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!!

Grind on Request

Grinders are a massive problem. Even in the IBC there were so many factors to consider. You must know your grinder, its capabilities, its weaknesses and build your routine around them. I was lucky this year as Karl bought a really cool Anfim super Caimano and got it tweaked and modded to the nines just so I’d have the best equipment to work with at the IBC.

I’ve been training on this grinder and its presence matched with the Aurelia in the training room have been a huge advantage to me.

Unfortunately there are problems. Firstly grinders are heavy and difficult to put in your luggage. I was not only afraid that it would get damaged in transit but also wary that it would suffer a similar fate to 2008 US champion Kyle Glanville’s grinder and get taken apart in customs (apparently they thought it was rather rocket-like). *Edit, see also

Secondly, in the US 110v is standard and even if we got a transformer to adapt my 220v grinder it would still run at a different….well, lets just say it wouldn’t be at the peak of its powers. This was a worry.

Enter Terry Ziniewicz from Espresso Parts. Not only did he offer to supply me with a US version of the Anfim I was using but he’s also seen our “Delta Timer” mod and raised us his “infinite adjustment ring” for good measure. I’m especially intrigued with the latter because as much as I love the Anfim and enjoy the scope the timer gives me, the steps are still too massive to find a perfect shot.

So preparations continue but at least I’ve got one less problem to worry about. Cheers Terry

Top of the Table

So preparations are well and truly underway so I think I’ll just post a few snippets over the next few days, giving a brief synopsis of whats being going on. Last week was a massive week. I finally decided on the coffee I’m using (more on that later in the week), I got myself a costume for the comp thanks to my good friend Damian at Circus (again, more on that later) and I also managed to decide on the tableware i’ll be using in Atlanta. This was in no small part helped by a Volker at MESA Dun Laoghaire.

Volker seemed intrigued and perhaps confused about the competition when I first met him back in January but was very helpful in recommending glassware for the IBC. Once he found out that I was off to Atlanta he pulled out all the stops in ensuring I had only the best for the WBC. Now its only a matter of getting it across the pond intact!

Tamper Tantrum

Preparing for this competition can be quite stressful but at least now I can tick one box off; my tamper arrived! I purchased a 53mm Torr tamper from pasmarose for the IBC, despite the fact that I’d probably only use it the once, but was so happy with it that I decided to get the 58mm Torr for Atlanta.

When I contacted Andrea again to place my order for Atlanta they were so chuffed about my IBC victory they decided to go that extra mile for me and personalise it for me. If nothing else, at least now I’ll always have a nice little trophy to remember my IBC victory.

58mm in front of 53mm

 

58mm with engraving

Team Ireland

This has been a week to be Irish, there’s little doubt about that. Tuesday saw the affirmation of a nation’s worth, when the Simpsons visited Ireland. It was of course, St Patrick’s day and the worldwide descendants of the eighteenth centurys’ promiscuous back-packers celebrated whatever fraction of their heritage remained true to the motherland.

 On top of all this was the slow burning excitement that will explode tomorrow in the Millennium stadium Cardiff as Declan Kidney’s men strive to be the first Irish Grand Slam team since 1948. Oh, its a week to be Irish.

So this is also the week that Team Ireland has finally come together in preperation for the upcoming WBC. Lining in behind me will be Karl Purdy of Coffee Angel fame, Dave Walsh of otherblackstuff notoriety and Steve Leighton of frogs and box analogies. Whenever I doubt myself I just think how well those guys can do and hope somehow that rubs off on me. The list of travellers accompanying me along the way grows ever larger too.

Another feather to my cap comes in the guise of a newly installed Nuova Simonelli Aurelia that will give me an undoutededge in Atlanta. Being, as most of you know, the official supplier of the competition. There are many problems, foreseen and otherwise, with using a strange machine so having this time to gain some familiarity will be invaluable.

So as team Ireland is solidified and the numbers of supporters grows ever larger I’ve started to become more accutely aware of what its going to mean to me. When I was younger I had many daft ambitions and the WBC seems to be fulfilling some of them in a roundabout kind of way.

I wanted to be a chef, I wanted to be on stage, I wanted to be a lecturer and I wanted to be on TV. This competition has ticked these boxes, but not in the same way I had envisaged but I’m pretty happy to have ticked them off at my age.

Another ambition I had wasn’t quite as attainable, but it stuck with me anyway. Ever since I was a nine years old I wanted to be Paul McGrath.

Despite suffering an horrific childhood and battling alcoholism and depression for his entire adult life, McGrath scaled the heights of world football.  He won a PFA player of the year award in 1993, an honour seldom bestowed on defenders and became known amongst the terraces of Lansdowne road, Villa Park, Brammal Lane and Pride Park as ”God”.

Perhaps his greatest ever moment was a summers day in 1994 when he plucked the greatest player in the world at the time, Roberto Baggio, straight out of the spot light and into his back pocket with the same effortless nonchalance for which he was renowned and led Ireland to and unlikely victory in the Giants Stadium.

This feat was revealed as all the more poignant in his recent auto biography “Back from the Brink” when he recounted the horrific truth about the sweat bands he wore on his wrists that day. They were not inspired by the blistering New York sun that burned high in the midday sky, but required in a more functional sense to hide the slashes and tears from a botched suicide attempt only weeks before that famous game.

I’m well aware that the Barista Championships may seem a  trivial event in comparison to the World Cup and that the hardships I’ll whinge about in the coming weeks are ridiculous in comparison to those faced by Big Paul in his darkest moments but perhaps you’ll forgive me the indulgence of being “just like Paul” for the next few weeks.

I never got to wear the emerald green jersey or walk out into swirling winds of Lansdowne Road but to represent my country in any way, shape or form is a dream come true for me and something that I’m very proud to do. I never got to be Paul McGrath but this is as close as I’ll get and I’ll definitely take it.

UKBC 2009

Tristan, Gwilym, Maxine, David, Subi and Marcin

I’d travelled to the SECC in Glasgow to watch the UK Barista Championships Finals, having watched the heats online, and was hoping to learn a thing or two watching the six finalists. I came away both inspired and scared, the standard was that good.

Its kinda strange when your chatting away to a bunch of friends when you realise you’ve never met them before. John, Jess, Jim, Anette, Tristan, Hugo, Dale, Tim, Gwilym, and many others all made me feel hugely welcome, despite the fact that I had online chatted with most of them online. The community spirit that permeates the speciality coffee industry is one that constantly surprises me and bodes well for our upcoming trip to Atlanta.

The competition itself has been dissected elsewhere so I’ll keep my appraisals brief. There has been a (warranted) shift towards taste on the score cards and so it is difficult to assess the 6 competitors on the judges’ dregs I managed to swipe from the runners (despite the actions of an unnamed former WBC champion, you know who you are!).

Tristan Stevenson of Wild Drink Blog fame

I had a pretty good vantage point for most of the competition and can honestly say that from a technical/presentation point of view there was little to nothing between the competitors. All were composed, professional and inspiring. If any of those people are reading now you can be  assured that I have nicked part of your routine and will soon pass it off as my own.

David Olenjik steps to it

Something I encountered at the NIBC was again very obvious at the National Final, the tension. Everyone is nervous. The competitors, the judges, the crowd, everyone. When the eventual winner Gwilym took to the stage, his entourage were so nervous that they hid behind the scenes until it was all over. One of said entourage and a so-called friend of the blog watched my performance in Dublin though, a tad two faced perhaps?

In the end I would imagine there was very little between the competitors, but if I was pushed I would have said Tristan/Gwilym followed by David. Having said that a final podium without the eventual triad of winners would not have surprised me. A very off-the-fence appraisal I think you’ll agree.

As far as the competition goes the standard was higher than the Irish finals but I think the stage design in Dublin was a lot better. Perhaps next year will see both the IBC and UKBC step up to the mark on both accounts. I was also surprised that there wasn’t a bigger turnout. The UK is a lot bigger than Ireland and Glasgow isn’t exactly smack bang in the middle but I still expected a larger crowd.

John and Jess looking mischievous

So as it turned out Gwilym Davies, a fellow cart barista, emerged triumphant and will head on to Atlanta in April for the worlds. He was followed in second place by Maxine Beardsmore and Tristan Stephenson in third. I’m looking forward to the WBC a lot more now and its good to know there’ll be a few familiar faces heading along too. Well done Gwilym.

WBC 2009

I’ve been to Atlanta before but it wasn’t pretty. I landed there as a shy 16 year-old with a 100 strong group of cyclists to get a connection to Pensacola Florida. I was the youngest member of a cycle tour in aid of Our Lady’s Hospital for sick Children Crumlin and it was my first time outside of Europe.
It must have been the Jet Lag or something but I failed to hear the immigration officer bellowing out for me to approach the desk. Eventually somebody nudged me forward towards this HUGE woman sitting on a swivel chair that looked like it had long since disappeared beneath her rear end. She glared at me, glanced at my documents, then looked back at me over the rims of her rhinestone glasses; “young man, you have what we like to call an attitude problem”. Quite.

On the radio (wo-o-o-o)…

Hey. So I put up the wrong link for the Tubridy show, it actually appears here. Just click on Thursday February 12th and I slip in somewhere around 36.45mins. Enjoy!

A few thank yous

Me and the Papz

So as the coffee grounds settled and the milk stains hardened I did the honourable thing and left the guys to look after my mess and headed off to Rome to unwind. Now that I’m back however, I must give credit where credit is due. Winning the competition was a huge thrill for me, but its definitely not something I could have done alone.

First of all I need to thank Karl, my boss and the owner of Coffee Angel. He was a constant source of information and inspiration and was always pushing me to go the extra yards when I thought I’d done enough. Any rumours that I became cranky or irritable when pushed are entirely unfounded.

While we’re on the subject of Coffee Angel I better mention Simon. Simon for those of you who don’t know works with me everyday down by the river. When I arrived at Coffee Angel I didn’t even know how to turn on a coffee machine so Simon pretty much bullied me into learning everything I know. He’s become something of an institution amongst the bankers and traders in the IFSC and they’ve all seen over the last ten months how he’s helped me on inch by inch.

Simon shows me his favourite portafilter

As far as the coffee is concerned I owe Russell a huge debt of gratitude, as well as an actual debt in the more literal sense. Russell was so dedicated to the cause that even after I had received, blended and bagged my 4kgs of Competition blend he sent me down some extra roasts, just to be sure. The only complaint I had was that every coffee he sent me was incredible. Every time I ruled a coffee out it was like throwing another puppy in the river.

My family and friends were also a huge help to me, even if they did doubt my sanity from time to time. Perhaps the highlight of the competition was when my brother was holding my plaque for me and a guy from a well-known coffee firm shook his hand to congratulate him. Brilliant.

My Dad, my Mum, myself, Yvonne and not the current Irish Barista Champion

There were of course scores of people who helped in smaller, but hugely important ways. Anyone who was at the event would have noticed my custom built knockbox courtesy of my Uncle Eddie, top man. Someone who taught me an awful lot about deconstructing flavours and aromas was David Jackson of UCD/Diageo. I’ll post details of his next course when they arise but if you have any interest in food, drinks or foods you can drink, sign up to his course. The good people at pasmarose and zoxx as well as Scott at happydonkey were really obliging despite my need for constant reassurance. Much appreciated. Also to the customers at coffee angel who are a great bunch to make coffees for. They come down from the offices always full of banter to give us constant weather updates and cheer us up when its cold.

There are also many people who’s brains I’ve picked over the last few months and who’s opinions and insights have helped me immeasurably. The various coffee forumsare an invaluable source of information. Even if you only have a passing interest in coffee these boards are the place to go with queries or opinions. To all the Baristas, roasters and coffee folk who I’ve pestered with daft questions; a heartfelt thank you!

Another person I owe a huge debt of gratitude to is David Walsh of www.theotherblackstuff.ie, the editor, producer and Director of my Film of the year. Not only does he have an incredible understanding and knowledge of all things coffee, he’s also a stand up guy who’s become a good mate of mine in the last few months. He was a constant source of praise and criticism to me during my training, although I still think the texture was ok (a topic for another post!). 

Finally,Yvonne  my long-suffering girlfriend has put up with so much strife and made so many sacrifices that I cant even begin to quantify them. I spent 90% of the time convincing her that it would all be worth it in the end. the rest of the time she spent convincing me. Looks like we were both right.

We did it!!!

Well, somehow everything came together on the day and I came away as Irish Barista Champion 2009. To say I’m delighted is an understatement of the highest order. I have so so many people I need to thank for helping me get there so I’ll post something really soon. Right now I’m just packing my bag for a well earned rest in Rome for the weekend with my enormously patient and supportive girlfriend Yvonne.

Things are going to go a bit mental for a while I’d imagine. Coffee Angel is expanding (we recently took on a great new barista Ger to work alongside myself and Simon) and there’s a lot of training to be done for the WBC (a lot!). I feel excited/sick just thinking about it but I’ll leave that till Tuesday.

In the meantime look to www.theotherblackstuff.ie for an IBC report and the Ryan Tubridy show interview will be available here and hopefully the RTE report will pop on their site at some stage. Also, Karl has come up with a great idea to sell my IBC blend with all proceeds going to Barnardos, a really kind gesture. We hope to have it on sale next week on the van so come on down and grab a bag (we might even be able to pull a few shots of it if we get a chance).

So until next week I’m going to go collapse for a few hours then off to Roma. Thanks again to all well wishers and if I haven’t gotten back to you yet I will next week. We did it!!!!!