If you follow my updates on Flickr you might have seen a few pictures recently of my Hario Range and V60 pour over cone.

As far as non-espresso coffee goes, I have always had a great love for the Aeropress and Cafetiere. One of the problems that I have with the aeropress is that it doesn’t make enough coffee (greed), and the main problem that I and many others have with the good old French press, is that you inevitably get some sludge in the cup no matter what you do to avoid it1. Incidentally my other criticism of the press pot is that a plunged pot, in my eyes, is still brewing away albeit at a slower rate.

I guess the main negative of pour over for me, was that it almost seemed too simple! How can you make coffee brewing easier than by pouring hot water through a filter holding ground coffee? Well you can’t, but as with most things in life – simple is often better.

And that’s true in this case.

Up until quite recently I had been enjoying some great results from my ceramic cone and old school filter. I also own a Bodum Kona and a Bodum Bistro pour over setups, with the gold filters that don’t actually work. But after watching this downright amazing video, which details in perfectly spoken Japanese how the Hario V60 dripper works, I was sold. (Paerhaps it was the rather suggestive young lady holding that oversized paper filter that did it for me?)

So I have been playing around with grind size, dose and even pouring technique. I liken the pouring technique bit to stirring or shaking a cocktail, everyone does it differently, but often little thought is put into exactly why we do things one way or another. Well, there is no doubt in my mind that the way you pour water is crucial to the quality of the final cup. I have even gone as far as to pilfer an an olive oil pourer from my own mothers house, to aid me in my quest for the perfect pour. I want one of those Hario ones, but they have eluded me for the time being! (By the way, anyone know where to pick one up in LA?)

You'd better believe that the spout on that thing delivers water where I want it to be.

I have also been referring to the SCAA coffee brewing control chart. This nifty chart asks you how many grams of coffee you are using per litre of water and then indicates the anticipated TDS (total disolved solids) for the brew. By measuring the TDS you can find the percentage of solubles yield from the extraction, and from this you can gauge how successful the brew was and whether or not you need to alter your dose, grind size, or pouring technique. It can also clear up issues involving a bitter tasting or underdeveloped cup of coffee.

Of course we all ultimately rate the quality of a cup of coffee by the level of enjoyment we get from it, but it really is even more enjoyable when you have the science to back it up. My Hario produces a wonderful clean cup of translucent red coffee that exhibits all of the characteristics of the bean that I want transferred into the drink. It’s quick to use, a great economical way of drinking coffee and hardly any cleaning is required. What more can you ask for?

Perhaps my sole purpose in life is to create reluctant collisions between the worlds of coffee and spirits. I guess it comes down to greed; wanting both of my passions to live in perfect harmony. But I do think that there are certain things that can be learnt from both industries, and in certain cases I think tools and techniques can be applied from one to the other for the greater good.

Single Malt Whisky in recent years has become a much more approachable beast. Not so long ago novices were required to pick a whisky producing region (Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Island or Islay), with little indication of the distinction, then pick a brand, with only a recommendation or gut feeling to go on. This meant that first time Scotch drinkers could be easily put off by a dram that did not fit their comfort zone due to its particular characteristics. In short: Single Malt Whisky for the uninitiated could be a bit of a lottery and therefor a bit off-putting.

Then came the flavour map…

Developed by renowned whisky writer Dave Broom with Diageo Scotland, the flavour map instantly made whisky more accessible. Just as someone who knows a little about cheese can pick something soft/mild/strong/hard, it then became possible for anybody to take a look and then select a whisky that ticked all of the boxes.

Of course whisky is more complex than just being light/rich/delicate/smoky, but the flavour map certainly assists in refining your search down to the specific region of the map that suits you at any given time. For the whisky aficionado it gives the opportunity to try something new that sits on the map near a whisky that you already love, broadening your enjoyment.

Now we get to it… Can the flavour map be re-written and applied for coffee?

Before I get on to the hurdles that might need to be jumped, let’s talk about how it could benefit us:

For cafe owners the flavour map could give them a great overhead view of their coffee offering and whether they are covering all bases. It could also be used to demonstrate how blends work, drawing from coffees across the flavour map to create a balanced article.

For customers it could be a great buying tool when presented with a selection of coffees. We use descriptors like sweet, fruity, bright and full-bodied all of the time, displaying it on a map with other coffees as a comparison could improve the customers decision making process and help create awareness of the diversity of coffee.

For roasters a more complex model could be used as a blenders tool. Need something sweet and full-bodied to bulk up a blend? Check the flavour map.

I can personally see a huge amount of potential in a coffee flavour map, the greatest opportunity being the clarification of coffee origin to the customer, perhaps the single most important facet in building the world of speciality coffee.

I would love to read your thoughts on this. I guess it could be argued that the flavour map cannot be applied to coffee because there are too many variables, but I believe that the same can be said of whisky, however the map can provide a wonderful starting point. At the very least, a nudge in the right direction. Better than nothing.

At present there is plenty of chat going on around the brewing method that is, the Aerobie Aeropress… and yes, it’s the same Aerobie as that flying ring thing that everyone had! And in the same way that the Aerobie revolutionised, erm, frisbees in the 80’s – for me, the aeropress has completely changed the way that I drink coffee.

It was the aeropress that was largely responsible for weaning me off espresso coffee and onto the joys of brewed coffee, with that in mind it’s ironic that most people think an Aeropress will make espresso coffee for them at home. It actually produces a very simple cup of brewed ‘filter’ style coffee that can be tailored to your own strength requirements.

Of course there are loads of ways to brew coffee at home: vacpot, french press, moka pot, chemex, drip… but for me, none of them seem to do it with the right balance of quality, ease of use, cleanliness and speed of the Aeropress. There’re downsides of course, it’s not the most elegant looking device in the world (when is someone going to make a glass one?!) and you can only really make one cup at at time, rendering it useless if you have a lot of guests. But in a selfish, uninhibited (it’s not the coolest looking device) kind of way – it does the trick for me perfectly nearly every morning of my working week.

The aeropress is essentially a syringe with a paper filter at one end. To brew the coffee you simply add in a specific dose of ground coffee (most folks prefer somewhere between an espresso and filter grind), a specific measurement of hot water, allow the coffee to steep for your preferred length of time, then press the plunger to extract the brew. The paper filter collects all but the finest dust sized pieces of coffee, which results in a very clean and crisp cup, unlike a french press, which can often be a bit sludgy.

So here is how I make a cup of aeropress coffee, feel free to add your own methods in the comments…

Part 1.

Moisten your filter paper. It is generally accepted that a pre-dampened filter paper does a better job than a dry one. I’m not sure whether there is any true evidence to back this up, but I do religiously moisten my filters before use. Some people like to use two filters at the same time, whilst others believe that a pre-used filter paper can improve results, the logic being that any large holes in the filter paper will be blocked by particles from the first brew…

Part 2.

Set the kettle to boil. Personally I like to lower the temperature of the water to around 90 degrees celsius after the boil by adding a splash of cold water. Some people claim that you can brew great Aeropress coffee as low as 80 degrees, but i’m yet to experiment at those temperatures. With my boiled water I usually like to warm the cup and the Aeropress itself before use.

Part 3.

Grind. There are many theories on how best to grind and how much to dose for Aeropress coffee. Personally I choose a setting that is probably a slightly coarser grind than most, edging towards the realms of filter brewing, with a dose of 24g, higher than most. This is of course also subject to the coffee that I am brewing.

Part 4.

Here’s the pretty cool bit.

Next I like to insert about 10mm of the plunger part of the press into the base of the Aeropress, with the filter off. Now turn the Aeropress upside down. This allows you to load ground coffee and water into the brewing chamber without semi-brewed coffee leaking out through the filter paper, as it does with the normal upright brewing method.

For a 24g dose I will use approx 250ml of water. 75ml of that goes straight in and I give the coffee a good stir, after 10sec I add the other 175ml (which usually fills the aeropress), followed by another stir. Time is important here so I then clip the filter on top and turn the whole contraption the right way up and onto the top of the cup.

Part 5.

I prefer to take my time pressing, with the whole process probably taking around 25sec from start to finish. Once all of the liquid has been extracted I simply pop the puck out into the bin and top up my cup of coffee with a little more fresh, hot water. Then drink!

It is a strangely satisfying experience, squeezing the puck out afterwards... 'nuff said.

This is by no means an exhaustive guide to Aeropress brewing, but it should be a good starting point for anyone who is getting in to it. Tim Wendelboe also has an excellent guide and be sure to check out the round up of last years first Unofficial Aeropress Championships!

I’ve never written a grinder review before, but I have used quite a lot of different grinders in my time and I think I am pretty much aware of what makes a good or bad coffee grinder. I have long been of the opinion that grinder technology is a bit lacking, and that for the money one pays for a ’state-of-the-art’ grinder, they really should be a bit more state-of-the-art. Sure it can cut up beans into different sizes, but is it repeatable and measurable? Is the grinder efficient, clean and easy to use? Can I use it for all types of coffee brewing? In a world where you can buy an iPhone and pretty much run your life from it, why are modern grinders essentially just electric versions of what we were using 300 years ago?

A while ago I heard news of a prosumer grinder being developed by the Washington based grinder manufacturer Baratza in conjunction with Mahlkonig in Germany. Baratza have essentially laid down a list of features that they would like to be included and they have slowly been chipping away and ticking them all off. Mahlkonig have been tasked with designing the burr set (cutting discs) and working out how they would fit inside the chassis. The Vario has been delayed a number of times, which has further heightened the anticipation of what could be a revolutionary coffee grinder.

When I first looked down the list of features on a preview article by Mark Prince I got about as excited as you can get about a coffee grinder without turning into a complete nerdy weirdo! Ceramic burr set (lasts 2x longer), efficient load/dose ratio (0.2-0.5g lost in the chute), anti-static portafilter holder, digital grind time adjustment, macro/mini adjustments for repeatable but precise setting, capable of grinding effectively for both espresso, filter and press…. £300ish. If you want to see the full list of features then please take a look at www.CoffeeGeek.com .

The grinder is only just out in the UK and Origin have kindly given me one to play with, all being well i’ll buy it off them… *snigger*

The size and weight that coffee grinders should be!

The first thing that I noticed is that the grinder is tiny. I am used to my Mazzer Super Jolly and Mahlkonig K30, they are admittedly designed for professional cafe use, this is definitely good if space is an issue, or if like me you are using it at home. I have a Rancillio Rocky too and this is pretty much the same size, but the footprint is even smaller.

The build quality is excellent. Feels really solid, buttons feel great, grind adjustments are a nice soft touch clicky movement. The portafilter holder is a bit flimsy, but still, this feels like a more expensive grinder to me.

The first thing I wanted to check is that the grinder is capable of producing fine enough grounds for espresso extraction. I had previously spoken to James Hoffmann, he had found that he was able to produce very fine particles suitable even for Turkish coffee and more than fine enough to choke an espresso machine. This unfortunately was not the case with my grinder. On absolutely the finest possible setting I was able to extract 50ml espresso from 16g of coffee in 25sec, that’s ok, but what if I want to dose 14g? Or if I need to grind finer for a particular bean etc.? What if (heaven forbid) I wanted to make Turkish coffee? At the other end of the spectrum James had told me that his was not grinding fine enough for press pot brewing, and guess what? My one does…

Fine adjustment setting and digital time display

So clearly there are some issues as to how these grinders are factory set and if you are buying one you need to hope that yours is calibrated somewhere in the middle for all grind applications.

I have found a fix though. It is by no means something that I would encourage people to do, but it works and I am now a much happier person in general.

The Vario is fairly unique in that adjustment to the grind size is controlled by moving the bottom burr up to meet the top burr, rather than dropping the top burr down to a fixed lower burr. It occurred to me that if I could just bring those burrs slightly closer together it might be enough to offset the finest setting even finer. I removed the bottom burr and simply drew a template around it onto a piece of paper, then I cut out the template using a craft knife, cleaned out the burr holder carefully, and replaced the burr with the piece of paper fully secured and hidden underneath.

Inside the Vairo with ceramic burrs, picture taken from www.coffeegeek.com

It’s hard to believe that a single slither of paper can make much difference, but every cut that my grinder now makes is the depth of that paper smallerI have estimated that the paper I used has a weight of around 75gm, which equates to 100nm. The fine adjustment is apparently accurate to 4nm per step, so I reckon I have gained about 25 steps, which is probably comparable to an entire step on the macro selector., and it has made a big difference. I now have the Vario set to the ‘Esp’ setting on the macro selector and pretty much on the middle setting on the micro selector. The finest possible setting now produces a very fine grind that easily chokes my machine.

As I already said, i’m not encouraging people to start modifying their grinders, especially when modification really shouldn’t be necessary, but hey, it worked for me.

My next issue is one of static. No, i’m not saying that the static problem with this grinder is serious, but there can be no doubt that it does have a problem. Check out the video below of me dosing, it’s all going swimmingly well until about 3/4 full when the grinds suddenly decide that they want no part to play in this, and abandon ship. Am I being too critical? Is your grinder this bad?

My final negative point is a silly one really, but a nuisance none the less. In a nutshell, the portafilter holder doesn’t hold my portafilter! The holder works fine on deeper 53mm portafilters, but mine is too shallow and the adjustment is already set to the shortest setting. Come on Beratza, all that D&D only to fall down on something like this!?

So how about the positives? Well thankfully there is plenty of good news!

Firstly and most importantly, this grinder (when calibrated correctly) makes very nice espresso. It also distributes coffee quite nicely into the centre of the PF, unlike the K30, which tends to shove it all to the front. This means that I have not really found it necessary to distribute with my hand, tamping is all that is required.

The micro/macro settings are consistent, what I mean by this is that I can grind 16g of coffee on my espresso setting, switch to filter and grind some more, then go back to espresso and get the same results as before. I know that is to be expected, but I think its worth saying that it is the case. It is also very quiet. To be honest noise really doesn’t bother me, we’re cutting up beans here people, but if it bothers you – this grinder is pretty quiet.

The controls are very easy to use. It might look like there are a lot of buttons, but they all serve a purpose and everything from grinding, setting the timer, manual operation and presets are done with no more than a couple of button presses that don’t take a genius to work out.

It is wonderful for aeropress and filter brewing. I like to weight out the beans before then simply grind them through on my favourite setting. The box catches everything perfectly and is the right size to load directly into the top of an aeropress. I’ve not got around to testing it on a press-pot, mainly because my wife doesn’t drink brewed coffee and I only have a 1litre pot! Judging by the size and consistency of the grind (by eye) however, it looks like my grinder wont have a problem at all.

So in summary, there is one major issue with the grind calibration that I think needs sorting. There are also some niggly issues with static and the portafilter holder (I might have a workaround though). Having said that, I think that for the money this is still an awesome bit of kit… and probably about the best you are going to get sub £800. I also like the idea that the manufacturers have really spent some time trying to develop new solutions for many of the problems associated with espresso grinding, I hope that they can continue to take things forward (looking forward to the Vario II), and it is with that in mind that I happily hand over the dosh.

Update (Please Read)

Ok time for an update on this post since I have been living with the Vario for almost two weeks now.

Earlier today I went to grind some espresso and was faced with a serious static issue. If I thought that the video above was bad, this was terrible. Coffee flying everywhere and at least 3g all over my counter every time I dosed. Nightmare.

After having a bit of a hissy fit and wasting lots of coffee in an attempt to work out what the hell was happening I started googling around and trying to find a solution. Thanks has to go to Jerry really, who’s comment below got me wondering if I should go back to messing about with the grind calibration and see if I can get it to the correct fineness without the need for the paper insert (as mentioned above).

As Jerry says, there is a rectangular rubber grommet behind the ground coffee exit chute. If you remove the grommet you’ll find a single hex screw that is screwed in on an adjustable slider. By loosening the screw and sliding it back or forward you can adjust how far the burrs sit from each other. Moving the screw right back produces an absurdly fine grind and means you’d probably have to put the macro selector onto ‘filter’ to get an espresso extraction. Moving the screw as far forward as it can go makes the coffee very coarse, resulting in the ‘press’ setting churning out big chunks of coffee.

This screw certainly explains why some of us are receiving grinders that cut coffee very differently to others. Our task now is to calibrate this screw correctly for our own personal needs. I have (after quite a lot of fiddling) managed to graduate my grind right from slightly too fine for espresso (on ‘espresso’ setting), all the way up to a large press pot coarseness (on ‘press’ setting), so it is possible.

As if that wasn’t good enough news, my static issue seems to have gone away for the time being. Whether it was the removal of the paper, or just the fact that I have had the burrs out and back in again, I don’t know. I’m not going to ask why either, just pray that it stays that way!

Vario: The story continues…

I thought it would be nice to share with you all the recipe and thought behind my UKBC signature drink.

I was really pleased with the drink this year and Gwilym only just pipped me to the post of winning ‘Best Signature Drink’, I think the main reason being that I didn’t relate the drink itself back to the coffee that I was using.

The drink is a modification of the drink that I made last year, but this version is much shorter and stronger, plus it has a little more involvement as far as the judges are concerned. I like the idea of using ingredients that traditionally work well with espresso, but signature drinks historically require some kind of twist. This year I decided to turn that twist into a sensory experience for the judges in the form of warming the liquid in front of them and getting them more involved in the process of building the drink up.

Recipe

For the base…

• 40g butter
• 40g ground almonds
• large pinch of ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 80ml golden syrup
• 150ml water
• level tablespoon of dried currants

For the cream…

• 100ml double cream
• 100ml milk
• 1/2 sheet of leaf gelatin
• pinch of vanilla sugar (or a few seeds from a vanilla pod + some sugar)
• 50g walnuts

Method

Base

Melt the butter into a frying pan then add the almond flour, currants, nutmeg and salt. Turn that little lot into a paste then add the golden syrup and stir thoroughly. When mixed thoroughly add the water and stir everything into a light syrup. Simmer for 5mins then strain through a large sieve whilst still hot. The sieved solution will still contain small lumps of almond so put it in a blender a blitz for around a minute or until smooth and thick. Allow to cool, bottle and refrigerate.

Cream

Melt the gelatin in a small pan with 50ml water. Blend the walnuts and vanilla with the milk for 1 minute then fine strain through a tea strainer. Combine the cream with the walnut milk and the cooled gelatin solution.

Putting the drink together

All that needs to be done is to combine 25ml of the base syrup with an espresso then whip the cream up and float it on top. If you want to do it as I did, then simply warm the syrup in a cup for around ten minutes, this releases a wonderful cakey, spotted dick, sponge pudding aroma. Then combine the espresso with the syrup and float cream from and ISI gun on top.

To drink, simply sip a little of the cream, then give everything a good stir. It should taste something like coffee and walnut cake, with lots of body, it’s almost chewy in texture. The other good thing about warming the syrup is that it makes the whole drink a bit warmer overall for a slightly more pleasant experience!

I’ll keep this short and sweet as I probably could go on for a while if let off the leash!

First of all, congratulations to Gwilym, you are a worthy winner and an excellent barista.

Secondly, I came 3rd! Woo-hoo! When I entered this year my overall aim was to get in the top 6, after arriving in Glasgow I realised that it might be a harder task than I had originally anticipated. The standard of competitor this year took yet another leap. I don’t think it was that anyone was particularly mind-blowing, it was just that nearly everyone was very good, at least in terms of presentation and technical skills. Sure, there were front runners, but I don’t think any of the front runners (and i’m told that I belong in that group) really felt that 1st (or even 3rd) place was easily within reach.

The final six presentations revealed virtually no visible mistakes, which I think has to be the first time ever. So to place in the top three this year, for me, was a similar achievement to coming 1st or 2nd last year.

So some quick thankyou’s to the people who made it possible…

Linda & Rod (my Mother and Father in-law) – These two coffee geeks really do need to be at the top of the list for being crazy enough to sit in the car with me for 20 hours to Glasgow and back. They were also responsible for all the back stage polishing, handing me bottles of water and general moral support!
Origin – Despite the fact that I am not a customer of Origin, Tom and Phil have supported me all the way to the finals, with free coffee, training advice, cupping, a K30 on loan and much more. I had to put a stop to things when they very nearly sent an engineer to install a 2 group in my kitchen!
Relish – I do claim to be a home barista, and virtually my entire set was dreamed up at home in my kitchen. Practise on a small 1 group machine is tough though and at some point every competitor needs to do a realistic, honest run through and I thank Relish for giving me the means to do just that! Also thanks to Hugo for lending me the ISI gun, tasting my shots and for general advice! Thanks to Sarah for backstage help in the finals!
Laura – Thanks for putting up with the equipment, coffee and mess all over the house for the last couple of months!
Mum – Thanks for devising the walnut and coffee macaroons, they went down well.
Ed – For help with music an general encouragement.
The Organisers – This years competition was better in every way in my opinion, from mics and live streaming, to backstage and support. Let’s keep pushing things forward.
Other competitors – For letting me do well and being so nice into the bargain!

There is a full flickr set available here.

EDIT: Almost forgot, i’ve embedded the video of my presentation if you haven’t already seen it…

One final thing…

A Wadebridge based barista has finished in the Top 4 for the last 3 years, no other town or city can say the same… long may it continue!

Will I compete next year?

Yes.

I wrote a post with exactly the same title this time last year except it had a 8 in place of a 9. Looking back at that post I can safely say that I am better prepared this year for the task that lies ahead. That’s not to say that I have worked harder even that I am a better barista this year, but I am entering into the fray with a much better understanding of the competition and probably a better attitude towards it.

I think that it is fair to say that every year this competition becomes harder to win and I don’t think that any of the competitors in Glasgow could genuinely say that this is their year. The truth is there are too many excellent baristas vying for the title for anyone to make a credible claim for it.

Things i’m looking forward to: Barista Party at Tinderbox on Monday night, catching up with lots of fellow baristas (some who I haven’t seen since last year!), competing (no really), drinking lots of coffee, and meeting new baristas or people that I haven’t met before.

I am competing at 11.35 on Tuesday 3rd March and all being well you should be able to stream the action right here (below), with all competitors across the two days of semi-finals and the finals on the last day. Please check out the stream if you can’t make it to Glasgow and show your support for the best that the UK has to offer!

I think i’ve been pretty fortunate this year,  having a month off in between my UKBC heats and the (semi) finals. A month gives you just enough time to prepare yourself, without giving you so much time that you switch off or allow yourself a moment to remember life without competition.

So, what have I been doing? Without score sheets it is tricky to analyze every aspect of my set, so really i’m currently working off my own gut feelings and the judges verbal feedback. I know for example that my cappuccinos weren’t that great, a combination of lacking foam and average pours. I also know that I ran over time by about three or four seconds, a silly mistake. On a more positive note I know that my espresso tasted pretty good and that technically I performed very well. I can say that my signature drink was popular amongst the judges, but  visually it needs improvement. The same can be said about my (too fresh) espresso which had bubbly crema, lesson learnt and de-gas period duly adjusted.

Looking back at past performances (performance? Presentation.) is a brilliant tool for improving and developing future ones, every time you complete a fifteen minute set, regardless of how good it goes, those niggly faux pas become experiences in the memory bank to exploit next time.

This week I will mostly be practicing (obviously), nailing my ‘Chafing dish baking cake experience’ (more on that later) and finalising my music.

What is everyone else up to?

First of all let me say that I was both surprised and relieved to win the South West heat.

I’ll tell you why in a minute, but  let me thank a few people before that… Laura – for helping me on the day, Mum – for helping me with the macaroons, Linda (Laura’s mum) – for being chief washer-up, Hugo & Sarah – for use of Relish for my practice sessions, Phil – for help on the day and for roasting my coffee!

It was weird tackling the competition this year as a so-called ‘home barista’. Without a machine to play on or an endless supply of milk and coffee to waste. I’ve only used a 2-group machine on about 4 occasions over the last 9 months and as I said to the judges, being a ‘micro-cafe’ does force you to focus on what you are brewing a little more, because it costs money to make mistakes!

Practice was tough and if i’m honest, I only did two complete run-throughs in preparation – not as many as I would have liked, but fortunately just about enough. It was also quite a solitary experience, I bounced ideas off myself and whereas last year I had the resources of a professional kitchen (complete with professional chefs), this year my own kitchen was the hub of operations.

There was a lot of snow on the first day of the competition and as a result of this, only half of the competitors eight competitors made it to Exeter. Watching barista competitions is not a great spectator sport, but the microphones this year did help that somewhat. I would also say that the backstage facilities were infinitely better than the finals last year. I saw the first competitor who I think was called Premysl, he was from Rick Stein’s restaurant and his chat with the judges looked good, but I think he may have gone up to 16 minutes in total? Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see much else as I was busy sorting out my own setup. Additionally I missed the entire second day of proceedings, which apparently was much better attended, I even missed the announcement of the winners because I had to work!

Anyway, just a quick bit about how my presentation went and how i’m going to improve for the final.

Espresso – Even though I somehow won best espresso I wasn’t overly enamored with the extraction on the day. It seems that my blend needs about 3 weeks to calm itself down after roasting.. can this be possible?

Cappuccino – I poured some pretty good art (for competition), but two of my capps were a bit on the milky side. Again extraction espresso was questionable.

Signature drink – Went quite well, though I would have liked the cream to float better, good feedback from the judges.

Overall feel – I said nearly everything that I wanted to, I was quite organised and precise throughout the set apart from the comedy moment where I had to run off the stage to get a bottle of syrup I had forgotten, then got tangled in my mic!

(setting up)

It is a nice feeling to have scored well (611, so I hear), but to still have plenty of room for improvement. I’m glad that the finals are only 4 weeks away as it doesn’t give me a chance to switch-off, so it’ll be full steam ahead from here on in. I’ll be perfecting my espresso blend next week, then finalising my signature drink and going over the routine again and again before the finals.

Well done to all of the other competitors, especially the first timers, including Jack who very nearly managed to pip me into first place. Also well done to Dale Harris for stepping in and compèring the event.

Oooh and somehow I ended up on ITV local news in the evening, a bit of added pressure as they filmed me pouring my cappuccinos!

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 consideration, prep and thinking that is going in to my 15 minutes on stage.

Signature Drinks

I did a post about signature beverages last year that generated a bit of conversation, which was good. I don’t want to repeat what I wrote last year, so I will write more on development of my drink(s) this year.

All to often the signature drink can be the downfall of a competitor. In recent years the bar in terms of creativity and appearance has been raised so high, that sometimes a barista will find themselves focusing entirely on quirky twists and gimmicks in order to score points. If you want to win the UKBC I believe that you need to produce a signature drink that tastes ‘very good’, but I don’t believe that it is essential for it to be ground breaking in terms of technicality, or looks.

Let’s take a look at this years WBC score sheet…

 Of the three kinds of drink that you need to make, the scoring for sig drinks is the most simple and logical.

Well explained and presented – Score out of 6

This is the only drink where you actually get scored for your ‘chat’ as such, so I will be talking the judges through the drink from start to finish. In my mind, if I can give the judges six solid pieces of information about my drink i’ll consider myself halfway to the full 6 points. Here are a few ideas: Why I created it, what ingredients I have used, how I have put it together, how the drink should taste/feel (links in to Taste balance), when the drink should/could be consumed, , how the drink should be consumed, how the drink links back to coffee, why I have chosen a particular coffee to use in the drink, why I did it this way and not another way.

Appealing Look - Score out of 6

I personally think that clean, simple crockery can go a long way towards getting you a 5 for this score. I am a firm believer of ‘letting the drink do the talking’, this situation is an exception, but I have seen displays that I would consider to be unnecessary and over the top. In the notes we can see that judges will be looking for elegance, cleanliness and how we use the cup/glass.

Elegance unfortunately has a price tag attached to it. In the past I have seen some beautiful glassware and crockery that in my mind tick ‘elegance’ boxes, if you can afford the best then I do think it will stand you in better stead.

Cleanliness should be an obvious one, but by using lots of white in your setup things can appear to be even cleaner than a very clean brown setup for instance. It goes without saying that polishing glassware is a must, I was once told by a judge that if he didn’t deem something to look brand new then points would be lost.

Usage of cups/glasses is relevant in the way that you handle your vessel and how you decide to serve your drink, the trick here is not to let form rule over function. Giving the judges the best possible experience of your drink and engineering they way it is consumed is vital.

Creativity – Score out of 6

If creativity were a woman, she would be laughing about how we fuss over her, with our sleepless liquid nitrogen filled nights and manic gelatin encumbered days. Designing a drink that is both creative and tasty is a very tough. My advice for anyone who is struggling, is to aim for the area that scores you more points… (taste) 

Taste Balance – Score out of 24

The rules as far as taste balance go are simple.

• Don’t overcomplicate things by using ingredients that will never be identified in the flavour.
• Make sure your drink tastes of coffee.
• Use a good espresso extraction as your base.
• Make sure you use a full shot of espresso in every drink.
• Remember to describe in detail the flavour and experience of your drink.

I’m going to be using a variation of my UKBC 2008 signature drink. I would quite happily show you a picture of it, but I don’t have the glasses yet so there’s not a lot of point! Suffice to say that it looks like mini Irish coffee.

The drink comes in two parts. The base is espresso added to a reduction of almond flour, honey, nutmeg and orange zest. The whipped cream on top has been steeped in ground wall nuts and vanilla sugar. Once again it goes along the lines of a liquid coffee cake, but I have made a few alterations to the taste, serving, ingredients and on stage prep.

The thing that I like about the taste balance of my drink is that over the course of 20sec every ingredient present in the drink can be perceived and they work in harmony together. 

Improvements over last year:

• The drink is smaller so expect a bigger coffee taste.
• The glass is more suitable to drink from so expect a better experience.
• The presentation of the drink is more simple so expect a quicker turn-around.
• The ingredients are more balanced so expect better scores for taste.

That’s about it folks. I will probably do one more UKBC: Transparent post in a few days just covering my preparation of equipment and setup. Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have any pointers, questions or comments, just leave them below.