However, I do not recall all of the drinks that I tasted during that competition and can state very clearly and honestly that cannot consciously recall the drink that Sam James’ prepared for that competition.

What I can tell you is the genesis of “Breakfast in Bed” as it came into fruition this past January while eating dinner at Abacrombie Fine Foods in Baltimore, Maryland. Chef Jesse Sandlin’s dessert: “Breakfast for Dessert” was an assortment of brioche french toast, berries, maple star anise chantilly and bacon toffee. It was this dish that was the direct inspiration for “Breakfast In Bed” and it’s even included in my blog:

http://onocoffee.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_12.html

From there it was direct conversations with both James Hoffmann and The Flying Thud while in London regarding James’ approach to his donut drink that led me towards an approach for “Breakfast In Bed”.

As far as Sam James’ creation goes, I just don’t remember it. My most vivid tasting memory of the 2007 CBC was the clover-brewed Hacienda La Esmeralda that Colter Jones presented as an amuse bouche.

While presenting oneself as a judge does indeed lend one into a “position of authority”, I’ve found the experience to be taxing on both a mental and sensory level. In order to attempt to provide helpful feedback for the competitor, I tried to cram in as many notes and thoughts as possible, which resulted in my long-term taste memory of the drinks to be nil. Outside of that amuse, I don’t remember any of the drinks we tasted.

As for “pillaging the creations” of baristas, I think that’s a bit far-fetched because, from my experiences in both coffee and food (and especially food), I’ve found that nothing is truly “original” and that all “creations” are built upon a collected knowledge from a variety of sources. And in the cases of chefs whom I respect, a significant part of that knowledge and vocabulary is built upon tasting foods from as many sources as possible.

As a corollary, long-term readers of my blog will note a long procession of tasting and eating a variety of foods from many different sources - all of which add to my vocabulary and understanding of food and flavors.

All of that considered, I mean no disrespect to Sam James or his efforts. In the case of “Breakfast In Bed”, his drink was not a direct influence on its’ creation.

By throwing in your own 2 cents, Jay, you have introduced the related, but unique, case of baristas copying past signature drinks in their own routines. This is a separate matter, and rests more within the narrow scope of competition and honour amongst peers. And it is in this context that you yourself have veered awfully close to ethically unsound territory in your recent competition drink. Whether intentionally or otherwise, you produced a drink that reads almost note for note as a rendition of Sam James’ Canadian Barista competition drink. To be clear, I am not accusing you of plagiarism. But I feel it is incumbent on you, having sat as judge at the very competition this drink was debuted at, to acknowledge your association to that drink. Unlike the case of La Mill, you were in a privileged position not only to have been one of a few exposed to the drink (as anyone present at the CBCs can attest, the event was dead empty!), but you were in a position of authority. As such, you should have played it safe and acknowledged Sam’s creation.

I agree with James that in order to move forward as a community and a culture, we need to acknowledge each others’ input. It’s damn near impossible to come up with anything properly original (I don’t subscribe to concrete definitions of originality), but for the sake of respect alone it’s important to acknowledge those around us– especially when some of us are responsible for judging others.

Whether it’s a blog entry identifying the source of the knowledge or a simple POS card detailing the drink and who created it, sharing the origins of the drink are of utmost importance to me and our approach.

I love the idea of a menu carrying some of the best sig drinks designed each year. Its a nice knod to the community and I think it would have been applauded in general.

To not credit the baristas makes little sense to me.

In the past I’ve always tried to credit my influences, and the people who inspired or helped me when creating drinks.

Coffee and a donut was one of my very, very few original ideas and it is probably the tastiest drink I’ve created for competition.

I suppose I was flattered that they decided to use a variation of it, though if I am to be truly honest - I was pleased to hear their version didn’t go down quite as well as mine. (ahh… my monstrous ego)

People regularly email me asking if they can use my pictures from flickr in their cafes and I have always said yes, and never asked for anything in return. If LA Mill had e-mailed and said that this is what they wanted to do I would have been delighted and would have shared everything I had in the creation of that recipe with them. If they hadn’t asked it would have been nice if somewhere they had credited the idea to me. Chef’s do it with other chefs recipes quite a lot, so why can’t us baristas?

It is certainly a drink that has featured in a lot of their PR materials and write ups so I suppose it is in their interests to present it as their own idea, just as they have done with their variation of your drink. (Though that one seems to also share a lot in common with my WBC drink this year).

If we really want to be a coffee community that moves forward together (I’m not talking 3W stuff I don’t really understand) then I would think that more interaction and being as polite and friendly as possible would be a good idea.

Certainly, it is a nice (and wonderful) courtesy to be asked for advice and blessing to use a drink, but is it absolutely necessary?

Being one who’s made what I hope are interesting drinks in the past and have had people copy it (or use the recipes verbatim), I’m not one who gets terribly offended. I hope that people can use those recipes or ideas as starting points to try something different and create their own.

As an example, one of the recent drinks “Breakfast in Bed” was inspired by a dish by a local chef who I only recently saw and told her that it was her dish that inspired the drink. Of course, that inspiration was built upon knowledge shared with me by both yourself and James.

Beyond the drink, suffice it to say that the folks down at Aldo Coffee in Pittsburgh were enthused enough to create their own version of “Breakfast in Bed”, using different ingredients and methodology.

Whenever people ask me about the drinks we’ve created, I always try to remember to put ego aside and that our cuisine is a synthesis of what we’ve been exposed to and those who have shared their knowledge with us. And in many ways, I’m copying those who have come before me.

It would seem hypocritical of me to expect others to “ask permission” when I have blatantly ripped off technique and methods from others.