WBC finals

just watched michael phillips perform at finals in atlanta. he is such a nice person and so genuine and i think that really comes through in his performance and his bar skills. michael and i had a really long conversation via phone this past fall about coffee and both of our upcoming respective regional barista competitions. needless to say, my performance did not go as well as i had hoped at the regional level. i was wowed by his knowledge as a barista and a coffee professional and i am honored to call him an acquaintance.
in other notes, since it's been a while since i updated this thingy here.....
my beloved has moved clear across the country to portland, the greatest coffeeland/mecca/heaven in the world. soooooo in good beloved fashion, i'm planning a trip to the northwest to go visit and see the feasibility of moving there to participate in their culture. i'm really excited about it all. i'm thinking of staying at the ace hotel, which has a stumptown coffee shop in the lobby. or the jupiter hotel which offers the guests free stumptown coffee in the rooms as an amenity. i'm going to overdose on coffee and come back to the burgh with a whole new perspective on coffee and what it means to be a coffee professional in a marginal market like pittsburgh. i'm also really nervous about it all. it could also signal the beginning of an end for me in pittsburgh. we'll see what happens....
i've been working with some really cool espressos. first it was a blend that was meant to be served as a super-duper ristretto at 34-45 seconds. i know right. crazy 'spro. i loved working with it and i loved being able to nail it and get some really great tasting shots while only having a couple of pounds to work with. then i worked with a single origin ethiopia that was %75 natural and %25 washed from the yirgacheffe region. probably my favorite espresso i've ever tasted. fucking incredible. chocolate, sweet as hell, blueberries and cream, dark-ass crema and syrupy body. when we ran out, i cried a little. next up was a single origin costa rica tarrazu. also incredible.not as syrupy in body as the ethiopia but definitely worth writing about. candied citrus, sweet as hell. reminded me ALOT of ritual's colombia sweettooth espresso blend.

Also trying to work in some time to do some mods to the mazzer major this week before my vacation. the problem lies in getting the appropriate tools to take the dosing chamber off the grinder to attach the mods, mostly the elvinator (designed by coffee genius, michael elvin of espressoparts NW) and and a stainless steel grid to cut down on clumping and spray from the throat of the grinder.the mods will pay for themselves in a day for the waste that they save. i'm excited for that definitely, especially now that i'm using the major more and more these days.

Also, trying the solidify the details of training more and more and to get that more regimented to leave sort of a legacy at the shop for future generations.

the coffeeworld is changing as i type this, as you read this. my word. hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen, now begins our thrill ride.

snobbery 101

you have got to love coffee.
i mean, it is liquid gold. it has such variety, such pizazz. what is not to love? from diner coffee at 3am to the double ristretto you get on your way to the office, it all has it's good qualities.
i am by no means an expert. i am a coffee slinger at a shop here in the iron city. i train new hires in the art and craft of espresso. i enjoy talking about coffee with people who dont care about half the shit that comes out of my mouth. i dont care that all they want to hear is how much it costs. i just want to show off my coffee knowledge. it's pretty much the only thing that seperates me from a dishwasher or a line cook.
i love coffee. did i mention that?
i had my first cup at 6 years old. it was fucking gross over roasted french roast made in a french press. the shit my dad likes.i liked the bitterness. i started working in coffee when i was in highschool. i was a manager at the coffee bar in the gourmet grocery store in my hometown. it was fucking miserable work but i got to use counter culture coffee, based out of my hometown, for the first time. it was my first experience with specialty coffee and i really liked what i saw. nevertheless, i was fired from that job because i was still in high school and couldnt commit to a 40 hour work week.
imagine that.
i've worked with counter culture coffee a few more times in the last ten years, however, it is batdorf & bronson's coffee that really gets me. i love their single origins, especially the ethiopian coffees. i also really love intelligentsia's single origins. i like their black cat espresso, but i think it tends to taste ashy when it is even a second over extracted.
there will be more to come, my dear afficianados. there will be more. but now i must go into the fray and educate the IRL masses on good coffee.