Tamper Tantrum

TT NYC: "Beyond Quality" | Colleen Anunu (Fair Trade USA)

In “Beyond Quality”, Colleen Anunu asks us to rethink what matters to the future of specialty coffee and shares her personal answer: ensuring coffee is profitable in the long run, reducing the negative social and environmental impacts, and engaging with other actors in the coffee value chain. Whilst these may sound fairly straightforward, Colleen explains how our current mythologizing of the industry—amongst other things—is getting in the way of us having a real conversation about what it means for coffee producers to profit and sustain. Colleen’s talk ends with some positive steps we can take to not only facilitate these conversations, but build a better, stronger industry together—a perfect way to kick off 2017.

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Colleen Anunu specializes in market access strategies for coffee producers and roasters, emphasizing shared value, gender equity and farmer-first community development. As the Sr. Manager of Coffee Supply for Fair Trade USA Colleen focuses on strategic initiatives related to Fair Trade social premium investments and impact evaluation. Colleen has a masters degree in International Development from Cornell University, where her research focused on gender-inclusive smallholder participation in high-value coffee markets. Colleen has a professional background in coffee procurement, roasting and quality control, and is an Assistant Q Grader Instructor and is on the SCAA Board of Directors. She lives in Montréal, QC.

No. 70

It’s time for the second annual Tampies! In an all-time first, the Tamper Tantrum Trio appear on the podcast all together to review the outgoing year and hand out some prestigious awards, including the much coveted “James Hoffmann of the Year” award.

We could give you a preview of things to come in this space like we usually do, but let’s be honest—it’s Boxing Day over here and we’d much rather be watching the football. Besides—it’d ruin all of the delightful quirky surprises that occur when you put Colin, Jenn, and Steve all together to try and have an organsied chat. Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

 

TT NYC: "Lemon Juice" | Matt Perger (Barista Hustle, St. Ali)

After a quick detour into the business of brewing, we’re diving back into bias—but from a completely different perspective. The morning presentations by Meister, Michelle Johnson, and Jenn Chen in New York introduced us to the effect of bias on the industry as people, influencing our career paths, who we hire as employees, how we treat our customers (and how they treat us), the places in which we choose to operate, and the impact on all of the communities we touch as an industry. This week’s video, presented by none-other than Tamper Tantrum Live veteran Matt Perger, examines how bias affects the other primary part of the coffee industry: our product.

“Lemon Juice”, in true Perger fashion, doles out some much-needed tough love in an incredibly approachable way, all whilst looking at how cognitive bias affects everything from our equipment choice to our roasting style. This is, as Matt suggested, truly a look at “five ways to push past your inner Dunning-Kruger”—and a great impetus to think about what we can do to improve coffee quality in the coming years. New Year’s resolution, anyone?

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Everything Matt does is focused on consistency, accuracy and deliciousness. People around the world know him as the Barista who popularised using the EK43 grinder for espresso, sieved coffee grinds for uniform particle size in the WBrC and designed his own tamper (amongst other things).

He's the World Brewers Cup Champion for 2012, and has placed 2nd (2013) and 3rd (2011) in the World Barista Championships. In 2014, he was the Coffee in Good Spirits World Champion.

Matt is a partner at Sensory Lab in Melbourne Australia where he come up with new and exciting ideas to make coffee better. Barista Hustle is where he shares everything he's learnt so far, interacting with the Barista community and exploring the cutting edge of our craft.

No. 69

We guess you could say we’re on a bit of a story-telling kick--this week’s podcast was recorded live as a panel discussion at the release of “This Beautiful Addiction”, documentary series by Jason Breckenridge, at Prufrock Coffee in London. Edited into twelve ten-minute episodes, “This Beautiful Addiction” documents national and world level competition baristas, judges, and coaches across four competition seasons, providing a truly fascinating look back at what has (and hasn’t) changed since filming first began.

Here, Steve chats with filmmaker Jason and two familiar faces on the UKBC competition scene: many-times UKBC finalist Dale Harris, and former coach (/current judge) Jeremy Challender, both of whom were involved in the filming of “This Beautiful Addiction” over the years. Together, they consider both how the story has been told, how it might be received, and how it could have been told differently to achieve different ends.

 

MCF: The Business of Brewing Vol. 1

It’s been an incredibly busy autumn here at TT HQ and, as we’re wrapping up all of our 2016 events, it’s been exciting to get all of the video footage back and revisit some of the new things we did this year. This week, we’re taking quick detour and jumping about a month ahead (and about 3334 miles east) to Steve & Colin’s introduction of our program at the Manchester Coffee Festival, “The Business of Brewing”—a program built both on a little bit of nostalgia for old-school Tamper Tantrum live videocasts and a desire to dig into the business of running a specialty coffee shop. Featuring a rather handy introduction to the business model map, this little intro introduces a great tool to assess a current business or design a new one.

 

No. 68

We may be right in the middle of our little micro-series on “The Coffee Man”, but the film's online release isn’t the only thing happening this week—the form for entry into Third Wave Wichteln’s international coffee exchange closes on December 1^st! We’ve been watching the Wichteln since it first started in 2013 and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to start this week’s episode with a quick chat with one of the architects of the swap, Markus Reuter, before this year’s exchange officially kicks off.

 After we say goodbye to Markus, we jump right back into our little micro-series. Our last episode featured Jeff and Roland from Jeraff.tv about what it was like to film, create, and release “The Coffee Man”, a documentary that inadvertently followed Sasa Sestic on his journey to becoming a World Barista Champion in Seattle, but this week, Steve is joined by the coffee man himself. Together, they chat about Sasa’s move to Australia, his introduction to coffee and subsequent career, and competitiveness. Also: Hide’s cumulative awesomeness, what it was like to be in front of the camera, excellent analogies, the promise of a table tennis throw-down.

 

Live from New York: Discussion

As we wound down the morning talks from our New York event, Steve and Colin passed the reins to Nick Cho to lead an open discussion with Meister, Colleen Anunu, Michelle Johnson, Jenn Chen, and Colin, winding together the threads of the morning into some larger—and incredibly important—areas of focus. Together, they unpack defensiveness, ask (and answer) why it’s important to apply these concepts to  the coffee industry specifically, dig into the role that specialty coffee plays in gentrification, question the coffee shop as community centre, and revisit the purpose of codes of conduct.

Pencils out, folks, and fingers on the pause button: there aren’t any equations or numbers for you to catch here, just incredible and highly important insights that could use a little bit of introspection from the rest of us.

No. 67

This week, we’re kicking off the mini-est of mini-series on the recently released documentary film about 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic, titled “The Coffee Man”—chances are you’ve seen some promo for the film if not actually attended one of the 180 screenings that have happened so far in 37 countries. As it’s about to make its online debut at the end of this month, we wanted to chat with both Sasa and Jeraff about their experiences making the film and bringing it to audiences.

 Episode 67—otherwise known as part one, we guess—features Australian documentary filmmakers Jeraff, Jeff Hann and Roland Fraval, chatting about telling stories, intent, authenticity, and getting to know the competitive coffee world.  

 

TT NYC: "Get Woke on Power" | Jenn Chen (Coffee Marketer)

If New York was all about diversity and bias tackled from a variety of different angles, Jenn Chen’s talk, “Get Woke on Power”, was an important primer in the massively complex topic of power and power dynamics, which underscore every interpersonal interaction we have on a daily basis, for better or for worse. Using shared, anonymised stories about how power dynamics have affected the tellers’ coffee careers, Jenn has identified three main areas of potential difficulty in navigating the use and possible abuse of power in the daily life of coffee professionals living and working in consuming countries.

 

Misusing power doesn’t just lead to decreased emotional well-being—it impacts the physical and financial well-being of those working in coffee, too. Jenn’s talk is more than a call for awareness, it’s a call for action: whether it’s roasters considering the power producers have to control the stories being told about them to larger institutions stepping in to help take on employers who misuse employees, there is a never-ending list of areas in which we can “get woke” in regards to power. 

No. 66

Is it coincidence or a clever scheduling move on our part that No. 66—released the Monday before we return to Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival this weekend—features the most-watched speaker to come out of our first year there? We’ll let you decide. In any case, this week, Colin Harmon is joined by Ross Brown as they talk through the building of Browns of Brockley, the early days of London coffee scene, and why opening a coffee shop can sometimes be a terrible, messy, and cringe-y—although still wonderful—thing. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

TT NYC: "Laying the Groundwork for Diversity" | Michelle Johnson (Royal & Design)

With her blogpost “The Black Cup of Excellence: Being Black in Specialty Coffee” from June of this year, Michelle Johnson moved the issues of race and diversity in the specialty coffee industry squarely to the fore and raised important points for us all to consider regardless of our role in the industry. Here, she provides some concrete and actionable solutions, both individually as well as ideologically, that we need to put into practice if we are to become a diverse, open, and sustainable industry.

Again, this one is for everyone to watch: even if you think you’re already doing good work in this direction, it’s always possible to do more. Notebook and pencil recommended!  

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Michelle Johnson is a Phoenix-based independent coffee professional, community leader, and project director for the creative startup, Royal & Design (@royalanddesign). She's lived in Phoenix for three years, but is originally from the Washington, DC area, where she was exposed to specialty coffee through Counter Culture. Even though she's no longer behind the bar full-time, Michelle is active in her local coffee community, planning semi-monthly events with her partner-in-coffee, Braden. When Michelle is not doing something coffee-related, taking photos, managing her creative partners/friends, or traveling, she's sleeping because she's doing at least one of those things when she's awake. Champagne is her 2016 drink of choice. Drake is her king. You can read her thoughts on being a Black woman in specialty coffee and other random things over at thechocolatebarista.com.

No. 65

Hello and welcome to the 65^th episode of the Tamper Tantrum podcast! This week, Steve is joined by Jenn to talk through their experience as production partner of the afternoon lectures at the first-ever Roaster Guild of Europe camp in Parnu, Estonia. Wrapped in alongside with sneak-previews of upcoming video releases, Steve and Jenn also chat rumours, unification, feuds, and what’s happening next!

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

TT NYC: "Ambition" | Meister (Cafe Imports)

Two weeks ago, we ran our first-ever US event at Taylor St. Barista’s Madison Avenue shop in New York and, today, we are super excited to release our first video of our opening speaker: the incredibly inspiring Meister. Described by Nick Cho as “a secular sermon”, there was no better way to kick off a day about understanding bias and creating a more diverse industry than with Meister’s look at what it means to be ambitious in coffee. Although it holds gems for both employees and employers working in coffee alike, Meister’s thoughts on ambition and management ring true to all non-traditional industries and endeavours.

This, like all of the talks from NY, should be saved on one of your devices somewhere indefinitely and referred to whenever you start to question why you’re doing what you’re doing. We spent a few months with this talk as Meister was preparing it, and we still glean something new from it every time we listen.  

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Photograph by Brian W. Jones from DCILY for Tamper Tantrum NYC. 

No. 64

Oh, look—it’s Tamper Tantrum Episode 64! Steve and Colin recap all things New York: the incredible speakers who took to the stage, their presentations, and of course, their shenanigans outside of the event. Naturally, as do most episodes recorded without supervision, this podcast includes bullying Jenn—repeatedly— as well as consistently inconsistent swerving into the incredibly tangential realm of golf and football, some real audio gems, and general hilarity. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/ 

CoLab: Antwerp - Discussion Vol. 2

This week, we say “tot ziens” to our time with Barista Guild of Europe at CoLab: Antwerp this past April: that’s right, it’s the afternoon discussion featuring Dr. Marco Wellinger, Emma Sage, and Stephen Morrissey! The topics cover everything from why the internet is dangerous (but also awesome) to new research opportunities opening up as a result of the SCAA/SCAE Unification, with more in between: the cyclical nature of trends, crowd-sourcing data, whether or not you can try to meet multiple needs, why we need to start promoting variety, cultural differences in coffee service and approach, and the importance of an open mind.

Many thanks to our incredible speakers, the attendees of CoLab: Antwerp, and of course, the Barista Guild of Europe. Next stop: New York! 

No. 63

We may be one week out from our American debut (Sunday, September 25^th at Taylor St. Baristas on Madison Ave! Be there, or be trapezoid!), but it’s no time to slack on the podcast. This week, we’re on No. 63 and Steve is joined by former guest, fellow HasBeaner, SCAE Board Member, and long-time friend, Dale Harris. Aside from a smattering of (somewhat inappropriate) inside jokes, they incidentally (and, as it would seem, accidentally) take on some of the bigger questions and conundrums facing the specialty industry today: how we underestimate large chain businesses, the morality of equipment and wholesale pricing, the most effective way to make positive change in the industry, and the opportunities and challenges facing a unified specialty coffee organisation. Naturally, this doesn’t stop them from tackling their own personal history, too—including why Gwilym Davies is a hero, Dale’s questionable music selection, and Steve’s newest man-crush confession. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Antwerp - Discussion Vol. 1

This week, we’re stepping back a bit and revisiting the morning speakers that joined us at Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab: Antwerp this past April, when Charlotte Malaval, Rob Berghmans, and Talor Browne took to the stage to answer questions from the audience. The questions—and resulting discussions—focused on management (both self-management as well as employee management), expectations, and the lack of a one-size-fits-all solution for looking after both your people and yourself when it comes to the coffee industry. There are many ways in which we need to grow to become a “sustainable” industry, but it’s encouraging and inspiring to see that this discussion has continued beyond CoLab: Antwerp with an increased focus on asking ourselves searching questions not only on how we can improve coffee or coffee quality, but also ourselves in the process. 

No. 62

It’s No. 62 and all we can say is “no”—it turns out that putting Colinand Steve in the same room to record a podcast results in an abundance of puns,terrible accents, admissions of man-crushes, interjections of disbelief, andchats covering things here, there, and everywhere. Amidst the increasedsilliness, they wrap up on Steve’s bittersweet time in Bolivia, make a case fora yearly event to bring coffee folk together in Dublin, discuss the merits ofnewer roasting business models, Colin’s goal to gain a stone whilst he’s in NewYork (tweet @dublinbarista with your recommendations!), and dream about openinga tiny little shop in the south of France. Also: football banter, even thoughthey both readily admit that pretty much nobody in coffee likes football.Thanks, guys.

www.nuovasimonelli.com/it/en

CoLab: Antwerp: "I'm a World Barista Champion and I don't want to pay for your coffee" | Stephen Morrissey, SCAA

This week features the last speaker from our last collaboration with BGE this year at CoLab: Antwerp—the one and only Stephen Morrissey! Kicking off with a somewhat provocative title, “I’m a World Barista Champion and I don’t want to pay for your coffee”, Stephen’s talk is an engaging look at how our position within the industry impacts our perception of “good value” when it comes to coffee. Drawing on personal experience, Stephen’s talk is an incredibly honest—and humorous—reminder that we could all benefit to walk at least a mile in a consumer’s shoes before we try to sell them a transcendental coffee experience. We realise we’ve been bandying about the term “must watch” a bit recently—and we can only attribute this to the incredible speakers we’ve been lucky enough to bring on board—but we’re pretty sure you’ll not only benefit from but also enjoy having your eyes re-opened to what it’s like on the other side of the till.  

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Stephen Morrissey’s coffee career began in Rio Coffee Co. on Dublin’s Exchequer Street. He spent a few years training baristas and roasting at Bewley’s on Grafton St, while at the same time completing a degree in Music Composition at DIT. In 2008, Stephen moved to London to help open Square Mile Coffee Roasters and that year became the first Irish person to win the World Barista Championship in Copenhagen. This led to traveling the world visiting coffee farms, providing education on the merits of specialty coffee, and ultimately a new home in Chicago where Stephen began work at the renowned Intelligentsia Coffee. Over six years, his many duties involved overseeing the education department, store design, brand development, design, product development, events, marketing, and communications—skills that serve him well as Senior Creative Advisor for the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

 Stephen has judged in national barista competitions spanning four continents and today serves on the Advisory Board for World Coffee Events, the governing body that produces events and competitions promoting specialty coffee. He is the inaugural chair of the Competitions Development Committee, a group charged with evolving the World Barista Championship format. Stephen was the co-founder of Coffee Common, a series of consumer-focussed educational events that originated at the TED conference in California. He lives in Chicago with his wife Jen, his son Gene, and their black lab Regis. 

No. 61

It’s Episode 61 and we’re switching things up! This week, Steve joins us for what might turn into a new feature—an update on his trip to Bolivia, recorded in the field. Inspired by Thompson Owen’s Sweet Maria’s coffee podcast and Steve’s own weekly In My Mug video cast, this week’s episode part history primer, part love letter, and part plea to keep Bolivian coffee alive--a must-listen for any coffee professional who aspires to go to origin. No. 61 ends with a (not so) quick interjection from Jenn with updates on Tamper Tantrum’s barrage of autumn events: New York City (September 25), Roaster Guild of Europe Camp afternoon lectures (October 6-8), and Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival (November 5-6). Have a listen and let us know if you’re a fan of the monologue!

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Antwerp: "World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon" | Emma Sage (SCAA)

One of the best things about Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab: Antwerp programmingwas undoubtedly the Wednesday morning session with SCAA’s Science Manager, EmmaSage, who lead attendees through a taste-buds-on deep dive of the World CoffeeResearch Sensory Lexicon. Whilst technology hasn’t developed to the point wherewe can share sensorial experiences via the technowebs, we can share with youEmma’s introduction to World Coffee Research, the International Multi-LocationVariety Trial, and the sensory lexicon they’ve developed to be able to be ableto objectively measure—and thus improve—desirable coffee qualities in a worldof climate change and increasing disease.

World Coffee Research—and the important work they undertake—is atestament to the positive power of collaboration. We hope you are inspired byEmma’s talk to continue to collaborate, whether at events like BGE’s CoLab orwithin the new unified specialty coffee organisation!

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Emma Sage is theScience Manager at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), whereshe promotes research, acts as the primary liaison between science andindustry, and serves as a scientific interpreter for coffee professionals. Inthis position, she has also investigated a variety of scientific topicsrelevant to the specialty coffee industry by way of original research projects,content for pathway classes, invited lectures, special reports and literaturereviews, and regular contributions to the SCAA Magazine. She also serves as theWorld Coffee Research Industry Liaison. She holds a M.S. in Botany from theUniversity of Wyoming, a B.A. in Ecology, and holds a post-graduate certificatefrom the Applied Sensory and Consumer Science Certificate Program at theUniversity of California, Davis. She has experience with a variety oflaboratory and field research projects in plant physiology, biology, ecology,enology, and climate change science which has given her a solid foundation toapply to coffee. She has always been committed to science education and isdedicated to acting as an effective resource for the specialty coffee industry. 

No. 60

This week’s episode serves as a strong contradiction to conventional wisdom: meeting your heroes can be an amazing thing. In No. 60, Colin is joined by none other than Paul Stack, Operations Director of Marco Beverage Systems and current SCAE President, to reminisce about the filter coffee revolution, chat about Paul’s past life as an industrial designer, query “interesting human stuff”, and anticipate the results of SCAA’s vote on SCAA/SCAE Unification to be released August 10. They’ve managed to pack an incredible amount of thought-provoking discussion into sixty minutes alongside some, ehm, extra-special descriptions making this one of those podcast episodes you really just shouldn’t miss. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Antwerp: "Water for Coffee Extraction: Composition, Recommendations & Treatment" | Dr. Marco Wellinger (ZHAW Institute of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry)

Attention, water geeks! This week’s video is for you. Dr. Marco Wellinger, leading author on the SCAE’s recently published “The SCAE Water Chart: Measure, Aim, Treat”, took to the stage in Antwerp to share the most-recent results of his then ongoing research in preparation for publication. Dr. Wellinger’s talk is a deep dive into some of the water conundrums he and the SCAE Research team faced when developing the water chart, like the fact that pH measurements are often a poor indicator of a water’s alkalinity and why you sometimes get “fizzy espresso” after treating very hard water with decarbonizing ion-exchangers. This is definitely another talk where you’ll want to have a notebook, pencil, and the ability to hit a pause button as you watch!

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Dr. Marco Wellinger: Coffee researcher in the field of chemistry, technology and sensory analysis; Q Arabica Grader, MSc ETH Zürich, Dr. ETH Lausanne / Paul Scherrer Institute

Marco Wellinger is a research fellow in the group of Chahan Yeretzian at the Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology at ZHAW Wädenswil. His fields of research are instrumental analysis of volatile aroma compounds from coffee (gas chromatography and mass spectrometry), espresso machine and grinder technology as well as sensory analysis of coffee. In the last two years he has been engaged in the topics of characterization and treatment of water for coffee extraction. He held presentations on the topic of water at various locations, among the most recent at AST Live 2016 in Budapest. He was the lead author in the upcoming booklet on water from the SCAE published this year (2016), “The SCAE Water Chart: Measure, Aim, Treat.” 

No. 59

From football banter to staff cost percentages and potato defect theories to Machiavellian plans, Episode 59 is exactly what you should expect when Steve & Colin record together. Also: a continuation of the gender equality discussion, industry inadvertent sexism, Steve’s trip to Rwanda, recording woes, why 32.03 might be the actual answer to the universe, unification speculation, the importance of tempo, and some sneaky tidbits about 

our upcoming program in New York this September.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Antwerp: "Coffee, I love you but you're bringing me down" | Talor Browne (Talor & Jørgen)

Talor Browne’s “Coffee, I love you but you’re bringing me down” brings the topic of coffee professionals’ physical and mental health directly to the forefront of our discussions about the future and sustainability of the coffee industry. Despite the fact that there is a general agreement that there are important things to consider, the unwieldy and multifaceted nature of the topic—difficult to discuss generally, let alone in an actionable way—has tended to stifle the conversation and left it at the periphery. 

Talor’s CoLab: Antwerp presentation is a call for us to re-open the discussion, no matter how uncomfortable or difficult it might be, and to talk about the health of our people: there is “no one-size fits all” answer, we’ll all need to pitch in to find solutions to a problem that will impact the growth and maturity of our industry moving forwards. 

The overwhelming response to both Talor’s initial survey and subsequent presentation in Antwerp highlighted how important it is to have this conversation, so we’ve helped to facilitate the continuation of the conversation online: share your thoughts, join the discussion, and view the survey results at COFFEE, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN.  

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Talor Browne cut her teeth in the early days of what is now the heaving behemoth of the Melbourne specialty coffee scene. Fortunate enough to have worked with Mark Dundon from St.Ali to Brother Budan and Seven Seeds, then on to Market Lane and just about every other notable bar in the city. In 2012, Paris beckoned and she left her old life behind to team up with Coutume. That partnership was short lived when she was offered a barista position in Oslo. Not long after, she was promoted to head roaster. After 13 years working for people she admires, Talor is now in the process of building a very different kind of coffee roastery in Norway. She also happens to be a great cook.

No. 58

Warning: considerable sweariness lies ahead. In No. 58,  Steve & Colin provide their own recap and dissection of all things alphabet soup that have happened in, around, and following on from Dublin’s week as host city for World of Coffee 2016. This week episode includes, but is not limited to (by any stretch…!), to some of the following topics: emcee rules (and how to break them), an epidemic of box-ticking, being thoughtfully dressed down, an exploration of morality, why the team at 3FE are legends, tradeshow blues, an example of what happens when you push your lackey too far, the recent flurry of online activity surrounding SCAA/SCAE unification, and Colin’s newest crush(es).

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Antwerp: "EK43 as Espresso Grinder" | Rob Berghmans (Caffènation)

Chances are, you’re not unfamiliar with the EK43 grinder—first seen being used as a coffee grinder in the 2011 World Brewers Cup (Vienna) and then made a specialty coffee household name thanks to Matt Perger’s 2012 World Barista Championship routine, the EK43 has been a hot topic of conversation within the coffee industry and a familiar site both on the WBC stage and in specialty shops ever since.

In our second video from CoLab: Antwerp, local Rob Berghmans (Caffènation) shares his thoughts on the benefits of using the EK43 as their main espresso grinder as well as the workflow they’ve put into place in order to maximise said benefits. This one is for all types: workflow geeks, EK43 fangirls, Turkish burr skeptics, or even just into the thought-process behind creating shop systems—get in! 

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Rob Berghmans founded Caffènation back in 2003 when the current form of specialty coffee was still largely uncharted territory. Since then, he and his team have been at the forefront of sourcing, roasting, and serving excellent coffees from their base in Antwerp. Caffènation is involved in many Belgian initiatives that push specialty coffee forward, working constantly to “change the ball game” whilst creating a “second home” for their customers, and have played host to the community-building Belgian Aeropress Competitions since 2011. Their approach has proved to be popular, not just at home in Belgium, but also abroad: Caffènation now has a second shop in Amsterdam and exports a third of their roasting output all over Europe.

No. 57

This week, we return to our roots: recorded the morning after the Dublin WBC barista party, No. 57 is all about what went down this week as 62 national champions took to the WBC stage and thousands of specialty coffee professionals descended upon Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee show. We could tell you more, but where's the fun in that?

 

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CoLab: Antwerp: "Freelance Barista" | Charlotte Malaval (Independent)

It’s a happy accident that our first release from BGE’s CoLab: Antwerp coincides with our opening speaker’s return to the World Barista Championship stage. A well-known name amongst specialty coffee circles after placing as a finalist last year at the WBC in Seattle, Charlotte Malaval is carving out a remarkable career along a relatively new path for our industry: as a free-lance barista.

In her Antwerp presentation, “Free-lance Barista: How to exist within the global industry as an individual”, Charlotte considers the pros and cons of the corporate structure—for businesses and baristas—that pushes baristas into an independent status before sharing how she’s managed to turn what could be seen as limitations into incredible opportunities for her own self-education and advancement. This isn’t the presentation you think it might be—it’s better—and it contains an important message for anyone working specialty coffee, regardless of where you are on the chain.

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Charlotte Malaval began a degree in Cultural Anthropology before discovering coffee. She soon found she had a real passion for coffee, and as she always does, she considered her feelings and followed her intuitions: she left university to start working in coffee, or rather, to start learning in coffee. Now working as an independent barista, Charlotte is most well-known for her work on the competition stage: she placed sixth in the world at the 2015 WBC in Seattle and will return to the WBC stage again, this time in Dublin, to represent France as their national champion.

No. 56

It may have taken a little longer than we anticipated, but it’sfinally here! Remember that time when Steve went to Shanghai for the WorldCoffee Roasting Championship, had a chance to sit down with Andreas fromCropster, and promptly had a spectacular technical failure that meant there wasno record of the podcast ever having been recorded? This week, we’ve managed torecreate most of that magical moment with the help of t’internet!

No. 56 is all about the intersection of coffee and tech, the resultingmutual love affair between coffee and tech geeks, and the changes we’restarting to see—good or bad—as the two become more intertwined. There are somefascinating things that crop up in this conversation to take home and thinkabout a little bit more, regardless of whether you’re a bean-browner or abean-brewer.

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Have more questions? Cropster will be hanging out at SCAE WOC booth H12next week as well as running infoand training sessions with Cloud Picker coffee—registration closes today(June 13), so you'll need to get in quick! 

www.nuovasimonelli.it

CoLab: Paris: Discussion Vol 2

Our last video from CoLab: Paris is the afternoon panel discussion, featuring Katie Carguilo, Morten Munchow, and Klaus Thomsen. Kicking off with a heavily philosophical question—what drives you to keep going, within specialty coffee, when the goal-posts keep moving?—this panel discussion is home to some incredible gems from those on stage about the ethics of direct trade, fair trade, and post-colonial trading structures, as well as innovation, genetic modification of Arabica, and other research initiatives.

We had an absolutely great time at CoLab: Paris—thanks again to all of our speakers and our host partners, Barista Guild of Europe and Frog Fight! 

No. 55

This week in No. 55: it’s like past, present, and future have alltangled into one… and it’s all Steve’s fault.* Episode the 55th starts out a little bit meta—whichrecent videos and podcasts are getting interesting feedback and what’s coming up next—butsomehow turns into an extreme example of verbal diplomacy when Steve drags Jennaway from the agenda and into his favourite kind of conversation (read: slightlycontroversial ones). Also included: more Dublin hints and tips for your trip toWBC this June, a tinder “how to”, holiday shenanigans, picky gingers, and unusualbachelor parties.

*It usually is.

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World Coffee ThrowingCompetitor Registration is OPEN! Throw a kilo for a good cause (allproceeds go to Grounds for Health) and have some of that legendary Irish craicwhist you’re at it. ;) 

CoLab: Paris: Discussion Vol 1

Calling all roasters, aspiring roasters, and general geeks! This week’s video is an extra special panel discussion featuring three well-known roasters from the program at BGE’s CoLab: Paris, each at different stages of building their businesses, with significantly different approaches to roasting, sourcing, and quality control. In this session, Wendelboe, Cataldi, and Karlsson answer questions on everything from cupping protocols, growth vs. quality, and water (thanks again, Maxwell!) to pricing structures, relationship development at origin, skeletons in closets, gateway drugs, and branding—it’s absolutely fascinating to see upon which points they agree and which they don’t. This one is an absolute “must” for anyone keen on making green beans go brown! 

No. 54

One of our favourite results from what we do are the relationships we build with speakers when we work together and the (often) resulting friendships that come from getting someone up on stage and bringing their presentation to life. This week, we’re joined by one such speaker/friend who took the stage in Dublin way back when—Kas Ali from Waterloo Tea. Together, Jenn and Kas spend No. 54 taking a look at just how much things have changed since then.

The relationship between the specialty coffee and specialty tea industries is truly fascinating: in some ways, it feels like specialty tea is leaps and bounds ahead of us—very few people dispute the difference between “tea bag tea” and quality tea—but slightly behind in others. It’s particularly interesting to see the specialty tea industry taking bits and pieces from specialty coffee, most notably the use of a large competition (the World Tea Brewer’s Cup, taking place for the first time this year in Dublin) and the creation of large, membership-based organisations, to rally the industry together and make an impact on the future of tea.

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Want to get involved with the inaugural World Tea Brewer’s Cup? You can find more information about the format here, or if you just want to jump straight in, register here! 

CoLab: Paris: "Roasting for Competition" | Patrik Rolf Karlsson (Five Elephant)

Although the title implies that Patrik Rolf Karlsson’s talk fromCoLab: Paris is pretty straight-forward—“Roasting for Competition”—it takes a number of twists and turns from the very start, and ends up with some unexpected conclusions.

Yes, Patrik talks about using curves and data from Five Elephant’s roasts, including extensive logging of the roast environment—but it’s to tailor the results to the preferences of the people who will consume the coffee, even when it stands outside of his own preference. And yes, Patrik openly disregards and disagrees with the sage advice from a well-respected roaster (“everything takes time” – Matts Johansson, Da Matteo)—but he also calls for vocal new comers to coffee to listen to and work with those who came before.

Most striking for us is Patrik’s observation and subsequent learnings from the realisation that 60% of the brews they were using to evaluate their roast profiles were poor brews—a prime example of Patrik’s use of measurement to learn and improve. 

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Patrik was born a cold Aprilmorning in Gothenburg—he doesn’t remember anything about it, as most of usdon’t. He likes milk and people that are dedicated, not in words but with theiractions. He grew a beard and got interested in building organisations, startingwith coffee, but was disappointed with the lack of dedication in the industry.Patrik shaved his beard, moved to Berlin, and read and watched everything byMalcom Gladwell. Today he is part of the Five Elephant team as head ofroastery. He wants to be a part of reshaping the idea of what a modern coffeeroastery is. 

No. 53

In yet another completely unsupervised episode, Colin Harmon gate-crashes proper Dub (and First-Drafter) Ger O’Donohoe’s house to record this week’s podcast. What began as a walking tour audio guide of things to do whilst in Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee (June 23-25) quickly dissolves into piss-takes of the English, local attractions, and each other. Featuring more of Colin’s dulcet-toned singing and lines like “it will make you look like you’re peeing rainbows”, No. 53 is probably the best cultural preparation you’ll get in advance of this year’s WBC.

We’ve taken the not-so-concise list from Col & Ger and added it to Col’s “So you’re thinking of coming to Dublin” list to create one, mega-massive master map to save on your device of choice for your own bimbles about our fair city. 

Cup North 2015: Banter

It’s that time of the year where things ramp up and we all get busy, so we’ll keep this week’s video short and sweet: the wine-in-hand banter session that closed the proceedings of Tamper Tantrum Live at Cup North 2015.  The conversation begins at an intersection of coffee and alcohol before continuing on to the challenges of selling good coffee in restaurants (and just plain, good coffee, period), before ending with a quick lesson in the “I want what she’s having” school of sales. At the risk of sounding hokey—oh, who are we kidding?—this short episode is a plate piled high with food for thought!  

We loved this year’s Cup North line up so much—coffee throwing included!—that we’ll be back for another go-round this year. Details are still very hush-hush, but you can follow along here and here for more info as it's released. 

No. 52

This week, continuing with an unintentional theme of “behind the scenes”, we’ve managed to nab quiet legend Ben Szobody. As Steve & Jenn chat with Ben about his former life as a political journalist in the US, current role as project development manager at One Church Brighton and editor at Longberry Press, and future ambitions, it becomes abundantly clear that No. 52 is all about the importance of creating opportunities to make a positive social impact through what we do.

We’re assuming that you’re pretty familiar with one of Ben’s projects in particular—the beautiful, impactful, and long-awaited Longberry 2—but we’re hoping that this episode draws your attention to one of Ben’s other projects, the UK’s first-ever specialty coffee professional apprenticeship. An inspiring program that has seen over 100 people trained* in its first year, Pro Baristas is the perfect marriage of positive societal impact and market demands. We could attempt to wax poetic about this program for paragraphs and paragraphs, but trust us—it’s more impactful to hear about it from the man himself.  

*Whist only 10 young people qualify for the year-long apprenticeship, Ben has developed additional training that is available to almost anyone, from light taster sessions for the homeless to provide activity and confidence to intensive certificate courses for job hunters. 

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Want to get in on the action? Mailchimp subscribers get extra link goodies in their inbox when new things land.

We’re going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast–get in before they go!

CoLab: Paris: "3 in 30: SCAE Research" | Morten Munchow (Coffee Mind)

Grab your notebooks, kiddos, and get ready to hit the pause button lots! This one is a doozy, cramming three different exciting research projects from Morten Munchow’s CoffeeMind, the University of Copenhagen, and SCAE into 30 minutes: a sensory analysis of coffee brewed with different water, roasting defects, and cappuccino foam analysis.

We love presentations like this: yes, we know that this doesn’t really allow a great researchers to dig deeply into one specific project for hours and hours, but it does raise the profile of this kind of work so that you can follow up directly with Morten and Coffee Mind about whatever you fancy most. 

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Morten Munchow, founder of CoffeeMind, is a man of many hats: as trainer, consultant, and researcher, Morten can be found at the University of Copenhagen, where he is an external lecturer in the department of food science, at the London School of Coffee, where he has taught coffee roasting since 2007, or hard at work with the SCAE Education and Research committees, where he developed SCAE’s roasting certification system.
 
Morten has conducted research on cappuccino foam chemistry, processing methods, starter cultures, sensory science, roasting defects, behavioural economics of consumer preferences, and roast degree preferences. He has also regularly consulted with a variety of different sized roasteries around the world, from South Africa to South Korea and Iceland to Kuwait and many more in between. 

Episode No. 51

For once, the rumours may actually be true: this week, after an epic technical failure in Shanghai, Jenn took the opportunity to hijack No. 51 with the help of legendary behind-the-scenes lurker, Julie Housh. Past-Chair of Barista Guild of America, former Competitions Coordinator of World Coffee Events, and current Executive Assistant to SCAA Director, Ric Rhinehart, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with or have somehow been touched by* Julie’s work, despite the fact that she tends to fly “under the radar.”

Together, they drag Episode 51 in a slightly different direction from the norm as they chat about backstage shenanigans, their mutual love of spreadsheets, barista guilds, unorthodox coffee career paths, career sustainability, the performance of gender in competition, the importance of allowing yourself to fail, awkward self-serving statements, and the current role of social media in the coffee industry.

*That’s what she said.

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Join us live for a seriously awesome lineup in Antwerp, April 25-27! Tickets are still available from Barista Guild of Europe, but going quickly. 

Cup North 2015: "Water For Coffee?" | Chloe Callow

There’s no denying that water is a hot topic in the coffee industry right now, thanks to the work of Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood and Christopher Hendon on “Water for Coffee”, but is it necessary—or even desirable—to put systems in place to concoct the “perfect” water in every shop?

Chloe Callow (Bespoke Water, Pendred & Co) took the stage at Cup North 2015 to talk about basic water science, the different approaches to filtration she comes across regularly, and why you shouldn’t blindly implement everything you read.  

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Chloe launched the Bespoke Water division for Norman Pendred & Co Ltd in 2013 as a trial. The business is now going strong and supplies a large percentage of the specialty coffee industry with reverse osmosis equipment. Chloe’s real passion is writing, along with the social and community aspects of the coffee industry, which she satisfies as Associate Editor of Caffeine Magazine, as a sporadic contributor to London’s Best Coffee, and via her own blog. 

Episode No. 50

This week’s episode starts off sounding much seedier than it actually is: Colin lured the second Tim of the coffee podcast triple crown, Melbourne-returnee Tim Varney, up to his room for a “chat.” Over coffee and “forgotten” pairs of stray underpants, Tamper Tantrum’s first ever guest co-host (Vienna, 2012) revives the banter: as they talk through Tim’s start in coffee to his current role juggling two companies (the World Aeropress Championship and Bureaux Collective), they reminisce together about Tim Wendelboe topless, the Stockfleth’s manoeuvre, terrible analogies, and snuggle nights with Klaus Thomsen.

Along the way, they also cover some serious stuff, too: the meteoric rise of the WAC, the drive behind the creation of the Bureaux Collective, and the supposed saturation point of the Melbourne market. No. 50 is chock full of blatant honesty and serious silliness—a fitting milestone podcast, if we do say so ourselves. 

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Want to get in on the action? We're going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe's CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast--get in before they go! 

CoLab: Paris: "Managing A Micro-Roastery" | Stéphane Cataldi (Caffé Cataldi)

Stéphane Cataldi, a self-proclaimed “dinosaur” of the specialty coffee world, offers a unique perspective on starting your own roastery: a product of two traditional coffee cultures (an Italian who grew up in France) at a time when google didn’t exist, Stéphane built his ground-breaking French roastery in his garage.

Using his background in telecommunications, Stéphane’s early internet business has grown considerably: as he walks us through his experience, he offers words of wisdom on opening a business the thoughtful way and maintaining your principles as your business evolves, including what might be our favourite gem, “the market doesn’t know what it wants.”

The story of Caffè Cataldi is one that we can all learn from and could use to reflect upon: Stéphane’s slow start and growth belies the barriers he’s worked diligently to break and shows us, really, the comparative ease of starting in coffee today.

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Stephane Cataldi, the roaster behind Caffe Cataldi in Brittany, was born in Alsace to Italian parents 40 years ago—coffee has always been a part of his life, but he really fell in love with it in 2000 and went on to start his own roastery (Caffe Cataldi) in 2009 after 11 years spent in the telco world, making the internet a reality in France. 

Cataldi, who started roasting with a Probatino and has since moved up to a Giesen W6, was the first French roaster to put the roasting date on the bag and sell COE in France. He was awarded the “Meilleur Torréfacteur de France” in 2010 and his coffees have since gone on participate, and win, several competitions in France and abroad (1st French Brewer’s Cup 2012; 2nd/3rd French Brewer’s Cup 2012, 2014; 1st Irish Brewer’s Cup 2015; 3rd French Barista Championship 2014).

Every business choice Stephane makes has been and still is driven by quality: since day one, he has only sold specialty coffee and continues to build direct trade relationships with farmers in order to better understand the challenges faced at origin. In 2015, joined by three friends, Stephane opened a roaster/shop in Paris, Hexagone Café.  

Episode No. 49

To be honest, folks, we’re not even sure how to pitch Episode No. 49. It’s definitely a throwback to the early podcasts in more ways than one, so maybe we’ll go with that: this week, Steve & Col chat completely unsupervised about recent developments at Tamper Tantrum, including the upcoming CoLab: Antwerp and World Coffee Throwing Championship taking place this June in Dublin. Featuring all of the standard hallmarks of a Colin & Steve podcast, No. 49 features Hoffmann-heckling, jokes that won’t die, many expletives, football banter, and lots of misinformation. Also: celebrity coffee throwing, holding speakers hostage, coffee consultants, pocketbook science, the lack of interest in barista competitions, decoy podcasts, travel logs, way more googling than usual, and the dulcet tones of Colin’s singing providing a “professional” touch.

We hope you’ll forgive us and come back for Episode 50. 

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Want to get involved in CoLab: Antwerp? Complete Talor's survey on mental health in coffee here, purchase tickets here, or get a peek at The Barista League challenges taking place on Monday evening. 

Cup North 2015: "Barista Attitude & Third Wave Shops" | Francesco Sanapo

Francesco Sanapo wears many hats: barista champion, coach, artdirector, trainer, Q-grader, roaster, shop owner. It is this last hat in particularthat drives Francesco’s presentation for Cup North, “Barista Attitude &Third Wave Shops”, and the one that most fascinates us: perhaps nobody knows,quite as well as Francesco and his staff, the importance of attitude whenserving customers a product that pushes their boundaries.

This talk contains what might be our favourite story about gainingcustomer trust, not only because it is complete with Italian hand gesticulationin the retelling, but because it is an extraordinary example of going above andbeyond with unexpected results. Francesco’s passion for coffee and hiscustomers is palpable as he walks us through what it takes to offer exceptionalcustomer care—we hope it inspires you to go above and beyond, too. 

*Unfortunately, Francesco's microphone was not anchored properly and occasionally slipped into his jumper, causing some static. Many apologies! 

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A familiar face on the WBC Stage, Francesco Sanapo is a three-time Italian Barista Champion, 2013 WBC Finalist, and competitor coach. If not in his internationally-recognized coffee shop, DittaArtigianale, based in the beautiful city of Florence, you’re most likely to find Francesco training and educating—he’s an SCAE AST and Q-Grader.

Francesco is also the art director of the first international talent show dedicated entirely to the world of top-quality coffee: Barista & Farmer, a one-of-a-kind, innovative project aimed at promoting coffee culture, from plantation harvesting in the countries of origin, through all the processing phases. 

Episode No. 48

This week, we’re doing things a little differently--we invited Mat North to revisit his talk, “The Third Wave Has Stagnated”, in light of developments that have happened since his presentation at Cup North: James Hoffmann’s three-part post on the current state of specialty coffee, the release of the WCR Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel, and Nick Cho’s comment that “when sounding smart is more important than being smart, we’re not in a lull, we’re in serious danger.”  

In true podcast style, No. 48 stumbles into several other philosophically-heavy topics (different ways of measuring success, career path expansion, prescribed learning vs. rote learning) and is dotted with little glimmers of inadvertent honesty. Also included: what it takes to put together the UKBC, competitor trends from last week’s London heat, increased interest in the Brewer’s Cup, and a new quick-fire round. 

CoLab: Paris: "Beyond The Bar" | Katie Carguilo (Counter Culture Coffee)

Once we’ve solidified an event brief and reached out to speakers tentatively to check for availability, we usually get the question “but… what do you want me to talk about?” Whilst we usually have some ideas about what might go over well with an audience for a particular event, we’ve found that the best presentations are born from an exploratory chat about what it is that is currently inspiring, exciting, annoying, or even stumping them about their work or the current state of the industry—and, more importantly, that we end up in a very different place to where we started when we first approached the speaker.

Katie Carguilo’s talk, “Beyond The Bar”, is a prime example of this process: what could have been a talk on natural processing or the state of specialty in America became an open acknowledgement of career aspirations, hard graft, opportunities, and responsibilities of baristas who desire to move beyond the bar. Using her own thirteen years’ experience to frame the conversation, Katie’s talk is a must-watch for anyone seeking to further their development and career in coffee. 

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Katie Carguilo has spent the past 13 years in coffee first as a barista in DC, then barista trainer and Customer Support Representative for Counter Culture in New York City, and finally as Counter Culture's Quality Analyst for their roastery in Emeryville, California. She is also the 2012 United States Barista Champion. She prefers cappuccinos to macchiatos, hot dogs to hamburgers, thrift stores to department stores, and guinea pigs to any other furry creature.  

Episode the 47th

We’ve got something super special for you this week: after Steve and Colin accidentally blundered into a realm of cleverness and research on the last podcast, we received an incredible mail from Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research that filled in some of the blanks… and led to even more questions. We said we would follow up on the WCR Sensory Lexicon and the SCAA Flavour Wheel this week, but my goodness, not even we thought it would be this thorough!

In No. 47, Hanna joins Steve and Jenn to discuss the many reasons for poor taste differentiation between varieties and the potential impact of the current—and future—WCR sensory lexicon(s) on the coffee industry. Fuelled by a mass of recent writing on the subject, we deep dive into three major research projects driving towards a brighter future of specialty coffee, how the lexicon makes this work scientifically possible, and what future versions of the lexicon could look like.

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You can download the WCR Sensory Lexicon here or read their five-part blogpost here. Tom Owens, Peter Giuliano, and Nick Cho have also written about the Sensory Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel in a fair amount of detail.

Find more information on the research initiatives discussed on this week’s podcast here: Genetic Diversity of Arabica, Genetic Verification Program, F1 Hybrids, Colombia Sensory Trial. 

Cup North 2015: "Challenging The Way We Brew Coffee For The Better" | Gordon Howell

Here’s one for you, brew geeks: tucked in among the Cup North talks that tackled service, communication, and innovation, Gordon Howell’s “Challenging The Way We Brew Coffee For The Better” is a staunch—dare we say confrontational?—look at how we are currently brewing coffee and why it needs to change.

There have been some mutterings and murmurings about the age of the brewing standards we use around the edges of Tamper Tantrum for quite some time (David Walsh, Mike Strumpf), but this is the first time anyone has tackled it head on for their presentation. We hope Gordon’s thorough approach to examining this subject inspires you to think before you brew!

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Gordon, along with his wife Marie, owns and runs four businesses in York that are all geared to his love for quality coffee, beer and spirits: Harlequin coffee and tea house, The Attic, Attic by night, and the Northern academy of Coffee. He’s incredibly active on the world competition scene, having represented the UK in both the 2015 WBrC (7^th Place) and the 2013 WCIGS (3^rd Place) as well as acting as a sensory judge in the UKBC (2013 & 2014) and UK CIGS (2014 & 2105). As an SCAE AST in the dark arts of barista skills and brewing, Gordon mainly focuses on a one to one tailored approach geared to helping other coffee professionals gain intermediate and professional accreditation

His wealth of experience in the world of speciality coffee from the day to day operation of running a coffee shop to competing, judging and teaching at the highest level is complemented by his training in hospitality management (BSc) and export management (MSc). He also assists WCE with competition development as well as being a Dalla Corte Pro.

Episode the 46th

After a somewhat shorter estrangement than that which occurred between No. 35 and No. 42.5, the boys are back again: No. 46 sees Colin & Steve return to their rambling, tangential selves as they recap the busiest time of the year, Steve’s travel, and some recent releases (mostly circular) that are prompting some similarly circular conversations amongst coffee folk. 

Also included in this week’s banter a how some things never change, a newly discovered varietal, biggest café pet peeves, upcoming mischief in 2016, whether or not there’s a correct way to use a poster, and poorly executed segues.

Want to get in on the podcast action? Send in any questions, comments, harangues, and/or notable mistakes made in this week’s episode to hello{at}tampertantrum{dot}com and we’ll include them in No. 47!

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Want to see or hear more? Every week, we include links to some of the things referenced in podcasts and talks to our mailchimp subscribers--get in and keep up with the conversation!