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.

gender and coffee

i recently read in ms. or bitch magazine, one or the other, i forget. about how coffee has been portrayed as a very gendered thing. tough guys in movies are always drinking coffee black. the blonde ditz is always ordering a skim sugar-free vanilla latte. frou-frou drinks are, according to the author of this article that i dont remember where i read, considered very feminine. stupid people order them in movies.
i'm not exactly sure whether i agree though. i love drinking coffee black. well, i love drinking ethiopian coffee and costa ricas black. i never order drinks that have to be made up more than a drag queen on halloween, but am i not feminine?
the tough guys that come in to the shop and order mochas with extra whip cream. or a soy caramel latte. they exist. are they not masculine?
i'm just saying......

MARBC 2009

so it's all over.
the mid-atlantic regional barista comp is over and done with. a little bit of a disappointment that pittsburgh's specialty coffee scene was represented by a crazy mocha employee (crazy mocha being the pittsburgh equivalent of starbucks). crazy mocha isnt exactly what comes to mind when i think specialty coffee. actually what comes to mind is "undrinkable swill". drew from 21st street and frank from aldo both had incredibly strong performances. i think that i didnt do too shabby myself, however this year i recieved the exact same score as i did last year. however, my performance this year was a thousand times better than last years.
there is definitely a bad taste in my mouth left by this year's competition. i will be judging at the USBC in portland this spring and hopefully that will lend me some sort of perspective as to what it's like on the other side of the table.

i am happy that katie duris won. she is an incredible barista and has an incredible skill level. her presentation was very well put together and her signature drink was very well thought out.
i was impressed by most of the competitors. everyone put on a good show.

decaf?

so we all know what it's like to get the shakes from taste testing too much damn espresso. so why not try the odd decaf every now and then? i'll tell you why not. decaf is pointless. every decaf i've ever tried has made me want to scrape my tongue off. david letterman said it best in the peak of the ratings wars...."decaf is pointless brown sludge. what is the point?". i couldnt agree with him more. what kills me is people who order decaf skim lattes with sugar free syrups. but they order the largest size possible. why not just get a small latte with one shot of real espresso and no sugar free anything in it? has everyone forgotten moderation as far as volume and caffeine are concerned? i think so. i know i have forgotten caffeine level moderation, at least.
a new coffeeshop opened recently in pittsburgh. it's opening has been much anticipated by all coffeesnobs in the pittsburgh area, including myself. voluto coffee is located on penn ave. between the heart of garfield and east liberty. they carry 49th parallel coffee from vancouver, which i had never had before. the space is beautiful,high lofty ceilings with lots of light. it looks very much like an ikea catalogue, which is not a bad thing at all. very modern and very classy. they have a 3 group synesso machine and brew all of their coffee via french press ( one cant help think that they were inspired to do so by pittsburgh's old standard, tazza d'oro). on my first visit i had an espresso and a traditional cappucino. both were good though i would very much like to see them carry a single origin espresso. the espresso is very smooth and chocolatey, i like a little fruity sweetness in my 'spro too, though. the hot chocolate i purchased on my second visit was also exceptional, though i was expecting a might bit of chalkiness since they use a powder. i also ordered an ethiopia sidamo coffee which was right up my alley. i am a sucker for a good african coffee. the sidamo got increasingly sweeter as the coffee got colder, which to me, is the true test of a well-roasted and brewed coffee.
overall, i am impressed by voluto. it's great to have another coffeeshop in the pittsburgh community that is continually raising the bar of quality. yes please. i would love some more!

an apology

sorry it's been so long since i updated this jam.
i moved. moving just totally throws me through a loop every time. i've moved 6 times since i've lived in pittsburgh. a bunch of bad living sitchs and unfortunate timings. but now.... everything is gravy. i love my new living situation. a big rambling house close to work with some people who appreciate coffee! yes!
i find myself, on my days off, making lattes on the stovetop espresso maker, and making french presses for my roommates and our assorted guests. on the weekend of thanksgiving, i ended up giving a few lessons on the correct way to make a french press to our guests, staysee and dave, and my roommates jason, monika, and emilie. totally the raddest way to experience coffee at home.
i've been really digging the B&B nicaragua los milagros lately. i've been making it as both espresso and as french press in the mornings i dont have to work. it's really nice and sweet with hints of dark fruits like cherries and plums with some chocolate too. so nice anytime of day.
i havent been getting out so much to experience the coffee scene these days, though i did come second place in a latte art throwdown recently. i am determined to win next time though.
competition is quickly approaching and i'm beginning to feel a little stressed about it.i'm sure i will be fine. i need some experience on an aurelia though. that is what i am most stressed over i think. i've got most stuff set in stone as far as my 'spro and my drinks and my prep time and other stuff. i need a few run throughs and a few xanax and i'm sure i'll do okay. i really would like the bar to be raised for pittsburgh as far as coffee goes.
in addition to preparing for competition, i'm working on a business proposal that may change the face of things to come in the burgh coffee scene. i'll keep you posted. but i am very excited about it all. a bit too much. i might pee my pants from the excitement or is that the obscene amount of coffee i drank today?

joe van gogh

my mom sent me some awesome coffees from my hometown of durham,nc.
the name of the roaster is joe van gogh. it's all fairtrade and mostly organic and i'll tell you, the coffee is incredible. she sent some guatemala and some costa rica and some sumatra that i did not try because i pretty much always hate indonesian coffees. the costa rica was sweet and had some maple syrup and some tangy citrus. very very tasty. and the guatemala was smooth and chocolatey and spicey at the finish. if you're ever in the triangle area, look up joe van gogh. i wish i had gone to the shop they have on duke campus, but as a rule i avoid duke campus like the plague. my mom went in there and started talking about how her daughter is a coffeegeek/barista and the owner got really excited and told her to tell me that i was invited to come to the roasting works when i'm in town next. which is typical NC fashion; invite the relative of a complete stranger into your home/workplace/bedroom.

on other topics of coffee news..... we did the african coffee cupping today. it was pretty cool. we "cupped" batdorf & bronson's kenya AA, ethiopia sidamo, ethiopia harrar, yemen, and kenya peaberry. i made french presses of each and had a "calibration table" that had a bunch of stuff that would get everyone's noses and palates ready for tasting the nuances in the coffees. strawberries, blueberries, currants, scotch, lapsong souchong, jasmine, molasses, lemon zest and butterscotch. yum. it was a great cupping, even though we didnt do the traditional sniff/sniff/break/taste/talk/sniff/taste cupping, it was good to facilitate discussion in another way. taking away the technical aspects of the cupping helped us talk mroe about the coffee than about the method of the cupping, which was way cool.

anyway. till next time.

october events

please come to tazza d'oro these days for good times and great coffee.

october 23rd- an african coffee cupping. this is open to the public. we will have a variety of african coffees to taste along with a "calibration" table to get everyone's olfactory nerves in sync.

october 29th- a Halloween themed latte art throwdown. $5 to enter. freepour only.each competitor gets one attempt at making a beautiful 12 oz double latte in the first round ( 4 minutes each) and then in the second round the top 5 scoring lattes from the first round will get one more chance to out-do each other. there will be no "warm-ups" or "second tries". what you pour is what is judged. we will have some kind of food and refreshments. call the shop if you have any questions . 412-478-8533

NC day two

we woke up and ate a very belabored breakfast and late breakfast at mom's. had some of the batdorf and bronson organic nicaragua isabelia with our tofu scramble and toast. very delish. went through chapel hill on our way to asheville and killed some time at surplus sid's which is such an awesome military surplus store. thought about stopping somewhere to get a quick cup before the drive but said "fuggit " and got on the road. we eventually touched down in asheville around 7. we had seen some epic sunset on our way but we were unbelievably hungry so immediately set out for rosetta's, which has the BEST food in all of asheville. got the peanut butter tofu,greens, sweet potato fries and gravy. so good. and then went over to izzy's to see dean and make plans for meeting up after he finished work. walked around and showed randy my old haunts, ran into some people i hadnt seen in years. it turns out that dean lives right next to the dripolator's new location on biltmore ave. and i resolved to get a capp there in the morning. the driploator carries counter culture which seems to have a sort of monoculture here in NC. instead of a capp i got a cup of drip mexico organic which was chocolatey and spicy. yummy. we wokred our way over to the tupelo honey cafe for breakfast. earlier i had made the joke that asheville is the place to go if you like having some hot girl serve you organic eggs first thing in the morning. there are like 10 breakfast only restaurants in town. but still with the saturation of breakfast joints there is still an almost hour long wait for a table at tupelo when we arrive. but we do it anyway. we got the biscuits with milk gravy and soysage, goat cheese grits and fried green tomatoes with more biscuits and peach butter. so good. when were sufficiently stuffed we went to izzy's to get a cappucino from dean, which was tremedous . i love izzy's.i love asheville. moreoever, i love good food. we're home now and ready to get back to work.

NC day one

the flights down here were pretty horrible. cramped seating,drunk moms, screaming children. but being greeted by my mom at the airport was good. i was so happy to see her and her partner. got back to her house to see that the kitchen had been completely remodeled with solid marble counter tops and stainless steel everything plus bamboo flooring. very posh and very comfortable to snack in!
we woke up friday morning with the intention of a) getting a good cup of coffee and b)taking care of the business i came down here for.
the first part was a lot harder than it sounds. i really wanted to go to this place called 3cups, that i'd never been to before ( check out their website www.3cups.net). it sounded and looked exactly what i was looking for in a cup of coffee. unfortunately they were closed. boo! then my mom recommended that we go to shadetree coffee on erwin road, which looked like it was permanently closed. boo! so we walked over to the building that she works in to the coffee shop they have on the bottom floor. port city java. upon walking, i noticed their fully automatic e(X)presso machine. i order an organic sumatra coffee. it had no syrupy body whatsoever. it was bland and i dont think that they used the standard 2 tablespoons per 6 oz of water rule. boo!
we gave up on getting coffee and focused on records and thrift stores which this area has a plentiful array of, but stumbled upon parker & otis where the old fowler's grocery used to be. the lady working the coffee bar had a great knowledge of the counter culture coffees and sold me 4 1/4 pounds of different coffees to take back to pittsburgh.she also made me a cappucino which was very tasty but the milk was steamed in the old way, not the microfoam way and was a bit dry for my liking. but eh. i was satisfied after having looked allover for a decent cup all day.
after dinner at watts grocery, an all local foods restaurant on broad st., we went to caffe driade for some coffee after some more record shopping. the guy behind the counter suggested the tanzania in a press pot and i took the bait. it was really delicious. it was light in body and mouthfeel, with some really nice floral aromatics. some serious dried apricots and cherry flavor notes with a robust tobacco note to finish. a great cup of coffee. i almost walked away with the tiny 12 oz bodum they had handed over to me, but my guilt got the best of me. it would have been a great souvenir from the day that coffee was not to be had.
later we discovered that we had missed a public cupping @ the counter culture roasting works earlier in the day. for that i am kicking myself, but now i know what to look forward to next time i visit: avoid coffeeshops in durham, full stop. only go to driade and go to the cuppings @ CCC fridays @ 10am.

regular?

just fyi- "regular" is not a size of cup.
thanks,sugartits.

i'm heading down south for a few days, to durham,nc and asheville. expect updates of coffee i have consumed. hopefully i'll get pictures too. if i can get another camera in the next 24 hours.