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UBF 9 -Buckle up!

Anette Moldvaer — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:21:53 +0000

With almost a year’s worth of UBF’s under the belt it is time tie up some loose ends. So grab a partner, grab a belt and tie yourselves up!

For this challenge we want you put your teamwork to the test. 2 baristas strapped together leaving only 2 arms will have to make an espresso, a cappuccino, and an aeropress. It will be a head to head battle against another team with the fastest team going through to the finals. Time penalties will be deducted for spills and poor quality drinks (at the judge’s discretion).

Location:
Taylor St Baristas
Unit 3, 125 Old Broad st
Bank
(nearest tube Bank, take exit 2 to Threadneedle st)

Date:
2 June, 2010

Time:
7pm

BYO drinks (tesco extra is located 50 metres away on Old Broad st)
All monies raised go to Coffee Kids!

Tickets to compete sold here! Please note that each member of the two man team has to buy one ticket each!

Audience: £5 on the door!

Last call for Barista Buddies for the WBC!

Anette Moldvaer — Tue, 18 May 2010 02:44:56 +0000

Do you want to be a Barista Buddy? As part of the World Barista Championship 2010, all 50 + National Champions competing in the WBC with be paired up with a Barista Buddy who will be there to support and help their champion. You might be asked to be the buddy for more than one barista, but no more than three. We need a few more volunteers for this year, so if you have some time to spare and would like to be a Barista Buddy, sign up! ( Local knowledge of London is useful! )

The Buddy Code of Conduct and Expectations:

-Find out any needs your champion will have while in London and see where you can help them
-Do not buy anything for your champion until they have approved the cost and agreed they can pay you back.
-Do Not answer any competition or score sheet questions, please direct those questions to Amber Sather, Competitor Liaison.
-Plan for your time together in London, when you plan on meeting, shopping trips, etc..
-Attend WBC Meet and Greet, Tuesday June 22nd 5:30pm -7:30 pm, location TBC
-Fulfill any commitments you made to your barista ahead of time
-Be at their scheduled practice time 30 minutes ahead of time
-Be in the back for their competition time at least one hour ahead of time. Be sure to talk to your champion and find out when they want you there.
-During your Champions competition time wave their flag proudly and cheer them on. In some cases, you will be their only support.
-Help them clean up as much as possible after their competition time.
-Be there for the announcement of the finalist
-We understand that the show has a lot going on, but ask you to remember that this is the opportunity of a lifetime for many of these baristas and we want to set an example and want the competitors to walk away inspired and wanting to bring this sense of community back to their country.

The WBC competition days are held at the Caffe Culture show at Olympia, Wednesday- Friday June 23-25. You might be required to be there on two of those days, should your champion qualify for the Semifinals/Finals on the Friday and need your assistance!

Email Anette with you name, age, place of work, languages spoken/cultures familiar with, any competition experience or special skills that will make you a great Barista Buddy!

Best of Panama 2010 tasting

Anette Moldvaer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:27:48 +0000

The Specialty Coffee Association of Panama hold a yearly ‘Best of’ competition for their coffee producers, but this year they are doing things a little differently! Instead of bringing in the international jurors to cup and score the samples in Panama, they have sent the samples out to selected jurors, to be roasted and cupped in labs across the world!

Anette has been honoured to be chosen as one of these jurors, and while all of SQM will be cupping the coffees according to Best of Panama protocols, only Anette’s scores will be calculated towards the final result.

As part of this year’s Best of Panama, we’ll be opening up for the general public to come along and try some of the samples as well. If you want to come along to try some of the best coffees in Panama this season, you are now able to purchase a £10 ticket through our webshop. Places will be limited, so first come first serve!

You’ll be given the option of cupping the coffees using the SCAP cupping form, or to just enjoy them with out having to score!

The cupping will take place at the Square Mile Coffee Roastery on Saturday May 1st, 2pm.

UBF 8 -The Blindfold Challenge!

Anette Moldvaer — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:36:56 +0000

Ah yes, the UBF is back, tougher and fiercer than ever! After a League break where we saw several of our UBF contenders take their battle onto the white tablecloths of the UKBC stage, the real, gritty throwdown is back where it belongs: the murky depths of roasteries and shops of London. Next up: Hosted by Kaffeine of Great Titchfield Street, a challenge so brutal you’ll be scared to come watch- which is only fair since our UBF’ers won’t see a thing either!

Head to head, two baristas will be blindfolded and guided to the steamwands by their chosen seeing eye helpers, they’ll get to steam once, be provided with one cup and shot each, and they have to pour their best latte art guided only by the voice of their aide. Winner progresses to the next round. Rules entirely subject to change!

Buy your ticket to compete, pack your milk pitchers, pick your helper, don your wellies and be at Kaffeine Wednesday the 28th, 7pm.

Audience: Space is limited, so please email Kaffeine or twitter at them @Kaffeinelondon to say you’re coming! £5 on the door or free with beer/food as usual!

Aida’s Grand Reserve

Anette Moldvaer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:26:35 +0000

Every year Aida Batlle creates an extremely unusual and outstanding selection of the best peaberries from her three farms Kilimanjaro, Mauritania and Los Alpes. With a mix of Bourbon and Kenia grown across the farms, a peaberry selection processed by the washed method bodes for a exclusive profile of crisp fruits, sweet caramel and intense aromas. We only have three vac packs left of this coffee, and boy do we plan to enjoy it before it goes!

Aida’s Grand Reserve is a legendary coffee, and we’re extremely honoured to be able to introduce this to the UK for the first time, especially due to the way we’ve come about roasting it. When Gwilym Davies won the WBC in 2009, Aida very generously wanted to give him this bag of Grand Reserve as a prize. Gwilym equally generously passed it on to us, as he doesn’t roast much from his cart on Whitecross Street! There is no way we could sell this coffee for any sort of profit, so we are passing on the love and good fortune that we’ve been shown and we’re giving all proceeds from the sale of this remarkable and delicious coffee towards the medical bills of our fellow friend Ricardo Espitia, the executive director of the Consejo in El Salvador, who suffered a stroke in January last year.

I first met Ricardo almost six years ago, and it was his tireless efforts to promote his country’s lovely coffees that set El Salvador up to become my favourite origin. We were thrilled to have him come visit us at the roastery the summer before he fell ill, as we had just taken delivery of our seasonal El Salvadors for him to taste! Here with the lovely Lorena Pacas from El Borbollon.

When I went to El Salvador for the Cup of Excellence last year it was good to see that Ricardo was doing better, but there is still a ways to go until we’ll have the pleasure of seeing him back at work, bringing coffees from El Salvador into the spotlight.

We should be clear about this – when we say we’ll donate all proceeds we mean that for every £20 you spend on a bag, we’ll send £20. We’ll cover the cost of roasting, bagging, credit card fees and all the rest.

We hope you will take this rare opportunity to not only try one of the most delightful coffees in the world, but to help us let the good will and grace continue to flow through the simple pleasure of a great cup of coffee.

Anette

UBF 7 – Have you got the brains to match your beans???

Anette Moldvaer — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:49:03 +0000

Being the Ultimate Barista Fighter requires immense intellectual power as well as big tamping muscles. We’re testing our contestants’ brain cells by putting them through a grueling pubquiz, where the questions will of course center around the who, what, where, why and how of coffee!

This pubquiz will take place on Tuesday the 19th, 7pm, at The Miller : oh yes Ladies and Gentlemen, we are taking the UBF South Side!!!

Now, we can only fit 50 people in there on the night, competitors and spectators alike, so if you want to compete or just come along for the beer, YOU HAVE TO EMAIL ME AND LET ME KNOW!

There will be about 50 questions in various coffee related categories. The UBF’ers will compete in pairs, and each member of the couple will get points for their placing on the final ranking. So team up with the smartest UBF’er you know, or find a really smart UBF newbie to ensure your chances for a round 7 win! We’ll have as many teams as we can so email me to confirm you’re coming along, whether you want to compete, and who your teammate is. Bring a 5′er on the night, winner takes all!

SEE YA THERE!!!

Christmas Webshop Orders

James Hoffmann — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:05:05 +0000

We just wanted to clarify the days that the webshop is and isn’t shipping on over the Christmas and New Year period. After an order is placed it is held until the next roast day and shipped then. Usually we roast and ship every Monday and Thursday, but here are the openings for the rest of the year:

Monday 21st December – Shipping as normal

Thursday 24th December – Closed

Monday 28th December – Closed (Boxing Day Holiday)

Tuesday 29th December – Shipping

Thursday 31st December – Closed

Monday 4th December and onwards – Shipping as normal.

If you have any question regarding your orders then do please get in touch.

UBF 6 – Take it outside, Santa.

Anette Moldvaer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:32:21 +0000

Ultimate Barista Fighters must be able to defy the elements in order to prove their worthiness, so we’re sending them outside, to pour off in the cold, dark December nights… On Wednesday the 16th, we’ll meet in the backalleys of East London (well, at Gwilym’s cart on Columbia Road, anyway) to throw down in…. you know it- 8oz takeaway cups! Who can pour the best with frozen fingers? Will wearing gloves prove advantageous or a handicap? Will the milk freeze before it hits the espresso? You never knew being a UBF fighter would turn this physically challenging, so put your Mukluks and Santa hats on, and we’ll see you at Gwilym’s cart at 7pm!

Tickets to compete here.

Supporters and hecklers: no fee to come along, Happy Christmas to you all! (Thermoses with hot beverages probably useful)

(Also, the Columbia Road shops are open as per their Christmas Wednesdays, so it’s a good time to get those last presents in!)

A cup per day by Billur Turan

Anette Moldvaer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:47:31 +0000

A little while back we had a visit from Miss Turan who got some greens for her project on how to make a cup of coffee using little or only renewable energy, from roasting through to the finished brew. We think she did pretty great!

UBF 5: SPOON OF DOOM! The scariest challenge so far!

James Hoffmann — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:55:20 +0000

Monday the 23rd of November, our Ultimate Barista Fighters- seasoned or fresh to the game- will gather to face a test that very few of them have faced before. This time it’s not about your cups, pitchers, rosettas or ability to pour drinks the fastest, this time it’s all about your tastebuds and your ability to discern between the subtle nuances in coffee.

An Ultimate Barista Fighter must possess a variety of skills, and the knowhow and confidence to quickly decide if a coffee is brewed correctly- and how to fix it if it’s not- is essential. It all comes down to the taste, and through triangle tests it will be decided who can tell if a coffee is slightly off the mark and doesn’t match the others.

Triangulation is a very straightforward way of challenging the sensitivity of your coffee tasting skills that requires no judges, no subjective evaluations and no way of charming your way to a win. You are either right or wrong, and thus the shame and glory will both be greater than ever before!

Our fighters will be faced with several triangles of three bowls of filter brewed coffee. Two of the bowls in a triangle will be the same, one will be the odd one out. Just as with espresso, our challengers must use their senses to decide which of the three has less body, more acidity, less sweetness or more bitterness to find out which one is not quite right and must be rejected. They will employ their Spoon of Doom to slurp and taste the coffee from the bowls, separate the odd cup out from the others, later to be lifted to reveal if it was indeed the correct one- if it is it will have a red mark underneath. The crowd will cheer and their chests will swell with pride! If it is a blank cup, they have been sorely mistaken, the crowd will boo, and they must hang their head in shame… And not only is this a right or wrong test of innate coffee tasting ability, it’s also a race against the clock- as if two challengers should arrive at the same number of correct bowls, it will be the more confident, faster one who wins the round!

More clarification of the rules will be given on the night. Fighters- please arrive at 7 pm for a briefing and to choose your Spoon of Doom (or bring your own), spectators, cheerleaders and hecklers: please arrive at 7:30 pm with £5 or drinks/snacks, and get ready for the most frightening challenge so far, where it’s just you against the coffee…!

PS: A setup where audience can challenge themselves to the same test will be set up after the battle is over, to see how easy it is….

TICKETS FOR COMPETITORS! Venue is the Square Mile Coffee Roastery, 273 Poyser Street, E2 9RF. Be there.