Schomer Still Inspiring

For me Schomer's Barista handbook is still the bible to start with.
And it was his video we (and I mean Caffenation crew and Peter Hernou) learned Latte Art from. We probably watched it 100 times. No shit.

Now I read this article at Coffee City.
I think Schomer is right about this. It's very very important to keep on tasting/testing all the singles from your blends as espresso.
We also do it regularly and this way you can see how the beans evolve over time. Is the crop still fresh enough? Is the bean still delivering what's in for? Is the roast ok for espresso?

This way we noticed last week our Papua New Guinea Sigri is going downhill. We have it in the blend for it's body and spicyness, this last bit mostly in the finish. But the body is fading and the spicyness gets too acidic. It's still a nice blender, but body and balls of the blend is at drift.
With also the Bolivia La Paz Organico almost out of stock, and the Yirgacheffe in a danger zone, we have to reshuffle.

Luckily we have great Harrar on the shelf. It's not the easiest to blend in, but on a 15% base, combined with a Dominican, Yirga and a mild Brazil, we still have a very good House blend.

With new crop Brazil and Rwanda coming the last 2 weeks of 2009 we'll have to keep Schomer's blending techniques in mind the upcoming weeks.

Hasta la vista, baby.

(between brackets : the old time La Marzocco lover who Schomer was, changed weapons and is using a Synesso. 3rd wave coffee world is moving fast)

Authors@Google: Michaele Weissman

For those who are too lazy to read her book ; here's an interview with Michaela Weissman. She's talking at Google offices about her book 'God in a cup ; the obsessive quest for a perfect coffee'.
Not the best speaker, Michaela, but interesting to hear how she observes our business and how specialty coffee could evolve in the future.

God in a Cup

For me, 'God in a cup' is the best coffee book of the year.

This is a book about specialty coffee. About Esmeralda Special from Panama. About Geoff Watts (Intelligentsia), Peter Giuliano (Counter Culture), Duane Sorenson (Stumptown), Menno Simons (Trabocca) and other passionate coffee lovers. About the perfect bean. About Ethiopia. About Cup of Excellence. About Clover. About coffee in America. About Cupping, Fair Trade, Direct Trading and much more.

An short piece from the Prologue :
'Perfectly textured reddish brown espresso foam intermingles with the stiff froth of steam-blasted milk, and a brown outline of an evergreen appears in the center of the cup. The design-called rosette-lingers as I slowly drink my first real coffee.
Hemingway had it right. The first time, the earth moves.
The milk and coffee are as sweet as sugar and as thick as cream, but the effect is achieved magically, as he used neither of these ingredients. The milk and coffee together are as luxurious as cashmere and bright mouth memories of caramel, chocolate, and hazelnut.
"I've never tasted anything like this," I tell Nick.
"Most coffee is swill," he answers cheerfully. Later , I learn that Barista's call this kind of an experience a Godshot moment, a rare but perfect example of their craft.
...
With that first cup of Murky coffee, a door opened and I slipped down the rabbit hole into coffee land. I got caught up in the story of specialty coffee, and you might say I haven't been home since.'

This book is a must read for all (specialty) coffee lovers.
It's masterfully written by Michaele Weissman (her blog) and published by Wiley.
Click here to order one.

The only note I want to make is my fear that most of these people in the U.S. bring more and more specialty coffee to the market at very high prices. This way they are going to make it a product for the 'elite' and not for the mass and that's a pity. My goal is to bring top class coffee for everybody. Imagine yourself young, or a just starting artist, or mother of a big family and you want to savor a good clean cup of coffee.... Forget about these top players, cause their prices go through the roof. Yes, their quality as well, but I hope they don't they forget where they come from their selves. Haven't they or some of their staff been unemployed and/or counting every penny by the end of the month once?
Let's go together on the search for the perfect bean, but don't forget the men in the street. Ok?

Van Boon tot Barista

The Deprez Brothers Bart and Peter (Viva Sara) wrote the first serious book about the new coffee culture in Belgium.
The book is called (Van Boon tot Barista) and published by the Davidsfonds, Leuven.

It's about a lot of things ; from the history over processing, harvesting, blending, roasting, brewing techniques and recipes and health to finish with Barista knowledge.
Very complete with 14 pages about all different coffee country's as my personal highlight.
Except for the old fashioned idea about coffee dosing (7 grams for one and 14 for two espresso's !!??) I can find myself really well with the content and hope they can get a second, more specialised, book printed one day, and maybe with a 3rd wave espresso bar list....

Order via : http://www.nl.bol.com

Of te lezen te Caffenation, Hopland.

Probat Coffee Roasting Book

I received this book from Jan and Ingrid when they came over to enjoy the Barista Jam a couple of weeks ago.
Jan and Ingrid are doing the distribution, maintenance and revisions of all Probat equipment and already asked me a couple of times if i were interested in starting up a coffee roasting project.

Of course i've been thinking about it, but the deeper i think the more i start to understand how difficult this roasting job can be. I guess it's better to stick to our specialty and that's most of the work in between the roaster and the consumer drinking the cup.
On top of that i have day after day an incredible admiration of the job my roasting is doing. Week by week he is giving me this great quality consistency. Again last Saturday with the delivery of 16 kilo's Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately i don't have exact region or estate information, but the coffee is brilliant! And within the delivery 4 new Santos samples from Efico. No photo's of these, but the tests are only half way, so maybe more later on.

About the book : i started to read it with a lot of enthusiasm, but once the scientific talk kicks in it's all over for me. It's possible to read it trough, but even before turning the page i've already forgotten what they said. Not my cup of tea ; way too technical.
But a good book for those who like to start roasting. I don't know where they sell it, but i do know it's on my bookshelf at Hopland for those who might be interested ....

NY Times brings 'Starbucked'

Again the New York Times has a fantastic article to read.
This time it's a part of Tayler Clarck's book 'Starbucked'.
You'll enjoy the article.