Pickles helps me grind my coffee.

Recently, I upgraded my home grinder from a Mr. Coffee Electric Blade Grinder to the Hario Skerton Coffee Mill. The quality of the coffee I’m able to make for myself and my friends has increased exponentially.

The Good:
Price – For anyone on a budget, the price point of $40 for a burr grinder can’t be beat. If you have more money to spend on a grinder there are definitely better, more efficient options. But if, like me, your home brewing budget is limited (i.e. asking for coffee gear for Christmas), the Hario Skerton is the grinder for you. I would also go so far as to say that aside from improving your technique, buying a burr grinder is the best way to improve the quality in your cup.

Size/Portability – In NYC, or any small and cheap barista apartment, counter space in the kitchen is tight. The Hario Skerton has a very small foot print and fits nicely next to your coffee mugs in the cabinet. The Hario Skerton likes to travel. Toss it in your carry-on bag for your next trip home to Mom and Dad’s. Now you can bring “the best part of waking up” with you!

It can be a little tricky getting a good grip.

Fly away beans – As you reach the end of the dose you will find that bean particles like to jump out of the hopper (just like any burr grinder). Unfortunately the handle prohibits a lid on top of the hopper and I always find myself picking up a few bean particles from the floor. I’m thinking of making some sort of makeshift plastic wrap shield to keep this from happening especially since my Boston Terrier puppy, Pickles, likes to eat everything on the floor. She’s got enough energy without eating beans!

The Hario Skerton

Overall:
For my money–all of $44 + shipping–the Hario Skerton is a great grinder. It’s a great piece of gear to add to your home brewing set-up. It also makes a great addition to your retail offerings. The regular whole bean customer who comes in once every two weeks to get a pound of beans ground for French Press is pretty much begging you to stock this grinder.

-Sarah Leslie

Is it really time to start talking about our favorite cafes of the year again? Yes. It is. You may remember our last couple of lists. The first year we made of tour of great coffee, regardless of any other criteria. Last year, we only added the coffee shops that we at TampTamp likes most. This year, we’re hoping to add some more science and method to our list, so we’re asking the coffee-obsessed public to choose.

What we’re planning is an Academy Award style for vote-getting. We’ll send a ballot to a carefully selected group of voters (more specifically, everyone on our mailing list) and have them vote on a secret set of criteria. The winners of each category as well as the top 10 overall winners will be announced near the end of the year.

First, though, I need to make sure my list is up to date. Take a look at our map and see if there are any omissions, then when you find one, send it to me at neil@tamptamp.com. I’ll add it to the map and then have a better pool from which to conduct the grading.

Add your own coffee shop! It’s not tacky to vote for yourself!

Cupping Course Classroom Set-up

Get off the floor! Formalized training helps increase skills and therefore creates a more confident barista. On-the-job training is often abridged to save time and money in order to bring staff up to speed quickly. Training will cover what to do in order to make good drinks at a particular cafe, but often the reasons why we do and don’t do certain things in the coffee preparation process gets overlooked. Training classes outside of the on-the-job environment are often longer and more in-depth. Going over the theories and science behind good espresso extraction and milk makes more confident baristas. The barista who has the reasons and knows why certain things are good and bad for espresso will make drinks with both skills and explanations, which reinforce their behaviors. Not only that, the baristas can share their knowledge with others. The next time someone asks why they can’t have their latte extra hot, instead of replying “Because it’s against our policy”, they can politely explain what happens when milk is over heated and why it is that they don’t make lattes extra hot. So not only does the barista have a more positive, less stressful experience behind the counter, the customer also receives better service. Now the cafe owner benefits as well because customers are learning about coffee and this cafe has become a trusted source of knowledge for the consumer.

Before I took courses out of the line of sight for customers, I wasn’t very comfortable dealing with customers who wanted to talk about coffee. I was afraid that they would know more than I did and if we talked about they would find out I was faking being a barista. Well, to some extent I guess I was faking as a barista because I didn’t know a whole lot about coffee. After my first training class I realized that a lot of people know way more about coffee than I may ever know, but that is how is and I shouldn’t be afraid of having conversations, questioning, and developing my own skill set.

The great thing about formalized training courses I’ve taken is that being in a lab or classroom setting evens the playing field. Some students are more outspoken while others are more reserved, but in the end we are all students there to learn from the instructor and each other. Previously I found it intimidating to stand around the machine at work and “talk shop” with other baristas especially when there were drinks to be made, dishes to be done and things to be restocked. Being away from the customers and the minute-to-minute stresses of a busy espresso bar allowed me to open up and evaluate myself as a barista while increasing my confidence and knowledge.

Push yourself. Formalized training allows baristas to evaluate their skill set outside of their comfort zone. It is easy for baristas who are successfully serving coffee on a daily basis to think that their barista skills are pretty awesome! If they are pouring at least half-way decent latte art, they are probably getting a few compliments and feel pretty great about their skills. Or maybe they are the type of barista who gets easily flustered by a long line and tends to be overly critical of their drink making skills. Hands-on practice and group discussions will make areas for improvement more apparent to the barista who sees their skills as perfect. Hopefully with some newly found humility, baristas will take their new knowledge back to their cafe to improve the quality of their drinks and strive to keep learning.

Formalized training encourages the barista to ask questions, do research, and grow as a barista. In day-to-day coffee making, it is easy to fall into a routine. Formalized training can open a barista’s eyes to theories and techniques that she was not familiar with before. It doesn’t take a very strong push for people to fall down the coffee rabbit hole. It also a great incentive to make your employees feel supported and encouraged. A barista who is constantly learning and growing will share their knowledge and passions with owners, managers, coworkers and customers. And, by proxy, the barista’s enthusiasm is helping to grow the business of the cafe.

Neil Competes at the NERBC

So In October, I started planning my routine and working on my techs, grinding coffee and practicing dosing with little or no waste. Many people get around this by using a timed grinder, but as it was my first time I wanted to do it manually, so I used a Mazzer Major with an Elvinator to help guide the dose. While tech scores don’t add up to a ton of points, they are easy to get and make the difference between a finalist and an also-ran. When I practiced for my techs, I used old coffee and ground up tons of it. Maybe 100 pounds. With every shot, I timed the grind in my head, worked out a dosing technique (count to 8, turn off the grinder, tap twice, dose the rest into the portafilter, finger swipe to fill in the gaps), and made sure that not only was I doing the same movement every time, but that I was dosing the same amount of coffee (about 19g) every time. I found that if my movements stayed the same, it was easier to change the dose consistently. If I needed another gram, count to 9. If I needed less, count to 7. I practiced this until I dosed the same every time and left no visible waste. I wouldn’t let myself end the day without dosing 5 espressos while leaving nothing on the counter. In addition to my dose, I practiced my tamp. It doesn’t matter how cleanly you dose if your tamp causes coffee to fly in every direction. Dosing practice probably had the greatest influence on my barista technique as even now I use the same technique on bar and waste very little. I am proud to say that I earned 5.5′s on almost all my techs at the Northeast.

By December I had chosen my espresso (thanks Dallis!) and a rough sketch of what I was going to do and say. My espresso came to me at a cafe. I went to RBC Coffee in Tribeca and had a single origin shot of Dallis’ Brazil Obata, and while it was very bright, it was also deep, full of herby complexity and had great potential. So I contacted Dallis and asked if they’d be interested in letting me use it in competition and they were happy to oblige. Having Dallis sponsor my espresso helped tons. I had free-rein of their espresso lab and full use of Mark Howell, their roaster. Together we worked on a roast profile that brought out all the potential I found in that first shot – but without all the mouth-puckering acidity. Still, I wanted a little brightness so we added back a bit of the original production roast. Once I had my coffee, I started pulling shots. I think we used about 50 pounds of espresso all told, but I felt pretty good about it in the end.

I had also figured out my signature beverage. One of the biggest problems with 1st time competitors is the signature beverage. It’s glamourous, it’s what everybody usually talks about at the end of the competition, and it’s not worth many points. My signature beverage was brilliant (and delicious). It was a difficult to prepare and complex mix of pear, chocolate and hazelnuts. I cored the pear, lined it with chocolate, put espresso in the bottom, cooked pear puree on top of that, and homemade hazelnut whipped cream on that. People I meet still ask me about it. But my signature beverage had one problem: my espresso didn’t taste like hazelnuts, pears, or chocolate. My espresso tasted like citrus, thyme, and cinnamon.  If I had made an adjustment I would have scored higher on the beverage and on overall impression. Unfortunately, I had fixated on the drink and didn’t consider how it would tie in. What did I learn? Choose something good, something seemingly difficult to prepare but that can be done quickly and easily onstage, and something that absolutely tastes like, or at least complements, the espresso.

notice the mess running down the side of the pear

By the time I got to February, I felt I was pretty close to being ready to go, but I wanted a little more practice so I competed out of region at the mid-Atlantic. It was a mess. I forgot to bring my milk when I went onstage and had to run back to get it. I forgot my knockbox on the cart and was luckily allowed to grab it after my prep time had elapsed. I hadn’t practiced the actual routine enough so I was caught cursing into the mic on several occasions, and stumbled over my words throughout. I ended up going over time by :45 seconds. I still scored a 420, which is respectable for a first timer and was due mostly to the strength of my techs and my cappuccinos.

When I competed again 2 weeks later, I scored a 540.

How did I do it? It’s because I planned.  Well of course part of it is because I finished on time, saving 45 points off the top. But even that is due to planning.  When I went to the mid-Atlantic, I didn’t have a plan. I figured that I had seen so many of these, from set up to break down, that I could just do it and it wouldn’t be a problem. I was wrong.

So after my performance, Anne and her competition training routine took over the planning portion of my competition. She made checklists of everything I’d need and made sure I had it all at every stage of the prep.  She also helped me fix my signature drink and develop a script for the performance. At the mid-Atlantic, my signature beverage was a mess and didn’t look terribly good. But we refined it to make it easy to drink and very presentable.

But the biggest improvement was in timing. Because I had the lists, and had practiced both my set up and break down, including loading and unloading my cart, I was much less flustered throughout the competition, and finished with 45 seconds to spare. My drinks tasted better because I wasn’t rushing through them (though I did end up with a cappuccino set with espressos that were 11 seconds longer than the other. Oops.), and my signature beverage was more presentable because I had the time to pay attention.

neil uses whipper at NERBC

When we went back to the lab to practice more, we didn’t spend much time on the actual performance. We spent our time on the stuff. I wrote lists of everything I would use and planned out my cart. A competition cart has three levels, and a competition area has three tables. So I used one level for each table, and arranged it so that everything would be easy to reach when I got to it. I made sure to have redundancies: I brought two knockboxes and put them both out so I wouldn’t forget one this time. I also made sure that I talked enough at the beginning by not setting my plates out first. As I introduced myself and my routine, I put the plates out and therefore had a tool to make sure that I spent the right amount of time (58 seconds, if you want to know). I also put out all the plates at once so I wouldn’t forget to set them out in the middle of the performance.

Anne and I also worked on my speech. Before, it didn’t make much sense and I hadn’t memorized it very well, but using Anne’s mantra of “who cares, what does it taste like,” we pared my speech down to just what needed to be said. Every word I said added in some way to the flavor of the beverage and didn’t focus on useless stories. The espresso had a great story and I wanted to share it, but it didn’t taste like anything, so I wrote it down and gave it to the judges to read later. Having a speech like this made sure I had ever word memorized and I wouldn’t get tripped up throughout the presentation.

These pears look much better

A few things, but the biggest thing I could have done was remember what my espresso tasted like. I was so focused on staying on task and on script that when it came time to describe my espresso, I couldn’t come up with the descriptors. The judges all said, “tasted great, but nothing like what you said it should taste like.”

In the end, I scored a 540, came in 8th place out of a field of 37, and was just 40 points from finals. I am extremely happy with how I placed and look forward to doing it again very soon.

Did you know we have an Amazon Store? We’ve put a few things we really like in it. Today, Anne was on Martha Stewart Radio talking about iced coffee and cool new stuff.

If you sign up for our newsletter, we’ll send you our favorite iced coffee recipe, as mentioned on air!

Also, check out Anne’s favorite new thing at our store, the Mypressi Twist.

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!

Related links:

http://www.jimseven.com/2007/07/13/kopi-luwak-in-the-la-times/
http://danielhumphries.livejournal.com/34273.html (worth the read just for the photo captions!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

What are your thoughts about Kopi Luwak?

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.

1. To ensure quality, we must fully understand the challenges we face before we can successfully address them.
2. 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.”

3. We respect and sustain the relationships we have within our industry, our community, and within TampTamp.
4. 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.

]]> http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/our-principles/feed/ 0 http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/cupping-coffee-on-lake-champlain/ http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/cupping-coffee-on-lake-champlain/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:53:53 +0000 tamptamp http://www.tamptamp.com/?p=688 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.

]]> http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/cupping-coffee-on-lake-champlain/feed/ 0 http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/on-barista-voodoo-what-i-learned-at-tampcamp/ http://www.tamptamp.com/uncategorized/on-barista-voodoo-what-i-learned-at-tampcamp/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:28:07 +0000 tamptamp http://www.tamptamp.com/?p=649 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

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