NERBC

Nik is getting ready, another practice session today, for competition. We are putting together the support to get him in a good position to deal with his first venture into competition. We are doing our best to give him the worst so when he gets on stage, it will be a bit easier.

Our friends at A&E Roasters may be sending representatives and I think there are more entries we aren't aware of going this year but we will have to wait until the day of competition. barismo may be supporting one more local barista but more on that when it's firm as we have to keep it under wraps because it involves a new account. Simon's is confirmed to not have any competitors and it remains to be seen if other cafes like bloc 11 are going to respond to the influx of area barista this year(yes, I know they read and that's why I asked the question). Even 1369 will be fielding a few competitors so I wonder what the reasons not to show up are?

Competitions are something strange to behold. A stage show you only can experience by competing. On the outside, it looks much more mundane than the boiler it feels like during your fifteen minutes. It may not be for the purists who want to sit around and cup coffee all day, but I will tell you it takes mettle to get up there and I respect those who do. This year, it's good to be new as all the old faces seem to be out f the competition mix this time around. I think that's a good thing because what the competitions need is fresh new faces.

Having been in both the latte art contest and a last minute invite to the USBC a few years ago, I don't revel in competing. The pressure you can put on yourself is intense but worth every bit of stress. Of course, I wasn't saying this after the first round of the USBC, I was cursing the very existence of the thing praying not to make it to the next round. It was afterward, the lessons I learned, and the simple experience of putting myself out there to be judged that I saw a different angle of what it was to compete. You grow up a bit as a professional and that's a good thing. So many of the cafes in our area suffer one simple problem, insulation. They have no larger view than their shop vs another shop down the street set up as some kind of straw man to beat down. A simple illustration of this fact is that some longtime successful cafe owners have finally discovered that single origin and estate coffees do exist.

We all talk about how serious we are about coffee, but the good cafes will find a way of proving it. It might be the mix of coffees served or the flare in serving them, it might be on the competition stage, and it could be by pressing the issue and creating a new coffee bar concept in your region. More on that last teaser soon...

Boston Area Coffee Community

Boston has a newly burgeoning coffee scene. This much is certain to me at this point. Today was spent highly caffeinated at a couple of coffee focused events we did not instigate. It was a good turn of events to sit in on someone else pushing coffee and be served by dedicated barista.

Early morning we got some work done at the shop and then took off for Newtonville. Great shots of espresso. Place was packed and we were feeling like it was tough to find any seat. That's a good thing though when it's standing room only. This was a 'welcome back Logan' event. Yes, 'How's your day going? And, would you like to add a shot of espresso to that?' Logan... It's a good enough reason to get psyched and rock some espresso. Talked to Nik afterward and it was definitely a rocking success. Give out the best espresso in town and people will come to drink it! Big thanks to the community for coming out and supporting it.

During lunch, we tried to recover from the buzz off the shots. We ended a good solid meal in Union Square and headed over to bloc 11 for a tasting they were holding. It was unique because we had done a tasting a long time ago at bloc 11 and were curious to see what was going on.
We rolled up at a Chemex demo of a few African coffees from mega roaster Intelly. By far, the Rwanda was the best cup of Intelly I have had in a long line of varied experiences. I have to credit the two barista who put it together for taking the initiative. It's good to see something outside of the house blend coffees being put out there and even better to see some kids putting themselves out there to bring the focus to the coffee. (I should note they knew who Silas was so that adds major street cred in our book) Big props to the coffee community for putting together a good cafe crawl today! It was a good experience and a nice change to be the aficionado instead of the presenter.

A barismo refresher

Ending the third year of blogging on this site, I know a few posts have been lost but we keep plugging away. Though there are definitely highlights from the last few years I could share, I'll keep it to just the last year and only 10 of the less controversial ones.

Why is fresh coffee so confusing?
Fresh is simple.

The Utility Blend
Espresso isn't just for 16oz milk drinks.

Jute free since 07
All about packing and repacking.

Syphon Coffee Primer
Primer implies a little less detail but that's how we roll.

Linnaean St. Espresso
This is our first blend and it's roasting really nicely right now.

Reasons coffee doesn't taste like bag descriptors.
A very popular post among the bloggers out there.

To the next golden brew.
All that glitters is not gold...

Feeding frenzy at the bar.
It still amazes me that we pulled that off and yet some people still opine locally whether it would fly...

It's all about volume.
Big and small.

Oh the humanity!
The drama...