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Hi guys
Just got back to the UK after Trieste Espresso Expo and the European Team Coffee Challenge.
I thought you guys might want to see a selection of the ‘millions’ of the photos I took.
Hope you enjoy them
(I’ve tried not to incriminate anyone too much)
Please tag anyone you know so we can all be buddies!!!
These will be the machines that all the WBC competitors will be using come the next world competition.
The New Machinary Sponsors are:
Aurielia
K30 vario
K30 Twin
Woop…..I’ve been using this set up for the last two years!!
View the announcement here
Top 3, originally uploaded by Espresso Warehouse.
I just spotted these photos of the UKBC event at the Edinburgh Uni Debating Chamber.
We were just about the smallest people competing and I’m 6ft 1in. Check out the Group Photo – giants all of them
Maybe we’re rebelling against all the tall gangly World Barista Champions we’ve been having recently
By way of Mr Tom Handiside Esp Warehouse
Pics from the event
All 13
Agnes of Kilimanjaro
Andrew Mundy – Pilgrims coffee
Daniel Grimshaw – Good taste
Daniel Grimshaw of Good taste pours his capps
David Fraser – Fantoosh Glasgow steams
GILL tinderbox EDINBURGH 08
Gillian Campbell of Tinderbox – Winner
Jamie Grant of Redz Paisley – first up
Leo Ventisei – Tinderbox
Paolo Tanzillo – Little Italy Glasgow
Ryan McHugh Fantoosh Glasgow – last years champ
Se tries out the Blue cheese, caramel & lemon juice sig bev
Se, Rebecca, Stuart & Angus – sensory on the day
Stuart Archer in action
WARNING VERY LONG POST
As before: I just thought I’d get this in before I start mentioning loads of other Coffee companies, Roasters, cafés and trainers that I don’t work with. I work for Pumphreys Coffee as a barista trainer and showroom manager in Newcastle and I’m taking Part in the Scottish Regional heat of the UK Barista Championships on the 23rd.Jan 2008. It didn’t seem fair to Pumphreys to mention everyone else apart from them seeing as I’m putting in the effort of writing this up for everyone.
The venue for the event was the Tobacco Factory in Bristol.
‘The Tobacco Factory is one of the few survivals from the great Imperial Tobacco site on Raleigh Road, Ashton, Bristol. It was saved from demolition by Bristol architect George Ferguson who has turned it into a model of urban regeneration. It is now a multi use building housing the Cafe Bar, Teohs oriental bistro, creative industry work space, live/work loft apartments, animation and performing arts schools and one of the most exciting small theatre venues in the country.’
I think I’ve spent more time inside this building than anywhere else in Bristol as the Beyond the Bean/SCAE/Clifton Coffee Crew put a Jam on there in October. Report here
It seemed that there were a lot of good competitors here I think because of the cancellation of the London heat. My view from the crowd was that this was a stronger heat than the Northern one at the Sculpture park, although rumors and mumblings of points scores might suggest otherwise.Can I say before I start that this review is my view through the dim light and noisy area of competition. If you spot any glaringly obvious mistakes please alert me in the comments and I shall endeavor to put them right.
No 1 John Drysdale
Performance: 10.30
Unfortunately I just caught the last part of John’s performance but I was assured by Jon from Beyond the Bean that it was a ‘solid shop barista Performance’. He looked very confident and relaxed, which was surprising as I have been told since that it was his first time competing. I remember spotting him at the Jam. Definitely a good event for bringing people on. Well done everyone! Please fill me in and I’ll edit this John/crowd members.
No 2 Lance Turner – Lavazza
Performance: 10.50
Drink order: Capps, Espresso, Sig.
Lance had a fantastic presentation in my opinion. I’d heard mutterings that some folk had regarded Lance’s entry as a bit of a laugh but he soon put them in their place. As a rep I’m sure he is used to giving presentations and it showed.
I was fascinated by his silver espresso cups which fitted in perfectly to his black and silver set up. I’ve since been told that they caused a small problem with the life and consistency of his crema and he didn’t get the points he should have due to a wider rim than normal. Still I’d have them in my collection any day. Lance if your throwing them out throw them my way.
Lance’s blend consisted of coffees from Brazil, Peru, Honduras and a Sumatran Robusta. (Lance further clarification in the comments if you want) His capps looked good but I think I may have put him off by ramming a camera lens pretty close to him when he was pouring. Oh I’m sure I’ll get my comeuppance as everyone gets their own back. The signature drink was entitled ‘Hot and cold Spiced Macchiato’ consisting of Lemon grass, Galangal (I think) infused into syrup and the combined with rose water and milk over espresso. It was a good use of Thai spices and made for a tasty drink.
No 3 Emma Chapman – The Bottle Kiln, Ilkeston.
Performance: 11.15
Drink order: Espresso, Capps, Sig.
Emma had a great set up and had obviously picked up a lot from fellow Bottle Kiln’er Maxine who has competed several times. (To follow) She had a lot of support and there seemed to be people from the Bottle Kiln just about everywhere you looked.
Emma’s blend consisted of Coffees from Brazil, Honduras and India which created a nutty, chocolaty tasting espresso. Her capps were will poured well and she went down the latte art route. A slight mis-pour on one capp but she rescued it very well. Her signature drink was a short raspberry and chocolate affair which was served in shot sized glasses.
I felt a little sorry for Emma as she was belittled a bit by the compere who suggested that she got her inspiration for the signature drink from all the tequila slammers she’d drunk. It was an uncharacteristic comment from the MC. I would have been fuming at if anyone had said anything like that during a performance I had trained for and researched for months. Nevertheless, she carried on unflustered to complete her performance.
No 4 Sindy Kamcheong – Ritazza
Performance: 11.40
Drink order: Capps, Espresso, Sig. Sindy was the set up star of the day with a rose theme echoed even on the lapels of those supporting her. Fresh from her win in the 2007 Caffè Ritazza WorldBarista Championship, Sidney oozed self confidence and composure. Her blend consisted of coffees from Guatemala, Brazil (Daterra) and Sumatra. She opted for traditional capps with milk foamed in ‘the old enemy’, the belly Jug. They looked great and must have tasted just as good as I’m assured she scored well.Sidney split up her drink into components and engaged the judges.
A chocolate Turkish Delight signature drink made with melted organic Ecuadorian chocolate which she offered to all the judges at the start of her performance. The drink was topped with delicate rose-flavoured milk. She finished well within time although there was nearly a disaster when she knocked one of the espresso parts of her signature drink over when they were served. Quick hands saw to it that it wasn’t.
No 5 Will Thornborough – Cardiff Coffee Company
Performance: 12.05
Drink order: Capps, Espresso, Sig. I’ve become quite good friends with Will since the Barista Jam in October and I was very much looking forward to his performance.
I kept sneaking in to the prep room and pinching capps while he set up, which was much appreciated after the slight excess of the night before with everyone. I do love coffee events as I can chat over a beer about the things I’m doing all day everyday within coffee. I envy the guys who can go into a bar at the end of the week and chat about the little intricacies’ of their job without someone looking at them as if they have two heads. Anyway back to Will.
Will chose to use two grinders and also two single origin coffees something that I’m a little scared of if I’m honest. I would be too nervous in my first competition to deal with the variables of dialing in two grinders. Maybe next year for me, but fair play to Will for the punt.
Will’s set up was plain but elegant and he featured a digital photo frame with scrolling pictures taking the judges from Plantation to cup. This was something quite novel that I hadn’t seen before and gave the judges something to do in between tasting the drinks. Wills Capps were served in a wider rimmed cup as opposed to the tulip which is seen so much in competition. He presented with latte art hearts which looked full in the cup. A ginger Macchiato signature drink followed with a ginger syrup which he created himself. (Coffee clarification my old Mate?)
Lunch break for spectators and judges (and well needed)
12.25 to 1.00 pm
This is where I get a little hazy as The Tobacco factory was open as usual for lunch and the background noise almost totally drowned out the competitors. Mics would have been a definite help at this juncture. God knows I was close enough to the action.
No 6 Meagan Donouan
Performance: 1.05
Drink order: Espresso, Capps, Sig.
Meagans’s set had a Guatemalan feel and she benefited from the refreshed judges. She coped well with having to re-pull some shots for her capps and it didn’t seem to fluster her too much although as soon as she’d finished you could see the relief on here face.
Her signature drink was served in opaque white wine glasses and featured a mango and cinnamon compote with coconut milk and espresso. She finished in good time and had a very clean and tidy station.
No 7 Ben Townsend – Independent
Performance: 1.40
Drink order: Capps, Espresso, Sig.
Ben’s set up featured specially made wooden blocks on which he served all of his drinks. They featured concentric rings cut out of the wood to fit each of the cups in his performance.
The first thing that struck me about his performance was the extra bit of equipment A candy floss maker. My mind boggled and I was very much anticipating its use. Due to the background noise I couldn’t catch anything Ben was saying but he managed to get everything across to the judges. I’m very interested in his blend if anyone can help. He poured some great Capps from what I could see. And his espresso must have been equally as good.
Ben engaged the judges in the signature drink by serving some pomegranate ‘sorbet’ and getting the judges to vigorously stir the espresso and syrup concoction with the end of their candy floss stick which as beautifully served in its own stand. I haven’t seen so much concentration from the judges, I had a little titter to myself and snapped away to capture the moment for posterity.
I’m quite peed off actually as before the event Ben was the one competitor I would have chosen to see if I could only pick one to get info on. I need more information on Ben’s performance!!
No 8 Simon Buckingham – Tinto
Performance: 2.05
Drink Order: Espresso, Capps, Sig.
Simon was a first time competitor and had been gently pushed by Ed Buston his coffee supplier I think. He summed up the whole feel of the day when he said that he had learned a tremendous amount from the day and wanted to compete again next year.
We need more guys like this! His set up was very minimal and he would have defiantly lost a lot of points for not having teaspoons, an apron and napkins and he didn’t address the judges much at all until his last drink.
His signature drink was honey, Belgian Chocolate, espresso and cream and was one on my favorites of the day. I would have drunk another one, which is always a good test. I’m not sure if he would have scored well with it as he undoubtedly lost point technically. But still….tasty.
No 9 Maxine Beadsmore – The Bottle Kiln, Ilkeston
Performance: 2.30
Drink order: Capps, Espresso, Sig.
Maxine is a seasoned competitor and you could tell straight away from her set up. She again, like Ben had individual wooden blocks on which to serve all her drinks and matched the set up with some soft African music and as Sindy had done before, went with a rose theme.
Her blend contained some Tanzanian AA, Indian Robusta, Bourbon (?) and some Ethiopian. She poured some great capps and didn’t follow the majority opting against splitting her milk for each capp.
Her signature dirk was a rose syrup espresso and Turkish delight with pistachio foam. I was a little surprised when Maxine finished seeing her get very emotional. She must have thought that she had done something badly wrong but I thought she put in a solid well researched performance.
No 10 Lauren Card – The good Eating Company
Performance: 2.55 Drink Order: Capps, Espresso, Sig.
Lauren had a fantastically green set up with a bespoke badge on her apron. It was a very refreshing take on what had been a very repetitively clean and crisp set of table settings up until now. She used granet bowls for the sugar and put ‘eco’ products to good use throughout the performance.
She decided to present her blend to the judges as they would be cupped, letting each judge spell the aromas of each component as they would no doubt be very used to in their various roles within the coffee industry. I thought this was a great touch as it engaged the judges.
Her blend consisted of some Colombian, Guatemalan and some Finca La Fany, El Salvador coffee. Unfortunately in her hast she poured the water into wrong cups to start and had to re-pour so as not to upset the rest of the performance. This seemed to put her a little on the backfoot to start but she soon got into the swing of things with her capps.
Her signature drink consisted of a mint and mocha frappe in which she used fresh mint leaves. It was a very clean refreshing taste but I was still thinking about trying to get another of Simons drinks and it didn’t dissuade me.
No 11 Fabrizio Liverani – Drury Tea and Coffee
Performance: 3.20
Drink order: Espresso, Capps, Sig.
Fabrizio immediately got the crowds attention as he started to set up when he brought on to stage some raw eggs. His table set up was a cloth made from hessian sacks of various origins which looked as though it had been cobbled together. I can’t help thinking about Sế’s performance last year and how much better he presented the same idea.
Fabrizio started well with his Espresso and moved swiftly on the his capps. He foamed his milk at his station and then set up to pour infornt of the judges. I’m not sure this was a very good idea for him as he put an unnecessary amount of pressure on himself. A very sold performance turned into a nervous one as he started to shake while pouring his traditional capps. They all came out great and were served to the judges and a relieved Fabrizio started on his signature beverage.
He immediately got back in the groove and looked confident as he described the traditional Italian drink his grandmother used to make. He then skillfully cracked eggs and separated the yolks out and combined them with almond syrup, sugar and the espresso. A good performance but I think he made it difficult for himself.
No 12 Elliot O’Mara – James’ Gourmet Coffee
Performance: 3.45
Drink Order: Sig, Capps, Espresso.
The one comment that I could have about Elliot is that I thought his presentation was a stereotypical English performance. He was very clean, organized and accurate. I almost wanted to get my stiff upper lip out. It was an enormous contrast to Fabritzios passion and nervousness. He almost seemed removed from himself from his performance.
Elliots coffee was a Finca Siberia from El Salvador, reputed to be run by a relation of the more famous Finca la Fany estate. The coffee undoubtedly had cranberry notes that carried on through all the drinks.
Interestingly Elliot started with his signature drink which was a cranberry juice foam over the espresso. The eagle eyed amongst you will spot a mistake there. Cranberry juice doesn’t foam very well at all. To remedy this he added some protein powder and areolatte’d it up to create a foambable liquid. For me this drink didn’t work. It was overpoweringly acidic and I didn’t think it worked too well. You could tell that the coffee was oozing cranberry through all the drinks built but I think it would have been scored a little better if he had maybe started with the capps and finished with the Signiture drink. IMHO. I bet the combination worked a lot better in practice sessions.
His capps were good and defiantly had that cranberry taste although it was much more present through the milk the acidity was dulled just enough.
Results
3rd
Maxine Beadsmore
2nd
Ben Townsend
1st
Sindy Kamcheong
Well Done Sindy!!
Congratulations to everyone who entered, judged and supported it truly was a great day out!
Judges for the day
I think I’m going to have to live blog Scotland as writing this up while preparing for competition became a chore rather than a pleasure. More templates required for a quick completion I think.
Helen From beyond the bean has asked me to help her with a piece for Barista Magazine, so I’ll no doubt be badgering all of you for finite clarification on your drinks.
I hope you enjoyed it.
To bed…….
Stu
Yesterday I spent a fantastic day at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol at the Beyond the Bean Barista Jam, a precursor to the 2008 UK Barista Championships which will be starting very soon, see previous posts. A star-studded line up of current, ex competitors, judges and sponsors were all in attendance to offer words of advise and support to the 25 potential competitors in attendance.The day started quite a bit earlier for a few of us who had traveled quite a distance to attend, notably Graeme and Sé who had flown in from Northern Ireland, and after our well needed caffeine hit and a complementary Danish it we were straight in to the welcome session.
We were welcomed by Helen from Beyond the Bean and given our name tags and asked to assemble in the working are for a presentation by Sé Gorman and Ed Buston (2nd and 3rd last year). They took us through Ed’s 2007 presentation and critically analyzed it with Ed making deliberate mistakes to highlight the importance of each element in the judges scoring. Sé told us some of the disastrous things that have happened to competitors in previous years including his own of forgetting his jugs which broke the ice and made everyone feel more relaxed. After they had completed their presentation we split into 3 groups to discuss smaller parts of competing in greater detail, judging, espresso and cappuccino.
Judges with WBC judge Jeremy Regan
(Jeremy going through the Judges Score sheets)
This session was aimed at looking through the sensory and technical score sheets in detail from a judge’s perspective. I found it extremely valuable as I had taken everything at face value when I read the sheets a few months back, letter of the law I suppose. It was great to see the judges interpretation of them and of which parts effected each other and those that didn’t. Thoroughly worth while!
Espresso with Ed Buston
(A multitude of La Spaz portafilters and tampers)
This session was based on distribution and tamping with extreme highlighting on the consistency of it. Judges want to see consistent tamping and apparently they have little systems of symbols they use to represent your distribution and tamp style to see if it is accurately replicated through all the espresso shots in the performance. News to me but it makes sense I suppose. Ed also explained the theory of the distribution and tamp to us all skillfully avoiding prescribing a best technique. Again it was very helpful, cheers Ed.
Cappuccino with Sé Gorman
(Sé going though Cappuccino scoring with Will and the group)
I’ve wanted to meet Sé for a while now and I’m very glad I did. He has a wealth of knowledge and is a fantastically nice chap. He came up with probably the most valuable information of the day as he went through cappuccino production. Cappuccino holds the least amount of scoring on the sensory score cards but the routines you set up while doing cappuccino can make you or break you. Deciding which order you serve you drinks in is vital to you chances and Sé gave us some great pointers to set us on our way. He also highlighted how much better a café can get and how much staff, owners and employees will learn from competition. ‘The best learning experience of your life’, I think he said.
Lunch
(Lunch Time)
We then had a little chin wag over some cheesy baguettes and some cappuccinos. I managed to have a good chat to some roasters who were local to Bristol over lunch before we split into 2 groups for the afternoon.
‘Blending and Roasting’- Blind Cupping with Peter James and Jim Hoffmann
(Peter, Sé and James at the cupping table)
A fun little here with 8 coffees ordered on the makeshift cupping table by Peter James from James Gourmet. A mixed bag of British roasted coffees, some supermarket, some micro roasters, some pre-ground, a single origin and a single estate coffee. Luckily for me I spotted the single estate and the single origin which were pretty darn tasty and picked out the pre ground without much hassle.
Signature Drinks mess around
(Robin deep in thought)
I think due to the over running of the previous group and the mess they had made our signature drink session was a bit of a free for all. I tried some milky cumin mix with the Clifton espresso which wasn’t undrinkable but I wasn’t really getting into it as there were too many people for each machine and I ended up trading latte art secrets with Will and Robin who reassuringly both had latte art on as their phone backgrounds, I am not alone!!!!
Having never been to a Jam I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the day but I was pleasantly surprised and learnt a lot about competition.
Things that could have maybe made it an even more enjoyable day than it was:
More espresso machines or a better machine to Jammer ratio, perhaps a bit more time on signature drinks and maybe some stuff about flavour paring.
More time to chat to other guys maybe a drinks party afterwards to get to know each other. I know the B the B guys would like that!
Despite all the coffee fun yesterday the star of the show in everyone eyes was defiantly this device we found in the gents toilets:
Many thanks to:
Helen, Jonathan and Matt from Beyond The Bean
Steve Penk from La Spaziale/SCAE
Sé Gorman from Cafe Krem
WBC Judge Jeremy Regan
James Hoffmann from ‘Square Mile Coffee Roasters’
Ed Buston from Clifton Coffee
Peter James from James Gourmet
EDIT
Find Jim Hoffmann’s blog post on the event here
Beyond the bean review here
Today I had the opportunity to support a local leacturer from Newcastle University with a coffee related project. This is the first time I have been asked to help with any event like this and I was extremely honoured to be even considered. Claudia Baldoli is degree Programme Director, MA in European History at Newcastle University and has recently been involved in the Cappuccino Conquests project. The Cappuccino Conquests research Project was a study of the transnational history of Italian coffee. The project ran from September 2004 to February 2007 as part of the Cultures of Consumption Research Programme. It traced the history of Italian style coffee drinks from the evolution of espresso in the 1900s through to the global popularity of cappuccino and caffè latte today.
I was approached by Claudia a couple of months ago asking if I would like to support a lecture that she was on as part of the Insights project.
(Claudia)
We set up a bar outside the lecture hall and served everyone a free espresso. I don’t think I’ve ever served as many people an espresso as I did today and I’m sure I’ll never see a line for just espresso like that again.
Thank you for the opportunity to support you Claudia. I’m always up for that sort of event if you have a need in the future. Great lecture and a great dinner afterwards. I’ll certainly take you up on that tour of Milan, Keep in touch!
I seem to have been quoted in the Caterer Search website in an article By Ian Broughton of Broughtons Coffee house Magazine.
See the article here
Quite an interesting article with lots of comments from coffee machine engineers, roasters and cafe owners. A good in-site into the state of machine repair and maintenance industry.
There is a silly latte art comp going on on James Hoffmann’s Blog which is well worth a look.
I’ve added my own to the fold
I nearly messed my pants when I did this!
I know there is know Latte art, but you just try and pour 16 shots and nearly a litre of milk into a grinder.
My hands were shaking quite a bit!
Cheers
Stu
Making a good coffee is tricky
Making the perfect coffee
The rise of coffee culture in the UK shows no sign of stopping – and now you can learn to be a barista yourself at a training centre in Blaydon.
“I’ve had some bad coffees with burnt milk and I’m fed up of it. I’m going to teach people to make good coffee.”
That’s the promise of Stuart Lee Archer, head trainer and website manager for Pumphreys of Newcastle – a man who is seriously passionate about coffee.
Stuart plans to enter the UK barista championship
Barista training
The tea and coffee company has a long heritage on Tyneside, dating back to 1750, but it’s successfully moved with times.
Their latest venture has been to create a barista training centre at their premises in Blaydon.
Such a move would have been unthinkable ten years ago, but with the rise of coffee culture and multi-national cafe chains there’s now a huge demand for good coffee.
“The more espresso machines we were putting out the more we were recognising the need for training,” explains Stuart Lee who leads the training sessions.
“You could do an hour of training when you did an installation but the person you trained might not be there next week.”
“We’ve done everything along the chain to produce this great coffee but it still comes down to the person actually making it and it can easily be ruined,” continues Paula Jean Archer, sales and marketing manager. “So we just wanted to get people more enthused about it really.”
Malcolm’s been roasting beans for years
High standards
The centre opened at the end of 2006 and already a broad mix of students, catering staff and coffee enthusiasts has been through its doors to learn the secrets of making a proper espresso.
“We start off teaching them a tiny bit about coffee history and what coffee is and then we move on to the espresso extraction and what makes it special,” Stuart Lee says of the course.
“We take people through why something tastes good and why something tastes bad. We also teach people how to foam milk properly, which is something a lot of people can’t do.” (Here’s a good tip – if you go for a coffee and they have to spoon the foam out of the milk jug onto your drink then they’ve overdone it.)
“If people take what I say on the course and understand it they will produce a coffee that’s better than 99% of the coffee out there.”
There is coffee from 19 countries in the warehouse
That’s quite a damning comment on the quality of the majority of coffees being served but Stuart Lee has high standards.
“My girlfriend hates me as we can’t go in anywhere for coffee,” he says. “When we go in somewhere I can hear if they’re not making it properly and walk straight back out!”
He really is evangelical about coffee – and it doesn’t stop with the training centre. Pumphreys are now working with other companies around the country to try to set up a City and Guilds course on coffee.
It’s seems as though coffee is starting to be taken as seriously as wine – with tastings and talk of pairing different blends with different meals. That’s quite a change for what is traditionally a nation of tea drinkers!
Find out more about the history of Pumphreys:
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
As you can probably tell by the gap between posts that I have been reluctant to dwell on my experiences in London a couple of weeks ago. I had built the day up so much in my head and boy was it a disappointment. Not, might I add, from any of the exhibiters or any events happening but mainly from the extremely excruciating journey to and from little old London. It seems every time I pop down, London tries its hardest to stop me having a good time or even enjoying myself slightly. I’m beginning to hate the place! Still I’m going to have to give it a couple more chances before I become a complete northern recluse, my girlfriend starts a job there in September, Oh Joy! ANYway….. The day started at 4am as I rose from my bed in my little Northumbrian village all bright eyed and bush tailed (honestly). A quick bacon sandwich, using some locally reared bacon, and a cup of Pumphreys Tea and I was raring to go. Bight sunshine filled my garden as the birds twittered in the trees. What a great day for a jolly I remember thinking as the ‘Old Boy’ picked me up. Our flight was at 6.40am from Newcastle, to arrive at Stanstead 7.40am. The first of many delays and we finally got to Stanstead at 8.45am after a particularly bumpy ride, not too annoyed just yet. A quick change and we were on the stanstead express reading up about the event in CAFÉ Business magazine.
A quite bizarre thing happened next, I tried to buy a sandwich from the guy pushing the food trolley. The sandwich had a ‘time’ best before on it which had just passed, I think it was 9 o’clock. This is a concept I have never seen before, Imagine If I’d bought that sandwich at 1 minute to 9. It could have potentially gone off as I was eating it, bizarre! I settled for a particularly nasty cup of tea instead. 45 mins later and we were in Liverpool St Station. We pointed and grunted at the tube map for a couple of second and then we were off into the Undergrowth, er… underground. More delays meant we arrived at Olympia at about 11 quite a while after we had planned. Our enthusiasm undamaged we strolled into the Main hall collecting our pointless Show bag and name badge on the way though. The Show After the anticipation of the morning I was initially a little disappointed. There had been a mistake on the timing of the SCAE seminars on the website. The one workshop I had wanted to see, Sé Gorman’s presentation on ‘UK Barista Championship presentations’ had been and gone before I arrived . Dam it!Also the Clover one was fully booked, Double Dam it!
I managed to blagg a ticket to the Mahlkonig grind on demand seminar from Steve Penk (SCAE and LaSpaz) instead, which was thoughly enjoyable. It was great to go though the details and the intricacies of the Mahlkonig K 30 ES with Nils Erichsen. I hope he didn’t mind my endless questions too much! Still its not everyday you get the GM of such a progressive grinder company in front of you taking question, so I thought I’d make the most of it! After that had finished and we had an enormously expensive sandwich from Pret and wandered around the show for a bit! Got a nod and a I’ll catch you later from James Hoffman on the very busy La Spaziale stand on the way past. Sadly never happened but I’m sure I’ll catch up with him soon though! Saw a very nice Victor Ardwino spring lever espresso machine, hand beaten panels on the first choice coffee stand. Ooooh Gorgeous!
I then popped to the beyond the Bean stand and met up with my Kiwi mate Jonathon Norton who was along with all the other guys on the stand were looking a little peaky but enthusiastic as always. They had a great stand set up with a I group La Marzocco and a camera set up to shoe the drinks being poured. They had ‘Caitalin Hogua’, the current Romanian Barista Champion hired for the day just to bash out rosettes and hearts with chocolate topping for the big screen, it all looked very swish. As I hadn’t had a play with a La Marzocco before I cheekily asked if I could pull a few shots. I was asked not to tamp too hard which confused me. ‘we’ve had trouble with the pressure’. Not wanting to make a scene I did what he said and bashed out a passable shot, chocolaty taste, I’m not sure who’s the blend was!
I spotted the new Bumper foaming jug and asked if I could have a pour. T’was the first time foaming on la Marzocco and I thoroughly ballsd it up. My second attempt was bang on, when I got used to the steam tip, and I knocked out a big full leafed Rosetta in the larger 12 oz cup to the amasement of the barista. ‘Are you a barista’ he said.. Me…. noooo It seems he has trouble pouring art with the larger cups. ‘Just larger jugs, faster pour and keep up the momentum’ I said with a little smug smile on my face. What’s the saying: Little things…. I got quite exited about the new (to me at least) bumper tampers, the tamper stands, and the Pallo coffee tools. I’ll have to get me some of those. After a little bit more of a wander we decided we had to leave at 3pm.
We missed flight at 6.25, and this is where I get angry!
A nice nap on the seats till the morning flight and we finally got home at 10.30am the next day. aaaaaahhhhhHH.
God Bless You Easyjet!!!!
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