I made it to the national finals in the Finnish Barista Cup. To be honest I wasn’t really surprised – quite the opposite actually. When you have 10 competitors in the semifinals and six of them are going through to the finals a somewhat okay routine and decent espresso (I used Nekisse from Ethiopia) should secure you a place on the next round. It did, luckily. Otherwise I wouldn’t be there – and that of course wasn’t how I thought it would be.
I take this competition very seriously. Maybe more seriously than anyone else, who knows. Anyway, that’s something I thought would take me to the top – there’s only one going to Colombia. But in the midsts of all that serious training, cupping, practice routines and pouring capps I forgot the most important part of barista competition.
After watching and analysing Mike Phillips’ performance a few times in a row at 1 am and planning all the small details I thought I was ready. I sort of was, just nervous as hell and afraid of forgetting my speaks. I had digged all the information about the coffee I could find and thought that knowledge and “understanding” would award me good scores. After the last practice routine the night before I was full of self-confidence – so full that I forgot to think about the taste.
As probably everyone knows three most important things in coffee are taste, taste and taste. I think that nothing else matters if the taste isn’t right yet I arrogantly believed the opposite. I only pulled one shot during the prep time although it was unfamiliar machine. Obviously the espresso didn’t pour as nicely as it could have as I had adjusted the dose too big. It would have been very easy to lower it a bit but for some reason I didn’t. Big mistake no 1.
It doesn’t matter how convincingly I’m telling all the fine taste descriptions to the judges if they can’t find those in the coffee – and nor did I. I arrogantly believed I could do the same as the WBC finalists, telling all the fine notes one can find in the coffee. The difference is that they have the basics covered before that and I don’t. Mistake no 2. As you can guess, I didn’t get very good points from my espressos.
Arrogance is something I can’t tolarate yet I can way too often be blamed at it.
I took the semifinals too seriously and as a result of that my performance didn’t look good. The passion I originally wanted to bring out didn’t really show out. I showed the judges that I knew something about the coffee but knowledge and especially love did not end up in the cup.
Luckily I managed to gather enought points to make it to the finals. If some other baristas would have achieved their potential routines I wouldn’t be there. I’m going to change my routine thoroughly and take a little bit different approach to the competition. Instead of just aiming for winning I’m going to take a more relaxed approach and serve some pretty damn good coffee (without saying it has “date sweetness” that it does not have…).
the Big Bean
MY TRIP TO…
WAS
A city with such a high pace needs coffee to keep it going – and a lot of it. Luckily, several of those fuel stops serve some really high-octane stuff from around the country. And to mend all those over-caffeneited dwellers the city offers very decent spots to tank in some delicious calories and wash them down with crafty beers.
Before the trip I promised myself two things. First – I will drink more really good coffee in one week than ever before. Secondly, I’ll enjoy more gourmet burgers than, well, ever before. I succedeed in both and therefore it must have been a good trip.
The North-East Regional Barista Competition took place in New York City right in the beginning of my trip. On Saturday night there was a huge Latte Art Throwdown with 48 participants. For the winner there was a decent prize – a trip to Brazil. NYC coffee scene meets M&M’s. I particulary like the Grumpy ones.
I did my homework and compiled myself a map with all the coffee places marked on it – seven pages with around 20 spots to sample New York’s coffee scene.
One of my favourite spots in the Big Bean was Stumptown’s roastery and brew bar in the old Red Hook harbour area in Brooklyn. No fussying about espresso and very few people meant that there was a lot of time to chat with the baristas and sample the somewhat comprehensive coffee menu. The roastery was beautiful, the wooden floor really emphasised the feeling of craftmanship. Red Hook is so called “up-and-coming” area, not yet completely populated with hipsters but in a few years time it probably will be. I think it’s worth a visit anyway.
The popularity of Chemex in the States still amazes me. I have never had a cup I still could recall. Cleanliness is a nice thing but I don’t really like the way it kind of strips everything else from the coffee. Nevertheless, this Burundi was completely enjoyable.
Inconsistency seems to be a problem even in New York. I had very high expectations for some shops as I had heard only positive things talked about them. Unfortunatelly when you have high expectations it is very difficult to beat them. Amazing shops that serve supposedly beautiful and delicious coffee but the barista fails to deliver up to the expectations. I know that each and every barista has a bad day time to time and it is therefore unfair to judge the establishment based on a single coffee served by a certain barista. But it’s that one time that counts. Why would I return to give them another try and prepare for disappointment? A “normal” customer probably wouldn’t.
It may be that I just don’t really understand the style of brewing coffee in the States1. Some of the espressos were just undrinkable – salty, burnt, tar and lack of sweetness. If that’s the way you want your espressos to be brewed then fine. I get it as long as it’s justified (huge mouthfeel) but don’t expect me to be back, I can eat salty liquorice candies at home, too.
Luckily I managed to find a coffee bar serving espressos more to my taste – lots of sweetness, clarity and bright acidity but lesser body. RBC in TriBeCa was in my opinion the best coffee experience in New York. I ended up going the four times. What I really made me go back there several times was the fact that RBC is pretty much the only coffee place in NYC to serve coffee from different roasteries – some variety in a scene dominated by the two big ones, Intelli and Stumptown.
The baristas pulled some incredibly tasty shots with the aid of NYC’s only Slayer. The Über Boiler + V60 -combo worked did the trick too, I loved tasting all the different offeringsthey had from both coasts and even from in between. We had some great discussions and every time I left well-caffeineted. They were also interested in getting some coffee from Finland, all New Yorkes stay tuned…
In general I think that the level and amount of great, freshly roasted coffee in NYC is very good. I haven’t been to any other city where there are more coffee spots than I can go through. The plethora of roasteries makes is very interesting – I counted that I tasted coffee from around 15 different roasteries. Trying some beans through different roasters is very exciting. Based on my observation in the barista party the coffee community is fairly strong although one thing surprised me. Almost none of the baristas I spoke to had visited all the shops I had on my map, many had only been to the ones in their local area. How can you aspire to serve great coffee if you don’t have general understanding and knowledge of the coffee scene?
Oh yes, the burgers! There’s something utterly satisfying when it comes to burgers. Maybe it’s about what I most love in food – simplicity and the very best ingredients. That’s the recipe for a perfect burger and I recon that The Spotted Pig, a Michellin-starred gastro pub, did best job. In general eating out is a breeze compared to other cities. There’s no need for an hour-long search to find a decent establishment for dinner. If you’d like you can spend a lot or very little money and still eat very well.