Just got back from the La Marzocco Strada launch at Gourmet Coffee in Kuilsriver, CT.  It’s quite a thing; I’m not sure of any other machine that would either deserve such a hubub, or be able to cause it.  I got an hour or so to play around with it using a very nice Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence winning Origin: La Pradera – David Ariel Lovo Gutierrez.   First thoughts on first impressions:

1. It’s beautiful to look at, from both front and back. Classic Marzocco with a modern twist IMHO.  Loved the yellow writing on the MP, and the way it played off the chrome.   Oh, I now it’s superficial, but that’s what I saw when I walked in, and that’s what any customers will see when they walk into a Strada-ed cafe.
2. Use requires a mindshift.  By now you’ll probably know that the Strada offers tailored pressure profiling.  The pressure readout is on a dial atop the grouphead (which pops up when you activate the pump, increasing in altitude with the increasing bar – Nice).  So which do you watch as you extract, the gauge or the results at the spout?  It took me a while to try to adjust, and I didn’t get past looking from one to the other.  At high speed.   Hahaha.  Must have looked very funny.  Like a barista having seizure.
3. The paddle is sensitive.  A couple of mm movement can make 3 bar difference.  And, of course the pre-infusion doesn’t appear on the pressure gauge.  But again, it would just be a case of adjusting to how it works.  Quite confident could do this over time.
4. But I’m being fussy.  The better stuff is this: for a passionate, creative barista there is a lot of space for experimentation.  I pulled a 60 second shot at 2.5 bar.  It looked terrible, like a classic choker.  Drip, drip.  But it tasted pretty good actually.  Lower acidity, deep cocoa and orange notes – quite palatable really.  If any innovation (aside Gwilym Davies’ WBC signature drink performance) I’ve encountered undermines the notion of the perfect espresso, then this is it.  Given time I reckon it’s entirely possible to develop a number of really great espresso profiles from it, which you could fight over as being the origin’s ‘perfect’ extraction.
5. Respect and admiration to LM for developing such a machine and bringing it to market.  It’s kind of difficult to get any quantifiable benefits out of LM regarding the Strada.  It has this killer feature ‘pressure profiling’ but no-one is really sure how much of a difference it will make to espresso quality, actually, and how this affects the business case for it.  They’ve invested huge brand and financial capital in it so kudos to LM.
6. So it may have a business case, it may be the future of espresso, it may revolutionise cup quality.  But all I can say right now is that it is very cool, and puts La Marzocco firmly back up at the top of the chart of cutting edge espresso machinery.

Had a fabulous coffee filled Saturday morning with Jo Berry of Origin coffee last weekend and, as she’s such a contender for the SA national barista championship this year it got me thinking.

I’ve judged barista competitions, so what three pieces of advice would I give an aspiring barista competitor?  In no particular order:

1. Give yourself time to prepare – the best start thinking about it, and practicing it a good 6 months before the comp.  Persistent practice is key to your ability to turn it on, on the day.  As Cecil Parkes says to David Helfgott in the movie ‘Shine’ ‘learn it, learn it in order to forget it’.  When you’ve programmed yourself with your performance you’re free to put emotion, creativity and improvisation into it.  Ok, you don’t have to be this pedantic unless you’re really serious, but it’s a good tip none the less.
2. Read the judging criteria and research great performances on the web – it’s an exam really, and the criteria are pretty objective.  Find out what they are.  And find out what they mean by looking at videos of the best performing.  Check out Stephen Morrisey, Mike Phelps, Colin Harmon, Gwylim Davies or any of the other top 10 for the past 3 or 4 years and you’ll get a better understanding of what makes a great barista performance.
3. It’s good to have a goal.  Aiming to win is often self-defeating.  So aim for a specific goal, like best espresso, or best performance (ability to speak), best signature drink or best technical performance.  If you can achieve this at a regional level, you’ll probably go through to the nationals.  (nod to James Hoffman of Square Mile for this one)  Just don’t be put off and think ‘but I can’t do that’, rather see what tips you can pick up.
4. Commit to performing.  What’s the worst that can happen?  Competitors have gone through to the nationals, from the regionals with less than two weeks prep, and all that outside of work hours.  Just do it.

Good luck and go for it.  If it’s in the Western Cape I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

John Goodridge – Red Cherry Barista trainer

*You’ll notice you got a bonus tip there.

On the 3rd of March this year 27 coffee professionals from 11 countries arrived in the Ilamatepec mountains of El Salvador to choose the finest coffees El Salvador had to offer and award them ‘Cup of Excellence’.

These coffees had been through a rigorous pre-selection. A total of 124 growers submitted their coffees to the Salvadoran Coffee Council for the first round of national cupping. From these 124 coffees only 73 made it to the second round of national cupping. After a lot of hard work, the national team chose 47 coffees that would go through from the second round to the international jury.

Interesting to note that 14 of the lots submitted in the first round of nationals were 100% Pacamaras and these beautiful coffees made it all the way to the final 30.

Choosing which of these 47 coffees were to be given ‘cup of excellence’ was the awesome task we were given as the international jury. I was truly privileged to have been chosen as the only jury member from Africa.

Coffees scoring an 84 and above would be given ‘cup of excellence‘ and auctioned online on the 17 June.

The first day we spent orienting and attending some very interesting practicals with Dr. Erwin Mierich on taste and how it is perceived. A very valuable exercise indeed!

After 4 of the most exciting days I had ever experienced in my time in the coffee industry we had a result. 30 coffees had scored 84 and above. There were 3 presidential awards (scores 90 and above) and our top 10 were chosen.

Our congratulations goes to Doña Julia Molina and Francisco  Menendez, owners of Finca Suiza, for winning 1st place. This amazing coffee was prevalent all the way through the cupping sessions. It’s uniqueness is shown in its terroir from the Potro Grande Canton in the Santa Ana region. This remarkable Bourbon was given top jury descriptions of maple syrup, plum , honey, jasmine, floral bergamot, cinnamon, grape, strawberry, cassis, dark chocolate, lime, with a elegant, soft, quenching, clear, effervescent acidity. This coffee was purchased auctioned on the 17th June 2010 and purchased for $28/lbs.

This was a truly unique experience and I am very grateful to cup of excellence for this opportunity. They are truly pioneers in raising the standard of coffee all over the world.

Red Cherry is very proud to be a member of this wonderful organisation.

I finally arrived in El Salvador feeling tired, grubby and lost. Only to discover that I did not have enough money through customs! Then when I tried to collect my bags discovered they were lost somewhere between London and Houston!

I always loved the saying ‘this too shall pass’. Today dawned with birdsong in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountains of  El Salvador! This place is truly magical!

As the day went on I became more excited about being involved with this level of specialty coffee. Meeting people from all  around the world involved in the coffee industry so willing to share their knowledge is very refreshing. I have met some really passionate coffee professionals  with such interesting stories . I can hardly wait to experience with them what is involved in finding the top coffees this amazing country has to offer!

El Salvador is a long way from Cape Town, but exactly how far?  A bit of research yielded these numbers -the round trip is: 24086 miles, 69 Hours, 6 international flights.   Some might say  ‘That’s a long way to go and taste some coffees?’  To which I would reply ‘It’s worth it!’

These are not just any coffees. They are cup of excellence coffees! The Cup of Excellence is the most esteemed award given to a coffee.  The awards come from a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in that country for that particular year.  The winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process.  Only coffees that continuously score high enough are allowed to move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence and sold to the highest bidder during an internet auction.  For the grower this can result in a premium of 10 to 15 times the fair trade price for coffee.

So, as you can imagine, when I received my invitation from Cup of Excellence to be an international juror in El Salvador I was elated. To be cupping some of the best coffees in the world with some of the best coffee professionals fires me up!

Also there’s an opportunity to visit coffee farms and see the growing and processing first hand.  For me, if you’re serious about roasting and blending then sooner or later you’re going to have to end up visiting a farm.  There’s some good information on the internet on the processes, but nothing like really meeting the people and scrabbling around amongst the trees.   I’m hoping it could lead to opportunities for more direct trade and relationships with farms.   Exciting stuff.  I’ll be posting photos and thoughts as the trip progresses.

Last year we  went to London and got seriously inspired by the coffee culture there, so inspired we went twice. We began by visiting James and Anette at Square Mile Coffee Roasters in Bethnal Green in their railway arch roastery – possibly the most unassuming place to find world-class coffee.  We’ve always been fired up by their passion and willingness to share their vast knowledge with us. We really loved chatting to Anette about ‘current’ roasting techniques, she really is a guru and world cupping champion 2007. James Hoffman (world barista champ 2007) arrived back at the roastery and we did some experimenting with our Black7 espresso blend. We varied brew temperatures, dose and grind setting and noted how the flavour profile of the coffee changed. And of course how could we resist taking home some of Square Mile’s Finca Kilimanjaro collection.

Flat white is one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in London.  Homage was paid to their trailblazing, and they were really willing to share their passion for serving great coffee.   Having a 10 minute chat in a heaving coffee bar is no small task!

Dose.We are particular fans of Dose’s exquisite preparation.  We’re not entirely sure what they do, but the flat white was gorgeous, the microfoam so silken that we dropped jaw in amazement. So you can imagine that we were well pleased when they asked us for a kilo of our Black7 espresso blend to feature as a guest espresso and called it ‘tasty stuff‘.  Also enjoyed talking to James and Phil about their coffee journeys from the Antipodes to London – it’s now becoming a well trodden route it seems, and the problems of finding rentable spaces to set up, in the city.

Taste of bitter love.  Great friendliness and great coffee.  I particularly enjoyed the vibe at Taste, the chandeliers, the guy writing opera – clearly shows a magnetism for creatives in the area!

We loved the large  communal table  at ‘Tina we salute you‘ and our 6 year old loved the family games they had scattered around. They’ve got a really cool relaxed Saturday morning kind of vibe.  The great thing is that they are close to Dalston market so after getting your fresh produce at the market you can pop over to TWSY for a fantastic coffee and a relax.

Our only regret on our tour was that we missed Gwilym Davies of Prufrock coffee current world barista champion, tracing his steps around London is no small task as he can be found at some of the trendiest markets in London.  Gwilym has transformed the coffee industry in London and really encouraged collaboration amongst cafe’s by introducing his ‘disloyalty card‘.

We loved what was happening with the coffee in London.The collaboration between roaster and cafe and between cafe and cafe. This really helps encourage and grow the specialty coffee industry in London. Until you’ve experienced it, perhaps you wouldn’t believe just how different the experience and even taste of a coffee can be between venues all serving coffee supplied by the same roastery: Square Mile.  This gave us good hope that variety from the same blend is good, natural and should be celebrated.  We’re not in the business of creating ‘sameness’ but co-creating different but equally great coffee experiences with passionate cafes.  Vive la difference!

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John B's God shot!

Our coffee journey has been such an adventure. Our passion for great coffee was ignited several years ago when we had our first ‘God shot’  sweet, rich, gorgeous! Since then we have been on a journey to make the best cup and share our passion with others. We would love you to join us on this path.