Toronto

I’ve been here since Wednesday, and have had some truly terrible coffee as well as one of the best cappuccinos in months. It would be remiss of me to reveal where and when I received both extremes as I’m judging in the finals today. Yesterday saw 19 competitors with 6 going through to join the two regional champions for a final of 8 today. There were roughly 19/20 judges in attendance and for the most part they were rotated round to round.

It was nice to have the time to talk through people’s performances, and I made a point of trying to write down as much as possible on the score sheets. The rotation system allows you to drink a lot more of people’s drinks, though by 5pm, I was eagerly awaiting the final round. I sorta felt the need to keep talking at least 2 sips on each drink as I felt it would be unfair if I dropped down to one for the later competitors, ultimately ending up in a very caffeinated and slightly queasy Stephen.

I’m really looking forward to today, the finals should prove very exciting and I reckon tonight’s party at Manic Coffee will be a good opportunity for everyone to relax and mingle without having to worry about mixing judges and competitors.

I’ll have more time to check out the city after the competition as I’m here till Friday and then fly back to Vancouver. So hopefully I’ll throw another post up in a day or two with some more musings about the CBC and any learnings from the Toronto Coffee scene.

reluctant to say

I’ve probably posted on coffeed more in the last day then I ever have before, and already I feel tense about what I’ve written. Its possibly a wimpy attitude, and not what you’d expect from a guy who writes a blog, but I worry about putting my opinions out there for all to see. If I’ve learnt anything for certain in coffee is that hard lined opinions are most often a bad thing. I get angry when I see them and try avoid arriving at one if I see it coming. I like how I’m normally quite broad minded in my approach to it all.

The fact that I’ve loved only a handful of espressos is something that whenever I’ve discussed it with peers, they’ve always seemed on the same page. You can imagine my horror to find some disagree. Well not too many, but still, I feel the need to defend my position, and the more I do the more stuck in that opinion I become- not an ideal position for me.

If I could do one of those poll things, (anyone wanna tell me how?), I’d like to see just how many perfect espressos you’ve had.( only in terms of taste)

All I want is a number from people.

travel again

So I’m leaving the country again, and once again I travel to Canada. I’ll be working at the Canadian Barista Championships and taking part in the various classes held the week of the comp. Its great seeing old friends again as well as tasting new coffees.

I’ll give more info soon, but in the mean time you need to watch this video.

I’d also like to say thanks again for all the kind comments on my last post, I love how people from so many countries have left posts; Greece, Canada, Denmark, Australia, UK and Ireland, Estonia and the Republic of LA. The wonderful international community we’re in I guess.

steve

Irish Cupping Competition

Today I entered and won Ireland’s first National Barista Competition. I’m extremely happy and feel very lucky to have won considering how tight the competition was. I made it into the final round by way of being only slightly faster than my good friend Jackie Malone, along with two old co-workers; Liv Akne Andersson from Bewleys Cafe and Kate O’Shaughnessy, a trainer for Bewleys.

The final round was really nerve racking as Kate and Liv had both scored higher than me in their first rounds. In the first round, I’d made the mistake of going over some of my first decisions which resulted in changing cups at the last second which were correct the first time. I made a point of not making the same mistake in the final but was terrified I went through it too quickly without taking my time. I think I might have done better with my accuracy if I hadn’t rushed the last 2 cups, one set of which I didn’t even taste all three cups, the first two being so foul I was sure the third must, must be better and elected it as the odd one out. This was a cocky move which turned out to be wrong, however as each of the finalists scored 6 out of 8, I eventually won by being that little bit quicker- something not essentially paramount for a cupper but nevertheless a rule in the competition.

Each of the finalists scored 6 out of 8. I I was very fortunate to snatch first and feel strongly that many of the competitors on the day were equally capable and could easily have taken first. Triangular cupping was a common event in the training room of Intelligentsia LA and my scores were never as consistent as I’d have liked. Its always been something I’d like to improve and now, with me representing my country for the first time in coffee on a world stage, I guess I’d better start working on it.