After the success of our Seattle NWRBC Seattle info session, BGA EC members Sarah Dooley and Anne Nylander, along with USBC judge Heather Ringwood are bringing the event to the Batdorf and Bronson Training Facility in Olympia, WA. RSVP with Sarah Dooley at sarah@marketcoffeeproject.com.
Now that registration for the 2011 NWRBC is open, we wanted to share a new event next week at Visions Espresso in Seattle:
January Manual Brewing Battle. Atlanta vs. Olympia! Jan. 16th. January, Atlanta and Olympia will play host to the first Coast to Coast Manual Brewing Battle. Batdorf & Bronson has been hosting Manual Brewing Battles out of their Atlanta Roastery since June, and their Olympia Roastery has organized two there. January's event will pit the best baristas from around the Atlanta (and surrounding) area against baristas from around Olympia (and surrounding areas.) How's that possible?
There will be three judges per side of the country. One coffee professional, one average coffee customer, and one local chef. Brews will be blind judged based on the attributes of aroma, flavor, body, and balance. All baristas will use the same coffee, available to be picked up for practice a week before the event from the respective Roastery. Baristas may use any manual brewing method they wish. They will have 10 minutes to submit their brew to the judges via runner.
All scores will be tabulated on each coast, and winners will be those with the highest individual score irregardless of location. This is not a team event. Judges will be in contact via Skype Video on each coast.
There will be great prizes for First, Second and Third Place.
The special guest chef judge in Atlanta will be Chef Steven Satterfield, of the highly acclaimed restaurant "Miller Union." Miller Union was named one of the "Top Ten New Restaurants of 2010" by Bon Appetit Magazine and Esquire Magazine. They were named the "Best New Restaurant for 2010" by Atlanta Magazine.
Special Guest Coffee Professional Judge for Atlanta will be Ben Helfen, from Counter Culture Coffee, formerly of the amazing Octane Coffee.
Special Guest Coffee Customer in Atlanta will be Matthew Campisi, a local coffee fan who frequents all the local coffee shops in Atlanta.
Special Guest Coffee Professional Judge for Olympia will be Sarah Dooley, from Espresso Parts NW. She also represents the BGA.
Other Judges for Olympia will be announced.
There will be live music at both Roasteries. In Atlanta, Chimp Attack, featuring Aaron Shively and Bryan Martin, both roasters at our Atlanta Roastery. Olympia band Pinniped will be dropping mad Celtic-inspired musical madness in OLY. There will also be food and drinks.
We want to see as many baristas as possible compete! Especially baristas from around the SE who've been in the shadow of our Pacific NW brethren for so long.
More info on the event can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=110626709009935
Head over to the Prima-Coffee web site and read up on their recent "Barista Bash." They've got a nice recap and a handful of great looking photos to tell the story of their Friday night event that, by the sounds of it, was a smashing success.
And don't forget! We love helping our members promote their events. Get in touch w/ your region's chapter rep or you can email Maria Hill at mhill@scaa.org and she'll coordinate BGA leaders to at least throw up a blog post, email blast, or both!
I gotta be honest. I don't know Jaime. I wasn't able to find a picture of them. I'm not totally sure where they work, but I know they live around Milwaukee. I do know that Jaime's a BGA member, and probably works at a Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters shop. If you know Jaime, tell them they made the big time with this blog post, and should consider getting some pictures out there on the internet along with some info bout what they're doing up there. Cheers Jaime!
1. What's the best part of being a barista?
I am in it for the money. Hah, joking! I love pouring out my heart (or rosetta) for customers every day!
2. What coffee has you excited lately?
I have been ecstatic to be a part of a coffee cafe that is celebrating one delicious year of its roasting endaevors. If you know anything about coffee in the Milwaukee area, you know that Alterra and Stonecreek have had the market cornered. Its awesome to see Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters get on the scene with some of the freshest, roasted to order coffee out there!
3. What's your favorite reality show?
Cheaters. If I'm not pouring lattes, I'm watching Cheaters.
4. Why are you a BGA member?
Its the best way to stay connected, and you get a cool membership card.
5. What's the coffee community like in your neck of Wisconsin?
Milwaukee is where its at! Its an exciting time to be a barista in this city. I had the privilage of standing next to Gianni Cassatini while watching Mike Phillips work is magic on the bar at the Great Lakes Regional Barista Championship this year. A few short months later, a local shop held their annual Barista Jam, I was unable to attend (working my own magic on the bar at Fiddleheads) but I heard it was fabulous! Milwaukee has great coffee and talented baristas and its wonderful to be a part of it
1. What's the best part of being a barista?
I am in it for the money. Hah, joking! I love pouring out my heart (or rosetta) for customers every day!
2. What coffee has you excited lately?
I have been ecstatic to be a part of a coffee cafe that is celebrating one delicious year of its roasting endaevors. If you know anything about coffee in the Milwaukee area, you know that Alterra and Stonecreek have had the market cornered. Its awesome to see Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters get on the scene with some of the freshest, roasted to order coffee out there!
3. What's your favorite reality show?
Cheaters. If I'm not pouring lattes, I'm watching Cheaters.
4. Why are you a BGA member?
Its the best way to stay connected, and you get a cool membership card.
5. What's the coffee community like in your neck of Wisconsin?
Milwaukee is where its at! Its an exciting time to be a barista in this city. I had the privilage of standing next to Gianni Cassatini while watching Mike Phillips work is magic on the bar at the Great Lakes Regional Barista Championship this year. A few short months later, a local shop held their annual Barista Jam, I was unable to attend (working my own magic on the bar at Fiddleheads) but I heard it was fabulous! Milwaukee has great coffee and talented baristas and its wonderful to be a part of it
We'd like to take a second and introduce you to our newest members of our BGA Leadership. Our newest member of the Executive Council is Sarah Dooley, who resides in Seattle, and works for Espresso Parts NW. She's been a big fan of the BGA for quite some time, and has been extremely active in the Pacific NW in helping create a better barista culture. She also started the Seattle Disloyalty Card, as well as putting on many great events in that area. We are excited to have her on the EC for the passion and wealth of knowledge she brings.
(Baca and Dooley.)
With that being said, we want to personally acknowledge the service of Ben Helfen, from Octane Coffee in Atlanta, who recently stepped down to devote more time to his job at Octane, opening a new shop for them, and more importantly, to his wife and unborn son. Ben has worked tirelessly over the past couple of years for the BGA, and if you were at Expo-Anaheim, you saw the amazing amount of work he did to pull off the BGA Cafe which was a huge success. He is one of the best baristas in the country, a great leader, and a great friend to many, including myself. So, shoot him a message and tell him how much you appreciate his service to the BGA.
(Ben and his lovely wife Brooke.)
We also elected a new Chapter Rep for the Great Lakes is Cara Nader, who lives in Traverse City, Michigan and manages at Cuppa Joe there. She's been in coffee for the past 7 years, and has been a competitor both at regionals and the Millrock Latte Art Competitions. She's been very active in the Great Lakes, and will be an incredible asset to the BGA in that region. Welcome her when you get a chance!
(Baca and Dooley.)With that being said, we want to personally acknowledge the service of Ben Helfen, from Octane Coffee in Atlanta, who recently stepped down to devote more time to his job at Octane, opening a new shop for them, and more importantly, to his wife and unborn son. Ben has worked tirelessly over the past couple of years for the BGA, and if you were at Expo-Anaheim, you saw the amazing amount of work he did to pull off the BGA Cafe which was a huge success. He is one of the best baristas in the country, a great leader, and a great friend to many, including myself. So, shoot him a message and tell him how much you appreciate his service to the BGA.
(Ben and his lovely wife Brooke.)We also elected a new Chapter Rep for the Great Lakes is Cara Nader, who lives in Traverse City, Michigan and manages at Cuppa Joe there. She's been in coffee for the past 7 years, and has been a competitor both at regionals and the Millrock Latte Art Competitions. She's been very active in the Great Lakes, and will be an incredible asset to the BGA in that region. Welcome her when you get a chance!
Upate - thanks to Mike White for organizing some links to more flavor wheels!
check them out at his shotzombies blog.
Old or new, champion or rookie, it's safe to say most everyone in the Specialty Coffee Industry knows how challenging it is to increase one's verbal skills. Personally I've opted to reference colors, music generas, or textures (to name just a few) - all of this amounting to what I feel is a great dance around precise and understandable taste descriptors.
Enter the "Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel"
One of the challenges behind using the perfect taste descriptor exists because of words like "SMOOTH" and "SHARP." In both level 1 and level 2 BGA practical tests baristas are asked to describe their espressos, and even as I learned I wasn't going to be passing my level 2 practical I could only fight in defense of flavor descriptors. If you reference the flavor wheel, you'll see that there are plenty of words on there that probably won't win you points. Words such as HARD and NEUTRAL and ROUGH and SALT.
Is it wrong to attempt to reference this wheel? Am I using it wrong? Are only the outer-most words (which represent half of one circle) acceptable as descriptions?
Regardless of the answer, I'll confidently say we should be striving not to be vague (smooth, bold, intense) but in the same breath be understandable and accurate. Perhaps this is a topic too subjective and personal, but I think there's ground to gain in our education and growth of our verbal skills.
I thought I'd throw a post out to simply identify that verbal skills are still a great challenge. Perhaps you might participate in the conversation to add some tips and tricks or recommend little exercises you might find helpful.
I know a few years ago a friend of mine (M'lissa is her name) created an elaborate training program when she worked at Octane in Atlanta. I remember looking forward to her updates about what she was cupping next, apples, chocolates, honey . . . this girl cupped the widest variety of things and I must say it's a brilliant thing to do. Tasting variations of fruits, spices, teas, sweets, maybe even meats, veggies, or alcohols, can and should add to your personal library of flavor descriptors.
Whatever your method, here's a tribute to the challenges of growing your verbal library and sharpening your coffee description skills.
