The 2008 WBC Champion... EXPOSED!!!

"I must be honest, things have changed around the apartment since getting back from Copenhagen. I wish I could say that Stephen hasn’t let success go to his head and is the same old lovable guy - but this simply isn’t the case."

More exposé here.

So sad.

More big coffee news

This is what people SHOULD be talking about this week!!!

Another example of how the blogosphere is generally a pretty dumb place (present company included).

Fill in the blank

From today's Washington Post...

In Tokyo and Paris, you can now spend $5 a glass on _____ selected by a professional _____.

Nothing surprising there, except the beverages being served are ____ -- with various "flavors" supposedly matched to different foods.

_____ from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "_____" -- at $33.50 for a two-ounce _____.

The push to turn _____ into the new wine is a marketing phenomenon: The _____ industry is engaged in an intense effort to convince Americans that _____ is substantially different from the stuff out of _____.

What are they talking about? Check it out!

Doug, don't let me EVER hear you complain that people think Intelly is bigger than it is!!!

Somewhat Pretentious Coffee Prediction for 2011

I thought James's coffee predictions for 2008 were very well done. Of course I'm not in James's league, but I do have a coffee prediction to make for oh, about the year 2011.

I find it surprising that many specialty roasters are ultra particular in the way they select coffees, and they're extremely meticulous in the way they roast. But after that...they throw the finest coffees in the world into a valve bag, send them out the door, and simply hope for the best. Sometimes the coffee tastes best on the fourth day, sometimes on the fourteenth. Sometimes, never.

My somewhat pretentious prediction is that cutting-edge roasters, (especially those who run their own local cafes) will soon begin to do better. Starting around 2011, freshly-roasted beans will be transferred into reusable canisters within seconds of leaving the cooling tray. The canisters will be hooked up to a gas-flush system that will promptly remove oxygen and replace it with nitrogen or CO2. The canisters will have one-way valves that may or may not be set up to maintain the contents at slightly elevated pressures (like Illy's 0.5 bar).

Canisters will be stored in inventory areas that are temperature controlled. Considering the high capital costs of setting up a roastery or cafe, having a properly controlled storage area (perhaps the size of a walk-in closet) is a relatively small additional expense.

Cuppers and baristas will be exacting in the way they specify how long and at what pressure their coffees are aged. Each origin and each blend may have its own specification. Some may age for 4-5 days, some for 12-15. Cuppers will argue about this passionately. :-)

At the store level, staff obsessed with serving the best possible coffee will be able to rely on consistent, delicious and optimized flavor profiles. Discerning customers will rave about the beverages. It will all be good. :-)

BTW, if this happens sooner, like in 2009 or 2010, I won't be miffed!

(Perhaps someone can clue me in, I believe 49th Parallel is pursuing at least some of these strategies already. Is there anyone else?)

Exquisitely Fine Coffees

A lot of folks have already seen it, but for those who haven't, there's a new coffee website in the spotlight:

RodLazar.com

It's a satirical take on Third Wave coffee and the people involved, and I've gotta say that it's pretty damn hilarious, as well as being a bit of commentary on how "out there" we coffee-people can get sometimes.

To be clear, though a lot of folks see it completely as a parody of our buddy R. Miguel Meza's project, it's not, though it's certainly one of its "targets." (Oh, and FYI, I had nothing to do with it.) Consider it an opportunity to laugh at ourselves, our obsession with exclusivity, cutting-edge tools and techniques, and how strangely esoteric we can get when it comes to coffee.

I'm just hoping that my Rod Lazar t-shirt arrives here in time for me to be able to wear it in Copenhagen during the World Barista Championship week! I'm looking forward to seeing folks in Denmark, and be sure to check out the official WBC Live Video feed that will appear on www.worldbaristachampionship.com. Congrats to all the national barista champions, and can't wait to meet the new WBC Champ!

Tim/Trish/Nick WRONG about Wave Theory!

I know the perpetual controversy about coffee wave theory is old news, but I had to mention that we've been mistaken about this. I just bought an excellent CD at Starbucks, where they obviously know what the Second Wave is all about.

Sorry to burst your bubble, Tim, Trish and Nick.

I heart Rocky Rhodes

Too bad I can't embed the preview to this TV show, but google this: Peter Perfect, "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee"

You'll see my pal, Rocky Rhodes busting up his "country kitchen" style roastery for a style channel show about redesigning business spaces. Apparently, this aired on May 3. I'm still trying to find it online.

"I don't read books." - a book review.

Actually, the last time that I tore through a book in one sitting... was reading Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea in 10th grade... and that book is like 12 pages long. I don't read books. I'll grab a magazine (Entertainment Weekly and Best Life magazine are my faves) on occasion, but

Today, I tore through God In A Cup in about 3.5 hours, coupled with a beautiful cup (or two) of Kenya Kangocho Peaberry auction lot #4602. Having that coffee today deserves its own blog post... maybe I will some time.

For now, I have to share my thoughts on this book by Michaele Weissman, food-writer and author of a book she almost called, "On The Road With The Coffee Guys." Thank God someone talked her out of it.

Now I have to make a disclaimer: I'm in the book. Michaele wrote an article for the New York Times a couple-or-three years ago, and interviewed me for it. The prologue of the book includes a recounting of my making for her what Michaele says is her first cup of "real coffee," a 12-ounce cappuccino (yes, 12 ounces... it's on the menu... and yes, we have a 6 oz "real" capp too!), and that it sent her "down the rabbit hole into coffee land." What follows, I can only say that I'm deeply humbled and honored to have played the tiniest of roles in.

Michaele spent the next couple of years working on this book, where she travels to locales as exotic as Burundi and Ethiopia, and as familiar as NYC and Los Angeles, to chronicle the personalities and work of the Third Wave coffee professionals. There are, most who have read the book will tell you, four main characters in the book: Peter Giuliano (Counter Culture), Geoff Watts (Intelligentsia), Duane Sorenson (Stumptown) and a coffee known as Hacienda La Esmeralda Special.

The thing that's striking about reading the book, knowing these folks so well, is how much she "gets it." As affable and bright as they come, Michaele is really easy to talk to, and she approaches things with a wonder and twinkle in her eye in a way that I've mentioned more than once that she is like a teacher at Hogwart's, and you could totally see her schooling Harry Potter and his friends in some sort of hocus-pocus of writing and wizardry.

Starting with introductions of the four main characters, God In A Cup takes us along for Michaele's coffee education. From her first trip to origin, observing a Nicaragua Cup of Excellence competition, to not knowing where her passport is in Burundi, to being awestruck by the beauty of Boquete, Panama, to watching the US Western Regional Barista Competition in California, we read page after page of the sorts of stories that we coffee professionals have heard passed around through our oral tradition, but never in print like this.

There's some amazing stuff in here, that had me grinning from ear to ear. Michaele's description of the discussions during the Nicaragua COE that she attended, are the most "I felt like I was there" depiction of those legendary events that I've ever experienced. Her exposition on Peter and Geoff's dealings with coffee producers and a certain cooperative get into more detail than we're ever normally privy to. Her adventures in Africa made me clench my fists in that, "Dang... that sounds so AWESOME!" sort of way.

There is some stuff that will make folks wince, and might be hard to read for some. Personal stuff that you may not have known about certain people. Stories about rivalries and tiffs between folks. Baristas hatin' on other baristas, and looking kinda stupid in the process.

But none of that detracts from the book, and in fact, it made it all the more real to me. Michaele really does "get it," in a way that I've never read before from an "outsider" to the industry.

It will be interesting to see how our industry reacts to this book. Already, there is some degree of jealousy on the part of certain coffee professionals who feel that Peter, Geoff, and Duane are extolled more than they should be. That some coffee professionals are out there proclaiming this and that without acknowledging their predecessors, who actually pioneered the stuff that newer folks are being credited with. I hope people don't get too distracted with their own bullshit to be able to see and read clearly.

However, it begs the question that anyone on the "inside," will likely ask themselves after reading the book, "Will anyone out there really care about this book? Will it be interesting to non-coffee people?"

To me, the fact that there's a big cup of deep, almost black coffee on the cover, is where the answer lies. As coffee professionals, we can wonder whether or not our customers will be able to tell how great a coffee like Esmeralda Especial is. Some won't, frankly. Some may ridicule, and think it's pointless. But some... and I think in both the book's case and in coffee's case more than we'd think... some are going to read this book and be captivated by it.

Congrats Michaele, our friend and our scribe, on your book. Thank you for capturing the moment that is coffee today in such a special way. God In A Cup is available at Amazon.com, and at your local Barnes and Nobles (you can check stock at a store near you).

God In A Cup... the BLOG

Check out Michaele Weissman's new book-related blog at: http://michaeleweissmanwrites.com/godinacupofcoffee/

Novo La Alondra Espresso: first impressions

I love to try single-origin espressos, but sometimes I fall victim to "Ethiopian fatigue." What I mean is, although often good, Ethiopian SOS are very common -- and from time to time I crave something with a different flavor profile.

I recently bought a Novo coffee from Colombia called La Alondra Espresso. Apparently alondra is Spanish for the small bird that Stevie Nicks calls skylark.

This Novo coffee makes an espresso, that is, you could say, a bird of a different feather.

Using my typical 14 gram dose, I mostly pulled shots in the 16-19 gram range. This made the brewing ratio around 75-85%, which is what many people would call a "medium ristretto." La Alondra produces a crema that is extravagantly luxurious, although paradoxically, it doesn't seem to last very long.

The beans are roasted a little darker than many single origin coffees. So the first thing that hit me -- "like a bell through the night" -- was a very pleasing, pungent spiciness: cloves, if you will.

Interestingly, when I went up to 200F from 199F, the spiciness dropped off. The same occurred going down to 198F. So, without getting too Chris Tacy on you*, the temperature seemed fairly critical. Of course, on a different machine, or with a different dose, or with different taste buds, the recommended temp might be quite a bit different.

I liked the bittersweetness of this coffee; a little bit of bitter, a little bit of sweet, a pleasingly sophisticated zing on your palate.

The body was pretty much what you'd expect from a Colombian SOS. A little light, but decent.

This is a nice espresso. It is nice to see people working with many different origins in the pursuit of delicious SO espresso.


* Chris, if you happen to read this, where you been, man? Missin' you....

Brewing Temperatures, Brewing Ratios

Over on home-barista.com, I posted the results of a little experiment on brewing temperatures and brewing ratios. The article attempts to correlate observations that I previously made here and here.

The HB post has pics and graphs and all that stuff, but perhaps the executive summary is something like this:


Even if your espresso machine delivers perfectly consistent brew water temperatures, the average temperature at which your espresso extracts is much lower for a ristretto than for a "normale." Baristas should take this into account when dialing in coffees to taste.

This may have been obvious, but I'd never seen it mentioned until Scott Rao pointed it out in The Professional Barista's Handbook (which, by the way, Scott recommends that you buy :-)

OK, I recommend that you buy it, too!