Symposium Colloqium: Peter Giuliano

For part two of our ongoing Symposium Colloquium series, we sat down with SCAA Symposium Director Peter Giuliano to talk to him about his new role, his visions for the future, and why Symp 2013 was a resounding success.

You may remember that for the first time, all of the Symposium talks will be released online and made available to the public. This is a fantastic opportunity to join in on the ongoing conversations that surround our industry today and to keep it going long pastiche short window of the SCAA Symposium and Expo

Check out our interview with Mr. Giuliano, then head over to the Symposium website to watch his entire Symposium Welcome Address “The Coffee Symposium.”

Gettin’ Paid: The Results From Our International Barista Income Survey

Well, this one was quite a corker. To get a sense of what baristas around the world were making, we put together a little survey during SCAA that asked questions surrounding barista wages. Well, 350 respondents later, the results are in, and Sprudge Staff Writer Alex Bernson has graphs, infographics, and breakdown to help explain our findings.

The results are interesting, to say the least, and give us a glimpse into trends that are taking place in the workplace for baristas. More from Mr. Bernson:

Ultimately, the question is how can we raise these incomes across the board. Certainly this survey showed that there are baristas who are doing pretty well for themselves, but their is still much room for improvement, especially in cities like London. It is also crucial to remember that while these hourly rates may seem pretty good, the short length of barista shifts make for a lower overall income. Most worrying to me in the US is the relatively small difference in income between baristas with 1-3 years experience and those with over 4 years experience–this seems to suggest that the dream of the “professional barista” who is properly rewarded for their dedication is still a long way off.

There is certainly a lot of data to digest within the findings, and it seems for certain that this conversation is not slowing down any time soon – see, for example, James Hoffmann’s response essay on JimSeven.com. On our end, the biggest bit of feedback received was that the polling info we reported from Australia seemed a bit wonky – the wage numbers were a good bit higher than what many experienced Australian baristas considered average. Maybe our numbers were affected by small sample size? Maybe there was a bit of leg yanking from some of the initial responders? Regardless, we chose Australia as the next area of inquiry for coffee wage polling, and thus we’ve released a comprehensive Australian Barista Income Poll.

If you’re involved in the coffee scene in Australia, please take a few moments to take the poll and spread it around to your mates.

Strand Talks New Stumptown and Intelligentsia Cafes

New York’s scoopiest coffee writer is Oliver Strand. This week, Mr. Strand featured the soon-to-be-opened Stumptown and Intelligentsia NYC locations in a column. This feature has everything: key insights into the focus of each location, hefty cups, mosaic-tiled lobbies, toffee notes in an Eva Solo, and James Fairbrass preparing coffee at a brew bar.

Thanks to some hefty quotage from Stephen Morrissey, Mr. Strand paints a nice picture of the craft that goes into brewing coffee at locations like these. Both locations are set to open within the coming week, if all goes as planned.

Baristas of the World: Roll Call Video
We’ve been stalking Barista Champs from all over the world on Facebook, gathering photos, twitter names, and anything else we could find in preparation for next week’s World Barista Championship event in Melbourne.

So, before everything gets crazy, and before the festivities get started down under, we wanted to share with you the Facebook pics of some of this year’s World Barista Champs – some but not all however, because not all of the champs are on Facebook! Sorry Taiwan, we love you, no disrespect we promise.

To make things more fun and digestible, we’ve put together these photos in a sing-a-long video of the national champs, in the tradition of the Animaniacs “50 State Capitals” song. Enjoy!

Speaking of champs…
Full Scores for all 39 USBC Competitors Released
Earlier this week the USBC released a full breakdown of all the scores and placements at the 2013 United States Barista Championship in Boston. The complete list is a unique insight into each round of the USBC, and is a true testament to the immense field of talent represented at the event. You won’t want to miss this list.

Over on the UK side of things, Sprudge contributor Elyse Bouvier’s UKBC coverage continues with:
An Interview with UK Brewer’s Cup Champ Sang Ho Park
A Sit-Down down with UK Aeropress Champ— Talkhouse’s Isa Verschraegen

5 Questions For Nick Cho
Breaking late this week was news that Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters would be leaving their pop up space in San Francisco’s Firehouse 8. In fact, the last day of service was on Friday. We took a bit of time to get the scoop from co-owner Nick Cho on what’s going on at Wrecking Ball and what’s in store for the future.

The post Last Week With Ben Blake: Week of May 18th, 2013 appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Our best-in-the-business UKBC coverage continues with an interview with Sang Ho Park, your 2013 UK Brewers Cup champion! Photos and content courtesy of our London correspondent Elyse Bouvier.

At the end of April, Sang Ho Park competed among some of the best at the London Coffee Festival to become the 2013 UK Brewer’s Cup Champion. Mr. Park, originally from South Korea, has been living in London for several years and is well-regarded around this city’s barista community for being an apt professional and stand-up guy. I pulled him aside at the UKBC, in-between feverish coaching sessions with John Gordon, to get the inside scoop about his Brewer’s Cup win.

So, Sang Ho, you’re this year’s UK Brewer’s Cup Champion! Congrats! How does it feel?

Yeah, still not used to that! It hasn’t really sunk in yet, like, I’m going to Melbourne! And now I’m being harassed, ‘You need to practice!’, so no break for me, yet.

Last year, you competed in the UKBC, and placed 7th. This year, you competed in both the UK Brewer’s Cup and the Latte Art Championship. How did you approach competition differently from last year to this year?

The biggest change that I’ve made this year is how hard I worked for the competition. Last year, I was really relaxed, because I had so much support around me. I think I thought that I didn’t have to work so hard and I relied too much on team support instead of on doing the hard work myself. But this year, prepping for Brewer’s Cup and the Latte Art competition, I’ve already worked harder than last year. I practiced 4 to 5 hours every day after work for 2 months, and the weird thing is, I had a completely different routine planned for Brewer’s Cup two weeks ago.

You mean, you completely changed your routine after months of practice? What’s different?

I think it’s a lot simpler, it’s more focused on the coffee. Before, it was just too much for the judges, too much information. Now, it’s more about just making nice coffee for the judges!

For those of us who weren’t there, can you take us through your routine?

The coffee I used was called Vunga, roasted by Square Mile. This coffee recently placed 13th in the Rwanda Cup of Excellence.

My whole routine started with handing the judges a screenshot of the most played songs in my iTunes. I told the judges that the songs I play a lot fulfill what I look for in a good song. For example, I like songs with a lot of swearing and heavy bass. Then I explained, you can find your favourite coffees in the same way, by the number of times they’ve been drunk. And in that list of top coffees, there will be a correlation behind why you like them. So, I told the judges, as we all have our personal taste, just like music, I wanted to try to brew something we could all enjoy.

Since I got to choose the coffee, their choices would determine how I would brew the coffee. One judge chose what kind of body they wanted: clean with crisp acidity or juicy with playful acidity which meant using either a cloth or paper filter. Another judge chose aftertaste: lingering, milk chocolate or clean and sweet, which determined which water I would use, 50ppm or 100ppm. The last judge got to choose the vessel, a diner mug or bone china, which had nothing to do with how I brewed the coffee, but was just a personal preference.

Well, I wish I could have been a judge! It’s like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” routine. Great concept! Last question: what would be your Sunday morning coffee and brewing method of choice?

I’m really lazy, so I like a French Press in the morning. And my favourite origin right now would be a nice Colombian coffee. And, I’m more of a bone china kind of person, but I guess that’s my feminine side showing!

Read more UKBC coverage on Sprudge.

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Our United Kingdom Barista Championship coverage continues with an in-depth look at the routines and coffees from UKBC Finals Sunday. Best of all, we’ve got a variety of photos for each competitor, capturing the true visual feast that happens at the highest levels of barista competition.

This coverage comes to us from our London correspondent Elyse Bouvier, a writer, photographer, and working barista at Talkhouse Coffee. 

Joe Meagher – Flat Caps Coffee, Newcastle – 4th overall

For international readers who might not know the name, UKBC Finalist Joe Meagher has an interesting story. He’s a former banker turned barista with his own café in Newcastle, he’s competed in the UKBC before, and his experience certainly showed in his presentation last weekend. Joe competed at UKBC with Has Bean’s Bolivia Finca Loayza, a hybrid washed and dry processed coffee made up of 40% Typica, 40% Caturra, and 20% Catuai. This hybridization of processing and variety brings a lot of sweetness and complexity to the cup, as Joe told his judges and the crowd.

On stage, each judge has a lovely printed notebook with information about the coffee, cappuccinos, and sig drink ingredients. Joe encouraged the judges to refer to the notebooks throughout his presentation if they need more information.

Roast profile was an important part of this routine. After tasting five different roasts, Joe chose one that was medium/dark, which he felt helped to caramelize the flavours and enhanced the sweetness of the coffee when adding milk. It should be noted that Talking Heads’ ‘Burning Down the House’ – an all-time favourite of mine – was the soundtrack to his cappuccino course.

Joe’s sig drink looked quite suave, served in a quaint little cocktail glass with a twirl of lime on the side. With the music Joe Meagher selected, and his “flat cap” style, it was almost as though the audience and judges had been transported to some cool, off-the-path type cocktail bar. His sig included a cascara syrup (from the same farm as his coffee!) prepared on stage in a siphon, with the addition of a little cane sugar. Joe also made a cold drip from the same coffee, to enhance the chocolate notes present throughout his courses. Finally, Joe brought out a homemade tonic syrup, to which he added soda water on stage with a Soda Stream.

Joe told his judges, “Each of these ingredients individually taste great, but when you add them to the espresso, it tastes fantastic!” It was good enough for an impressive 4th place finish at UKBC finals.

John Gordon – Square Mile Coffee Roasters, London– 1st overall

What more can be said about your 2013 UKBC champ, John Gordon? His on-stage style was cool and creative, and his Square Mile Colombia La Serrania was evidently yummy, but I think it’s important to reiterate that Mr. Gordon has a certain “wow!” factor on stage. The audience was perhaps the quietest while John was on stage; every person leaned in on their seats, or crowded around the edges of the stage to get a glimpse into what John was talking about and preparing in his on-stage laboratory. I could go on, but alas, I already have - Sprudge has my full breakdown of John’s winning presentation in this previous post. Congratulations, John Gordon!

Don Altizo – Baxter Storey Catering – 6th overall

Described as a “passionate, committed barista” by the UKBC announcer, this was Don Altizo’s 3rd time competing, but his first time ever advancing – first to semi-finals, and then on to an appearance at UKBC Finals Sunday. Mr. Altizo is also the first-ever competitor from a caterer (Baxter Storey) to place at finals, where he competed with a custom blend from Workhouse Coffee Company in Reading. His blend consisted of a natural Yirgacheffe, a washed El Salvador peaberry, and a washed Ethiopian Sidamo – the most important bean in the blend, according to Don.

Mr. Altizo used his time on stage to talk about the practice of buying fresh, quality fruit, and drew parallels towards approaching coffee the same way. His espresso service had exacting timing standards, with Don asking the judges to wait about 20 seconds between their first and second sips to really get the “juicy” flavours out of the coffee, with notes of dark chocolate, blueberry, and green apple acidity.

Part of Don’s sig drink included blueberries that had been pressed through an Eva Solo. He’s not much of a talker, so as he finished his sig drink, it was noticeably quiet on stage until he got around to explaining more about the ingredients, which included ice cubes made from Golden Delicious apple juice. Blueberries, apples, chocolate – these were the still life ingredients that anchored in his stage setting, as well as the notes in his signature beverage. Sounds delicious, yes?

Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood – Colonna and Smalls, Bath – 2nd overall

Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood has a gift, a remarkable ability to pull you in to what he’s saying while sharing his passion and knowledge. It is no fluke that he was last year’s UK champion (going on to place 6th at the 2012 WBC). Maxwell gets the judges involved, and I felt like I was involved too as an observer alongside the rapt audience.

Maxwell’s routine began with an invitation to “taste something together” with the judges. That “something” was two blackberries: a regular one, and a second that had been processed in a manner similar to the coffee he went on to serve. That coffee was a Colombian from Finca Tamana, sourced by Nordic Approach and roasted by Tate, the UK’s national collection of modern and contemporary art. This exercise in blackberry taste experiences set up the whole point of Maxwell’s routine: Process affects flavour.

His signature drink called for updosed espressoes, to which he added an infusion of some processed blackberries and just a hint of Jersey cream, “for balance.” He tells us that this drink is “first and foremost inspired by the coffee” and the provenance of the bean. Provenance + process = character. Never one to shy away from evoking traditional English dessert notes, his sig drink this year tasted of “sweet treacle and the acid of fresh fruit” (his signature drink at last year’s WBC was notable for having notes of “Walnut Whip“).

To Maxwell, “a cappuccino is also a process. You are building a drink.” He used the same Jersey herd milk as in his signature beverage, and poured a nice, clean heart on each drink. His capps tasted of walnut, fudge, and vanilla, but the “walnut really steals the show.”

Finally, for his espresso, Maxwell talked about the process of acquiring green coffee in the first place, including a tasteful lauding of Nordic Approach for being a transparent and ethical sourcing company. Maxwell’s Finca Tamana espresso had “medium body, the acidity of blackberry, sourness of apple, and the bitterness of cocoa.”

Chee Wong – Taylor Street Baristas, London – 5th overall

This year was Chee Wong’s first ever competition season, and he was the only first time competitor to advance to finals. A big congrats Mr. Wong for making it through a tough competition, and for placing in the top five of the UK’s best baristas.

Chee’s routine began with him rhetorically quoting a friend: “Balance? What is balance?” This was to be an exploration of the often elusive pursuit of “balance” in coffee, using a caturra from La Predera, Colombia roasted by Union. Chee explored balance by first presenting the espresso in its pure state, and then by using two wildly different flavors to balance the coffee. The first flavour was quite familiar – and indeed, demanded by the rules – the sweetness of the milk in his cappuccino, which created balance and a “soft creamy caramel” taste.

The second flavour was rather unconventional. Chee’s sig drink seeks explored the other end of balance through a homemade consommé of roasted homegrown mushrooms – grown in 75% ground coffee waste – and local tomatoes that he soaked overnight to bring out their ‘umami’ flavours, meant to achieve a “different kind of balance” in the cup. He asked each of the judges to add 5ml of this mushroom mixture with a syringe directly into their espressos, stirring well before tasting.

Estelle Bright – Caravan Coffee Roasters– 3rd overall

Having competed twice before, Estelle is well known around London for being a kick-ass barista with awesome style, although this reporter may be a bit biased, as I personally love her style and tattoos! She currently works as Head Barista and Quality Control at the busy Caravan Coffee, and her skills and energy on stage have earned her the honor of being one of the top 3 UK baristas, very much at home alongside John Gordon and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood.

Starting right off, Estelle told the judges that there were two reasons she picked her particular coffee for UKBC. First, because “it’s super yummy”, and second because “it represents my personality.” With the fun and wild nature of the Dumerso Ethiopian Yirgacheffe natural she selected, I think she’s probably right!

One of the fastest and cleanest competitors, Estelle began with espressos first that yielded notes of strawberry, apricot, and peach, but “mostly strawberry.” I should note that Estelle’s soundtrack included such favourites as “Can’t Touch This”, “Milkshake”, and “Super Freak” which certainly created a fun atmosphere in the room.

Estelle’s cappuccinos continued on the strawberry theme, tasting of “strawberry milkshake,” before she moved onto her, you guessed it, strawberry-themed sig drink. She started by using sodium alginate – yes, I had to Google that – blended with water and strawberry syrup. It looked something like this:

Now this is the cool part. Estelle took small spoonfuls of this liquid and dropped it into calcium chloride mixed with water to create little pebbles. Each judge got their own “pebble” and were instructed to pour espresso directly over it, then “knock it back” and pop the pebble in their mouth. This created an explosion of strawberry flavour to compliment the espresso. Very cool.

I took way more pictures of Estelle, and we’ll share this last one with you just to capture her style – this girl really has an awesome look.

Original photography and reporting from London by Elyse Bouvier.

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Our London correspondent Elyse Bouvier continues her 2013 United Kingdom Barista Championship coverage with this in-depth look at John Gordon, your 2013 UKBC Champ!

John Gordon is your new 2013 United Kingdom Barista Champion! This is John’s third UKBC win, and yet only his 4th time competing nationally. That makes him 3 for 4 - I’d say those are pretty good odds. I spent a glorious few days watching the best-of-the-best perform at this year’s UKBC, and was overwhelmed by the skill and professionalism on display, but it was no surprise that John Gordon’s passion, dedication, and experience stood out from the rest. John is meticulous, knowledgeable, confident, and creative and stage, and his presentation reflected that.

The first thing I noticed about John’s setup this year was the electronic kit on stage with him. In fact, his entire set up, from his slick denim apron to the colour coordinated cups, was just so effortlessly cool. (There’s perhaps a bit of magic in that beard of his, too.) With an opening stage setting that included multi-coloured test tubes and a bell jar cauldron simmering in his staging area, John did a great job creating a certain air of mystery and suspense. It felt a little like walking into Frankenstein’s laboratory.

“DJ Gordon” started by explaining that “today is about creating a complete sensory experience using not just coffee but the full range of our senses.” All the judges were instructed to wear headphones throughout the entire presentation. During evaluation, there was no music playing so they could focus completely on the coffee. Between drinks, the judges heard classical music – chosen for specific emotional reactions.

When I asked John about the concept, he explained that it started out “more about depriving than enhancing the senses.” Having the judges wearing headphones, he told me, was intended to minimize the harmful effects of distraction. With the understanding that barista competitions are inherently not a spectator sport, John’s routine was explicitly meant for the judges, and not the audience. Even watching from the press pit, I know I did not get the full experience.

John Gordon competed and won the UKBC using Square Mile‘s roast of a Colombian coffee from the Huila region, La Serrania. It’s a blend of Caturra and Colombian varietals grown at 1800masl. John started off by explaining to the judges how, after we are born, we first develop a preference for sweetness, then a recognition of bitterness, and finally, an acceptance of sourness and acidity. Each round of drinks highlighted this biological progression through the characteristics of the coffee in taste, sound, and colour. I personally thought this was really cool…and it also kind of made me wish I studied a little harder for biology class.

John Gordon colour-coated each course he served to the judges. In red cups, his espresso was all about sweetness; in grey cups, his cappuccinos  represented bitternes and complexity, notes not usually found in your average capp; and finally, his signature drink was presented with green boards to highlight acidity. John’s signature drink was layered, and included sweetness from peach and vanilla, bitterness from 100% Peruvian cacao, a concentrated aroma of raspberries, and of course, espresso. John had his judges smell the raspberry aroma before adding the espresso into the port sipper and tasting the complete drink.

Talking with John after the competition, I was not only impressed with the amount of care and thought and detail that went into his final presentation – the idea first came to him back in 2011 at a WBC judges calibration session – but also his genuine curiosity towards how things work and how we understand the intersection of coffee and taste. In my interview with him after his victory, John told me a story from his 8th birthday, wherein his mum gave him a toy robot and within hours, he’d taken it apart to try and understand how it works. In his own words, John told me he likes “seeing problems and finding new ways to fix them.”

John went on to say that he’s “really looking toward to the future of how we evaluate coffee, and not how it’s been done in the past.” I asked him how he felt competing this time versus years past, and he confessed how nervous he’d been. “This is the first year I really wanted to win,” he told me. The concept behind his 15 minutes on stage was no walk in the park; “I felt there’s a fear it could be misread,” he told me, and I believed him.

But you can believe this: John Gordon’s UKBC winning performance was a stroke of mad genius. Complex and challenging, and still beguiling days later as I consider what I’ve witnessed. This was a really special routine, and I’m not the only one to think so. John Gordon is headed back to the world’s biggest stage, to once again compete on behalf of the United Kingdom. Congrats, John, and behalf of my fellow UK baristas, we’re all so excited to see how your competition concept progresses in Melbourne. I, for one, cannot wait to watch this routine again.

Original photography by Elyse Bouvier for Sprudge.com.

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For the thirteenth issue of Sprudge Sunday Magazine, we’re honoring Square Mile Coffee Roasters‘ John Gordon, your 2013 UK Barista Champion.

This is John Gordon’s astounding third UKBC win. He advances on to represent the United Kingdom at the 2013 World Barista Championship in Melbourne, happening in just 3 short weeks (May 22nd-26th).

Sprudge.com had boots on the ground at the 2013 UKBC, in the form of our new London correspondent Elyse Bouvier. Her full accounting of Semi-Finals Saturday is available here – check back on Sprudge soon for much more in photos and essays from this astounding event.

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John Gordon writes:

Over the last 3 years, competing in barista competitions has helped me grow as a person and accelerate my learning.

One thing that I believe has helped me so much has been reviewing score sheets, evaluating feedback and learning from my mistakes.

This year Judging in Ireland and coaching one of the most talented baristas in the country I believe I was able to learn more about score sheets and feel there is an abundant amount of information that can be dissected, dismantled and evaluated and the important information used to push forward and help improve what we do best.I think by sharing score sheets we can also learn from each other and as a few have done before by making score sheets available to view online it can only help baristas learn the do’s and don’ts.

If you feel as I do I would love your help in compiling a list of score sheets for everyone to view, good or bad we can learn from everything we do in life, triumphant or failure we are all winners because we got up there and did what we believed in.

Score sheets provide an interesting perspective and will prove to be an incredible resource for those competing in the future.

Linked in this feature:

Barista Competition Score Sheets

Contribute your score sheets here.

Further Reading:

A Few Quick Thoughts On Barista Competition, James Hoffmann, Published May 2, 2012

The post Barista Competition Score Sheets appeared first on Sprudge.com.

After three heats and who knows how many quadwuzzles, the UKBC competition is still in the throws of all-out berberzery. Sounds confusing? We think so too. In fact, we read over the leaderboard like 6 times and still couldn’t make sense of how this competition works. Here’s what we’ve been able to gather thus far:

In the Stone Queue Quandry heat, Scotland’s Caledonian University will play host to no fewer than 5 stone coffee chorthoozlers from across the Highlands. Test matches conclude with 52 wickets, or three acts of magickry, whichever comes first and is of the most delight to the assembled Grand Quorum.

At the Midlands Derby, heat contestants face off in the Bounty Bar Ballyhoo, sponsored by Cadbury’s. Winners are granted audience with the Queen and the exclusive right to chadwoozle their opponents for life.

Last, at the Northern Ireland Barista Classic and Cheap Black Tea Guzzle, all variety of Collin’s will compete in a feverish pitch, seated with no quarter to lackluster lollygags. Again, eternal chadwoozling rights are on the boards for this heat.

The ongoing barista leaderboard will be updoodled daily from UKBC online, with livestream components authorized upon approval from Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Grand Seer, Upton-upon-Thames.

Er, good luck!

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