COMPS & social events

Friday, Saturday and Sunday are competition days for the NWBC. I am judging on Friday and competing in the Millrock Latte Art competition on Saturday.

The Rambler and I are sensory judges. I’m a little nervous and anxious. The competitors put a lot of time, money and passion into their routines. As a judge it is important that I’m focused for their sake.

The first round goes by quickly. I judged three competitors and our team of sensory judges are consistent and calibrated and that is about good as you can get. The competition continues throughout the weekend but I am officially finished on Friday. I learned a lot from the experience and I am eager to judge again.

So next up for me is the Millrock Latte Art competition. The stakes have been raised and first prize is $5,000. There are 50 people from all over the country competing. This competition is a little different from past competitions. The judges will not be able to see who is pouring the designs that they will be judging. The goal is to take part of the human element out of the scores (just because “Brad Pitt” is pouring doesn’t mean “Brad Pitt” should be in the finals, unless he has a worthy pour…then by all means “Brad Pitt” should be in the finals). This is a good change for some of us who are coming from Nowhere City and are somewhat new to the scene. But you gotta put a good pour down to advance. Unfortunately my pour was not enough to get me into the finals. Bummer. First and second place went to two baristas from Vancouver and third place went to Justin Teisl of Milwaukee. Directly after the competition I got to hang with my old friend Betsie and her baby Ramona (and her other baby, Allen). It was great to see them and it helped clear the grey skies.

In the evenings Coffeefest is put on hold and invitations to parties are extended. Zoka and Stumptown are hosting the big parties of the weekend. There are large spreads of food, drinks and people mingling. There is also a traveling cash kitty going around for the winner of the Bring Your Own Vessel latte art competition. The Rambler throws down a nice design in a 1960’s vintage T.V. lamp…plugged in. Groovy. It’s enough to put him in second place and a chance for the cash prize at Stumptown. But how will he top it?

The next night is Stumptown’s party. It is packed and loud and eerily similar to a high school kegger….Hipsterville High School and you get the feeling that any moment now a pilot on WB will appear based on moments like this. Thankfully Betsie comes along to keep me grounded as well as the Rambler and his lovely lady Sarah. The Rambler brought a different vessel (rhymes with “rondom”) and it doesn’t get the kind of reaction we were expecting (I totally missed it). We went home and ate cold pizza and were lucky to escape with our dignity still in tact….

…well most of us. Just kidding Rambler! I thought it was brilliant, they were just h8ing on you.

But jokes and low-blows aside, I had tremendous experiences during my 4 day Coffeefest weekend. I learned and laughed and made good friends. Thanks so much to Keith (the Rambler!) and Sarah…..

…. for hosting me and hurry up and visit me in Iowa (you too Betsie)! Po’ Po’ Iowa where cappuccino and gas stations are synonymous. But we’re trying to change that.

The Wrangler Rides Into Seattle

It’s Coffeefest time and it’s happening in the CoffeeGeekdom known as Seattle. I’m here for a few reasons: 1) to Geek 2) to judge in the barista competition 3) to pour in the latte art competition 4) because I love coffee.

Coffeefest begins for me on Thursday…….Keith a.k.a “The Rambler” (head roaster at Victrola, host and friend of the wrangler’s), Mark (Victrola manager, barista and Dismas super-fan) and myself (po’ lil’ Iowa boy) head to Zoka Coffee Roasters to begin our grueling 10 hour highly caffeinated judger’s certification class.

There are several others taking this class, some who I even recognize. Past-posted Rita from the Albina Press is here!

Brent Fortune of Crema Bakery is leading the class and we get right into the rules and expectations of a SCAA judge.

Basically it goes down like this: 2 technical judges, 4 sensory judges and 1 head judge.
The tech judges are shadowing the competitor as he/she pulls espresso, builds capps, and creates a signature drink. The tech judges are observing technique (dosing, tamping, tapping, brewing), timing shots, checking for waste, and on and on.

The sensory judges are tasting the espresso, the capp’s, and the sig drinks that are being served by the competitor. Sensory judges are looking for color and persistency of crema in the espresso and a harmonious taste (sweet/acidic/bitter) and tactile (body/round/smooth) balance. In the capps they are looking for a visually correct capp with consistent and persistant foam and a harmonious balance of espresso and sweet milk. In the sig drink they are looking for a well-presented and creative drink. The espresso needs to maintain flavor in order to receive a high score.

The head judge oversees both sets of judges and participates as a “judge” in each category. Part of the head judge’s responsibility is making sure that all the judges are callibrated and consistent.

In the workshop we are served countless drinks (’spro & capps) and practice judging them. The SCAA brought in some stellar baristas to pull us shots and build capps. Some of them went through a mock presentation while we judged them. It was great preparation for upcoming days of judging.

At the end of of the day we were treated to a din-din. I was extremely tired and extremely buzzed at the same time. Along the way we stopped for vitamin water and totally, totally geeked over dinner and drink.

And that is day one in a nutshell……