With the WBC coming to town next week we expect things to be a little busier than usual, but there should be some great conversations at the bar – which we’re all really looking forward to.  Keep an eye on the Penny University twitter for updates of guest coffees, new lots hitting the menu and everything in between.

Penny University Website

We hope to see some of you there!  (Though please bear in mind that there are only 6 seats at the bar)

The Penny University
5 Redchurch Street
London
E2 7DJ

map

info@pennyuniversity.co.uk

If you have any questions then just leave a comment!

Opening Hours:

Weekdays – 9 til 5

Weekends – 10 til 4

Columbia Road is a magical place on a Wednesday evening in December, the lovely shops are open but it isn’t as crowded and bustling as when the flower market is on.

Need another reason to visit?  Join us for the first UBF we’ve ever held outside!  World Barista Champion 2009 – Gwilym Davies – is hosting us at his legendary coffee cart on Ezra street as London’s finest baristas prove that fine art can be achieved in take-away cups too!

Spectating is free!  Coffee (to keep you warm) will be free! Fun will had, and you can do a bit of Christmas shopping too!

If you want to compete there are a few spots left and you can book a place by purchasing your ticket here.

See you there!  It is going to be amazing!

Gwilym’s Cart
Ezra Street (Off Columbia Road – Map)
7.30pm
Wednesday December 17th

The Event:

Time: 7.30pm (7pm for Competitors)
Date: September 30th

Venue: Pavilion Cafe, Corner of Globe Road and Old Ford Road, Victoria Park.

Map

Attendance to spectate is £4 on the door, or free if you bring treats/beer! Come down and cheer on your favourites!

The Challenge is a speed challenge.

Competitors must make 4 drinks: Cappuccino, Latte, Flat White & Macchiato.

They can only steam 1 pitcher of milk for all drinks.

Cappuccino and Flat White must contain 2 shots.

This is a time trial. Time penalties for:

Drinks with latte art with receive time bonuses. A full explanation will be given on the night to all competitors. Jugs, milk, coffee and cups will be provided.

Challenge: ACF 7oz cups.  Can you pour on demand? The wheel of fortune will decide the pours.  Can you bring it…..?

Competitors: Tickets – £5 (Prize fund of £50 + some barista wares)

Please arrive at 7pm for the draw, or let us know if you are running late.

Spectators: Do not buy tickets!  Entry – £4 on the door, £3 with a UBF Badge (or free if you bring some beer or food).

There will be beer and delicious eatings provided (hence the cover charge and option to avoid it).

Massive thanks to Paul from CoffeeHit.co.uk for agreeing to add to the prize pot for each event!

Frustratingly the coffee from Discovery fell victim to our postal service (do you see a theme across these events!).

Onto the evening:  This was probably our busiest event to date, the room got pretty hot and so we opened the main door to let a little summer inside.

I pulled a lot of shots, and I think I was pretty happy with most of them.  The standard of coffees across these events has been insanely high which means we have a very demanding audience.  I think they all left very happy.

As always at the end voting for favourites was somewhat split – which is no bad thing!  What made me very relieved was that the crowd’s descriptions pretty much matched what the roasters themselves described.  Except for ‘puppies.’  Once again I really want to know who wrote that on the board!

We do always ask participating roasters if they fancy making a video, and occasionally they do and this time we have an awesome one for you:

49th Parallel Coffee Roasters – Epic Espresso

Thanks for all at 49th Parallel Roasters for both the video and the amazing coffee, and thank you to Transcend Coffee, JJ Bean, Origins and Discovery for taking part!

]]> http://www.squaremileblog.com/2009/07/08/taste-of-canada-report/feed/ 2 http://www.squaremileblog.com/2009/06/14/taste-of-canada/ http://www.squaremileblog.com/2009/06/14/taste-of-canada/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:20:33 +0000 James Hoffmann http://www.squaremileblog.com/?p=278

Quiet for a while, then two posts in one day!  Such a flurry of activity!

So – the final Taste of Event that we are going to do for a while.  They have been a huge success (far more popular than we ever expected) but we don’t want the format to become stale.  We will still be doing events and tastings, but not pulling hundreds of shots of espresso at 7 at night!

The roasters we have for this means that these events go out on a high!  We hope to have coffee from:

49th Parallel, JJ Bean, Discovery Coffee, Transcend Coffee, Hines/Origins and Phil & Sebastian.

Awesome!  40 tickets in the webshop, so be quick!

Taste of Canada tickets.

***IF YOU WANT TO COME, PLEASE LET US KNOW BY LEAVING A COMMENT OR BY SENDING US AN EMAIL!!!***

On Sunday March 8th you are cordially invited to join us at the roastery to watch the 2009 United States Barista Championships live via the internets! The top 6 baristas from across the US will battle it out for the crown and sash, and the lifetime opportunity to go to…. Atlanta GA in April, to vie for the WBC title.

The finals kick off at 20:00 UK time, and without too much of a delay the results and award ceremony should be done around 23:30. We’ll be open for business from 7-ish, and will make sure there will be plenty of coffee around to thoroughly frazzle your nerves before the grueling battle begins! If you want to bring something we suggest chairs (cus the floor is cold) a beverage of your choice (as stated coffee’s on us) or foods (we’ll need our strength).

Join us for an evening of cheering at people making coffee on a big screen, crying and hugging each other as the champion is announced, the Barista Drinking Games and a few more beers to fuel an uninhibited and uncoordinated latte art throwdown!

PLEASE drop us a line or leave a comment here if you are coming, so we know roughly how many flags to get for waivin’.

USBC Teaser from wrbc on Vimeo.

Yesterday saw the last of the UK regional heats take place in Lewes, featuring baristas from London and the South East plus a couple of out of region entrants.

We knew this last heat was going to be a tough one, with some very solid baristas battling it out for the coveted semi final spots. Unsurprisingly, five out of the seven competing scored high enough to move on to the next round, the highest number for any regional!

Gwilym gave a wonderful performance and served up some really tasty drinks in his 15 minutes on stage. (Or so we were told- James and I are rubbish at watching when the clock starts, so were nervously pacing the back room trying not to watch the clock ticking down!) But the hard work, late nights, endless dishes and constant nerves proved worth it, and he not only won the heat, he did so with a very, very good score and won best signature drink on top of it all!

A very deserving winner and all round top bloke, Gwilym is a fantastic barista and coffee advocate, genuinely doing what he loves best and serving delicious coffee to London’s thirsty masses from his carts on Whitecross Street and Columbia Road markets. We’ve been honoured to work with him over the last few months, and we’re very proud that he chose to use our coffee.

Of the 80-something entrants across the UK 25 have moved on to the semi finals in Glasgow, and the top 6 from there will throw down in a seriously intense finals on Wednesday. Hopefully there will be a live feed up somewhere so even if you can’t make it up there to watch, you can cheer online and along with all of us nervously waiting off stage be the first to know who will be representing the UK at the Worlds in April!

James and I, having been heavily involved in all sides of the competition for the last several years, have always been saddened by the lack of interest shown by London cafes and roasters. Support for the competition in the London scene has been disappointingly thin over the last few years, to the point where the ‘London Regional’ has been repeatedly canceled, and the one or two lone entrants moved to other regionals. This is the second year in a row where the lack of backing has lead to there not being a heat held here, but- at least now we have a few more actual London baristas signing up to compete! Finally! Next year we at SQM will do our very best to make sure the London heat will rock, no more sending our boys and girls off to compete in Birmingham, Penzance or Llandudno! With more and more great coffee places popping up all over the city we recon it’s time to get all these baristas putting their portafilters where their mouths are, and throwdown for the title of London champ! Those who do not dare do not win!

But for now, we’ll settle for Lewes, and would encourage every fellow barista, coffeegeek and competitor-in-the-making- London based or not- to head down for the day to cheer, chat, drink coffee, and steal ideas for next year…