When using your kettle wait until the water boils, then count 10 to 15 seconds. You want to use hot but not boiling water. Boiling water will actually burn the grinds. It is also a good idea to pre-heat your cups before you serve the coffee. Just add a bit of hot water to heat up the mug, which will keep your coffee warm longer and allow you to taste the coffee through out the temperature range.
Coffee harvesting is done either by hand or machine. Coffee picked by hand is usually done at higher elevations where it is harder to get machinery to operate in the terrain. Picking by hand tends to lead to higher quality due to the lack of impartiality of the machine not being able to pick the absolute ripest cherries.
Is usually espresso made with half regular roast and half decaffeinated.
Author’s note:
With many cafes in the Vancouver area offering decaf only in americano format, the majority of half caf drinks are also made via the espresso machine.
A cylindrical mount that hangs from the top of a traditional espresso machine. A porta-filter can then clamp in making an air-tight seal for proper espresso extraction.
That's a Wrap
As this was the first coffee trade show I have ever been too, I have to say I really had a great time. I got to meet a lot of people in the coffee industry who provide the tools to the cafe’s.
I also got to see the Barista Competition live for the first time and it is impressive. The pressure the bar tenders are under to get every drink down is pretty amazing.
I finally met the lovely and equally knowledgeable Andrea Piccolo at the Swiss Water Booth. Erica and I both took the Swiss Water Challenge which provided two cups of french pressed coffee one decaf on not. Both of us could barely tell the difference between the the decaf and the caffeinated brew. We really enjoyed our chat with the gang at swiss water and hope to find out more about their unique decaffeination process.
At 50 cents a piece for this IKEA Älmhult stonewear mug, it is a cheap reusable option.
From the Aardvark paper drinking straws to the Baskets-n-bags burlap coffee trays to a hand pump portable espresso maker. This show had a number of booths focused on recyclable, biodegradable and greener products. We fully support the use of a greener more sustainable product, but the other side of the trade show we saw a whole lot of waste.
What we also saw was a lot of sample cups being offered, sampled and then being thrown out. I found it to be a lot of waste with some exhibitors wanting to give us 10 to 12 oz cups of coffee with sleeves etc. While we were impressed with the marketing venture some of the new producers were trying to accomplish, we felt there was a lot of waste as well.
While I totally understand how hard it is to be a little more green The Salt Spring Coffee Co showed why they were leaders in sustainability. Their coffee samples were given in reusable IKEA Älmhult stonewear mug. After being used they were washed in the clean up area that was provided and brought back to the booth.
According to Banks Thomas, roaster for Salt Spring, he brought the idea to the Island Roaster, but he can’t take credit for it.
“When I was at counter culture they had reusable cups and I took the idea from them,” said Banks.
Salt Spring first introduced the reusable cups at the EPIC Sustainability convention last spring.
This is a win win, one the cost of the cup is only payed out once and then reused, and two the samplers will stick around to finish the coffee and you have a captive audience to make your pitch until they are completed. So I hope Salt Spring doesn’t mind me letting the cat out of the bag on this one and I hope the trend continues!
I ran into Sophie Lui from Global Television and with one look at my name tag she had me in front of her camera asking about Far Coast coffee, the just named official coffee supplier of the 2010 Olympic Games. I wasn’t surprised seeing that is the hot beverage arm of the Coke-a-Cola company. Sophie asked me to taste the coffee and give it my impression. The coffee was about an hour old and kept in stainless steel vacuum flask. I thought it was over extracted and and slightly higher in acidity then body.
I made the news on Thursday night (Yup you can watch it here go to the 11:00 minute mark), but as TV goes, my quote was slightly cut. I didn’t mind, I know the seconds count in a news cast and just so you think I am not a complete snob, I said
“Is this olympic worthy coffee, it certainly wouldn’t get a gold metal in my book, but I have drank far worse.”
Kyle Straw, second from right, and the finalist of the Canadian Barista Competion
It was the first time Erica and I had both seen the Canadian Barista Championships competition and in every sense of the word we were impressed with the competition. The timing needed to prepare everything to come out in a certain order, the judging involved with each and every moment is completely rehearsed and practiced over and over again.
Kyle Straw from Caffe Argitano Hornby location came out the top Canadian Barista and will be heading the London England in 2010 for the World Barista Championships in June.
But something that I saw in person that you never really see on the u-stream of the event is the support system that is there for the barista, from sample testing during the set up time to making sure the barista is completely set up. Once the competition starts the barista is on their own.
After the competition the barista goes over the their scores with the judges. While getting feedback is par for the course, I was really impressed with the amount of detailed feedback that was given back to the barista. This wasn’t just a 30 second, you did well. Both judge and barista when through the comp in fine detail.
I came to the obvious conclusion that this consultation is the true gift of the barista competition and that it is a shining example of why they are important. If baristas of national caliber spend weeks training for this event and then after the competition spend 5 to 10 minutes going over their scores with one of the judges, the trickle down effect to every cafe must be significant.
Green Beans are unroasted coffee beans that have been processed to remove the skin around the bean. Green coffee beans go through a multitude of processes from the time the coffee cherries are harvested to when the raw, dried and dehusked “coffee beans” are packaged in burlap sacks ready for export.
The size of the coffee bean grounds. The recommended grind depends on the brewing method. The grind should be adjusted to create the desired amount of coffee oil extracted from the ground beans. The finer the grind, the quicker coffee can be extracted. Too much extraction will remove unwanted chemicals and make the coffee taste bitter, while too little extraction will cause the coffee to taste flat and watery.
Many coffees have fruity notes of flavour, considering that coffee beans are essentially seeds of a fruit–the coffee cherry. A roast’s acidity is much like a wine’s brightness and is often related to the fruity-ness of the bean.
Author’s note:
Instead of just trying to say it is fruity, try to describe the fruit you are tasting. I always like to try to describe what I am tasting when I attend a public cupping although I admit it can be challenging.
The process of using a steam wand on an espresso machine to make a velvet hot foam usually from milk. Compressed heated air from an espresso machine flows out of the steam wand and into the cold, liquid milk.
A Barista then skillfully uses the steam wand to draw air into the milk until the mixture reaches 155 to 165 F and turns the milk into a mixture of air and heated milk.
Author’s note:
The true art of a barista comes out in the frothing of the milk. It can make or break the drink in my opinion. If the wand is too high the milk will be too bubbly and not velvety, yet if the wand is too low the milk will just be heated and will be too hot to produce any good foam.
Sammy Piccolo the 2009 Canadian Barista Championship
The Coffee and Tea show and Barista Competition has concluded. You can read all about it here.
I have never been to a barista championship. It’s not that I don’t believe in them, I just have had bad timing. I have met a few champion baristas in Vancouver and their handy work is stuff coffee jitters are made of.
So when I heard that the Western Canadian Barista Championships were being held in Victoria I was completely annoyed that I couldn’t make it. My real job got in the way of my coffee addiction again.
So when I heard the nationals were coming to Vancouver, the staff of the Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene are more than excited to attend and watch a barista competition live. But, what are we going to watch? We had to do some research. I checked out the Canadian Barista Championship rules PDF, which is available from the Canadian Barista Academy website. It’s an uniquely detailed list.
According to the Canadian Barista Championship 2009 rules and regulations you will be provided with:
| Supplied with | Barista Must Provide |
|---|---|
|
|
| The List is Abridged, see the full list here |
Four Sensory judges will compare the quality of the espresso based drinks. Technical Judges will watch the skill of the barista on the espresso machine and one head judge will watch them all.
4 shots of espresso
4 cappuccinos 5 to 6 oz
4 signature drinks
============
12 drinks total
If you have ever worked an espresso bar before you know that pumping out a drink every minute is a decent task of time management, skill and multitasking. And then presenting these drinks for inspection is more than a little stressful.
Signature Drink Base from Atlanta World Barista Championship photo credit: liz clayton
A signature drink is something the barista has developed to show the skill of their craft and to show some artistic flair and style. The signature drink is some of the most unique drink designs and combinations you will ever see. I am no expert in this subject, but I doubt you’ll see any of these drinks ever on a menu because they are so complex in creation and design.
While all of this is going on you also have a hands free microphone in between shots of espresso being pulled and milk being steamed. The barista will talk on a microphone about the origin of the roast and concept of the signature drink and why they got into coffee.
For example check out Sammy Piccolos final round in the 2009 World Barista Championships in Atlanta.
It could be said that like most competitions this showdown really only matters to the people involved. I’ll pat your back and you’ll pat mine scenario.
But really what is more important is the grass roots that regional competitions provide. Just in preparation alone for the regional competitions, baristas are honing their craft and after competitions the amount of knowledge each barista brings back to his or her home cafe is extraordinary. These competitions are held across North America and have thousands of baristas competing and learning about new techniques.
The Vancouver Convention Centre East (Canada Place)
October 14th 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
October 15th 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
It is $15 a day to see the trade show and Barista Championship. But the Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene has a number of free passes available to watch the competition. But you have to pre-register online at the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show website.
Fill out your information and enter promo code: Online9
Once you click “Apply Promo Code” the trade show cost should be zeroed out.
The Coffee and Tea Show has concluded. Read about the show here.
