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……

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.