the Thursday off to meet a lot of really cool coffee people. Just before I left on the Thursday I was chatting away with three years worth of UK Barista Champions, a nice moment by anyone’s standards.

Lawrence gives himself a promotion

 I’d also like to thank Lawrence Brown and John Gordon for putting me up for the two days. They also stuffed me with pizza, fed me with beer, guided me through the underground and lent me some killer jokes to bring home. Great guys. The UK coffee scene is thriving and I hope someday we’ll have something comparable over this side of the water.

John suffers more questions...

I’m back in Dublin now and already eager to begin the next chapter. I’ve got a few training/consultancy jobs lined up and have started the ball rolling on some longer term projects. I will however keep those to myself for the time being, but you’ll be the first to know once I’m certain there’s something to know!

So its exciting times ahead and although there is less security now being out on my own, if nothing else it should make for interesting blog posts. Wish me luck!

Gatecrashing the WBC

So there have been a lot of posts on this blog, Dave’s and Steve’s sites about Atlanta so I’m gonna keep this relatively short. I wont bore you with the minute details of our trip to Atlanta but I can assure you that even going to watch the WBC as a spectator is something I would advise any coffee lover to do. Next years competition is in London so if I don’t qualify I will be front row centre in the spectator stands, that’s a given. If you based in Ireland or the UK then I think its a must. London is gonna be a lot of fun for everyone.

This brings me to a question that a lot have people have asked me lately; Will you compete next year? Absolutely! I have learned so much, met so many great people and gained so many rewards from this years competition that I cant wait for next years IBC to come around. The standard will be even better again in the RDS next year and I would be foolish to underestimate the challenge that faces me and I will take nothing for granted. Hopefully both Dave and Steve wont be sick of the sight (or sound) of me by then and will be there to lend a hand. 

Overall I was delighted to make the finals but as the days have moved on since and I’ve had time to look at my 1st round and finals appearance I cant help but feel that I left a lot of points up there. Its become painfully obvious to me that if it weren’t for some schoolboy errors I would have scored a lot higher. That’s not to say I would have “placed” higher, but my goal was to score over 600 and ultimately in these competitions you are competing against yourself. I have however learned from these mistakes and will be stronger for them next time around.

There are countless people I need to thank for helping me get to the stage in Atlanta so forgive me if I ‘ve left you out. Karl at Coffee Angel was both supportive and accomodating of my ridiculous requests for time off work and made sure that I didnt return home bankrupt. His knowledge, opinion and experience was vital at every step.

My family, as most of you know, followed me out to Atlanta to support me in a competition where people clap and cheer drinks. Their support has astounded and amazed me and I’m happy they seem somewhat proud of me. On a side note I must add that my brother not only accepted many a drink on my behalf from people who mistook him for me but he also spent a drunken night posing for photos with Steve and Dave. If I met you and insulted you that wasn’t me, I was in bed and my hair is shorter than that.

I must also thank the good people at the Irish branch of the SCAE for their help and support. Every year these people sacrifice a lot of time and money so that people like me can swan around making fancy cappuccionos and for this I am very grateful, thanks to all.

The good people at Octane Atlanta who helped pretty much every barista in the competition and were damn nice to boot. I have a new favourite coffee shop.

David Walsh and Steve Leighton were there at my side the whole way to the stage in Atlanta. I’ll save Dave the embarrassment but a photo I have shows him on his knees scrubbing my trolley before I loaded it up to go on. When I’d finished doing interviews and posing for photos I came backstage to find him and Steve cleaning my glassware and crockery. These are just two instances that go some way to showing how dedicated to the cause these two men were. I went to Atlanta hoping to meet some of my coffee heroes but realised I had two on my team, absolute legends the both of them.

Someone who was there at every step was my girlfriend Yvonne. When I freaked out a few nights before the IBC she drove into the inner city lockup with me to help me practise something she knew nothing about just because she understood it would calm me down. When I suggested putting an Aurelia in the spare bedroom to facilitate my training, she agreed. In Atlanta she decided she couldn’t help with the coffee side of things so she polished, cleaned, packed, collected, fed, watered and became the messenger for team Ireland and sought nothing in return. One day she asked me if I ever noticed a difference in steaming milks that were a day apart in freshness. As a result of this conversation Yvonne got up first thing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and went to Octane so that we’d have the freshest Milk available. Without her support this blog wouldn’t exist, I wouldn’t be working in coffee and none of this would ever have happened. I’m a very lucky man.

Yvonne tries to contain the excitement

This blog was started as a lead up to the IBC 2009 and happily was extended beyond that. I had though about maybe wrapping it up and starting a new one because it seemed like a natural end. Instead I’ve decided on a new set of goals for the coming year and this blog has served me well thus far so I’m not going to abandon it. I’m hoping to pretty-it-up a little but it will remain the same.

There are a lot of exciting things in the pipeline but I’ll keep them to myself for now. I will however aim to be as prolific as I once was in updating this blog so if nothings appearing feel free to shout abuse at me.

The last year was quite a journey, IBC 2010 here we come.

WBC Video

For those of you who missed the live feed heres the video of my WBC final run. Blog post to follow…I swear Also, anyone interested in the tasting on sat please contact me at colinharmon@gmail.com if you’d like to come along. Should be a bit of fun if nothing else. Enjoy!

Debriefing of WBC in Octane

Still trying to gather my thoughts for a post but in the meantime this video from Steve leighton goes half way there.

Colin

Taste of my luggage

*Note; Changed to Sat May 2nd

So if you haven’t heard already, we made the finals and came away with a pretty respectable 4th place finish. A massive blog post will follow shortly but in the meantime I’d like to invite you all to sample a few coffees we smuggled home (including our own) up at my place. So drop me a line at colinharmon@gmail.com if you can make it and as long as the numbers dont go too overboard we’ll see you next Saturday 2nd May.

We’ve also just got confirmation that Steve Leighton will be attending!!