If I ever get into syrups please shoot me...

Today was long. I worked on helping get this kid Ben up to speed. He knows an amazing amount about the coffee scene and seems to really follow it. I can only hope to really get him into cupping and really help him build a palate. I think Ben may take over some of the coffee program at Simon's. I would be thrilled if he can keep it going. I feel a bit proud leaving as to what I accomplished felt really special.

I had a sit down with Silas for a bit today. Silas is my friend who is into tea and often cups tea with a well known pro in our region. We like to say Tea Sommolier because if you could see someone so passionate about sharing tea flavors as I am about coffee, it would be Silas. Silas was wondering if we are alone sometimes or if it is just the beginning of something bigger and culinary. A movement or a change in direction for a lot of us. It's a valid question. In some ways it's scary that as our group gets larger, there are enough of us nuts out there to make a bunch.

On another topic... I will probably take my postponed trip to San Francisco in October instead of this month. Silas plans on going and maybe we should all take a much needed vacation. Forewarning to SF shops and Ecco Caffe included.


-Jaime

North East Barista Jam and NY NY

There will be a north east jam, info on the flyer. I probably won't be attending as I really need to get focused. If I do go, it will be to bring a few other barista to attend. It's not that I'm not into seeing Co and the gang, but rather you have to trust I got some things in the works I need to focus on.

I will be in New York Monday Sept 11. I intend to stop by Grumpies and give them a quality check on the Ecco they are serving. It's a bit shocking to hear of other people into Anrdew's stuff but always cool to know people appreciate quality.

Hopefully, I can stop by Brooklyn and visit Chris Owens or one of the cats on bar at Gimme. I hope my schedule lays out where I can hit both and have some time but I am there on business so play time is limited.

I don't visit a lot of bars anymore. I am always looking for that expression. A statement in the coffee. It often doesn't happen. Even the best known bars I visited at the trade shows felt weak at best. I still prefer Gimme's brooklyn location over most of the shops I have visited on the east coast not because of ambiance but because I was pegged as a coffee afficianado by the barista simply sitting at the booth. In retrospect, it probably was CO. That alone told me there were some serious people there.

Simliarly, I enjoy 9th street as it was one of those early influences on me that left an impression. Being able to say, what, they can get away with doing that and still make money?!?! It was later that I came upon how simple the idea was and why it made so much sense. Focus on the coffee and you will be fine.




-Jaime

Coffee coming soon...

So I will join the ranks of HB shortly.... very shortly(well not really an HB but humor me). Simon has promised me some access to the shop machine so I can continue to evaluate espresso, practice, and experiment. Andrew has promised a fresh batch of Ecco Reserve with a little change. Simon's will be serving the Ecco Rserve all next week with our normal Terroir offerings, so drop in, it is a moral imperative. New barista little Ben is one to keep an eye on. He will be filling my shoes with much support. Also looking out for Terroir's new Yirg SOS. Big Ben(coffeemonkey) will do the Yirg break down at a reader's request. I'll digest and post some love for both either way...



-Jaime

How do you say Soy Milk in Italian?

I poured this soy latte this morning and had to stop and pic it just before handing it over.... It sparked a thought about soy and I needed a reminder. I thought about it and I was slightly perplexed for a few moments...

I have nothing against soy milk but I feel like it is a weird thing that so few shops really try to get a hold of good soy milk. The kind you get downtown china town here in Boston. You can get relatively fresh soy milk and much better quality than the normal commercial brands. Then I snapped back to a harsh reality...

Order for a large decaf skim cappuccino?

In some ways, I feel odd about putting a design on every drink. The decaf skim gets a rosetta on it same as a regular at Simon's... I know I should be saying what the customer wants, the customer gets, but a little evil side of me says 'why reward them for making bad drink choices?' Why pour a beatiful rosetta on a bad drink? Why encourage them to keep ordering that drink...?

Everyone asks me why I pop the lids on to go cups instead of letting the customer cover them. I do the rosetta but I don't worry if you want a to go drink about the presentation. If it's in a ceramic, I'll toss it if the design isn't all that. Paper cup is a big whatever.

Then I thought about it some. If I truly don't want to serve decaf or skim milk, why do it? Isn't that in some ways the difference between fast food and four stars? Options vs Quality. Convenience vs Quality. Speed vs Quality. Quantity vs Quality. In other words, standards. Are high standards in direct opposition to the traditional coffee shop with all it's sizes, options, syrups, and the poorly executed decaf?

I don't have an answer, only opinions that will make me sound arrogant and unyielding. I just feel like sometimes you can't have everyone as a customer. Large skim cappuccino... hit the road and take cinnamon mocha with you...!!!

You, dear reader may think I have finally gone off the deep end, but I have put it in perspective and came away more emboldened. I tried to think about it like great restaurants and taverns. If you want options, go somewhere else, if you want excellent food come in but be willing to pay. Are some elite coffee shops getting ready to go that direction? I thought, why shouldn't we all move in that direction a little. How else can we serve the wonderful CoEs at $20+ a pound. Some elite shops must exist to showcase these coffees or they will be shuffled away to internet forums and lonely home user machines. To play these coffees out on the cafe stage with great barista behind tricked out machines is a dream in the making. Service of the coffees living up to the true expression of the coffees, that's a concept with no distractions!

The cafe floor. Standards. Quality. That's what I am thinking about right now.


-Jaime van Schyndel

About herding fish and other such stuff...

I know the attention that Rich over at Aldo makes of me being a mad scientist of coffee but I am far from it. Yet... here I am hunched over my kitchen stove tonight late night working on something that plagued me for some time.

No wait, let me back up a bit... I was struggling trying to get some clear results of one simple precursor test and a fact that would be the basis for my future experiments in the coffeed study group... Is there sugar in coffee once roasted and being able to evaluate it...? I used brewed coffee, espresso, and the results were murky... I mean straight up murky as I couldn't see the color indicator of the reaction. Here I was with the coffee and I couldn't get a freaking result because I just couldn't see in the beaker... Then, I am watching this episode of Myth Busters(science oriented tv show) and fate intervenes. They are doing this show about cereal content vs the cereal box content to see which is healthier to eat. Watching them perform the same sugars experiment with ease, I had an epiphony... I don't need brewed coffee! It was so stupid simple... I burst into the kitchen prepped my kit, boiling water, and began... Burst open my bag of Terroir Yirgacheffe from my personal stash and crushed some beans with a pestle.... (I know, I know, but it's for science....)...

In five minutes I had my first defintive and indisputable results so now I can steadiy move forward as I await my next shipment of chemicals... It seems I may have just challenge a coffee myth or two.... or at least shed some light something few of us understand.... Yeah baby!

So, you are wondering what does all this mean??? It means, if you want to see this research, get on coffeed, do a paper for the study goup and then you get to read the others...

I am sitting here with blue fingers covered in reagent, pondering a dozen things I have read and what it means... making lists and planning the next stage.

Cheers,



Jaime van Schyndel