This has nothing to do with coffee

No, wait, that's not exactly right...

The best thing about road trips is that final stretch on the road getting back to familiar signs and that cozy strip of road you frequent most. Radio station presets come back in tune and you can shake off the fatigue for a second wind as you know you are close to home.

Now that I'm back in town, a few notes for my fellow Cantabrigians:

- If you are a Cambridge Barista, there's word of a local event. Still looking for sponsors, music shops, bike shops, etc to make it happen and a bar for the after party. I'm supporting as best I can, email me if you want to participate and I will forward you to the organizers. Highlight will be a latte art throwdown and some free swag.

- An event upcoming in one month. This will be a big event. Owner agreed to this as long as we take it very serious and put together a good show. Vac pots and lots of coffee. Interested roasters need only drop me an email. You get the stage with at least two of the areas best shop owners and a crowd of hi flyin consumers with good palates at one of my favorite locales. Details will come up on the site closer to event time.

Gratuitous latte art parting shot...

$15 per 8-oz cup ($135 per half pound in bean form)

$265/lb for this?

Bloggle makes note of Panama La Esmeralda getting Vancouver press for it's uber expensive cup price. We over at barismo have long been trying to underplay the hype for many reasons but it's time to lay a few thoughts/questions on this coffee:

-If you bought it at $130/lb from the auction, were you buying it for quality or for the bragging rights of purchasing this years most expensive coffee?

-It's a hard coffee to roast correctly. If I were a consumer, would I be dropping $15/8oz cup on a coffee like this? From which one of the purchasing roaster's would I most likely get my money's worth? In what brew method?

-I have green from the non-auction lot and sampled roasts by others of this non-auction lot. For me, this coffee seems to be an aberration but does that aberration earn the price?

-I won't get all high and mighty casting down who should buy or what price it should be. I don't really care that much. I will say, I am happy these companies forked the cash for this coffee and set a new precedent in high prices. I could very easily drink this coffee every day, that said though, I personally wouldn't buy it at that price from a single one of them.

Roasting Philosophy #1

Do your homework

I've been noticing quite a few inquires on coffeegeek lately of ppl seeking "professional" advices on opening shops/roasting/professional equipments/etc. I found this both irritating and insulting at the same time.

First of all, coffeegeek is a "home" enthusiast site. Sure there are some pro's lurking around but main user base are made up of a really niche group of coffee drinkers. In fact, I am speculating that coffeegeek prob represent less than 5% of your actual customers. As such, the feedback you get back from the forum is very skewed toward this user base. Also, since most of the knowledge is focused on home users, the advices you got will most likely be not applicable in a business setting. Seeking advices regarding the coffee business on this site just showed how lack of knowledge you have. If you need help from coffeegeek, you really should not be in the business.

I also found this VERY insulting as a person who is somewhat connected to the biz. Pay your dues and do your own research. The answers are out there. Looking for a easy answer is just pure laziness. Please do not call yourself a coffee professional if you cannot even do this.

Oh btw, free advice is just that. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and money to educate yourself. That is just a fact of life.

Mulling espresso

Thought of the day: You want good Single Origin Espresso? Use good beans.

---

We have written a lot on our love and frustration with Espresso, so rather than boring you with some long recycled rant, let's refresh a few old rants.

Blends are a compromise - This was the point way back where we began consistently using the term alchemy to refer to the approach in espresso where poor grade greens are in effect blended with the idea that the end result will be something superior. It was a basic lament that if we blend, why not use a handful of very expressive components instead of a stable of lackluster ones. Great comments too!

Tell me how you really feel about espresso - This was a solid account of us as we began our affinity for vac pots. Even as I fell in love with the Hario, I still had a strong desire to go back and pull shots of Kenyas and Yirgs and get closer to that candied fruit and aroma we saw glimpses of before.

You can dig through all our old notes of pulling Yirgs and Kenyas if you like but what good are cupping notes on coffees no longer for sale or roasts that have changed so much our notes would be irrelevant? A bit of foreshadowing and hints of things to come in the comments...

Lemony Espresso - The picture sells it and this was really part of a long line of frustration illustrated in many of the posts on the site.

Clean Espresso - A snarky breakdown of how we defined clean espresso.

Clamouring for espresso... and didn't know it? - An oldie bout the good ole days... hopefully to return shortly. Note the date on the article and don't hold me responsible for the current shop changes should you visit.

The skilled hand of the Barista... - This post should be called the diary of a passionate barista. It is a great perspective on me and the belief in the untapped potential of the professional barista.