TampTamp Inc.

Kopi Luwak

tamptamp — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:42:37 +0000

Things are a little a fluster here at TampTamp HQ thanks to today’s NY Daily News story about civet coffee. We’re always grateful for the press, and today’s story is no exception. I did want to take a bit of time to discuss what civet coffee is and why this story comes up so often.

Civet coffee, otherwise known as Kopi Luwak, is frequently cited as the most expensive coffee in the world. And why is it so expensive? There are two main reasons:

The first is that it is extremely expensive to produce. Cat-like animals called civets are raised and fed ripe coffee cherries, with then pass through their digestive systems and are then cleaned, dried, and distributed as green coffee. This is a much more expensive process than even what coffee experts argue is the next most expensive method, natural or sun-dried coffee processing.

The second is that, from its start of being a slightly more expensive coffee, the mystique of having “the most expensive” coffee in the world has pushed Kopi Luwak’s demand through the roof. There are many coffees who fight civet coffee for this title, such as Hawaiian Kona coffee and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, but none quite capture the attention of the press in the same way.

When the Civet story comes around again, as it invariably does, there is always a slight internal groan on behalf of specialty coffee. We see this story, which is really a fascination between gimmicks and economics, as a challenge to what the specialty coffee business is trying to do – sell really delicious tasting coffees. Kopi Luwak, almost everyone agrees, tastes decidedly boring. While one can buy it just for the sheer thrill of throwing money at an average tasting cup, those of us who have developed our palettes always shake our heads and scoff at those that say “tastes ok to me”.

What I will conclude with, then, are three coffees people can try that will match price with taste experience. These coffees will taste good. I will also contend that it’s ok if you can’t taste every nuanced flavor note in a coffee, much the same way I drink wine from Trader Joe’s (admittedly, my last safe place for unpretentiousness). As a consumer, it’s important to buy what tastes good to you, not the experts. But most of the experts agree, you can do much better than civet coffee, for a fraction of the price.

For a similar flavor as the Kopi Luwak – ie, chocolately, and earthy, I recommend Madcap Coffee’s recent coffee from Sulawesi ($16/lb). This coffee, at a tiny fraction of the price, achieves a much better overall flavor than civet coffee.

If you’re ready to try your coffee without milk, I’d recommend one of the best Kenyan’s I’ve tasted this year, from 49th Parallel in Vancouver, B.C ($19/12oz). This coffee has a distinct, highly acidic but shining flavor. It is definitely not for everyone, but us coffee snobs go nuts about this type of profile.

And finally, if you want to buy an expensive coffee whose flavor matches its price point, we continue to recommend the Hacienda la Esmerlda from Panama. A consistently award-winning coffee and top auction taker year after year, the story of Esmerlda is one that even the snobbiest of us snobs think is a great example of due reward for excellence in the cup. So give it a try – but definitely taste it black before adding milk!

Our Principles

tamptamp — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:49:34 +0000

Everyone at the Kumbaya: Neil, Anne, Wiggles, Sarah, and Seth.

One of the biggest things to come out of our recent company retreat were our company principles. These are the guidelines we live by, and constantly look back at, to make sure we’re providing the best service we can.

To ensure quality, we must fully understand the challenges we face before we can successfully address them.
We deliver the highest quality possible from a cup of coffee to TampCamp training to Coffee Planners consulting services.
“If you want a vanilla latte, we will make every effort to make the best vanilla latte you have ever had.”
We respect and sustain the relationships we have within our industry, our community, and within TampTamp.
We create an environment that fosters creativity, personal expression and enjoyment.

When we are in contact with customers, we want to share the joy we have for coffee: making it, teaching it, or running a business for it. We believe that the best ideas come from an environment that balances serious work and serious pleasure. We want to love what we do, and share that with everyone we touch.

Cupping coffee on Lake Champlain

tamptamp — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:53:53 +0000

While it was definitely iced coffee weather in New York City last week, team TampTamp took some time out of the office to retreat on beautiful Lake Champlain in upstate New York. One of the things we took some time to do was cup and taste coffee and we got to taste some really good coffees. Here’s some tasting notes:

#1 Barismo Costa Rica El Llano

Dry: Brownies, Dark Chocolate X2, Baking Spices, Popcorn
Wet: Dark Cocoa Powder, Sugar, Chocolate, Smoke
Break: Meaty
Brightness: low, medium high
Flavor: Roasty, Plum, Dark Chocolate X2, Smokey,
Body: Heavy, Dry, Resinous
Aftertaste: Long, Resinous

#2 PT’s Coffee Costa Rica Finca Cerro Paldo

Dry: Apricot, Toast, Plum,
Wet: Juicy, Roasted Tomato
Break: Sweet, Honey, Allspice, Black Current
Brightness: Medium
Flavor: Almond, Red Fruit, Grapes, Carmels Slightly Fruity, Nutty
Body: Light, Medium thin Thickens as it cools
Aftertaste: Clean

#3 Intelligentsia Coffee Itzamna, Guatemala Finca la Soledad

Dry: Fresh Vegetable, Green Pepper, Fresh Straw
Wet: Malt, Woody
Break: Tomato, Red Fruit,
Brightness: Medium High
Flavor: Nougaty, Cherry
Body: Medium
Aftertaste:

#4 Wrecking Ball Coffee Guatemala Jacaltenango Rio Azul

Dry: Stewed Tomato, Beefy Stew, Fruity
Wet: Jazzmine, Malt, Fruity
Break: Pot Pie, Bready, Beefy,
Brightness: High, Sparkling
Flavor: Earthy, Tomato, Clean, Apricot, Bergamont
Body: Medium, Creamy
Aftertaste: Super Clean, but Lingering

We also got to evaluate some coffee’s by drip brewing, and here are our notes on those:

Redeye Roasters Organic Ethiopia Amaro Gayo

This version of the Amaro Gayo is clean and sweet, with strawberries and blueberries up front, a rich full body, and a slightly smokey, cocoa finish.

PT’S Coffee Panama, Hacienda La Esmeralda Special, Mario Carnaval

It’s hard to fairly evaluate a coffee, with so much press, and so much anticipation, so I’ll only say a few things about PT’s version of the Mario Carnaval lot of Esmeralda: it’s super juicy, bright, clean, and floral, with lots of berries and jasmine. It’s also really really good. This is the coffee I want to drink on my birthday.

Thanks to all of our friends who sent us coffee, and to our good friend Seth (who blogs at Americano to go) for the pictures, insight, and companionship.

On Barista Voodoo- What I Learned at TampCamp

tamptamp — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:28:07 +0000

By: Wiggles

"from the world to you"

After spending two killer days at TampCamp Bar Ready, I learned a great deal of information, both audibly, and hands on: about milk taste, texture, and chemistry- about cupping for beginning cuppers, and how to get beautifully textured milk, consistently.

But mostly I learned one cold hard fact: I’ve been a voodoo barista. I’ve been a barista who made drinks inconsistently, and with lots of wasted steps. If you’ve spent any time in coffeeshops, you’ve probably seen barista voodo: excessive and inconsistent dosing by repeatedly knocking the portafilter on the grinder fork. Lots of un-repeateble grooming moves, unnecessary tamping methods, and the portafilter flip, which looks kinda cool, until you lose your puck and try to pull an espresso shot with no coffee. Not so cool then.

Tamp Camp is really fun!

The worst, though, was my voodoo latte art. Up until TampCamp, I’ve never taken a hands-on latte art class- I’ve tried to learn by watching and practicing. Without the formalized, hands-on training, I wasn’t able to pour the same way every time, I’d been practicing more voodoo: lots of unnecessary steps, that aren’t repeatable- a little ring around the rosy here, a little wiggle there, and then ‘oh hey, that looks kinda cool’- but I hadn’t been able to pour the same looking rosettes and hearts time after time.

One thing I’ve learned about baristas – we love to touch stuff. If you put a group of baristas in a room, especially a room where there’s coffee, and coffee making equipment, five minutes later you’ll hear grinders thawking. The problem is, we don’t always touch stuff cleanly and consistently, with minimal voodoo. Trust me, you don’t want your pipe-fitter to be doing voodoo welding, you want that welding as consistent as possible. If being a barista is to become a respectable craft, than we have to learn cleanliness and repeatability, and the best way to do that is through formalized training.

Ben, keeping the voodoo out of his shots

Coffee as a Culinary Medium – June 24, 2010

tamptamp — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:56:57 +0000

Join us as Neil and 4 other barista cmpetitors show off their signature beverages at RBC in Tribeca tomorrow at 7pm.

Artisan Roasting with Plowshares Coffee

tamptamp — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:23:26 +0000

By Wiggles:

Anthony Kurutz was kind enough to let Sarah Leslie and I from TampTamp spend some time with him today, checking out a day in the life of a coffee roaster. Anthony is the proprietor and roaster at Plowshares Coffee, where he roasts delicious clean and sweet coffees in Hillburn, New York.

Anthony was dropping some coffee off at a hot dog restaraunt in park slope called Bark (did I mention that he sells his awesome coffee to a hot dog restaurant? I told you this dude was cool), and picked us up from TampTamp world headquarters. Part one of the field trip was a visit to the super-rad Continental coffee warehouse in New Jersey, where we picked up a couple of bags of green coffee. This coffee warehouse was big – really big. There were huge rooms and palates of coffee. And a semi truck from Green Mountain Coffee.

After driving through scenic New Jersey, we got to the actually scenic Ramapo Valley where the Plowshares roastery is, and where Anthony works his magic. Do you know how I much i love coffee roasteries? Because I love coffee roasteries. Anthony roasts on a beutiful, red Probat roaster, with a matching red sample roaster, and you can tell that he takes pride in his roastery because it was clean and organized. The heart of the visit was a really cool cupping the three of us did. Anthony had a fresh crop El Salvador he had recently roasted, and pulled 5 samples at 30 second intervals, to determine the best roast profile for the coffee.

sarah cups coffee - 2 scoops

The first two samples had incredible aromatics, with a peppery dry fragrance, but once cupped they were underdeveloped and sour. the second two samples were closer to the roast profile Anthony was looking for (and Sarah and I agreed), they were both clean, bright, and fruity, with a touch of Kiwi. The last sample was still great coffee, but some of the brightness and sweetness were mellowing into chocolate, A sign that it would make a nice sweet component in an espresso blend.

As baristas and coffee people, we love to wax poetic about sourcing, roasting, and brewing beautiful coffees, and about seed to cup stories. One thing we sometimes forget to talk about is how much love, dedication, and hard work goes into each step of the process, and Plowshares is a great example. Coffee is carefully sourced, sample roasted, and cupped, than contracted, purchased, picked up, than roasted, cupped, and roasted and cupped again to determine the ideal profile. I love drinking great coffee, but meeting people with passionate ideas, who are powering the specialty coffee industry, and getting to work with them is what makes me love this business day in and day out.

Big ups to Anthony for letting us hang out at his roastery and cup coffee, to Sarah Leslie for keeping me in line, and to No 7 subs for the delicious lunch.

The Strada and Espresso Fundamentals

tamptamp — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:51:50 +0000

Wednesday saw La Marzocco’s Out of the Box event here in NYC, and the local community was lucky enough to get to play with these new machines. We had two Stradas to try out, and a brewing “deathmatch” run by Counter Culture’s tech guru Brian Ludviksen and MoJo Maestro Vince Fedele. Winner was decided by taste and TDS, losers were thrown to the lions.

The Strada is really cool. Very cool. It’s ergonomic, it has a fly-by-wire steam valve, big displays, and independent internal pumps, PID, boilers, and pressure gauges. It has a wider drip tray which will prevent many of the drips associated with the GB-5 and FB-80 and learning about all the ways you can make the same coffee so vastly different while still making it taste good is enlightening.

While the Strada was really fun, and everyone had a great time playing with crazy pressure profiles, it got me thinking about something that’s been rattling around in my brain the past few years. After working scads of espresso bars, using dozens of coffees, and learning from lots of people, I’ve come up with three simple common sense rules to espresso preparation. Here they are:

Cleanliness: It doesn’t matter how great your coffee is, how expensive your espresso machine is, or how well you can make coffee, if your equipment isn’t clean, it won’t taste good. Simple as that. Keep a clean bar, with clean, well-maintained equipment, and your coffee will taste better.

For example, clean airpots make a world of difference. With a clean airpot, coffee made from a bulk coffee brewer will taste clean and vibrant. Once the airpot gets dirty however, it doesn’t matter how great the coffee is. It will always taste like airpot, which is sour, fermented, and eventually moldy and yeasty. The best coffee is the world will not taste good in a dirty airpot. This is why it is best to rinse airpots between each batch of coffee and to clean them thoroughly every night in order to keep them at their best.

Taste: Taste matters. Of course. Learn how to taste, taste often, and taste everything (I’m not saying to taste customers drinks, of course, but other cafe’s espressos). You never know when you can learn a new technique from someone else, or a re-imagining of what’s you’ve been doing with your coffee for years. If it tastes better, do it.

Try a 12 second espresso next to a 25 second espresso next to a 45 second espresso. All three of them completed their extractions, but only one of them tasted good. It’s because the volume of the espresso does not matter as much as the extraction quality. The water flow on the quick espresso was too fast, extracting too much and taking with it all the bitter compounds we shun in a ristretto shot. The long shot cooked under the heat of the espresso machine and while it extracted everything, the time it took to do it was excessive, leading to acrid and smoky notes. So while the espresso may look correct, it may not taste correct. Or it may taste better if there were a small change in the technique that created it.

Repeatability: This is the big one. Do the same thing, every time, at the same time. Any motion you make while preparing coffee that does not add to the taste of the coffee, or is not absolutely repeatable every time should be discarded. One of my students this week called it voodoo coffee: the taps and spins and flair of the barista does nothing to add to the flavor and only increases the risk of disaster. Of course, it is impossible for a human to be a robot. But given the number of variable outside the barista’s control (humidity, temperature, time off-roast, etc.), taking the least number of steps to create a shot of espresso increases the possibility of an enjoyable experience for the customer.

For example, the portafilter flip: developed to take those few grounds that stick to the side of the portafilter basket to make a clean-looking puck. What the flip does is it dramatically increases the chances that your puck will fall out of the portafilter and land in the trash. What it doesn’t do is change the taste. By leaving it there, those hangers-on will be picked up by the pre-infusion (along with the top layer of the puck) and added to the general mass of grounds at the onset of pump pressure. It’s not extra coffee, because if you’re doing it every time, it’s just part of the routine, and those grounds are just part of the dose.

Why is all of this important? Because it doesn’t matter how great the coffee you made for yourself is; if you can’t do the next 100 drinks exactly the same, then it can’t fulfill rule #2.

This bring me back to the Strada. When I’ve thought about and discussed the Strada, I recognize it’s a beautiful machine and a step forward for espresso machines, but I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a good step forward for beginning baristas. Espresso preparation is a dance between the grind, the dose, and the time and managing that is hard enough. Now we’ve added another dimension. By adding pressure profiling, now it’s going to be that much more difficult for novice baristas to catch up.

As I said in the beginning of the post, the Strada is an interesting new product and I look forward to my chance to play with it more. And as long as baristas pay attention to the fundamentals: cleanliness, taste, and repeatability, they will have the best opportunity to make great coffee for themselves and their customers. The Strada will only increase the dimensions in which they can enjoy it.

BGA Exam Providence Edition – June 17th

tamptamp — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:23:56 +0000

Anne Nylander and Neil Oney will be offering the BGA Level 1 Exam at New Harvest Coffee in Providence RI.

Why should you take the BGA Level 1 Exam:
-resume builder
-good review of skills
-pre-requisite for Bar Ready TampCamp classes

The exam is free to members and $45 for non members.

To sign up for the exam, visit http://www.tamptamp.com/?page_id=482 and under the field “How did you hear about TampTamp” write “New Harvest”. You can also register by emailing Sarah Leslie at sarah@tamptamp.com or by phone to 347-338-TAMP(8267).

Check out the BGA’s website to learn more about certification and membership or feel free to ask us!

The event will be held at New Harvest Roasters, 1005 Main St. #108, Pawtucket, RI.

Move Your Grinder!

tamptamp — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:23:09 +0000

At TampTamp, the most valuable piece of information we give away is a simple one: 9 times out of 10, the biggest issue effecting workflow and customer wait times is grinder placement. So nearly every time we walk into a cafe, we say “Move your grinder!”

Generally, an espresso bar is set up to make best use of space, or the grinder is on the same side it was when being trained because it’s most comfortable there. However, it is often the wrong place. Moving the grinder helps with flow by making the drinks move in only one direction. Place the grinder on the opposite side from where the drink pickup location is and it will speed up efficiency by an order of magnitude.

Many times in this sort of situation, the espresso preparation area and the milk area are on the same side of the machine, forcing one barista to be responsible for the entire drink preparation. Moving the grinder can separate the two operations, allowing two baristas to work together, reducing drink preparation times by half and improving quality by allowing each barista to focus on only one action at a time.

But what about the sink? Many times the grinder is on the opposite side of the sink to keep the espresso grounds seperate from the water. This becomes a problem, however, when the sink is on the opposite side of the drink pickup area. If you are willing or able, move the entire espresso machine to the other side of the sink, or the drink pickup area, and it will fix your issue. If you are willing to invest in a little plumbing, move the sink to create the same solution.

The other solution for workflow issues is the pitcher rinser. This nifty little doo-dad uses a spray inside an empty knockbox to clean your pitchers quickly and with little water waste. Place this in the milk preparation area when a sink is not otherwise accessible and the barista can rinse his/her pitchers quickly and be immediately ready to move on the the next order.

Once you’ve moved your grinder, you’ll be amazed at how efficient your movements become. Your lines of drinks will become manageable and you’ll increase the amount of valuable face-time you have with your regulars. Soon enough you’ll want to add that second person to help out on bar during your busy times – and that topic is for a future day.

Good luck, and trust us – move your grinder!

Being a Regular

tamptamp — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:02:34 +0000

By Sarah Leslie

It has now officially been one month since I left my job at Think Coffee to come work for TampTamp as Director of Office Relations. I went from working five shifts a weeks behind an espresso bar making drinks for the customers at Think to working five days a week in an office setting at TampTamp Headquarters. My love of all things organizational and office related brings joy to my work at TampTamp, but I do miss the process of making and serving espresso based drinks in a retail setting.

What I miss more than making drinks behind the counter is the feeling of being a regular at a cafe. Because I was working five shifts a week at a cafe, I went to other cafes only a few time a week and definitely not on a regular basis. Why go out and pay for coffee when you can brew it yourself for free at work? Now that I am no longer working at a cafe on a regular basis, I have been forced to the streets to look for a new regular haunt to serve my coffee addiction. I live in South Williamsburg which is home to several fine coffee establishments and I have visited a few of them in my quest to become a regular at a cafe. This quest has been illuminating in that it’s really hard to get that home-y feeling. I guess it takes more than a month.

There are lots of reasons (or excuses) I can think of to be less than friendly to your customers. And I’ve been guilty of being unfriendly to customers on occasion. But if all it takes to make a small connection with someone over their daily coffee is a smile and some eye contact, I really don’t think any of those excuses are valid. Unfortunately, New Yorkers aren’t always the best client base when it comes to specialty coffee, although things are improving leaps and bounds due to the explosion of press about coffee in New York recently. Repeated orders for grande extra hot lattes are bound to break our fragile barista hearts slowly, but instead of being defeatist or defensive towards customers, what if we tried to think of the demitasse as half full.

The best, friendliest experiences I’ve had in cafes recently have also illuminated some of the qualities that tend to facilitate friendly and positive interactions. First, the cafe was clean and things were well organized. There were no milk crusted steam wands or open ice bins. Secondly, the layout and menu were easy to understand/read. It was clear where I was supposed to line up, order my coffee, and claim it. Thirdly, the staff didn’t mind questions and offered up recommendations willingly. It is easy to tell that these baristas are being well trained, well managed, and well paid.

As a barista, I know that it can be very difficult to discern the customer who wants your love and affection and the customer who just wants there coffee fast with the least amount of social obstacles possible. And part of the burden lies on my shoulders to initiate eye contact and strike up conversations with my barista. I’m going to make this my mission in the next few weeks. Hopefully I will successfully make some barista friends because I want to talk about my coffee. And the next time I find myself behind the bar serving customers, I’ll be much more aware of how important good customer service really is! And if you see me in your cafe, please feel free to say hello!

David Schomer and James Hoffman have also written similar posts on this topic.