Three years ago we published a blog post entitled: Camp Pull-a-Shot is Officially Awesome. Well, some things have changed since, and we've gotten bigger, but rest assured, Camp is still awesome, has blossomed into a serious coffee event for newbies and seasoned pros alike.
Returning to El Captitan
Canyon north of Santa Barbara is becoming sort of a ritual, a pilgrimage even.
Observing wide-eyed and smiling baristas amongst the ash trees as they wend
their way up the canyon on Monday one gets a sense of the first day at
University, an atmosphere of possibility, camaraderie, even finding oneself.
Furthermore, there is a significant diversity amongst
attendees at camp: representatives from machine manufacturers and coffee roasters
– big and small – mingle with baristas, barista trainers and café managers. Over half of our campers had their first ever experience with the BGA and the SCAA, having this mélange of viewpoints, experiences, and skill levels gives camp an
affirmative quality that is very helpful for their growth as a barista.
Camp Day One was mostly
business: delivering Level One tests, double-checking last minute details,
checking in and generally orienting oneself to the surroundings. Noah lead a group through our Seed-to-Cup
class, and Trevor and Colin both held-forth on the importance of service in
Customer Service. This class in
particular is one some baristas have a little angst about. Yet we heard an
admission amongst baristas that a great experience begins with excellent
service, and through role-playing we are able to explore tools to help the
guests buying coffee from us leave happy.
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Monday evening, camp came
together in twelve teams competing head-to-head in our game show night, which
included a bonus round where teams had to guess the soundtrack of certain USBC
competitors who were in attendance at camp. Energetically lead and well
organized by Joshua Boyt and Carllee Curran, all our challenges did a great job
of bringing our campers together.
Tuesday and Wednesday were packed with activity. We
offered two rounds of all our Level One content and one round of our Level Two
content, minus our class on Preventative Maintenance. We also offered Organic Acids, Sensory
Skills, and Exploring Espresso where baristas have the challenge of exploring
changes in dose, shot volume, and extraction rate to try and make the best out
of a coffee at three different roast levels. I think all the baristas left with
a new appreciation for their roasters after that class.
On Tuesday we were very pleased to have the SCAA Board of
Directors come and visit us. I hope they had a chance to peak into classrooms
and soak up the camp vibe. There has long been recognition in the value of the
barista as a touchstone in our industry and I’m optimistic that they sensed
that an investment in the barista community will pay dividends in the future of
specialty coffee.
That night SCAA brought a
piece of Symposium to camp. In what was probably the most talked about event of
the week, Peter Giuliano delivered the SCAA’s Consumer Report based on focus
groups in LA and Portland, where drinkers of specialty coffee made collages based
on their interactions with Specialty Coffee. On each table, and around the room, were the
actual collages, and it was intriguing to see words like valor, quality, pow, and
energy used to describe how people feel about coffee. The word that Peter
used to sum it all up was Romance.
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| Discussion during Symposium@camp |
Immediately following, baristas broke up into smaller
groups and discussed topics related to the report, guided by questions provided
by Trevor Corlett and Chris Schooley.
There’s
not enough space here to give voice to all of Peter’s points or for the roundtable
discussions that followed. Suffice to say, when it came time to share some
main discussion points hands shot into the air: this topic resonated very
strongly with all our attendees at camp. This fascinating study is
available on the SCAA website for any member whose interest is piqued.
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| Roasting coffee in the Seed-to-Cup challenge. |
Following
this discussion was the return of the Seed-to-Cup competition where teams
bought, roasted, brewed and presented coffee to a panel of judges.
As
classes began to wind down on Wednesday afternoon I noticed something, there
were barista’s studying. Studying alone, in pairs, in groups – everywhere! I
was incredibly proud to see how seriously baristas were preparing for the
tests.
And
we gave a lot of tests: 106 Level One tests and 12 Level two tests. Level One pass rate was 72% and Level
Two was 83% --- studying paid off for a lot of our very studious campers.
Camp
West wrapped up with a Signature Beverage competition. Teams had bags of
pre-selected ingredients ranging from carrot juice to honey to Gatorade powder,
and, using a few simple kitchen tools, had to create their very own signature
beverage WBC style... except, as we were nearing the end of the competition our
generator ran out of fuel: we had packed in so much that we had literally run
out of energy!
As a group of baristas meandered down to the beach that night to watch the sun set, it was hard to believe camp was drawing to a close. Friendships had only just begun... but as we slowly faded back in to the workings of our day-today lives, I knew that new relationships would continue, and I pictured one day some baristas remembering when they first knew they wanted to make a career in specialty coffee, sparked by the BGA at Camp Pull-a-Shot.
See you next year Campers!
OF course Camp couldn't happen without the hard work of many people:
- SCAA & Staff -- Thank You!
- All our Sponsors who donated, time, equipment and good will: Thank You
- All our Sponsors who donated, time, equipment and good will: Thank You
- To all our volunteer instructors: You Rule, Thank You!
- To all our dedicated BGA members who came out to learn, test, and make new friends: we're glad you came, thanks for making Camp West successful and fun.
Stay warm this Winter, and we'll see you at Camp Pull-a-Shot East in 2013!
-Colin
Stay warm this Winter, and we'll see you at Camp Pull-a-Shot East in 2013!
-Colin
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Seen the 5 Questions feature on our Blog? Nominate you or someone you know to be the next member we talk to.
Seen the 5 Questions feature on our Blog? Nominate you or someone you know to be the next member we talk to.
