November = Events

Don't ask me, why, but there seems to be a bit on this November.

Barista Comp Wrapup

The Victorian Barista and Latte Art Championships were held over the weekend. I did the judging calibration purely out of interest, but intended to study rather than judge. Turned out that there was a bit of a shortage of judges, so I sidelined studying to get the opens judged and happening. The obvious changes this year were the new machines and the new faces - who, without exception, displayed a very good level of technical competence. It would be impossible to remember or list all of the home runs that the competitors hit, so I'll just mention one - Simon James absolutely nailing the description of his espresso. It was nice to see Nim step up to judge, adding another experienced palate to the Victorian pool of judges.

Talor judged by HJ Ross, Myself, Mel, Tom and Jeff.

As usual, Syd has put up his amazing photos of the events. Emily Oak's idea to fly him up to Atlanta to be the official WBC photographer is brilliant.

I was furiously footnoting an essay on Sunday, but it was nice to see a well-deserved latte art comp win from Erin, who I am sure will win the Australians and the Worlds, but might lose the Intergalactics to the seven-handed Florgostillians and their legendary 'galaxy of rosettas.' Big props to Kirby from Maling Room and Dave Seng for their placings. Jesse 'Iceman' Hyde took out the Barista comp, leaving the press with the immortal one-liner:

"I used to play guitar full-time for a living," Hyde said. "Coffee geeks will never be rock stars. Slash (former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses) is way cooler than David Makin."

Golden Bean

So I've got a 5am flight tomorrow to the Equal Golden Bean conference + coffee roaster competition. Should be fun; really looking forward to tasting the best that Australia has to offer. Many thanks to Mr Makin for the lift and Cafe Culture for the whole thing.

Drinking?

Why yes, yes I am drinking coffee. I have a nice drip roast kenyan coffee generously sent down to me by the boys at Mecca in Sydney. Thanks guys!

Siphon: With a high dose, surprisingly full-bodied, with apple-juice like acidity and mouthfeel. Relatively low on the classic winey/raspberry flavour - for a Kenyan - but definite orange overtones. Wierd. Dry finish, owing to the hot weather that the parcel has been exposed to.

Seriously. Lightish roast kenyan coffee, for brewed methods, has to be as close to shooting fish in a barrel as you can get in coffee. It's usually very impressive and this one is no exception.

Ennui, WBC and Coffee

Despite the whirlwind that was the WBC, over the last month or so I found myself less enthused than ever about coffee. A few notable exceptions aside, really good coffee seemed to be pretty scarce on the ground. Fortunately, a few stunning coffees have sparked my interest again. This post is a news update that will be followed up by a coffee update within a week or so.

WBC

What a ride. I have been mulling over what to post about it ... how to capture the tremendous amount of work that went on behind the scenes and the bittersweet sensation of Dave's sensational second place finish. Well, I guess that I have pretty much summed it up in that last sentence.

I'll keep it short and sweet. Watching Dave's performance from 2nd place at the ABC last year to WBC this year has been nothing short of inspirational. Whatever you might say about Dave, you have to concede that he is an incredible barista and approached the task of winning the WBC with boundless energy, enthusiasm and effort. It was certainly an honour to be able to tag along for the ride. I hope that whoever wins next year avails themselves of the experience and expertise that Dave and the Veneziano crew have acquired. And, yeah, I guess that I have to concede that some of the coffee that I got to taste was pretty damned amazing!

End of an era

With my final semester at uni upon me, I have made the decision to resign from working Saturdays at First Pour. For the past four or five years, I have pushed myself to the breaking point by overloading at uni, volunteering and working a few jobs at once. I count myself extremely lucky to have had all of the opportunities that life has afforded me, but I look forward to focussing on my studies this semester and taking my last opportunity to enjoy the life of an undergrad.

It's fair to say that I have probably learned more about coffee from working at First Pour and the big V than I have from anything else. Dedication to producing great coffee is a given, but perhaps one of the other truly special things about the big V is the company's willingness to support its junior staff in learning more about coffee and advancing their careers in the industry. I will certainly miss working at such a fun place. I will also miss having customers with such good palates and a dedication to coffee that sees them travelling down dodgy-looking industrial back-alleys to get their weekly fix.

David Seng is back at university and has taken over from me at First Pour on Saturdays. He is joined by a new trainee, Ben. Frankly, Sengster is probably a better barista than I am - at the very least he's faster - so it ought to work out well for the customers. It is hoped that having an additional staff member on Saturdays will facilitate a few extra activities that I was never able to run by myself.

I'll still drop by Veneziano to keep up with the goss and leech off the guys as I did before and from time to time you might well see me filling in behind the bar or in some other capacity.

Yeah. I'll miss that Robur and FB80.

Chasing Hearts and Dreams

Chasing hearts; in my cup right now:


Chasing dreams; tune in to worldbaristachampionship.com, 7:20 pm Friday, our time, to see Dave's WBC qualifying round performance.

The Hoff Wins WBC 2007 / Milking It For All It's Worth

Massive congratulations to James Hoffmann for winning this year's WBC. Be wowed by his genuine writing style and general coffee knowledge over at his blog or, better still, check out his incredible mastery of milk, right here:





... or you could check out video feed of his performance at zacharyzachary. Aspiring WBC competitors might want to continue the Hoffmannia by checking out an article that he wrote on one of his sinfully delicious signature drinks.

Victorian Barista Championships Wrapup

For me, last week was a blur of clerkship applications. For a bunch of top baristi, it was time for the big competition.

One of the goals of the world barista competition is to improve the quality of coffee around the world. This year, the Victorian region must have taken the cake. Competition was fierce, with eight very polished baristi fighting it out on Sunday. Even from my vantage point right next to the presentation table, or watching the good bits of CCTV, it was difficult to see anyone losing technical points.

Unfortunately, I basically only had time to rush in, help Simon set up, pull some shots for the audience on the San Marino, watch a few competitors and then shoot on home to get some applications finished. Having been lucky enough to train with Peter and five of the competitors at First Pour, it was a great disappointment to me not to be able to stay for the whole thing.

Results were as follows, with some notes below:

1. David Makin
Barista/Sales Rep, Veneziano Coffee
Coffee by Peter Wolff



Dave was clearly the main draw, with the Beach Club packing out just before his performance. Onlookers were not disappointed; Dave made it look easy, chatting to the judges about his drinks and breezing in with twenty seconds to spare.

2. Erin Sampson
Manager, HQ
Coffee by Peter Wolff



(Photo from David's Flickr)

Erin was one of the last competitors, and had the misfortune of having to compete three times. The first time around, the machine's water bottle ran dry. The second time around, it was clear that there was some air sitting in the top of the groups that needed to be bled off. In the end, Erin removed all of her stuff and set up on the other machine.

3. Simon James
Manager, HQ
Coffee by Peter Wolff



I remember watching Simon go overtime, trying to compete with a mazzer mini a few years ago. This year, despite having to lug a robur up two flights of stairs, everything seemed to go off without a hitch. I was quite anxious for Simon, as he chose to use a blend featuring Yemeni coffee, which I feel can be really hit and miss.

It was quite funny that Simon finished one second overtime, and scored a mere half a point less than Erin. I believe that Simon and Erin had each won one internal HQ barista competition, so this was the grudge match. Hopefully they will write this one off and settle it at the opens!

4. Cassie Ann Lawry
Barista, First Pour (Veneziano Coffee)
Coffee by Peter Wolff



(Photo from Nathan's Flickr)

Cassie had the second highest technical score. Unfortunately, her coffee seems to have let her down this time. I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was a blend of a single origin at different roast levels, or because this particular roast was a little dark. The Yauco Selecto blend really has an incredible mouthfeel and sweetness to it, so the result was quite disappointing.

Look out: I'm sure that Cassie will breeze through the opens.

5. Con Haralambopoulos
Owner, 7 Grams
Coffee by Peter Wolff



(Photo from Nathan's Flickr)

It has to say something about the calibre of the competitors if the guy who scored far and above everyone else in the Trans-Tasman barista comp only finished fifth. Whilst Con's signature drink looked awesome, I suspect that the fact that it was a cold drink really made it difficult for him to pick up points.

6. Toshiyuki (Toshi) Ishiwata (Ineligible - Japanese Citizen)
Barista/Roaster, St Ali
Coffee by St Ali



Toshi is definitely a crowd favourite. His signature drink involved a flavoured whipped cream being placed on an espresso. The cream appeared quite stiff, so I suspect that he lost points for the drink not being drinkable.

7. Zoe Delany
Trainer, Michel's Patisserie and Sunbeam
Coffee by Michel's Patisserie



(Photo from Nathan's Flickr)

I didn't get to see Zoe's performance, but did hear that she went 20 seconds overtime.

8. Aaron Kindred
Barista, Oomph (Ineligible - From Tasmania)
Coffee by Oomph

(Having trouble getting a photo of him up here)

... so I guess that now it's time to get to work on the Nationals! I think that Victoria will be the state to beat this year.

A few more snaps ...



With Simon's Robur, competition blends and competition baristi, we actually managed to squeeze some decent coffee out of this setup for the audience ... until the San Marino tripped the power!



The David Makin cheer squad.



Full house.



Pete, Craig and I bite our nails.

Cheers,

Luca