Video: Roasting and Sugars - Mr. Arno Schwenk

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Arno Schwenk!


Roasting class from the Nordic Barista Cup thanks to Kaminsky for making me post this.

Brilliant.

Coffee Bloggin 101

Blogging is a weird thing. You don't know who your audience is and often you don't know exactly who is listening(or why). Sometimes you just wish they could change the channel and go away, other times you wish they would speak up and leave a comment. Some site owners have an agenda to their blogs, a goal so to speak while others use it as a journal of sorts. I thought blogs were rather snarky until I really began to look at the blog community beyond coffee and realized how large it really was. Studying up on it, I realized I need a mission statement.
One of the first things you should do with a blog is set a site goal.

I want to define what our goal is going forward at Barismo.

Putting the focus on taste and quality in coffee(and tea).

How do I define that? I can't really. How about this instead.

I want to cup and source coffees with ethics and quality like George Howell. Sort them like Simon Hsieh. Blend(when I do blend them) them like Robert Thoreson. Approach Espresso like Andrew Barnett(and the palate...) AND mentor the way he does. Speak with passion and conviction about the flavor of my coffees like Miguel Meza. Approach new ideas ambitiously and with open arms like Aaron Blanco. Have a strong sense of community and commitment to family(and quality) like Edwin Martinez. All that and add a little stubborn resistence to 'falling in line'.

That about sums it up. I hope you can get a glimpse of what that means by who we look up to and admire. That's the direction we want to go with this site. Hope that cleared the dirty water!

Super Hard Bean!

It's SHB. Super hard bean. Strictly Hard Bean. Strictly high grown dense beans... no matter what you will call it, they are the good stuff. The dense little buggers that wear grinders down quicker but pack a flavorful punch!

So what about hard beans?

I'm headed off to Guatemala in a week as part of Edwin and Aaron's barista trip. Edwin is leading some work on storage that Aaron and I are priveleged to help out on. Got a couple of blinds lined up to help out and it should be interesting stuff. I got a bag of green from Edwin to roast pre-trip and I need to sort out a lot of side things before going. This is going to be a busy week.
I will follow up on the experiment when Edwin sets us up with the green, Aaron may write an article if things go well.
Keep an eye on it. I am feeling the pressure, but I know that's just part of the growing phase for me in this business.
Looking forward to some Guatemala SHB... :p

Espresso Tamper: Barismo Spec

Handle: EspressoCraft 3.50"
Base: Old stock EspressoParts S.S. 58mm convex
Modifications:
- Custom machined brass collar ring
- Base machined to "c-flat" hybrid shape
- Mirror polished base bottom surface

note: The new stock EPNW base are now 1/8" thinner. It's much lighter and does not have sufficient height to be used as dose/level indicator. No reponse from EPNW on old stock availability.

- Ben

Searching for a french press...

I forget how hard it is to get good coffee when out traveling. No french press. No coffee(period)

I recently made my way down the East coast.

No stop off in New York this time. Honestly, I won't visit there much anymore. At least until something new opens or there is a reason to go. Too expensive to travel right now.

It got me thinking about this concept of community and how fickle it is in this online forum when compared to our small Boston community. Yeah, there is the weird angry kid we'd rather not be associated with but the rest of us are pretty tight. I started thinking about if it is worth posting on the forums when the focus is flavor.

I'm not sure.

So, I gave up posting in the coffee focused forums and largely unplugged from that medium. It wasn't for negativity or perceived criticism. In fact it happened largely for the reasons brinsky is not posting.

We got tired.

I realized until I can sit down with peers and 'cup things out' then there is little to say in those forums. Arguing my apples to your oranges is nearly futile.

We are not nearly content with the coffee we are drinking but we see hints of some really cool stuff ahead. That's the problem though, it's ahead instead of right now. I had a long talk with Judson and I really want to get back and get things moving again but we are in limbo for now.

I will have updates from the trip to Finca Vista Hermosa at the end of the month.

The North East Regional Barista Competition looks like a wash right now. The combination of several things made me decide it's not worth entering. That means Judson and I will attend with the gang but no competitors. Simon is not sending Ben either so it's a complete wash. We will all go and cheer on Judson's friend Andrew assuming he competes.

Oh and here is an interview I did for a film school project courtesy of Jason via HB.