The Long And Winding Spro'

Once again back it's the incredible

2012-01-04T16:38:00.002Z

another year off from the blog and as i read back over my few post from jan last year i realise that very little has changed.

okay, so i'm married and now have a house rather than a flat, but those are bigger things than the admittedly narrow focus of this blog, which is on reason why it'll most likely be replaced in the future with a tumblr or summat.

anywho, to recap the past year;

I'm still disappointed by the homogenisation of the vast majority of "specialist" coffee shops, but have come to accept that with any industry trends will out.

Pressure profiling seems to have been laid to one side and I wonder whether this is because there are very few people in the UK/World, who are capable of appreciating and managing its benefits.

The C Market had a crazy year, but appears to be stable again. although we could see short crops in Brazil and Colombia pushing the prices back up.

Through it all i've tried to taste as much as i can, guest hosted for TKC at his stall in Cardiff and attempted to keep an open mind.

It's the last point there where i think the industry as a whole is seriously lacking.

Why The long Face?

2011-01-27T10:40:00.000Z

so, a horse walks in to an espresso bar and the Barista asks "why the long face?
barely containing guffaws of laughter the horse retorts "why the long shot?"

*drum roll and cymbal clash*

thank you, thank you very much, I'm here all week....

but seriously, a odd way to begin a post on brew recipes but there we go.

It seems that brew recipes/brew ratios/extraction ratios (hate that moniker) for espresso have been around for years, but have only just resurfaced in the conciousness of the wider coffee community.

I like the idea of being able to buy a blend or single origin and have a recipe to be able taste what the roaster did whilst nailing down the profile, too often you read the tasting notes and have no idea of how the shot was pulled to achieve those flavours.

I'm also massively in favour of it as a tool for dialling in, both Jim Hoffmann and Pauo Stack have blogged about this, the flexability it gives you is a fantastic boon.

My concern is that it can be come another tool to blinker experimentation, leading to a "monochrome" feel to the taste of the same blend across a range of shops, a problem i've noticed in London recently.

This also ties in to thoghts on water filtration, there is a school of thought that perfectly filtered water will allow the best of the coffee to shine and maximise the flavours.

The issue I see with this is that the water is an intrinsic part of the taste of the coffee, it leads to variations from shop to shop and town to town that make tasting interesting!

As a case in point, Maxwell and I were discussing the "fuzziness" of all of his espresso's yesterday, it seems the brightness and zing has gone in the last few days. are thoughts are turning to water and whether this is the reason.

Basically, my thoughts are that it should be a tool not a rule, an aid to discovery not an impediment.

Too old skool for you

2011-01-27T09:15:00.005Z

so, whilst sitting and enjoying a brew @ Maxwells house (sorry couldn't resist) with TKC and Acoustic they mentioned how I hadn't posted any 'art for a while.

Especially for them then, i'm about to break it down old skool style;

ahem (coughs, cracks knuckles and prepares to type)

In the words of Kool Keith, "I keep in shape and do my physical fitness"
and whilst I'm no fitness freak, Keith's knowledge implies that through repetition anything (in keiths case a ripped body i'd assume)is possible.

Since we all met, TKC Acoustic and I have moved in to greater things, made more lattes and got more reps, so am I any better yet?

in a word, no.

( although in retrospect perhaps the old skool camera hasn't helped)

competition time

2011-01-26T19:31:00.002Z

It's that time again for the UKBC's, and try as i might i couldn't bring my self to enter.

Why? lets just say that me and the UKBC got issues.

so, i'm once again forced to live vicariously through and elite cadre of friends who are in the game.

TKC has already competed and won the SE heats, beating reigning champ JG and achieving the rare trifecta of best spro/cap/sig.

Maxwell is up along side Eddie B next week, which shold be interesting as they are both taking unconventional approaches.

i've forgotten to ask whether mentness or acoustic are entering this year, but i hope so and wish em all the best of british.

GB5 mods - pressure profiling

2010-08-16T09:11:00.002+01:00

Ed's been playing with the GB5 in the office and came up with this interesting way of pressure profiling,

start running the group heads you're not using.
get your basket ready,
plug in and start brewing (notice that the pressure is way below 9bar)
as the shot brews turn of the flushing group heads in turn (watch the pressure rise)

and we're done.

basically, you alter the pressure by running the empty group heads whilst pulling a shot.

simples.

Geometry of Extraction - thoughts

2010-08-16T08:13:00.003+01:00

I realise this is taking some time, but i'm a bit busy. In the mean time the more i read the more i'm thinking about the geometry of the brewer as well as the bed and how this effects the brew.

some thoughts;

- In David Walsh' excellent post, the brewers with the longest transit from bed-top to egress are the most uneven, is there a relationship here?

- its also interesting the the most even brewer, the melitta, is not a true gravity drip brewer. The limited exit for the coffee (determined by the shape of the brewer) means that for me this falls into an uneasy place between drip and batch slurry brewers, is that the key to its success?

- despite a multitude of different pouring techniques, how does the brewer itself influence agitation during pouring?

more on this soon, promise.

zoooooooooooom!

2010-08-12T09:45:00.002+01:00

whilst i'm still processing the math for the geometry update, a little post to keep things ticking along.

my other passion is RC car racing, so combining the two, there are few things funnier than a rostrum full of overly caffeinated racers struggling to control the jitters.

it seems the description to take a Filtro vacpot and Finca La Fany to the race meet at the weekend was a good one. :)

Chasing Perfection

2010-07-09T08:17:00.007+01:00

I was having a conversation yesterday with The Caffeine Kid when i found myself saying;

"There's no point in chasing the God Shot, It's pointless"

Maybe i was overtired, but what followed was my brain going to overdrive to reason why i'd come to that conclusion and the justify it to myself(all a bit arsebackwards unfortunately).

The crux of my reasoning was that, for me, Perfection is an esoteric construct that has little place in the physical world and as such any endeavour to achieve this is not doomed to fail, as this depends on your criteria for success, but is unachievable as a final goal.

As the conversation went on, it highlighted to me that this pursuit speaks more of the human psyche and what motivates us, than it does of the actual existence of perfection.

TKC strives for the God Shot, perfection in every cup of coffee he makes.
Not for the acclaim, not because (i don't think) he believes that there truly is a perfect cup, but because in striving for this goal he achieves another, making better coffee, being better at the job he loves doing.
Through this process he improves everyday both as a barista and as a person.

I, however, see perfection as incongruous in any scientific method. The essence of science is that the truth we hold is only correct for a given set of values and until it is proved otherwise, in other words we live in a world without absolute truth.

Similarly, I believe perfection could not last in a changing world, as we move linearly through time the specifications for any sort of perfection would change from nanosecond to nanosecond. Much like Achilles in Zeno's paradox, we can catch up to it, but when we get there it has moved on.

Unlike TKC my motivation comes from a simple need to be better, call it curiosity, call it a drive for self-improvement, you can always do anything better, you just have to have the desire to do so and the will to execute it.

In this end we both achieve the same results, we both improve our coffee. its just that what drives us to get there is, in some cases, different and thats what make us Human. TKC is a wonderful barsita and i'm happy to say that he is constantly challenging me to improve my coffee and think about my methods, I recommend you follow him on twitter @TheCaffeineKid and stop by his stall @ roath and riverside markets next time your in Cardiff

As a quick aside, i was also talking to John D (John D and The Caffeine Kid, sounds like a great 90's hip-hop duo!) about Extract Mojo and it's use in dialling in coffee's.
This is something i'm keenly using (and trying to understand) at the moment as i'm a bit of a science nerd and its a great toy. John stopped me in my tracks by saying;

"so, it's not about taste anymore then?"

hmmm, seems i may have got caught up in the numbers and forgotten that you do actually have to drink what you brew, not just try and brew to a set of desirable parameters. I shall have to give this one some more thought.

The Geometry of Extraction

2010-06-27T12:04:00.007+01:00

Warning - Geek Post, may contain reference's to math!

Bimbling around The WBC's and Caffe Culture last week, i stumbled across a lot of people i haven't seen for a long time and a lot of new ideas for brewing.

Most notably it was The Caffeine Kid who showed my the cone-shaped Aeropress brew that he'd picked up at the WAC (i think from @dose).

The First thought i had, wow! thats pretty, like a tiny volcano in a test tube!

The Second thought i had, eh? surely that extraction will be hugely un-even due to the egress shape?

This got me thinking and triggered the old grey matter to review some of Scott Rao's work from his latest tome.

Now, i'm fully aware that this will open up a world of pain for my self (including having to draw graphs etc in the future) but i'm intguied about how the geometry of the exratction bed will change the nature of the brew.
I'm also aware that certain Beans, roasts or varietal's may well perform better with uneven extraction, but as close to perfect as is possible is a good place to start eh?

My instinct tells me that for any given brew the most efficient shape for the ground bed post extraction will be linked to the geometry of the brewer and the dimensions of the fluid egress.

specifically, assuming an even distribution of particles, a line drawn from the point of egress to the top of the particle bed should be equal at any and every point of measurement. This will allow for an even amount of water to pass through each section of the particle bed and as such lead to an even extraction of solubles from the coffee.

In most brewers this will inevitably lead to a dome shape of some description, but the nature and look of that dome will be dependent on several variables, most notably the rate of circular agitation (which also has an effect on extraction).

Rather than go into it at length now (it's a chuffing hot sunday and i'm overheating massivley) I'll go into more detail over the next few posts on a brewer by brewer basis, staring with the Aeropress.

UPDATE: A lot of discussion has gone on in this area recently, so the nature of my research has changed to a purely mathematical appraoch to attempt explain the differences between brewers. More after the Jump.

Coffee Culture as a model of our class structure

2010-06-21T09:13:00.002+01:00

I've been musing for some time whilst driving around in the van on the startling comparisons between the "coffee culture" as we currently know it and the class structure in the western world.
it strikes me that the world of coffee exhibits and echoes in a microcosmic(is that even a word?)way all of the toxic elements associated with "class" in modern society; elitism, idolatry, snobbery.....

that's not to say that it's common or in any way the norm, but I have been on the receiving end of such treatment on several occasions and it rankles me for one simple reason; no one, and i mean no one, deserves to be looked down upon.

I count myself as an educated guy, i can make a decent cup of coffee and have met and count as friends some well known people in the industry, but i never let this affect how I deal with people who just want to have a cup of joe in the morning just because they are choosing to use cheap beans and don't hand tamp......

I guess this is somewhat of a warning, the cult of the barista can damage as much as it can push the boundary's. Just because we have acquired a skill it does not make us better than anyone else, if all the effort that went in to having such disdain for the masses was channelled into liberal thought and a drive to make better drinks, a lot more cafes would be a lot more pleasing to visit.

Back to the gym

2010-06-21T08:44:00.003+01:00

I'm convinced that curiosity is like a muscle, and soon atrophies if unused.
Thankfully though i've noticed the slide in mine in time to make some changes.

firstly, i'm going to stop taking everything i read as gospel.
I got into a bad habit of reading blogs and taking the words as truth, a spell of cold turkey has helped quite a bit though in this respect.

secondly, i've started to re look at everything i've been doing "out of habit". i'm convinced that my progress has stalled in the last year purely as i've been less interested in analysis the results, the lesson as always, it can always be better.

thankfully a couple of things have arrived in the office recently that have helped reawaken the science nerd in me, scott rao's new book, a plethora of new equipment and extract mojo. more to follow on these.

New game , new name

2010-06-21T08:42:00.003+01:00

seeing as the focus of what's going on here has changed, a little, I thought a new name and look were in order.

and lets face it, I'm not one to let the obvious pun go unused.

I'm Back, Kinda

2010-04-16T12:45:00.003+01:00

it's been pointed that i've done nothing for the past year, not strictly true, but point taken.

long story very short, i will be posting again soon, right after i enjoy the yirgacheffe that miles roasted this am.

Plan for the future!!

2009-01-26T09:20:00.006Z

Okay, so i've been a but lazy recently, but in my defense i have been busy.

lost ahs been said recently on the blogs about the upcoming UKBC's and coffee in general, specifically about the customer experience. Now i'm never one to avoid putting my tuppence in, but it weirdly got me thinking about where could get a good coffee locally, and what more importantly, is what is okay to me, great for someone esle?!

so, over the next few posts i'll be looking ta the coffee uclture where i live, specifically Bristol and Bath. I'll try to cover everything from coffee roasters, to small indes and local chains.

New Year, New Focus

2009-01-07T15:20:00.005Z

The New Year always brings around new expectations, resolutions and sometimes, new perspectives.

For me it has been a gradual realisation that my thoughts on coffee, a subject and drink, that i enjoy hugely had become stilted and overly influenced by others.

In my search for more knowledge i'd become lazy and stopped thinking for myself. I've been accepting blindly the opinions of those who are deemed experts as fact, without questioning their validity and more importantly, wheter they are applicable to me. That last part is especially significant, seeing as so much of the "art" of coffee is subjective. Its all the more galling seeing as i'm a trained Physicist.

Where does this leave me? To begin with it means that the whole reason for starting this blog is now null-and-void. Obstensibily it was a pictorial track of my quest to perfect Latte Art, beacuase i believed that i had to, now my focuss has shifted to enjoyment. enjoyment of the process of extracting, pouring and drinking, without the hangups of trying to create the perfect cup.

I've reached a level of skill where i can produce good milk, good shots and combine the two, now my focus is on enjoying every latte, savouring every taste, and appreciating every pour for what they are.

So moving forward, i'll try to question more, accept less and apply everything to this simple edict " what do i think?" I'll still post all my lattes, coz now, you never know what might crop up.

Merry Christmas to one and all

2008-12-22T10:08:00.004Z

Merry christmas everyone, last post till the new year as i'm off from tomorrow morning and i don't have a machine at home.

I'll leave you with this thought;

Remember, a 3-group pid equipped, semi-automatic espresso machine is for life, not just for christmas.

I hope you all have a cracking christmas and i'll see you in 2009

Road testing the Verona TCS

2008-12-19T09:33:00.007Z

So, the new machine sponsor for the UKBC's is San Remo.

Other commitment preclude me form entering, but that doesn't mean that i don't have an interest, especially with so many of my good friends competing.

I'd first come across the machine at Equip'Hotel in paris, in the capable hands of Luigi Lupi, it looked great then, a real step up in terms of presentation.

I've since had the chance to play around with the machines @ two of the barista jams, in Bristol and Newcastle, but yesterday I was Down @ CoffeeWest and had a close up look and a good chat with Andrew Tucker, MD of San Remo UK.

I must confess, that I'm a sucker for the 50's look of the machine, the Speedster and Mistral have the same kinda thing going on, just taken to the next level, it echoes the corvettes and corsairs that looked so good back then, love it.

Inside? well i can't argue with Temperature control via a separate 1 litre boiler for each group with a 9l boiler dedicated to steam.

I'd like to see how it handles a full day of work, but it should really have no problem.

Steam is plentiful, with a nice wand and i had no trouble producing cracking foam. the Knob takes a full turn to start the steam, but you soon get used to this.

the pre-infusion system take a bit of getting useful, but its fully programmable, which is nice. all in all, it marks a step up for SR, with the sponsorship and the new TCS machines, they are taking on the big boys in the premier league of coffee machines, the big question is are they Hull City or West Brom? time will tell.

more housekeeping

2008-12-19T09:11:00.003Z

urrgghh, man flu! god this sucks, so much i can't be arsed to write anything poignant or funny,

so lets just say merry christmas to one and all.

A Little Housekeeping and a short cafe review

2008-12-15T09:25:00.005Z

A Little housekeeping here, a few lattes from before my holiday, although it seems that the camera is a bit screwed.

And now a short cafe review;

Flat White on Berwick St - awesome.

All Quiet on the Western Front

2008-12-04T17:25:00.003Z

It's been quiet latley, too quiet for my liking. I know that all they guys in the office have had training recently from DR, but i really need to gte back into making everyday if i'm gonna crack this mutha anytime soon.

I also need to sort this blog out, it's getting messy and looks like somthing a monkey defecated at times, perhaps a nice photo on the strap line would help, hmmm.

anywho, as you can prob tell, i'm a little tired, so in the words of the Wu-Tang, i'm going to make like ellroy, and jet, son.

" You're as cold as Ice, willin' to sacrifice"

2008-12-02T11:25:00.006Z

Somedays you're on point, you've hit a hot streak, in the zone, you're knocking them out of the park, in a rich vein of form, you're on fire!!!

Today is not one of those days, nothing works today.

Shots? nope, bitter and thick.

Milk? nada, can't get good foam and the pour is poor ( please excuse the pun)

Distribution? get outta here! all over the shop, seriously, i doubt that any two shots were the same.

which leads me to wonder why? I know what i'm doing, i'm not perfect, but i make pretty good coffee, so why on certain days does it just not work?

the human mind and body are odd things, somtimes they juts take a holiday and all you can do is wait for them to return!

Take it Slow.

2008-11-28T11:03:00.002Z

One tip i picked up at the jam was to slow down a bit, i have a habit of hammering out the leaves on my rosettas, comes from pouring into mugs and not cups.

anywho, i've been trying to slow down and not rush my pours, with mixed results so far.

Barista Jam @ Pumphreys

2008-11-27T10:36:00.007Z

The Second ukbc barista jam was held @ Pumphreys in Newcastle yesterday.

Another well attended event, well run by Stuart and Paula, thanks guys!

It's always good to chat to Baristas, and as well as seeing PMJ, Hugo, Stu and all the usual suspects it was nice to meet Chris from Common Grind as well as a bevy of talented Northern Baristas ( shout out to alex, andrew and Hans, who showed mad skillz).

Got some nice tips from PMJ about my art, think i made a good bit of progress but only time will tell.

An Audience with Il Padre

2008-11-24T13:36:00.006Z

One of the highlights of the show for me was meeting the legendary Luigi Lupi. The Italian master barista was working on the San Remo stand on behalf of Caffe Musetti, for who he runs his barista training and latte art school. Using the new Verona TCS machine, he spent the show chatting to customers and felix and I spent an extremley pleasurable half an hour in his presence.

definitely a barista of the old school, who learnt by watching and copying whilst on the bar, and he brings this unhurried efficiency of work into his latte art. By modern standards he does things most baristi consider no-no's, he doses from the grinder, didn't hand tamp, but produces the sweetest, silkiest milk I've ever seen, and he makes it look so easy.

It was truly a please to spend some time chatting with him, and it reminded me that in the search for perfection, for the "god shot" we might just be missing the point. Coffee is after all, made to be drunk, and as a barista our job is to serve the customer with a drink they will enjoy and make it as best we can. The talk of flavour profiles, distribution, straub techniques are all very well, but they only apply to the 1% of the population rthta have the palate to appreciate them fully.

Now i'm not saying that it's misguided or wasted effort, just that at some time i feel that the pursuit of this perfection shrouds the real objective from our view. or to quote a Friend of mine, sometimes we are so close to the elephant, all we can see is grey.

Equip' Hotel - Day 5

2008-11-24T12:58:00.004Z

Final day and a chance to play around a b it as its a little quieter. Hnce the attempts at art in the 50cl motta jug (jeez you gotta use a lotta shots!) overall, i'm happy with this week, i think it's gone well, got some bettre milk today as well, some fresh milk no less, miracles will never cease.

Equip'Hotel - day 4

2008-11-24T12:54:00.002Z

Wahey! day 4 and it's almost over, another busy day, so not much time to snap pics, as a bonus, a quick snap of La Tour Eiffel, all light up nicely.

tomorrow should be intersting, heavy night out!

Equip'Hotel - Day 3

2008-11-24T12:50:00.003Z

Busier day today, hence only 4 pics.

the consistent practice definitely helps, I've been able to play with my pour now that I'm confident with my basic technique. I'm still a long way off being truly consistent, but as a wise man once said, good things never come easy.

Equip'Hotel - Day 2

2008-11-24T12:21:00.004Z

Day two and i'm already remembering how long trade shows can be, atleast i've got plenty of coffee to get me through.

the shot glass art is coming along, only those sodium lamps are playing havoc with my cam phone and turning everything orange.

Equip'Hotel - Day 1

2008-11-21T17:22:00.004Z

Not as busy as expected today, so i spent the back end of the day playing around trying latte art in shot glasses.

the pics above are in no particular order and happily, show that with some time i can get in a groove.

loving the GS3, thinking of stealing it and taking it back to england with me, the biggest prob is the UHT milk, it makes nice foam, but tastes awful. You can even taste it through the massive robusta hit of the Caffe Vergnanno espresso blend.

all the shots are form my cam phone, hence the less than impressive resolution and the slight orange tinge to most of them.

back with day 2 soon.

Swift and deadly like the ninja

2008-11-21T10:46:00.003Z

Still not slept properly since getting back from Paris, can you get jetlag on a one hour flight?

anywho, snuck in whilst no one was watching and banged out a quick latte like an ninja assassinating a shogun, quickly and silently. by the time they realised what had happened i had disappeared like a ghost.

(seriously, if this make sense to you, then you are as much in need of sleep as i am, or drunk)

Dog Day Afternoons

2008-11-20T16:44:00.003Z

As discussed previously today, I'm dog tired, and it shows.

wierd, how adapting to the milk again takes a bit of time.

still, it's nice to be home.

Equip'Hotel 2009 - review/write up thingy

2008-11-20T15:04:00.006Z

The five-day Equip'Hotel show is held bi-annually and is the french equivalent of Host or Hotelympia. Held at the enormous Parc Expostion Porte de Versaille, the four halls covered every part of the hospitality business, from table clothes to the future of hotel decor.

The coffee/cafe section was roughly the same size as at Hotelympia earlier this year, with the only disappointment being the lack of coffee distributors. Lavazza were in attendance, with a stand bigger than the Vatican, as well as Caffe Vergnano, Cafe Richard and Costodoro from Italy.

Machines? coffee geek heaven, you name a machine manufacturor, and they were there. Biggest stand was Cimbali/Faema, closley followed by Unic. also there were, Brasillia, Rancillio, N&W, Mathieu, Conti, San Remo, Astoria, La Spaziale, Dalla Corte-Mahlkonig, Bravilor, Nueva Simonelli. La Marzocco were represented on several of the stands but didn't have a stand of their own.

Highs?

the chance to play with some of the new machines, La Spaziales s40, Faema's new emblema (a cracking machine designed by Giugiaro Design) Cimbali's M39 Competition, San Remo's Verona and Marzocco's GS3.

Meeting some great Barista's , Felix Miny from Luxembourg, Onri, Sebastian and Rudi from France and Luigi Lupi.

Low's?

A lack of new coffees to try ( Vergnanno's espresso blend is very italian, plenty of robusta and a strong bitter finish)

UHT Milk - yuk!

Not being able to speak french

For the geek's out there, I'd say don't turn your nose up at the new Faema Emblema, build quality is excellent, the handle is the most comfortable I've ever held, and as increasing popular, each group head has its own boiler with temp control.

The Cimbali m39 seems less well built , but incorporates many of the internal fixtures form the Emblema.

Spaziales s40 looks horrible, very cheesy. didn't get the chance to have a play, but I'd be surprised if it performed badly.

Unic, is name I'd never seen but they have 50% of the market in France and are popular down under as well. nice looking machines, very french if that's possible.

Conti seem to be very budget, wasn't impresed by their machines at all.

San Remo? a controversial subject at the mo in the UK. But the verona is i lovley looking machine, performs well, with indvidual temp control for each group. I'm sure it will surprise a lot of people. Also look out for the Roma, interesting design, clerly aimed at the bar/cafe who want to make a modern statement.

Finally, i got to play with this all week, mmmmmmm.

I'm Back Baby!

2008-11-20T12:11:00.002Z

'ow do?

back from Equip'Hotel last night, and have not really got much sleep since, so please bear with me.

First off, i failed, i know, i'm sorry, but i did warn you before i left. suffice to say that even being ruthless about only taking pics of lattes, i still didn't manage to get pics of everyone.

That said, there are plenty of pics to upload, and i'll take care of it with a day-by-day breakdown over the next few days, plus a special treat at the end.

next blog will be a quick review of the show, before the end of the day, promise.

a quicky

2008-11-13T09:44:00.003Z

last chance for practice before i head off to france, using skimmed milk and the bumper pithcher.

nice jug, but i like a little finer point on the spout. on a lighter note, new coffee produces a much better crema .

Review No.1

2008-11-12T09:28:00.004Z

recently got hold of a coffee i've been after for a while, No.1 in this years COE form El Salvador, La Illusion.

Steve @ Hasbean has been singing its praises, and i had the chance to filch a sample at the jam last month, "Yoink" to quote Mr Montgomery Burns.

I've tried it now as both an Aeropress and a french press, and i have to say i preferred the latter. The aero was a little metally, almost too clean tasting.

The cup was extremely pleasent, well balanced, complex and light with sweet fruity overtones and , for me, almost no after taste just a slightly creamy mouthfeel.

I couldn't drink it everyday, i like a bit more grunt in my cup, but as a coffee, it certainly lived up to its billing.

a little practice... and a big problem

2008-11-12T09:19:00.002Z

The practice went ok, getting there (maybe).

the problem?

i'm off to Equiphotel in Paris on friday, working the stand for btb as coffee monkey. i'm gonna be making a lot of lattes, so how am i going to get pix of them all? I mean, i'm gonna have impatient trade show visitors waiting for the latte i've just made them, can i really pause to take a pic for posterity?

Seems with this bold statment to post every latte on the blog i may have set myself up for a fall at the first big hurdle!

on the plus side, 4 days of nothing but coffee making, this could make or break my late art progress.

Ain't that a lottttta love?

2008-11-06T15:33:00.003Z

Legendary bluesman Taj Mahal, once sang that "the desert couldn't hold all the love that i have in ma heart for ya"

(yes, at this point i do realise that the ginger whinger mick hucknall has recorded the same song recently, but i prefer to think that he is a figment of my imagination rather than a quasi celebrity)

to get back on topic, everynow and then you meet people who really love coffee, and to be honest, it's pretty refreshing to meet anyone who has that brand of passion.

i like coffee, screw it, i'm addicted to the caffiene and thankfully i really like the taste. I class myself as being good at making it, but i'm constantly learning, i certainly know that i could be a whole lot better, but i don't love it at the moment, and maybe that's whats holding me back?

The force is strong in this one.....Oh, no wait a minute my mistake, sorry.

2008-10-30T08:54:00.004Z

Making my coffee this morning, bumped into this huge guy in a black helmet and a bit of a wheeze, he said and i quote;

" Your powers are weak old man, when we first met i was but the learner, now i am the master!"

I was hoping for a snappy repost to blow him out of the water with, but to be honest, the proof is in the pudding this morning.

fortunately he sucked at fighting with a light saber.

sleep?! pah, its overrated!

2008-10-27T13:58:00.003Z

Discovered this morning at the docs that i suffer from something called sleep apnea, which is where you forget to breathe during your sleep, until the brain remembers and wakes you up so you can take a breath. slightly worrying, but I've not died yet.

anywho, the point of this preamble is that this must have happened a lot last night as i got hardly any sleep and i feel knackered, but look!! my best latte art for quiet a while!!

maybe i ought to sleep less as a general rule?

Back to the grindstone

2008-10-21T10:12:00.002+01:00

The finger is working again now, so its back to work, and back on the morning coffee runs. This mornings effort is as follows.

God knows thta i'm trying to become consistent, and i am getting there, but more annoying is the way that the pics are randomly upside down? its not as though i do it for fun, anyomne know how to sort this out?

Photo shoot - The warm up

2008-10-20T09:58:00.008+01:00

Proper photoshoot today, drinks wil be dressing the shots, so i'd better get some practice in.

not looking too bad, could be better, buyt i ma reminded how much better cravendale is than regular milk. glouriuosly ceamy foam and sweet tasting to boot.

update - after a lot of work ( and sitting around) i made one latte, which isn't even clearly in shot anyway, it was a belter though.

Coffee and Sport do not mix

2008-10-15T09:19:00.003+01:00

Injury - every Barista's silent nightmare,

when you use your hands every day to create such excellent (ahem!@#) coffee, how do you handle having that cruelly snatched away from you in the blink of an eye?

Right now I'm out of action for a while, given the fact that the above finger somewhat resembles a sausage. that's my tamping hand, i tried to soldier on this morning, but forlornly i hung my head and realised it just wasn't going to happen.

A million curses on Korfball and the injury that it has caused me (although the regular training is getting me fit). normal service will be resumed as soon as my finger has stopped being swollen.

Hmmm?

2008-10-11T16:58:00.001+01:00

Feel like i'm getting closer to my goal, but consistency still eludes me. On a lighter note, check out that october sun!

Stiiiimpy, I gotta Steeeeenking headache!

2008-10-09T09:41:00.003+01:00

memo:

from: me

To: me

re: basics!!

dear mat,

please remember that when your head feels like it got one of the chestburster aliens in it, you can't do latte art ( although the milk is pretty good, silver linings eh!).

please try to have a coffee and feel human again before attempting this complicated skill. This is especially important as at least two people may see it online.

oh, and try to gte thta bloddy camera sorted, one of the pix is upside-down today.

yours with the kindest regards,

yourself.

Time Travel exists!!

2008-10-09T08:42:00.004+01:00

Slightly delayed post this one, the above events happened last tuesday, its like a window into the past!!!!

anywho, tried two new jugs, one a crappy thin cheap thing, the other the smallest motta, not happy with either. hey ho.

Latte Art is not like riding a bike

2008-10-06T10:34:00.002+01:00

seriously, you spend two weeks or so not on the machine for any amount of time and this is the result!!

crapness!!

Promo photog

2008-09-29T15:32:00.003+01:00

No pressure eh!

the call comes out from the marekting dept for a "nice looking latte please, like right now!"

Got a stinking head ache from too much sun and staropramen yesterday and i am not feeling sharp.

suck it up boy (why do american sports coaches say this?), feel the pain, step up to the plate and knock one out of the park.

mission acomplished.

another busy morning in the office.

2008-09-23T09:37:00.004+01:00

Honestly, you offer to make a coffee and they take the proverbial.

rosettas of varying averageness, most worryingly, two of them seem to be rotated through 90 degrees, no idea why.

long time out of the office coming up, doing a talk on espresso of all things for a motorway service station group, hugo and Paul M-J will be there, so it should be a good laugh.

back in the saddle next week sometime

Slowly slowly catchy monkey

2008-09-23T07:33:00.001+01:00

Better, but gotta get this cam sorted.

Mobile blogging take 1

2008-09-22T09:21:00.002+01:00

Firth shot at trying to gte this mobile blogging worked out.

results? works pretty well, shame about the coffee.

Marks out of 10? 2 or 3, maybe.

Friday Afternoon Awfullness

2008-09-19T10:37:00.010+01:00

Its friday afternoon, I'm over tired, its a tiny cup, skimmed milk and I can't think of any more rubbish excuses.

Simple fact is that there is no excse for this cup of hot steaming crap, I gotta get good at this and fast!

tasted good though.

Day 1 - How the hell do i make the flash work?

2008-09-19T10:37:00.006+01:00

Not a great start to be honest, not the best milk, bit preoccupied and not concentrating.
also, just figuring out this camera and for the life of me can't get the flash to work, hey ho.

Todays jug was a Motta 75cl.

And so it begins.

2008-09-18T02:09:00.010+01:00

Mornin,

long story short I've just got this fancy new phone where i can blog the pictures i take, so i thought, what can i blog?

Having worked in and around coffee for the past decade, i realised two things;

1) despite years as a working barista I'd still not mastered latte art. In fact I've never really had any training in how to produce it, its all been on the job learning, and other things seemed to get in the way of me perfecting it.

2) you only seem to see pictures of good latte art on blogs, what about the days when you are not at home to Mr Rosetta?

So, like some sort of gigantic idiot, I'm going to blog a picture of ever latte I produce, the good , the bad, and the ones that look like mutant elephants.

I'm no longer a full time barista, so this blog wont get too long too quickly, but working for BTB in the UK I'm the office coffee monkey, so i get enough time to practice.

And that's the point, I'm going to try and get this thing nailed, so any tips, pointers and comments are more than welcome.

Matisse

A quick one for the coffeegeeks

2008-09-18T02:09:00.008+01:00

One for the coffeegeeks out there, a quick equipment check.

I'll mostly be using the following;

La Marzzoco Linea 2-group with stepless portafilter baskets
Mazzer Super Jolly
Motta wooden handled tamper - my current favorite
a range of random milk jugs - we've got loads in the showroom, so I'm gonna use whatever is clean as per usual.

beans? I'll try and keep you up to date on what I'm using, mostly they're supplied courtesy of james and ed @ Clifton, currently we've got Kenya AA regal.

There will be some guest appearances on various machines in cafes and showrooms across the country, most frequent will be the monster of a machine @ barristas coffee collective in Bristol.
George there is addicted to lever machines, and his self maintained and upgraded Rancilio 3-group is a cracker.