It is time to make it official: after some hiatus, TampTamp inc. will be permanently ending its services as of February 1st, 2012. It has been three and a half years of hard work, life lessons, and wonderful memories, but now that chapter has come to an end.

I want to take a moment to thank the staff I had during my time at TampTamp – Dan Griffin, Anne Boatner, Eric Grimm, Sarah Leslie, Seth Lester, Wiggles Peters and Neil Oney. I learned so much from them and continue to be extremely proud of their professional growth over those short few years! I am truly grateful that they chose to work with us.

I’m now enjoying a new position working with Nordstrom in their specialty coffee division. It has been an absolute pleasure to join a team so committed to customer service and I am looking forward to a long tenure with the company.

Of course I still continue to be extremely passionate about specialty coffee training and coffee professionals’ commitment to customer service, so this will certainly not be the last you’ll see of me! I look forward to working with many of you at future SCAA events and events around the world.

If you have favorite TampTamp memories to share in the comments, it would be lovely to hear them.

Sincerely,

Anne Nylander

President

I have actually been sitting on this blog post for quite a while, because it’s a little self-indulgent and I’m not sure that the industry needs to hear this story, but sometimes when I’m having a conversation with a young barista I think, yeah, yeah why not share this one. So, in honor of Seattle’s second offering of the BGA Level 1 exam this weekend (you know I’ll be there), I thought I would post it after all.

In 2006, I started working in coffee. When I started, as lowly cashier in a busy New York cafe, I decided I would plunge head first into a coffee career. I had already worked for two years in coffee, back in high school at JavaBean espresso in Seattle Washington and in college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but this time I was going to take the coffee business more seriously.

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I wanted to share a brief recap of the experience I had getting involved with the new Brewer’s Cup;*. I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of great coffees brewed, but not too much additional information provided to those of us following along at home. So I will also be providing the information on how I built the coffee performance.

The first thing I wanted to note about the Brewer’s Cup is that it’s a lot of fun! I think it’s an event with so much less complexity than the barista competition that I believe can be an incredible asset to the coffee community in terms of constructive brewing feedback. For round one, you get some coffee, practice with it, make the best you can, and then serve it to the judges. This is not to say, don’t read the rules – whenever you play any game, you should read the rules first, right?

During the first round of practice, I joked with Dallis Brothers consultant Teresa Von Fuchs that it reminded me of the brewed-to-order events we did together of the course of the past few years. I’ve made many a coffee recipe on the spot with her and other baristas. I’ve kept an open mind and tried to always keep tasting, looking for the best attributes of any given coffee.

Finals round: setting up the mic.

The second round, while slightly more challenging, is still pretty straightforward. Find a coffee you are passionate about and that tastes good (especially in accordance with what the rules are looking for – in this case, balance!), and explain it to people trained to listen to what you have to say. If it’s something your grandmother can understand as well, that’s good too. I tried my best to convey a message that was both knowledgeable and straightforward, as always with a focus on taste.

I chose to work with Silas Moulton from Barismo to help me source my coffee, although there are dozens of great roasters I could have worked with. My confidence with Silas came from our shared experience taking the Q last year, and I knew I could trust him to find me some great coffees to work with for the challenge. He and Barismo owner Jamie Van Schyndel were just as supportive of a team to me as I hoped they would be, so a big thank you goes out to them. Finally, I was glad to support a coffee that was roasted locally to the NERBC event, although there are many great coffees I could have worked with from all around the world!

The Barismo folks sent me 3 Colombian Microlots to choose from, and I decided to work with the coffee from Einar Ortiz’s estate. The coffee was sourced in conjunction with, Virmax a fascinating Colombian exporter, known for bringing coffee eduction to small Colombian Farmers. This coffee, as I said from the presentation, was wonderful in its approachability – one of the reasons I chose it was because a non-coffee friend I experimented on said she didn’t need to put her usual milk quota into it. Still, it had a pleasant complexity coffee to it, one of those that makes you think, “Hm, wow, this just tastes like a great cup of coffee.”

Finals round table setup.

I chose to work with the Clever coffee dripper for these main reasons: 1. The Clever, once you’ve practiced a few times, can be surprisingly fool-proof. Perfect for nerves and eliminating unnecessary variables. 2. In my bi-coastal state, lugging around my 3 favorite brewers, Chemexes, would have been a bit of a chore. 3. The Clever really can bring out additional balance of flavor, due to its two-part brew strategy (immersion and draw-down). This lets the coffee be both full bodied and clean. It really is a pretty neat new contraption on the coffee market.

And now, here’s the recipe: I dialed in by tasting the coffee that morning, first brewed two sample batches using 15g and 20g of coffee, prepared using the recipe listed below. After that I narrowed it down to a final dose weight – I believe it was 18g. As with any coffee, I recommend re-calibrating for taste frequently, daily if possible.

Clever Coffee Dripper

#6 grind setting on Mahlkonig Tanzania

Rinse Filters and pre-heat brewers.
Initial bloom pour: 85g
45 second bloom, no stirs
additional water: 215g (300g water total)
2:30 draw down, 3:30 finished extraction.

Was my extraction at service technically perfect? Probably not. In the world of coffee, I think that is a dream we chase in preparation, and perfection will always remain just around the corner. But am I confident that the coffee tasted good and created a good experience for the judges? Absolutely. Were there lots of variables I reduced or eliminated – like paper taste, incorrect extraction due to cold tools, over agitation? Yes. Again, the manual brewing process is still new and young in our industry and still has much more experimentation to go with what we’ve done; without forgetting that some great resources are already out there when it comes to brewing coffee.

I am very satisfied with my 2nd place finish at the NERBCC, and I don’t plan to compete in Houston at the national brewer’s cup, but I hope that those of you who do can find this useful and continue to experiment and grow with your coffee performance. I am incredibly proud of Erin McCarthy from Gimme and was honored to compete against so many strong brewers in the region. And don’t worry – I or some great competitor from TampTamp will certainly be back next year! You can also root for former TampTampers Neil Oney and Seth Lester as they throw down this year.

*A lot of people have been asking me, wait, isn’t TampTamp in Seattle now? The answer is yes and no. I am doing work nationally, much of which still happens in NYC. So that is the way I still “work in the region.” I am in Seattle a few weeks out of every month and definitely look forward to working with some great coffee folks out here as time goes by!

Someone at TampTamp has been studying up on service...

Well, hello, blogosphere. I’m back from being in my bunker writing curriculum and taking a (gasp!) vacation. But now I’m here and I want to chat about something – customer service.

So I’ve been studying up to offer a beta test of the BGA’s Level 1 customer service class on Friday (if you are in Seattle, please join me! I would love your feedback.), which I’ve been working on since the fall as a volunteer for the SCAA. It’s been an interesting process, and one in which I’ve learned that many folks in the industry have widely varying opinion about service, and what it means, and what role baristas play within that in our industry.

It seems to me that we’re reaching a critical point – with prices rising, preparation getting more challenging, and access to great coffees getting more and more elusive – where service is going to become a critical component of the specialty coffee experience. And on top of that, it will be critical to not just achieve basic success in customer service, but to really rise to the challenge of exceeding expectations for our consumers (without being snobby).

I think this is an area within our industry in which we struggle quite a bit, often as a by-product of the newness of what we do. As we stop-and-start through new ideas, new brewers, new espresso machines, and new preparation techniques, how do we discuss them in a way that is useful to consumers? Or do consumers even want to know at all? Where is the balance point? How do we continue to make valuable connections with the people that are the lifeblood of any business – our customers?

I feel like these questions always seem so basic, and yet when you sit down to really think about them, they get complex real fast. One fascinating relationship I am always curious about is the role between the cafe owner and their baristas, and how much the act of elevating the customer experience needs to be a shared goal, usually with specific measurable steps, that the barista is empowered to achieve by the owner. I’ve seen this go both ways – with owners who have extremely high standards, which make it challenging if not impossible to hit all the steps. Other times, baristas grumble while working under owners who don’t exert an effort to improve the service experience, or not as well as the barista would like. Baristas make their best efforts, but there’s only so much that can be done without clean bar towels and a working cash register!

The best cafes appear to have a mutual understanding of what they are trying to achieve and how they plan to do it. Owners and baristas work in tandem to create experiences that differentiate them and allow them to stand out in their market – something lucrative for baristas and owners alike. I think the very best are the ones that continue to discover new ways to improve that experience – be it in the product itself, the atmosphere, the steps of the service interaction, or the professionalism of folks behind the counter.

This is turning into a questions more than answers post – but I am really curious. Are there ways you have met this challenge in your cafe? How were you successful? Do you have advice for other shops? If you need to get the juices flowing before a comment thread begins, I’d recommend listening to the first portion of Portafilter Podcast 102, which discusses the future of the professional barista. Definitely thought provoking! Then come back and tell me what you think.

Last week I finally took the plunge and headed, for the first time, to watch coffee fruit come off a tree first hand. The kind folks at Hacienda La Minita invited me to come visit during the harvest.

A section of Hacienda La Minita.

The farm itself is about 1200 acres of varying elevations between 1200 and 1500 meters, and grows about 1.7 million trees per year on 600 of the acres (the difference includes a nature reserve, housing for workers, roads, and their mill). The La Minita estate grows 4 varieties of coffee to use in its coffees: Yellow & Red Catuai, Typica, and Typica Hibrido. So ripe coffees from the farm are both yellow and red – something interesting to note when looking at the photos of coffee at the receiving stations.

On the first day of the visit, we toured the farm and learned about La Minita’s geography, terrior, working conditions and the farm cycle. For those of you playing along at home, you can read the full report on La Minita’s website.

Anne visiting baby coffee plants.

My favorite part of the first day was visiting the nursery, home to over 200,000 coffee trees that await introduction to the farm. These coffees are meticulously cared for so that they will begin producing enough fruit to harvest in 2012, and will grow and reach their best output in 2017, where they will trimmed back to their roots and allowed to re-flourish in 5 year cycles. In 2027, these coffee trees will be removed and replaced with new baby trees – anecdotal evidence contends that coffee trees aged 10-15 years produce the best flavors, and after 15 years cup quality deteriorates.

Coffee farmers delivering coffee at the end of the day's picking.

And then just to sucker us into offering some free labor, Jim (our host) let us pick some coffee ourselves. While of course this was fun, it helped cement the idea that this was just the final step in a years-long, laborious cycle for coffee agronomy. And that’s before coffee gets processed!

The small cement patio where Sundried La Minita has a very limited production.

Air Dryers

The second day we visited La Minita’s Mill, an impressive operation that washes, dries, and sorts thousands of pounds of coffee per day, not just from La Minita’s estate but also from coffee throughout the Terrazu region. I was surprised to learn that the majority of the coffees at the Mill were air-dried, and was humbled by the scope of production involved in drying the farm.

Hand sorting coffees for defects and irregularities.

As always my respect for coffee always lies in the sorting room, where women (almost always) hand sort defects out from specialty grade coffees. This work is incredibly meticulous and time consuming, and these women always make it look easy. When we were there, the ladies were sorting out peaberries from the La Minita stock, which only includes flat seeds.

Then we had a chance to taste some decidedly not specialty coffees – coffees produced from the farm’s harvest remnants and used to meet Costa Rica’s law requiring a percentage of a coffee farm’s production to be used for internal production. This coffee, called, “Verde” had a thick, oily body and an unpleasant, woody aftertaste. It’s funny at this point that I am becoming more and more interested in the flavors of lower quality coffees, since it’s definitely shaping and reframing my respect for great specialty coffees. The Verde tasting experience was no exception!

And in case you are worried that there was not TampTamp funjoyment mixed in with all this coffee agronomy – fear not! In the midst of all the touring, picking, and tasting, there was sapo – an activity akin to beer pong – plenty of top 40 pop, and this bumper sticker:

Plus, I was hanging out with some great folks from Oren’s Daily Roast, Back Porch Coffee, Coffee Enterprises and Mocha Joe’s coffee. We were a great group from a range of businesses, and there were great conversations ranging from certifications to customer service and competition.

This was our posse, and we made some memories!

I had a great time and I hope this is the start of many more visits to coffee farms in the years to come!

As I’m watching the anticipation build for the barista competition season, and fielding questions from baristas new to the competition and experienced veterans, I figured it was time to lay out my only piece of advice for competitors.

The advice? Nobody cares. What does it taste like?

This will be my 4th year really involved with barista competition, which is an exciting, chaotic, and inspiring season in our nerdy specialty coffee world. I’ve been a competitor, worked with competitors, coached competitors, and judged competitors. And the biggest mistake I see time and again is remembering that this competition is all about the sensory experience for the four judges sitting at your table.

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of a routine, of the details – like what colors the cups should be or how to make the signature drink blow someone’s mind. An idea comes from a favorite fruit, or there’s a whole theme to consider. All that thinking often ultimately takes away from what the score sheets are talking about – which is, “Did you make the drinks you said you were going to make, and did they taste like what you said it was going to taste like (and, was that a good thing?).” Worst case scenario, it derails the search for the right espresso, and when the purpose of the competition is to showcase wonderful espressos, that’s when a competitor gets into real trouble.

Often a competition routine is also an indicator of a sick and passionate love affair between a competitor and their coffee. The competitor is so obsessed they clearly want to share everything they can about their coffee, gushing on and on about its every nuanced detail. After the weeks and months spent building to that moment working with that coffee, it’s really no wonder.

The same way a great chef only has the meal itself to impress their guests, a barista competitor only has that 15 minutes. And if you think back to the best meals you’ve ever had, probably one thing will stick out in your mind more than anything else: the taste of the food itself.

Maybe the waiters recommended a bottle of wine. Do you remember the name? Maybe you learned about where your produce or proteins were sourced. Do you remember where?

Most likely you will remember the experience of the bites you took, and whether or not those tastes met, exceeded, or failed to meet your expectations. You took in the experience and evaluated it, whether you were happy or not, and didn’t think about the details, hopefully because they had been thought of for you (obviously, if you were missing your fork, details had been neglected).

So when baristas shape their performances, I always stress that the most important thing to convey is the taste experience for the judges. What are you, as the barista, trying to achieve on their behalf that day? Why did you try to make your coffee taste that way? How can you convey that information objectively, quickly, and with just enough emphasis that judges hear and understand it while still giving the coffees time to speak for themselves?

I’m going to leave this by ending with Colin Harmon’s WBC routine from last year. It’s been my go-to performance this year (last year was Sammy Piccolo’s 2009 Atlanta performance) because it shows that a simple routine can be beautiful, and very intimate for the sensory judges. Look it over and then compare it to some other WBC performances last year, and see if you can see how Colin stuck to the mantra, “Nobody cares. What does it taste like?”

This is TampTamp proprietors Anne & Neil’s 3rd annual installment of our NYC best-of. It began in 2008 with a simple premise: let folks in NYC find out where they could go to get a decent cup of coffee. In its third year, I think the top 10 spots are much more competitive to get to, and the shops that remain here 3 years in a row speak to their continued focus on quality and innovation.

This year, we opened our ranking to our readers and friends, who provided us with a top ten I am happy to endorse. Below, you’ll find each shop’s information and a review of why I think they made the list. Congratulations again to the winners. To those planning to use the list – please enjoy the coffee, and tell them TampTamp sent you!

- Anne

The short list:

1.3rd Rail. Score: 12.65
240 Sullivan Street, Manhattan btw W. 3rd St and Bleecker St.

2. Abraco: Score: 12.47
86 East 7th Street, Manhattan. btw. 1st and 2nd Aves

3. Oslo. Score: 12.38
2 locations: 133-B Roebling Brooklyn & 328 Bedford Ave Brooklyn, and S. 2nd St.

4. Grumpy. Score: 12.05
3 locations (4th coming soon): 193 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn (Greenpoint); 224 West 20th Street, Manhattan; 383 7th Avenue, Brooklyn. btw 11th and 12th St.

5. Joe. Score: 11.23
5 locations (all Manhattan): 514 Columbus Avenue; 141 Waverly Place; 9 East 13th Street; 44 Grand Central Terminal; 405 West 23rd street

6. Stumptown. Score: 11
2 locations: 18 W 29th St, Manhattan. btw Broadway and 5th Ave., Manhattan; Brew-bar 219 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn (open weekends only).

7. Blue Bottle. Score: 9.81
1 NYC location, several more in San Francisco: 160 Berry Street, Brooklyn.

8. Everyman. Score: 8.76
136 East 13th Street, Manhattan btw. 3rd and 4th Aves.

9. Gimme. Score: 8.72
2 locations (3rd coming soon): 228 Mott St, Manhattan; 495 Lorimer St, Brooklyn.

10. Bluebird. Score: 8.38
72 East 1st Street, Manhattan

The full descriptions:

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Attention Seattle Baristas planning to compete in the 2011 North West Regional Barista Competition. I’m working with my fellow BGA Executive Councilmember Sarah Dooley and NW Chapter Rep Joshua Boyt to get you up to speed on participating in the 2011 Regional competition, which is taking place in Tacoma on January 28th-30th (all the info is available here). Come to gather information if you plan to compete, or want to learn how to judge or volunteer at the event. We’re here to answer any questions you may have about the event. There have been some pretty big changes, both in the rules and the registration process from 2010 to 2011. So come find out about them from three people who will love to talk to you about the event!

Also, for those of you in Tacoma & Olympia… meetings are being scheduled as we speak! So look for those to be posted on the BGA blog soon.

The meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 22nd from 6-8pm at Visions CEL, 2737 1st Ave S. The meeting is free and open to all!

Finally catching up to this video, and enjoying it with Verve’s Holiday Blend. What a combination!

James Hoffman on Customer Service and Penny University. from Safehouse Coffee on Vimeo.

“The easiest win specialty coffee can have right now is service.” – James Hoffmann.

Look out Seattle, here we come.

During our move and transition, TampTamp will be closed for one week to get everything set up for the new incarnation. Please feel free to give us a call (we are keeping our number) and leave a message, or send an email to info@tamptamp.com. We will return your correspondences on Monday the 28th. We so look forward to spending more time with our Seattle friends and making lots of new ones!