Metro Boston's First Jam @ Taste this Friday

We have quite a few cafes confirmed and a full list of barista showing up for this event. It's impressive to see the community coming together. I am sure I am forgetting something but here is the general idea of what's happening Friday Night. Schedule subject to change as we are just going to go for it.
5:00pm
Kranky's introduction: barista sign in and welcome. Name tags and id's please!
Coffee: Per Cup Bar - barismo
Espresso: Shots and Machiatto - Taste
Limited Edition Coffee Ice Cream - Toscanini's
Live music till late!!!
5:30pm
The Boston Metro '09 Latte Art Throw Down:
Entry is $5 each, all comers welcome: One shot, one pour. Prizes for best pour, most creative, and most difficult pour. Prizes include tampers by Fazenda (equipment division).
6:00pm
Kranky's Latte Chug Contest:
The challenge is to make a latte and then chug it in the fastest time. Entry is free and the prize will be decided day of the event, sponsored by Taste.
6:05pm
Beer and chips barista social sponsored by barismo.
7:00pm
Winner's announcement and prizes handout.
8:00pm
Last call.

We need volunteers, judges, and general help getting the word out so don't be shy. I will update this post as I have time.

The big event

The invitation, originally uploaded by coffeedirtdog.

An invitation arrived this morning. The first of what would be several that went out today. A bottle of wine with a special invite printed on the side.

The big unsanctioned unofficial barista jam over at Taste on April 3rd. The Jam was organized by Nik aka 'Kranky' (w/ Jamie and the crew very involved) over at Taste and we @ barismo are providing a support role.

The event is going to be an attempt to get a bunch of barista into one room, have some prizes, some gear, food, drink, and conversation. The idea is to remove the animosity and build a bit of camaraderie. With best intentions, it is about building a real community. Not within a single shop but across a few shops.

It may seem a bit foreign but the idea is that raising the bar requires a bit of understanding. Knowing your neighbor across town is passionate but has differences in palate is better than thinking they are simply wrong and disregarding them entirely. While I guarantee there will be representatives from all our accounts, the trick is seeing who shows up that isn't in our immediate circle of friends and partners in the coffee business.

If you are a local barista or otherwise a coffee professional, give us a heads up and join us at Taste. See you there barista.

barismo Shop hours next week...

Our normal hours are 12-6pm Wed through Sun. This coming week though, Ben K. (watch him clench the clipboard all next week!) will be off Judging the United States Barista Competition in Portland. As for myself, I am headed off to Seattle for a few days then will catch up with him later in the week in Portland to watch the stage show. Nik from Taste will be flying out to participate using our espresso in the United States Barista Championship. While Nik has not had a lot of time practicing (because he is busy working a thriving bar), after his recent run in the North East Regional Barista Competition, he had to go for the experience. Coming out of Newton (which is not known as a coffee mecca) with mismatched cups, a tenacious competitive streak, an amazing espresso, and no experience beyond our training, to runner up at the NERBC has been quite the experience (which he will detail someday soon...).

Needless to say, there will be a bare bones staff at the barismo lab next week so the hours will be as follow:
Mar 4th Wed 12-6
Mar 5th Thurs 12-4
Mar 6th Fri 12-6
Mar 7th Sat 12-5
Mar 8th Sun 12-3

Remind Mr. Krankl when you see Nik at Taste to wipe his grinder down then tell him to refill the judge's water (I'd appreciate it if you made the effort, loyal readers, to burn it into his head!). Oh, and tell him good luck!

Nik Krankl takes second in North East Regional Barista Competition

Nik runs Taste Coffee House in Newton and I have been working to coach him as a first time competitor in this year. It was a field of 46, 16 being from the North East of which Nik was participating in.

For those of you who don't know, Nik has spent a lot of time at the lab building up his espresso blend with us at barismo, probably as much as he spent training for the NERBC, but it's something both of us are very proud of. A combo of a Guatemala Atitlan and a Kenya Nyeri, both vacuum sealed at origin and both were given an extra sort at the dry mill. The espresso got good scores in the first round but Nik fell victim to surfing the temps in the second round and we are somewhat at a loss with working on a Synesso/GB5 then going to a heat exchanger. I think his conservative flushing routine was not getting the shots hot enough to get the coloration and intensity but it's all left to a what if discussion at this point.

Nik's cappuccino in the second round looked pretty solid and that's always a mixed bag as some judges want the espresso to really cut through and yet others want it to be balanced. So I am told anyway, but the point is he executed them well.

The Signature drink scored very high in both rounds. I think Hong and Nik's aunt should take a big piece of credit for helping build that with Nik. I won't go into it's details but if you want one, you just have to ask Nik.

I will take some time to digest the trip, post some photos and tell the ballad of 'Cotton Mouth' Krankl soon. Truth is that nobody sees the hard work behind the stage, the help people from our North East crowd which showed up and represented this year who then went into support mode when Nik made finals. Nobody sees the long car rides late at night or the frantic scramble to find dry ice last minute. A big thank you to those who came out and supported but I will take the time to detail some names and give credit where it's due in the next few days.