Melanie Nunes new Champ

Here on a row the competitors with winner Melanie in the middle, Stefaan next to her was 2nd and Jessie (in blue) 3rd. Yes!
4th was (with hat) François Knopes and our Katrien nicely 5th. Well done girls.
Best sig drink and cappuccino for Melanie and, now it comes, best espresso for Jessie with our House Blend. I always wanted to compete with our regular House Blend. I think we can score higher with (expensive) specialty beans, but I want our clients and everyone in the world bring a very high standard blend within everybody's (financial) reach. And this way we can show it is a damn good blend. And of course a damn good Barista who pulls the shots.

Tomorrow a bigger post about the other Barista's and some comments on the new rules and questions about the competition in general.

To finish of : the Latte Art competition is won, again, by Peter Hernou. Congrats Peter (on the right of the photo) on the win, and can you tell me now what those funky black 'stones' in your blend were?

Belgian Barista Championship Preview

Tomorrow it's time to perform. To pull those deep tasting espresso's, serve velvety soft cappuccino's and arty coffee creations.
13 participants. 11 rookies!!! Patrick and François were there last year, and although Patrick had a higher score than François, it's the last one that's my favourite for the title. This man from Luxembourg has the style, experience, beans and latte art technique to win and perform for Belgium in Atlanta.
For the rookies : if the two guys above make (big) mistakes, everything is possible. Exciting.

Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.
Katrien is performing at noon, Jessie at 1.30.

Meanwhile I want to get non professional coffee lovers heads together at Caffenation Hopland on Sunday 14 for another Barista Jam. Start 7 in the evening.
Interested? mail me : caffenation at gmail dot com
Duration 2 hours. Price : less than nothing. :-)

Coffee bean mug.

Coffee bean mug. Available on istock #7646641
Originally uploaded by rctaylorphotography

Our secret weapon on Friday?

Twin Peaks Coffee

BBC 2008 Practicing

3 more days. Everybody starts to feel the nerves coming up?

There are a lot of questions to ask before you start your training for such a championship. Actually you need to thinks over strategies months upfront.
In the summer we - Katrien, Jessie and me - had a first meeting. Just planning and motivation.
In October we were sitting down to talk tactics. Since they were not familiar with Barista comps the talking was to me.
Next questions were asked :
What blend to use?
What's going to be the order of drink preparations? Espresso's or capps first?
Simul Spro or not?
Latte art?
What pitchers to use?
Milk type....?
Music?
What cups to use?
Idea's about signature drinks?
What's going to be general style?
How introducing myself?
Looks?
When do we start rehearsing?

We started quiet late in October. I did two run troughs to show them a bit how you structure a 15 minute presentation.
You have your intro : much more important then many may think.
You start pulling shots of course and before you know you're standing there again at the judges table handing over your final drinks before waving goodbye.

The girls were very fanatic during my Ethiopia trip and I was happy to see them having most things in hand one month before the championship.
Jessie did two run troughs. No major things to point at. What a relieve.
Then Katrien. The thing with her is that she is very easy to program. It's almost like a robot. You type in what you want and it comes out. Her second run trough was very close to what I expect at the final day of countdown.
Well done. I directly gave them two weeks of 'holiday' to not burn them. It's like Detlev - our current champion - always says : "Doing Barista competitions is like top sport".

Then time to rehearse again and again and the last week to finish things of.
Sunday evening four run troughs with Katrien. This time with full presentation. The looks of the judges tables. The music. The 15 minute preparation time rehearsal etc...
Around midnight things were over. She's ready. Of course there are always small mistakes. Even the world champion makes mistakes. Isn't it Stephen? But for me it's most about how it feels. And are the extractions ok? And rhythm and timing? Consistant way of working? Yes they were. Congrats Kat!

Monday evening me and Jessie were ready for the same kind of session.
When you see her behind the bar it looks like it's all very easy. Her style is very calm and natural ; like breathing for non ashmatics. The Cappuccino's were the best I ever tasted in my own bar and the tables at the end looked totally not as if she just prepares 12 fantastic drinks in 14 minutes. Spic and Span. Like it should be.

I'm a happy man. People like these two girls are hard to find. They're gifted and fanatic.
Thursday one more session to keep the shape and friday Gent. Exciting.

Championship Week

Friday December 5th : 4th Belgian Barista Championships at Kokerello Gent.

Two years ago I participated at the BBC. Everything was new for me, but I learned quickly and by the time I walked off stage I felt ready to start training my Barista's for future championships.

Last year my pupil Bird was one of the favourites for the title, but we failed. Not enough practicing, we didn't bring enough and the right equipment, bad luck and some over confidence killed us.

This year we're back!
And with two weapons in stead of one.

Katrien is a one year pro, but with a very strong determination of getting the very best out of her.
And Jessie is a three year pro, with a fluent style and nice Latte Art skills.
For both participating is much more important than winning, although they wouldn't mind taking the title and representing Belgium at the WBC next year in Atlanta.

Yesterday eve I had final practising sessions with Katrien and tonight with Jessie. In my next post I'll tell you how things went and what preparation we need for a competition like this one. Expect a long post : )

Simon Says' Gent

There's a new bar in Gent.
Since a while. I know. It just took me some time to get there.

Simon and Chris own this lovely espresso bar/bed & breakfast. The house has a very appealing look and the interior is beautiful. We couldn't have done it better.
The equipment : A 2-group Faema E61, paired with a Faema MPN Grinder. The machine I like, the grinder not.
The coffee comes from Hoorens and tastes mediocre. I'm not so found of the blend. Either with too much robusta or Java, probably both. Not too fresh and even the roast seems to be suspicious. Lovely Annie, behind the bar, and Chris worked hard to get the best possible taste out of it. It was definitely good, although it missed some freshness, detail and character.
The cappuccino was well made. Good temperature and latte art. Small bubbles appeared ; the E61 is not directly known for good milk texturing.

Best coffee in Gent for sure and totally recommended!

Next week Simon is one of the competing Barista's at the BBC in Gent. Wish you all the luck Simon.
Some more info about the Barista competition and the two Caffenation participants one of the days.