Because I’m still human

It is easy for folks involved in competition to take it to the extreme.  Constantly practicing, developing tunnel vision, trying to achieve some unattainable sense of being prepared for something that you can never be fully prepared for.  Because of this fact of life part of me really appreciated the grueling short season this year.  It limits exactly how long you can put yourself through all of this nonsense.  However even in this compressed time frame  and with the stakes as high as I feel they have become for myself, once in awhile you just have to take a second to breath.  I did this sometime last week when I endeavored on what is fast becoming one of my first rights of spring, a trip to grand street gardens to pick up my first mint plant of the season.  For those of you who do not know, I have been looking forward to this day for months.  Softly daydreaming of that small pot of Kentucky colonel and the joy it would bring.  You see, fresh mint leaves in my household (while having some small place in cooking) are the crucial ingredient for my favorite drink of summer… The lovely and timeless mint Julep.  Now before you gag, giggle, snicker or gasp too deeply at this, realize that most people have never had a proper mint julep.  Most any Julep inside or out of Kentucky is horribly prepared, cloyingly sweet at best and tinted some awful green color.  A true mint Julep maintains little if any resemblance to it’s far more common kin.  I could argue it’s virtues and haggle about it’s history with you for paragraphs (and I will someday) but the hour is late and I am off to Atlanta tomorrow so we shall both be spared.  I will however leave you with a picture of one of my favorite things, the first Julep of spring (and the plant who gave it life).

see you in ATL

Just to keep things interesting…

Baristas involved in coffee competitions, if they have some experience and want to do well, usually have a good deal of their routine set well ahead of the actual comp.  Signature drink, talking points, Espresso, special equipment, etc…  Most have this all hashed out  by regionals and if not by then they are almost certainly there by nationals.  Every once in awhile though, there is some little detail that creeps up a week or so before the competition that you just cant help but fiddle with in the hopes of making the whole thing a little better. For me, two weeks before the great lakes that “little detail” was my sig drink.  The one I spent the month previous developing was tossed outright and the one that carried all the way through nationals was born.  Apparently I just get antsy in anticipation of these things because last week I found myself in the middle of another inspired moment.  The “little detail” I have changed this time is my coffee…  ummmm…  yeah.  As for my beloved Bolivia that I had held onto so dearly despite what everyone said, like the girl with the tattoos and piercings that you bring home and your parents just don’t approve of… I have moved on.  I still have a deep affection for the coffee (and for girls with tattoos and piercings), I just came across one that I could not say no to last week and now have to figure out how to make it work.

Boy meets Rwanda…

The coffee landed in our roasting works on Thursday 3/26.  I knew slim to nothing about it other than it wouldn’t hurt to at least taste a roast.  Our guys roasted a batch the next Monday.  I came into the works and before I even made it into the lab 3 people stopped to asked if I had taste the Rwanada with giddy/shocked looks in their eyes.  I began to get nervous and excited at the same time.  I had a week turn around time between my regional and the US comp where I needed to make some big changes and that definitely kept me off balance.  Switching coffee at this point would be forcing a revamp of much of the set.  Add to that the fact that this coffee is from Rwanda, an origin known to have an issue with the dreaded potato defect…  For those that don’t know, coffee from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and some other areas in Africa suffer from airborne bacteria that is introduced to the coffee cherry once it has been attacked by a bug.  This bacteria then causes the coffee to smell and taste of potato in a very bad way.  It is virtually undectable until you grind the bean and release the aroma, and certainly once it has been brewed.  Using it as a coffee would pretty much be a competition version of Russian roulette, the defect could be in any bean in my hopper.  For that reason I was pretty much dead set against this coffee as an option from the second I heard it mentioned.  I dialed in the Bolivia at two different levels that had been tasting good that week and they were doing their standard thing, juicy, berry like acidity, green grape, fig…  I then tried a Brazil that came in with the Rwanda, it was an excellent espresso but just not as full of character as the Bolivia.  I then moved onto the Rwanda.  Wow…  If there is such a thing as love at first sight, I experienced it that day.  This coffee as an espresso has a level of complexity and clarity that is simply fantastic.  It has that really big red fruit that I would sometimes get from the Bolivia but in this it was consitant, cleaner and filled out with so many other flavors.  The mouth feel was also unique.  It has a definite presence but is not heavy, more so velvety and slick.  The crema was even fantastic from the get go.  After sampling it out to a few folks it was decided and there was no going back.  I ran through close to 5 lbs that day trying different parameters to get a feel for it and yes, I did have two “potato pucks”.  I was able to catch them right at the grinder however and avoid them getting into a cup.  A bit scary but believe me when I say this coffee is worth the risk.

A bit of information about the coffee itself.  It is a small lot of a washed Bourbon that comes from the Maraba co-op in Rwanda.  The full name of this co-op is Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa which roughly translates into “ together we work the coffee” (awesome…).  They are tied to the very beginning of the Pearl project in Rwanda that helped groups of farmers start to really focus on increasing the quality of their coffee.  This co-op in particular holds the honor of building the first modern washing station in Rwanda.  This lot comes from their Sovu washing station in the southern province and district of Huye.  Our green buyer Geoff Watts has been part of some amazing work in Rwanda and could have talked to me for hours about how far not just the origin but this particular group pf farmers has come in the last several years.  The washing station is immaculate and the level of care they put into the processing is high.  It feels great to be able to be a part of the story of success that this group is by getting to use their coffee on the global stage that is the WBC.

So yeah, with two weeks left I decided to replace the engine driving this whole mess forward.  It feels risky to make this big of a change now and begin using a coffee that has time bombs hidden inside, but believe me when I say it is worth it.   I rarely have gut instincts tell me to do something so decisively as this.   Now lets just keep our fingers crossed.

Breaking down the breakdown…

Okay, so partially to help get the thoughts organized in my own head as well as to answer a question I have gotten a bit as of late, I am going to take a second here to breakdown what I am doing with the signature drink I am using in this years competition.  The concept is easy and based on an exercise that anyone looking to really understand an extraction better should try.  The exercise has you split a single extraction into several increments by switching the cup every 5 seconds or so.  Some folks are lucky enough to use handcrafted overly verbose tools like this one but simply swapping shot glasses quickly by hand will suffice. When the shot is finished you can easily see and taste the changes that occur throughout the life of the shot.  For the drink I am using in competition, I have decided to simplify this and split the shot into just two segments, using the beginning for a hot drink and the end for a cold drink.  I then pair each half of the extraction with flavors and textures that I feel match up with and amplify qualities found in my espresso.
The Hot Drink:  In the beginning of the extraction I find a darker sweetness, some savory elements, a bit of a nuttiness and texturally rich quality that ties it all together.  To work with this I combined a dark muscovado sugar with an 82% bittersweet dark chocolate, some black sea salt and finely diced roasted almonds.  All of this is steeped together in heavy cream for about 12 minutes.  I strain off the result and add the beginning of the extraction to it. The flavors meld together wonderfully with just a little stirring.  Being the small drink that it is very little amount of each of the ingredients was needed.  Balance is key.
The Cold Drink:  In the end of the extraction the shot begins to lighten in body and color.  You find the more juicy berry like parts of the shot transformed into it’s more core elements of a pleasant tartness, a slight bitterness and a nice clean sweetness.  I felt that blackberries had many of the qualities that I got out of the Bolivia as an espresso so for this drink I used some of them freshly pressed.  To match up with that clean sweetness I added a bit of an Agave nectar.  To help give it the lightness that I feel this part of the extraction has I added a bit of the Bolivia brewed up in a café solo that had been chilled.  All of this along with the end of the extraction are added to a shaker and agitated.  A nice effect that sometimes happens when you shake a juice or espresso with ice is that a slightly frothy head forms on your drinks.  In the finished drink this plays nicely off of how the crema is found mainly in the second half of the extraction.  The result is cool and crisp, an amplified version of all of those sweet, tart and slightly bitter notes the end of an extraction can hold.
Does this make sense?  I am going to have to explain this to an international panel of judges in about two weeks so if any of it seems a bit wonky and hard to decipher I implore you to leave a comment saying how.

While I cant afford to have my own celebrity handler, I have seemed to inspire enough need for help that my good friend and coach Charles Babinski sets up variations on the signature drink without much prodding.

the pressure builds…

I work for a company that is brimming with some amazing coffee professionals.  People that I have looked to for inspiration from the very beginning.  I am lucky enough to count them as not just peers but friends.  One of them based out of Chicago here just so happens to have gone through this whole mess that is the WBC before, his name is Matt Riddle.  He currently has the honor of being the Intelly kid who has made the highest mark on the wall of barista fame and glory coming in third place a few years back during the competition in Berne Switzerland.  In his supportive way of offering good natured ribbing he mentioned that it would be a weight on his mind if I managed to top his glory and pull into a spot even higher than he placed.  So much so that there is a decent chance it would make him grab his old jersey off the wall, lace up his sneakers and hit the court next season, hehehehe.  As if I ever needed a reason to try harder for this, the prospect of being able to bring Matt out of retirement is a whole new level of motivation.

Time to practice…

Its gonna be tough considering that even my parents root for matt when given the chance…

Tiny Bubbles…. in the burbs?

As a birthday gift of unparalleled proportion, my fantastic room mate Megan, took me to this hidden Gem out the burbs called Hala Kahiki.  Some of you may not know this, but I have a minor fetish for Tiki drinks and culture (if you take minor to mean immense) and this bar was the best by far.  No Cheesy knock off here and no poorly made candy drinks either.  The drink menu is immense and contains most every staple along with a few more obscure concoctions from the Tiki Pantheon.  Between the two of us we had a Mai Tai, a singapor sling and a scorpion (took the honorable of being the fairly designated driver)  my only beef being the lack of  good mugs for the drinks to come in (i believe the store has some but it was closed at the time)that and the long drive.  If this were any closer I’d be a regular for sure.  recommended for those in the club.

I’ll get to it sooner or later.

I was supposed to spend this nice empty Sunday catching up on the fours days of Seattle that have yet to make it into the blog.  Instead it seems as if I just played around with my machine all morning while listening to NPR and making a horrible mess.  Cant really say I regret it….

Day 4 – Go north young man

Today is the day I make the mighty venture North, me and my trusty steed…

I start off at the Denny st. Vivace to get my mind right and plot my course. Using my well defined google map I decide to try and hit the two Zoka stores, Tom Thai for lunch, lighthouse and maybe a Vita. The path north is a daunting collection of hills and busy unfamiliar roads. One of the Vivace employees tries to dissuade me from biking by suggesting a less effort intensive bus option but I am not swayed. I bundle up, adjust my schnazzy new bag and hit the road. The ride is actually rather nice and not even all that confusing. I cruise down and pump up hills, shooting across the bridge and landing the U district in good time. Hunger has made Thai toms my first stop but I was to quick for my own good and had 20 minutes to kill before they opened. I slide across the street, pick up a shirt at a thrift store and find Toms ready to feed me when I am done. I know this is a beverage blog, but I feel that Tom’s needs to be included. This small whole in the wall shop restaurant is fantastic. There is not much seating, it is very crowded and noisy, and possibly the best pad thai I have ever had.
After this extremely satisfying experience I make my way to the Zoka University store… more hills… I cannot believe the tenacity of the single speed bikers in this town, I would have died without gears on this adventure. I have not even locked up my bike in front of the shop before Lindsey, the trainer for Zoka, pops her head out to say hi.

I met this classy lady last year at the USBC as she was coaching Zoka’s two barista competitors Kyle and Maqui. We chat for a minute and she then takes me on a quick tour of the shop… which is actually kind of two shops. The main original café is large in a long style layout. The large amount of seating is filled to the brim with students and laptops. Tons of wood, great light and a warm atmosphere are obviously factors in the steady flow of people. Lindsey also shows me their new addition to it that is at the moment separated from the main café by a large sliding door. They only recently got this space and now use it for training and overflow during the peak hours. I am treated to a double shot from Roseanna in the main café and then we all split a French press of an Ethiopia Aricha seven…. Simply amazing.

This cup is in contention for the best of the week so far. It is stellar and lively. Very reminiscent of an Idido Misty Valley but far more balanced, in check and clean. I sip on this as she rushes around preparing a barista jammy jam sort of workshop for some of Zoka’s wholesale customers. I also run into Tracy Allen who is a USBC and WBC certified judge that I had met at past competitions. He graciously invites me to participate in a milk tasting they are holding that day. I kill off a little time before this savoring the rest of the Aricha seven and typing away.
The milk tasting is well approached and informative. A representative from Sunshine dairy leads us through the different factors affecting the quality of milk such as farm practices, pasteurization and temperature. We taste four types of milk, ALL skim! Which, while mildly cruel makes sense after a touch of thought. Like cupping, you want to magnify the flaws to see them more clearly and skim puts the bar right up there. Before it is over I have snagged a few ideas to try with blended milks when I get back to Chicago and a new bias against over pasteurized milk. I linger a little longer in the main café as I get my bearings and then proceed to the Green Lake Zoka (which I believe is their original location).

After a few more hills I am soaking in sweat while locking my bike up in front of yet another coffee shop, deja vu is really starting to set in at this point. Given my late start this morning it is fairly dark out already and the warm interior of the shop is very inviting. I find it to be massive.

It is large square layout with the bar along one wall sporting a giant red 4 group FB70. This store also has a clover up and running. I secure myself a double espresso and a cup of a Nicaragua COE finca Santa Isabel. It is a lovely little delicate cup but I still find myself missing that Aricha from the U store. It is very interesting seeing the different ways people take the clover. I would love to see a Clover jam set up where every one gets together and has to dial the clover in for 3 coffees or so and then they are all cupped and scored against one another. The shot I get has a little fuller body than the U store shot but in all other ways is very consistent. The barista Amy (?) humored my nosiness and seemed well versed in the craft. I kick back in a big comfy chair and read an article from the new Barista mag. I coincidentally pick a selection ever so appropriately authored by Trish Skeie (Zoka’s green coffee buyer). Its about helping to train cuppers and coffee graders in Africa and is the sort of feel good inspirational stuff that helps motivate even the most apathetic.
The night is moving on rapidly and I figure I should do so as well. I decide to scrap the Vita stop and head straight to Lighthouse. Interstingly enough they have a Gothot tuck away in back (the same type of roaster we use)

It is a short downhill bike away and I am grateful for that. I am also grateful for skipping Vita as I made it to Lighthouse just minutes before they close. A fellow by the name of Chris is behind the bar and he pulls me one of the best shots I have had all week. The blend (which he knew the details of off the top of his, something I am always grateful to find) was simple, not overly fruity or daring, but a good solid rich shot a;; the same. More than anything he just nailed the extraction effortlessly and you could tell it. We talk for a while and I immediately develop a solid respect for the man. He is utterly out of the loop with regards to the coffee culture drama circle “coffee fest?” but he has been pulling shots for 11 years and has a very solid grasp on what he is doing because of it. Since they are closing, I pack up and head out, another full day of coffee in the bag. The bike back to the hotel is fantastic… all of that going uphill finally pays off as I cruise down essentially one road the whole way there. I take one stop for an interesting photo op. in front of a cable company.

Once I get back in touch with Nick its all burgers and rock n roll. Then we rest.

Day 2 – Welcome to Barista Magazine….

The second day started with a bang… or actually a Ka-Pow! This little shop was located in a garage(?) just down around the corner from where I was stayed my first night. The coffee was a fairly mediocre “dark roast special” from Delanno’s (sp?) but the customer service and vegan trail cookie were awesome. This shop is known for it’s “ride the S.L.U.T.” T-shirt (South Union Lake Trolly is right next store) nice.

From here I headed directly to the Vivace on Denny St. to spend the first chunk of my morning. I order and receive a beautiful macchiato and head over to one of the many nice large marble counters that over look the park right behind the shop. The shop layout is great. It has plenty of seating, tons of light and stools at the wrap around bar…. I love bars with stools. There is just something special about them. I however did not want to sully the space with a laptop so as mentioned, I chose the window seating. I received yet another surprise at Vivace today as I realized that they offer NO DRIP COFFEE! Forget not offering any drinks over 12 ozs that are not iced, no drip coffee? No COE? No Micro-lot? My jaw hit the floor. Given how well the Baristas pull I guess they just don’t need it. This will not be the first time that I think to myself “this shop would not survive in Chicago…” I follow up the macchiato with a cap adorned less stellar latte art than the macchiato, continue observing and typing away.

My next stop is to pick up my new bike bag, an all together exciting but fairly quick and non coffee related procedure so I’ll move on. The next shop on the list was Vita on Pike. This is their location with a roastery and café. I liked the space but was over all under whelmed by the quality of the coffee and education of the staff. The espresso was thin and flat and I decided to avoid the drip. The folks were friendly enough and they had a nice display case with demitasse from all over in it, but not much else to brag about.

Rich as this area is my next stop was the new pine st location of Stumptown. And so it begins… The shop is nice, my first visit to any Stumptown, it meets my mental preconceived image perfectly. Done up in total retro hip wood laminate with black cushions and a vintage looking stereo to give it all a soundtrack. I order a cup of the Panama Carmen from Adam at the bar a proceed to peruse. They have a more than healthy selection of single origin offerings with several COE and micro lots in the bunch. I talk with Adam about the various beans, the high price of COE and nuances of opening in a new town. I learn throughout the course of our conversation that Mr. Rogers (previously of Intelly fame and now on team Stumptown) is hanging out at their other location setting up the roaster. I score my first shot of Hairbender in town from Adam and then bike on over to the 12th st Stumptown.

The 12th st location keeps up with the aesthetic perfectly. Very clean and simple style with a beautiful Mistral on the bar.

Instead of stopping to check things out however I head straight downstairs to find the elusive Mr. Rogers. What awaits is almost humorous its so unreal. It is like wandering into the newest issue of Barista Magazine. Going down the stairs I notice and introduce myself to Duane Sorenson, godfather of Stumptown… When I hit the bottom of the stairs I see Kyle Larson running a cupping in a well stocked training room… I see one of the actual “bikes to Rwanda” bikes leaning in a corner… After this encounter Bronwen Serna as she is practicing for the NWRBC… all together a little crazy.

I also find Steven and everything is good. We talk, make crude jokes and reminisce about old times. I am treated to a cupping hosted by Adam who pulled my shot over at the Pine shop. The offering was prime, two Honduras micro lots, a Colombia COE Esperanza, the first place Nicaragua COE, the non auction lot Esmeralda, a Tawar and an Ethiopian Yirg. They apparently do these cuppings for the public everyday at 3 for those looking to taste a range of some great coffees. The Esperanza was smashing, highly recommended. After drooling over the lab (3 group Synesso, 3 group Mistral, 3 group Linea and 2 vintage 1 group Marzoccos) I leave the shop with Steven to wander around putting up posters for their Saturday party with a few stops to drink beers thrown in for good measure. Nick (Intellys new LA tech) joins up and the evening proceeds to go down in infamy before I bike to my residence of last eve, retrieve my rolling suitcase and bike with it in tow to nicks hotel (seriously)… more tomorrow.