With the first round heats of the UKBC approaching very quickly, competitors will be thinking a lot about their routines. I competed last year and came 9th, this year I will be hoping to improve on that, despite my situation being rather different. My experiences last year will prove invaluable this year as I prepare for my own heat on 3rd February, I thought it would be nice to share with you all of the considerations, prep and thinking that is going in to my 15 minutes on stage. I’m doing this for a few reasons:

1. Bloggers, forum posters and commenters rarely talk about competition in the future tense, I don’t have a problem with giving away my plans before I compete. If only one paragraph I write contributes to someone improving their preparation, it will be a small success.
2. Hopefully the series will also assist me in my own preparation, as a place to gather thoughts and with any luck, get some feedback from some experienced competitors (you know who you are).

I plan on writing about all of the important considerations, but in no particular order. So let’s kick things off:

Espresso

One of the biggest decisions that a competitor will make will be their choice of espresso blend or origin. Indeed, should you be using a single origin espresso or a blend? The beauty of an espresso blend is that it will usually give the judges a balanced cup, but a SO espresso can often give you a great talking point, interesting profile and it shows that you are willing to explore new ideas. The score sheets for espresso ask for a harmonious balance of sweet, bitter and acidity and a tactile balance including smooth, full body and roundness. The sensory judges are also looking for a good persistency and colour to your crema. 

For all of the above there is a maximum score of 60 points per sensory judge, meaning an overall score (across 4 judges) of 240 points… about 28% of the total available points – 870.

With that in mind, I think it is safe to say that your choice of espresso, coupled with the extraction on the day, is crucial to attaining a high overall score. Mess the espresso up and you really will be clawing back the points on your other drinks and sensory scores.

Last year I used Origin Coffee’s ‘Triple Certified’ blend in my heat qualifier. I scored an average of 41.3 out of 63 from the four sensory judges for my espresso. Three of those points were for serving the drinks together, accessories and correct cups, things that we should all be getting right if we want to be in with a chance. Since those points are really quite elementary we’ll call it 38.3 out of 60. Looking at the individual breakdown of the marking, I tended to score 4’s across the board with the odd 5 thrown in for the colour of my crema. Of course it is much more beneficial to score higher on the taste of the drink as those scores are multiplied by 4 for each judge’s total.

In the semi-finals I used a custom blend roasted by Stuart Hargie of Masteroast. I would say that one of my downfalls here, was that the coffee was a touch too fresh, which can massively affect the colour and persistency of the crema (you have been warned). I scored on average 39 points for my espresso, so once again by deducting the 3 elementary scores I achieved 36 out of an available 60. You can see what I mean about the crema letting me down in the image below, scores of 4 for the flavours and balance, but very low for the look of the crema… better that way than the other way round though!

This year Phil from Origin has roasted me a blend for the heats that I think is a stonker. The sweet, acid, bitter balance is a touch off, but it makes for a shot that is both interesting and very enjoyable. Overall a touch too sweet, it does give a very smooth and clean cup, with little lingering bitterness, medium/low acidity and a roundness that means you can easily go back for more. The body of the cup is huge, with a big chewy feel in the middle of the palate.

The blend is post-blended 50% Costa Rica Finca de licho, 25% Kenya Gethumbwini and 25% Brasil Daterra Monte Cristo. 

One of the things that I like about it is that it seems to be quite forgiving! Perhaps not a great indication of my skill or confidence, but I think that selecting a coffee that allows you to mess up a little is quite important unless you are very confident on the competition machine. Myself and Phil have discovered that leaving the coffee to de-gas for at least 10 days is essential, but it tastes great right up to about 3 weeks, so getting the correct roast date is important.

UPDATE: It just occurred to me that taking into account the brew temperature of the competition machine is sometimes a good idea. In fact, whoever is roasting your coffee will ideally be able to profile the roast according to the machine. I think that the San Remo’s this year are going to be set to 92°C.

I will also be thinking about what cup and spoon to use in order to maximise the texture and persistence of the crema when my drinks are served. Interestingly, this year we are no longer scored a point for serving all four drinks at the same time. I think that this is a great rule change and it means that the judges get to taste my espresso at its very best, straight out of the portafilter.

 

The final thing that I would like to mention with espresso, is timing. I will do a separate post on technical scoring, but I think that it is important to mention getting shot times right and how I think it best to go about doing it. I know of a couple of baristas who like to count in their head up to around 20sec and then shut the group off some time after that according to the look of the extraction or the quantity of liquid in the cup. Personally I don’t do this.

In my first round heat I had only a +/- 1 sec variation between every shot I pulled during my presentation, and I did it simply by dialing in correctly and being consistent with does/distribution/tamp. I would encourage everyone to shut off the group from the look of the extraction alone, and I would qualify this further by saying that a shot allowed to run for longer or shorter in order to fit within the 20-30sec zone, will potentially cost your more points from the sensory judge than it will gain your form the technical judge. If your shots are out of the 20-30sec zone it might be necessary to re-dial the grinder.

If you have any thoughts please leave them in the comments, if I have left anything out that you deem important i’ll edit the post accordingly.

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