June 20th, 2010
Next week is the 11th annual World Barista Championship and this is going to be an exciting year. Intelligentsia has announced they will not be doing any competing next year so if they hope for a world title it’s all resting on Michael Phillips for this year. Colin Harmon from Ireland is competing in the WBC for the second year in a row and more astonishing for only being his second year working in coffee at all. Also again…Square Mile Roasters. They have a new competitor competing under their name, John Gordon, now the question I think a lot of people are asking themselves is SQM going to win it for the 4th year in a row. We cannot deny Annet and James have fantastic pallets and are great trainers.
Kudos to all the competitors this year. I’m excited to watch this year and see who is going to be the world representative to the barista community. I obviously am rooting for Mike Phillips from Intelli, but over all I would just like to see the best barista win. Wish I could be there to kick it with all of you. I think this next year will be one of the most productive and progressive years for the coffee industry.
Cheers.
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June 6th, 2010
Photo by Wes Davis
A week ago the top Baristas in the Sacramento area were featured in Sacramento News & Review and were hosted on the cover of that issue, and I had the great honor of being apart of that great group of people. The article featured us in an interview type setting asking each of us a few questions and starting the article out by giving a little background into our style of coffee.
A big thanks to SN&R for the story and promoting local, sustainable and delicious coffee. Cheers.
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March 25th, 2010
Before I began working in coffee I had a deep passion for Tea. When I would taste tea I lacked to vocabulary to objectively taste the delicate flavour elements within the tea, so I often ran to subjective descriptions. Stories that were brought forward in my memory banks, or visions that were formed from the liveliness of the beverage. These seemed to be great descriptors. When communicating with customers they grasped where I was going, and more importantly my passion.
As I tasted more and my vocabulary grew I began to draw away from subjective descriptors and move more towards objective descriptors, ie. Texture, Flavour Characteristics, Mouthfeel, Body ect. All too often now when I am approached to describe a coffee or tea I go directly to those objective traits that I have filed away for quick access when asked, but it is then often followed with a look of confusion and the phrase, “Well I dont want ‘flavoured coffee’…”.
To me there are three stages of tasting.
1. Initial Encounter: The initial flavour as it is exposed to your tongue. Tactile, ferocious, and aggressive the flavour heed themselves in an disorderly fashion across your pallet. Leaving resemblance of the fun flavour we may have come to love and expect. Our breath is held and we hope for the best.
2. Intimate Encounter: The experience that takes place as we swallow. When we swallow and begin breath again in a fashion that which resembles the breaths right after a great kiss, short, quick, and sporadic. The flavour becomes enhanced and alive, showing an entirely new face. The subtle perfumes and fragrances become alive and it is as if you were invited into it’s home.
3. Infinite Encounter: After we swallow and take time to reflect the flavours and aromas excite our memory and emotions, bringing to life something that no one else will ever experience. This is the portion of the tasting that is personal and enlightening. Something that you can cling to as your own. This is your story. No matter how obscure it may be it breeds life and excitement into your eyes, which other will grasp and search for making their own story.
Now I am aware that in most cases we should still try to explain things in a manor that is undeniably sound and true I have come back to a belief that subjective tasting notes do have a place on their own. It is one of the only ways we as humans can show and express our love and passion for what we do/drink. Often it is hard to explain to people why I love coffee, but when I tell them how a Natural Panama from Elida Estate opens my mind and makes me feel like I’m drinking strawberry lemonade on a warm summer afternoon, they seem to understand just a bit more.
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January 2nd, 2010
2010 Come up on us real fast.
2009 was definitely a rough ride. This year I have a few goals for my self.
1. Compete and do decent in Barista Competition.
2. Keep a detailed log of coffees I drink in 2010.
3. Follow in Steve Fords footsteps in the First Cup Project
4. Blog More
While I expect 2010 to go by twice as fast as 2009 did I am truly hoping to be able to really appreciate things. Cheers for now.
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November 13th, 2009
Day after day I brew french presses of coffee. I’m like a machine. I had be taught how to make a french press by some coffee professional friends of mine, who will remain nameless. But I realized the other day that there is a flaw in their method. The “Bloom”
For those of you that I unfamiliar of what the “bloom” is it as follows:
Bloom: (blüm) the release of the trapped gasses in the bean developed during roasting. The reaction is caused by the addition of Hot Water onto the ground coffee.
The bloom is an unavoidable nature occurring event; the problem comes into how we live with it.
There are dozens of baristas that have their preferred method of brewing a press, and proclaim them as gospel. This is not my gospel. I merely urge people to actually think about what they are doing and trust your pallet.
Leyland Jacob and I decided to do some experiments with different brewing methods for a press. We were very concerned about the press to be exact because it is how we brew coffee for our customers at Bloom Coffee.
The Experiments:
For our control we made a press the same exact way we normally do in the shop. Here’s how we do it.
The problem that we discovered was the during the bloom stage. During the bloom the gases release causing the grounds to rise and separate from the water stopping the brew. Essentially for that first minute of the press a very small percentage of grounds are actually extracting. Once we discovered this we decided to try and eliminate the bloom.
However, another problem then occurred, over extraction. The excessive agitation of the coffee caused a much higher TDS than desired. We lead me to my idea, “Bloom Underwater”.
What was accomplished by this was the coffee was still allowed to bloom and the coffee was never separated from the hot still allowing for extraction. The amazing part is also in the lift. When you lift the screen back to the top after the first minute, the bloom breaks and stirs itself. After which the coffee sinks, allowing for an incredibly forceless press, a surprising well rounded flavor in the cup, and a full 3 minute extraction.
By no means do I presume that this is the perfect press method, just an observation that the bloom separates the coffee from extracting and my attempt and taking that away. Try it out we’ll see.
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