photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
The whole purpose of The Bellingham Barista Jam was to meet, talk and of course taste coffee. I am sure everyone had different highlights of this event, but like Edwin says, coffee is about the relationships of the people involved from grower to consumer. This statement was especially important and relevant on this occasion.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
The event kicked off at about nine with us demoing the vac pot while others got their stations set up. Jaime ran the show, demonstrating the intricacies in technique of this wonderful method of brewing coffee. Kaminsky and Jaime continued to demo the vac pot for the next hour and a half while we watched and tasted. Unfortunately, the coffee we had arranged have sent to us from Simon Hsieh for the event did not arrive in time, so we were only able to brew the Ecco Reserve. Thanks to the generosity of Ecco Caffe and the vac pot alchemy of Jaime and Ben, we were able to show our peers a little of what we are about.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Zander and the clover were showing their stuff off across the way and I got to play around a little bit with what is probably the coolest coffee making machine out there. I also totally scored a clover t-shirt, which is amazing.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
I got to pull my first shot on the Synesso. As Ben said, "It's not bad for your first shot ever on the Synesso." Bronwen only had to look at it before dumping it down the drain. Oh well, guess I am not quite WBC quality yet. After several tries, Bronwin showed us how it is done with the Ecco Reserve, chocolate and caramel.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
One of my favorite things at the event was the Victrola tasting. Keith and Justin set up the first round with only Colombian coffee. There were about nine different Colombians mostly COE lots from the last auction and two that were not COE. It was set up as a blind tasting in which we had to decide which coffees were COE lots and what numbers they were as well as which were the two that were not COE coffees. We all picked out the number one COE and the defective coffee that had to be sent back. The second part of the tasting was all Victrola offerings. I have to say, I was surprised with the Lake Tawar I tasted. It was definitely the best Sumatra I have ever had, but then again I really don't like Sumatras. Many thanks to Keith, Justin and Victrola for setting up an awesome tasting.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Edwin gave an awesome presentation about just what it means to get his coffee to the roaster. He had a full slide show with pictures of coffee trees growing and being picked. He showed us photos of processing the coffee, all the machines involved and every step along the way and in between. He showed us photos of the port where the coffee is exported and photos of the coffee getting there. Most importantly though, he showed us photos of the people involved with making this all possible. Many of the people he showed us photos of are good friends or family. Along the way he narrated this slide show and connected us to those people through his words and pictures.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
The guys from espresso parts had a table set up with an array of cool tampers, including the Barismo spec tamper at its trade show debut. As soon as someone would ask about it, they would explain it a little bit and then point across the way to our table.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Things continued with plenty of time for everyone to chat and taste and try out the different machines. Gabe was taking plenty of photos and really showing off his skill as a photographer. He seemed to be where ever something interesting was going on and didn't miss too much.
photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Kaminsky and I got to talk to Robert from Coffeed. We had an interesting Yirg conversation about all the difficulty in getting a good Yirg to this country unharmed. He had a few good stories to tell about how easily a great yirg can be ruined in transit. I am glad we got to talk, he has a lot of good stuff to say.
This event was all about coffee. Or rather, it was all about coffee and people. There were People from different places and many people from Belllingham all brought together by coffee, with the help of Edwin and Richard. It was great to meet so many awesome people. I really enjoyed myself on this trip and enjoyed seeing everyone do their thing. It was great to see how connected everyone in Bellingham is to one another and how accepting they are of us.
