Tamper Tantrum

CoLab: Paris: "Soil Biology" | Tim Wendelboe (Tim Wendelboe, Finca El Suelo)

Over the years, we’ve seen quite a few different styles of speaker presentations: those that share a particular experience or paradigm; those that ask provoking questions (some with potential solutions, some without); the presentation of finished research; those that offer a glimpse of new work, still in progress. Whilst each is valuable in their own right, there is something undeniably special about seeing new ideas put into practice without any certainty as to the outcome: these presentations offer us the opportunity to not only become a part of the speakers’ journey, but also—once the work has been completed—as a later snapshot of the learning that has taken place.

This week’s release, “Soil Biology” by Tim Wendelboe, falls into this latter category of presentations: Tim shares with us his journey to understand and apply Dr. Elaine Ingham’s concepts of soil biology, biological farming, and thermal composting to his farm project, Finca El Suelo in Colombia. Regardless of how these concepts positively or negatively impact Finca El Suelo’s production in the coming years, it is inspiring to see a barista accepting responsibility in creating a plausible future for quality coffee: “I have a lot of crazy ideas that might or might not improve the coffee quality, but I am not willing to ask the farmers I buy from to risk their income and coffee in order to test and experiment for me” (Tim Wendelboe to Leif Haven, Eater.com).

 

--

During his eight years with Stockfleth’s in Oslo, Norway, Tim Wendelboe went from shop barista to manager, growing sales as well as the staff’s coffee knowledge at one of Stockfleth’s three shops, to their head of quality and training, running 6 stores together with his friend and colleague Alexander Scheen Jensen. It was during his time at Stockfleth’s that Tim, in 2004, after placing second in the World Barista Championship in both 2001 and 2002, was crowned World Barista Champion. He is also the 2005 World Cup Tasters Champion.

In July 2007, Tim started his own espresso bar, training centre, and micro-roastery at Grünerløkka, in Oslo, called Tim Wendelboe, where he imports, roasts, and sells high quality coffee. The company aims to be among the best roasteries in the world. Although this is not measurable, Tim Wendelboe won the Nordic roaster competition in 2008, 2009 and in 2010. The company currently sells coffee to around 50 cafes and restaurants in Norway and also around the world.

In 2009, Tim wrote and published a book in Norwegian based on his direct trade experience; “Coffee with Tim Wendelboe”, which gives the reader an introduction into how quality coffee is produced, roasted, and brewed, has since been translated into Korean, English, Mandarin and will be available in Japanese shortly.

Tim also published the book ”Finca Tamana” in 2013 about his ongoing work and relationship with the coffee producer Elias Roa and his farm Finca Tamana.

--

Want to see more? Click the links to keep up with Tim Wendelboe’s shop and roastery (Web, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) or Finca El Suelo (Instagram, Twitter). We also recommend “Why Did World Barista Champ Tim Wendelboe Buy a Coffee Farm in Colombia?” by Leif Haven on eater.com.

Want to hear more? Other talks that present new work include David Walsh’s “My Unholy Comminution” (wet grinding; Dublin 2011) and Christopher H. Hendon’s “A Taste of Physics” (CoLab: Prague 2015). 

Want to learn more about soil biology? Tim recommends checking out the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham, Jeff Lowenfels, “Symphony of the Soil”, and information provided by the USDA/NRCS.

Episode the 45th

This week, Steve sits down to chat with an old friend in El Salvador— No, we know what you’re thinking, and it’s not a bucket of Pollo Campero (although we’re sure he considered it). It’s newly-titled Director of Coffee at Viva Espresso in San Salvador and superstar World Barista Champion coach, Federico Bolanos!

Episode the 45^th initially takes us back to the golden age of coffee blogs, books, and forums, when Federico—after hating and dismissing coffee for years—decides to give it another try for a girl (his now wife, Lily Pacas, 2008 Salvadoran Barista Champion; Café Tuxpal), landing him in a long-time love affair with learning everything he can about coffee. From there, Steve and Federico embark on a discussion of WBC, coaching, non-insular teamwork, and a once-unspoken-but-now-not-so-secret frustration with the current competition format before finishing with some interesting thoughts on the benefits of consolidating businesses. Also covered in this episode: the biggest mistake competitors make in preparing for competition, stalking coffee people, WBC trends over the  years, why Federico wasn’t to be seen at last year’s WBC, and how bigger is sometimes better. 

Cup North 2015: "The View of a Sommelier" | Laurent Richet

For Tamper Tantrum, 2015 was all about honing all of the really interesting and successful things we’d done in the past—back when TT was a side project—and making it stronger and better as we grew into a stand-alone venture. Nowhere is this more visible than 2015’s event in partnership with Cup North, where we brought some new things to the table (*cough*, coffee throwing) as well as reprising some older ideas that really struck a chord in previous years.

Many of us openly acknowledge, in a way that is ironically true to form, that our community often functions as a bit of an echo chamber. In the interest of bringing new ideas to the table, we returned to an old goal of ours from way back in 2012—to include, where possible, one speaker from a different industry that had a some overlap with our own. It was with great pleasure and excitement that we were able to bring Master Sommelier and Crew Cup recipient, Laurent Richet of Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms to speak at 2015’s Cup North event.

Whilst there are disagreements as to whether or not it is a worthwhile exercise to emulate other industries exactly*, there are definitely some questions to be asked and answered when looking at the comparative success of the wine industry in raising awareness of their product with the average consumer. In his talk, Laurent lays the groundwork for a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the wine and coffee industries, explains the structure of wine’s sensory- and service-based accreditations, and explains the framework sommeliers use to taste and evaluate wine before offering some thoughts on what we, as coffee professionals, can do to achieve better consumer awareness.

*See Mat North’s 2015 Cup North talk for a strong argument against employing other industries’ paradigms.

--

Growing up in the Loire Valley, Laurent Richet attended the catering college in Saumur where he passed his Sommelier exam. After finishing his exams, Richet went on to work at some prestigious hotels including ‘La Reserve de Beaulieu’ in Beaulieu sur Mer, ‘The Hotel de Paris’ in Monaco, ‘Celtic Manor Resort’ in South Wales, ‘The Breakers Resort’ in Florida, USA, ‘Hotel TerraVina’ in the New Forest and now Restaurant Sat Bains with rooms in Nottingham.

During his career, Laurent has had the pleasure of working with incredibly talented and knowledgeable people who have motivated him in wanting to be the best he can be. All of his hard work paid off in 2010 when he won the Gastronomy Team of the Year competition and 4 years after starting the Master Sommelier, passed its final level, also gaining the Crew Cup.

Episode the 44th

Well, now. The similarities are astounding: clocking in at just over one hour and thirty minutes, the return of the (anti-)hero, adoration for a much-loved mentor, a feisty rebellion, a logical robot that inspires both love and hate… Yup, Episode 44 is none other than “Return of the Cho”. It also happens to be the 2015 Tampies!

This week, Colin invites first guest of this year’s podcast reboot, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee in San Francisco, back up to the mic to talk about all things 2015 and to help identify those who are taking active steps to move our industry from the realm of “specialty coffee” to that of “progressive coffee”, for better or worse. Join them as they romp through tangential systems of thought, including: mergers and acquisitions, cultural differences, the current state of coffee, the barista power shift, and the usefulness of innovation. Also covered: the-incident-which-shall-not-be-named, the state of the WBC, accidental and/or intentional waggling, the proliferation of the talk platform, gender imbalance, Geoff Watts vs. Peter G, James Hoffmann’s hair, and more. 

CoLab: Paris: "Ensuring Coffee's Future" | Klaus Thomsen (The Coffee Collective)

This week, as a special Christmas treat, we are jumping the gun a little bit and sharing an incredible call to action from The Coffee Collective’s Klaus Thomsen from CoLab: Paris. We’re sharing this now for two reasons: (1) we’re hoping that with the holiday break, you’ll have the time to watch it from start to finish in one go , so that you can really let it sink in and (2) this time of year is all about reflecting on the past year and planning for the future. We’re sincerely hoping that you’ll take Klaus’ message into account when you’re making those New Year’s resolutions.

We’ve made absolutely no secret that we’ve been asking Klaus to come and speak at a Tamper Tantrum since its very inception, and we think it has been worth the wait to get him up on stage—this presentation highlights one of less-talked about challenges facing the continued production of quality coffee and offers some solutions as to how we can take strong steps to improve our collective future.

--

Klaus Thomsen first picked up a portafilter in 2001 in London. Shortly after returning home to Denmark, Klaus won the Danish Barista Championship in both 2004 (placing 3rd in the 2004 WBC) and 2006, when he went on to win the World Barista Championship.

In 2007, he joined with Peter N. Dupont, Casper E. Rasmussen, and Linus Törsäter to open The Coffee Collective. Now, as both Co-Owner and Director of Sales, Marketing, and Barista Education, Klaus helps to grow the team of/with 30 baristas working at The Coffee Collective’s three shops (Jaegersborggade, Torvehallerne, and Godthåbsvej). To follow along with all of the cool things happening at The Coffee Collective, check out their instagram, facebook, or website.

Episode the 43rd

From his initial plan to move to France and cook—despite not really having extensive experience in the kitchen or even a food blog—Tim Williams has ended up on a remarkable career path in coffee. So remarkable, in fact, that one could almost argue that Tim is the “Forrest Gump” of coffee, someone who appears at seminal moments in specialty coffee history: Flat White in 2006, Intelligentsia Venice in 2009, Penny University in 2010… the list goes on.

We managed to catch Tim for No. 43 quite literally right before he leaves London to return to Australia for a new chapter in his coffee life. Using Tim’s experience as a structure within which to explore important ideas, Colin and Tim chat about on working environments, service, management, traditions, and what it means to be out of your depth. Also covered: how some of our current messaging lends itself to an awful, ambiguous grey area between what we want the customer to do and what they’re technically allowed to do, why owning a coffee shop is really just parenting on a different level, Tim Varney’s pining, and skeletons in Square Mile’s closet.

Follow along with Tim’s newest chapter on his website, instagram, or twitter. 

Cup North 2015: "The 3rd Wave Has Stagnated" | Mat North

Unless you’re located in the UK or happen to be a fan of beautifully printed tiny books (Coffee - A Modern Field Guide), chances are you’re not super familiar with the very clever man that is Mat North, despite his extensive background in all things coffee.

After over a decade in coffee, Mat has experience within the full gamut of the “brown” side of the industry: he’s worked in both specialty shops and chains as well as consumables and engineering. Two years ago, Mat opened Full Court Press, a small specialist multi-roaster coffee shop in the heart of Bristol, known for its excellent customer service. His team’s ability to articulate their extensive knowledge in an approachable way that has ensured Full Court Press not only serves exceptional coffee, but has sparked an interest in specialty coffee among their customers.

Mat’s Cup North talk is a short and sweet look at the importance of context and feedback, on both sides of the counter, in not only growing consumers interest in specialty coffee, but in our own work. Mat gets meta, referencing recent statements and conversations dominating the coffee twittersphere, and demonstrates a beautifully crafted baseball metaphor as to how best we can “get out of the umpire’s way”.

NOTE: Due to some unfortunate interference with our wireless microphone, Mat's conclusion was horribly muffled. We're in the process of adjusting the audio file as best we can to compensate for the interruption, but in the meantime, we want to share a transcript of Mat's final thought before the Q&A (currently missing), as it's incredibly important:

If we give them the context, they can enjoy it better. It’s a silly one [the metaphor], but I quite like it. 

Let’s come back to this, just quickly. We’ve not stalled--we are evolving, maturing as an industry.

How we deal with this maturation comes from how we communicate: if we communicate properly, with the right feedback, with the right context, we’ll become a mature industry.

Laurent, who is going to talk later, is involved in wine. We shouldn’t be imitating sommeliers, that’s their context!

We shouldn’t be imitating bartenders, that’s their context!

We’ve tried to move too far away from what we knew within the industry from the second wave, we’ve overreacted and we’ve become this new, confused way of looking at coffee.

We need to be brave enough to find our own style of service and through context, we can help everyone communicate better.  Thank you.

--

Want to hear more? Mat references talks by James Hoffmann (Asia 2014) and Brian Jones (Asia 2014). Cosimo Libardo, another clever coffee guy that Mat references, gave a talk at our first-ever Tamper Tantrum. 

Episode the 42nd... and a half

We hate to break it to you: the rumours aren’t true. Despite the fact that they haven’t been on a podcast together since No. 35, Colin and Steve haven’t had a massive bust-up—their schedules have just been at odds.

Episode 42.5* sees them finally reunited, as they quickly catch up on all that happened during their time apart-- New Zealand & Australia, Host, Manchester, Paris, new purchases—whilst expanding on more important ideas and questions captivating the specialty coffee community today. Among these are: expectations vs. expertise, Colin’s terrible affliction (“resting disinterested face”), how to accidentally electrocute your employees, napkins vs. brownies, “fuck cupping”, workflow, and more.

*Don’t mention the war. Or Episode 42. 

Cup North 2015: "Fuck Cupping" | Colin Harmon

It’s been quite a whirlwind these past two weeks—UK National Coffee Throwing Championship, Cup North, and BGE’s CoLab: Paris—but after three very successful events, we’re back in the post-editing chair and ready to share some of what’s been said.

First up from Cup North is none other than 3FE’s mad-ideas man, Tamper Tantrum co-founder, and all around gentle giant, Colin Harmon with his twitter-sourced talk title, “Fuck Cupping.” Described as “an exploration of cupping as an appropriate process, and the silly metrics we use in coffee shops”, “Fuck Cupping” is an eye-opening look at the cupping protocol, its use in shops, and what it means to be innovative in general.

We don’t really have much to say other than that, really. This is Colin’s third talk at a live event and it’s just as much of a mic drop as his presentation at the first ever Tamper Tantrum in 2011.  

Episode the 41st

On this week’s podcast, we are joined by a long-time listener and one of our CoLab: Prague speakers: the  CEO of Drop Coffee, Joanna Alm. Episode No. 41 (not the 41^st) features a recap of all things Cup North, a discussion of recent changes at Drop, the Swedish/Nordic specialty coffee scene, and last week’s Nordic Roasters Forum. Also covered: a new metaphor for coffee roasting, a beginners guide to the Swedish language*, the burgeoning European Roaster’s Guild, and a few thoughts on why we’ll still be in Paris this week for Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab event.

*Including the ever-important phrase, “skölpaddan bär en gul hatt.” 

--

From the catacombs: David Nigel Flynn, "Jus de Chaussette" (2012 Vienna)

After a successful jaunt up to Manchester for the UK National Coffee Throwing Competition and Tamper Tantrum Live at Cup North this weekend, our attention has turned fully to Paris. Known for its food, wine, and café culture, Paris’ specialty coffee culture has gone on a very visible journey from having a practically non-existent specialty coffee scene, the early development phase, and the point at which Paris was recognized, on an international level, as having a specialty coffee scene.

Today’s talk from the catacombs is a truly fascinating one, offering a snapshot of the Parisian specialty coffee scene in 2012, right around the time it was starting to gain traction. David Nigel Flynn’s talk, “Jus de Chaussette” (“Sock Juice”), looks at the French culture of taste and of tradition, why specialty coffee is so hard for the French to swallow, and ways in which specialty coffee shops can frame the conversation in the way that doesn’t make traditionalists defensive. There are some real pearls of wisdom in this talk that, despite the fact that it is directly tied to a specific time and place, are still incredibly relevant to our discussions of specialty coffee today.

We’re excited to bring this talk back for two reasons: (1) we’re planning on visiting a tonne of shops next week and want to see how much of an impact the introduction of “Jus de Chausette” has had on the French specialty coffee scene and, (2) it’s making us ask ourselves, in light of recent and plentiful conversations about third wave stagnation, how much have we actually progressed since 2012? 

Episode the 40th

This week—in a special Halloween/HasBean Birthday reimagining of No. 40, complete with the spooky (somewhat) disembodied voice of Jenn—we are joined by a guest we’ve been trying to get onto the podcast since April this year: an overachiever of the highest degree, holding not one, not two, but three highly-demanding coffee jobs—the one and only Roukiat Delrue.  Rouki’s experience growing up in a producing country, partnered with her positions as Q Services Manager with the Coffee Quality Institute and National Bodies Manager for World Coffee Events, gives her a completely unique—and extensive—perspective on all things coffee.

Episode 40 covers everything from coffee auctions to colour conflicts whilst head-judging and from Anacafe to Q updates, with much more in between, as we make the most of our hour with the coffee industry’s most beloved “Rouki-pedia”. We also revisit the head-judge industrial complex, first discussed in No. 23 with Nick Cho, as well as the highly-contested “women in coffee” discussion (which Steve has promised to give up if someone finally invites him out for breakfast) and Steve’s desire for a new cupping form. 

--

This podcast has been brought to you through the kind support of Nuova Simonelli--thank you! 

From the catacombs: Paul Stack, "Innovation is Stupid" (Dublin 2011)

As we draw closer to our November events, we’re jumping back in time to revisit some of our favourite talks from the early days of Tamper Tantrum. This week, we want to share a talk that is still as fresh and relevant as it was when it was first delivered at the inaugural Tamper Tantrum Live from the bowels of the Twisted Pepper: Paul Stack’s “Innovation is Stupid”. Paul’s talk, superbly-delivered despite some technological teething issues, is a paradigm-shifting look at how we currently innovate, why we’re doing it wrong, and what we can do to bring play time (and thus worthwhile exploration) back to our weekly work. #evenredheads

Episode the 39th

To make up for his extended absence from the podcast, Steve is joined, on a special videocast filmed in the HasBean Roastery, by none-other than the distinguished Erwin Mierisch of the legendary Fincas Mierisch. In Episode 39, Steve and Erwin walk through the history of the Mierisch family and farms and Erwin’s experience working in coffee thus far, before ending with a serious and thoughtful discussion about recent Cup of Excellence changes.

Also covered: what happens when governments step into coffee farming, Intelligentsia’s producers forum, Dr. Mierisch’s hobbies, Steve’s misbehaviour at multiple COE juries, family coffee jobs, the impact of exchange rates on buying and contracts, when cost-cutting measures taint entire lots from competition, and how El Salvador are working to find COE-replacement using Finca Mierisch’s auction platform.

As operations manager for COE from 2000 to 2011, as well as overseeing multiple farms in Nicaragua and Honduras, Erwin’s experience is vast—we could have kept chatting with him for days—but this is a great introduction to green buying, building relationships, and the history of COE: this is one you really shouldn’t miss. 

CoLab: Prague : Afternoon Panel Q&A

CoLab: Prague was host to two extended Q&A panel discussions—a popular feature that hadn’t been seen since the days of WOC Nice in 2013—which always provide additional insight that we wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise!

This week’s video is the afternoon panel from CoLab: Prague with Adam Neubauer, Joanna Alm, and Christopher Hendon. Hosts Steve and Kalle kick off a somewhat free-wheeling discussion, staring with the coffee culture in Prague, that takes us through a myriad topics we touched upon but didn’t dig into earlier: the best ways to communicate delays to customers, coffee shots, the popularity (but seeming lack) of batch brew in shops, and why coffee research is a great use of government funding.  Also covered: the barista’s tool box, the all-important barista/roaster/farmer feedback loop, why water is still important, blends, sequencing the coffee genome, and ways in which we could continue to strengthen our coffee knowledge as a community (including a large-scale experiment, since started by Chris!). 

Episode the 38th

This week—fuelling rumours of a massive bust-up—Colin is joined by none-other-than his mirror image, Nick Clark of Flight Coffee (NZ is the Ireland of the Southern Hemisphere, get it?), as they discuss everything from Nick’s humble beginnings as an NZ milkmaid to Flight’s future plans. During this delightful romp through Nick’s coffee career, the pair cover the difference between the NZ and AUS coffee cultures, the biggest mistake you can make when you finally branch out on your own, and all about what it means to be labelled a “hipster café”. Also: what it’s like to do business with your best mate, consumer confusion about coffee roasters, and the ever-popular #coffeewormhole.

 

http://www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

CoLab: Prague : Christopher H. Hendon

Christopher H. Hendon is quickly becoming a well-known name within the world of specialty coffee, despite his lack of time behind a coffee bar: as a computational chemist, with special focus on applied chemistry and physics, he works closely with Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood to interface with the industry to solve real-world problems relating to coffee extraction. He attained his BSc Adv. (HONS) from Monash University, Australia (2011) and PhD from University of Bath, United Kingdom (2015), and now holds a post-doctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying the physical properties of new materials for catalysis, energy conversion and electrical conduction.

Chris’ talk, “A Taste of Physics”, was a rollicking introduction to the world of physics through the lens of one of coffee brewing’s many variables: grinding distribution. Featuring newly-conducted and as-yet unpublished research, this presentation also touches on how experiments are constructed and why we need more of them in coffee. Most excitingly, this talk and the subsequent conversations during social events at CoLab: Prague has since led to a call for baristas to contribute to a large-scale data set, presented by Chris at BGE’s Barista Camp in Riccione.

Chris and Maxwell have recently published a book, “Water For Coffee”, featuring some of their research together—you can find more information here!

Episode the 37th

We might have gone meta—this week on the podcast, Colin is joined by none other than Tamper Tantrum’s Wilson, Jenn Rugolo. Podcast No. 37 is features fond reminiscence of the early days at 3FE and Tamper Tantrum, how we misuse numbers, the importance of play in learning, and an extended meditation on the supposed fourth wave and how it might appear.

Also covered: how much we love Peter G, when arguments on the internet are only about winning, Colin’s inability to remember things, the need for a service-led design in coffee qualifications, and the difference in the ways we show empathy and compassion behind bar.

CoLab: Prague : Joanna Alm

Joanna Alm is definitely a name you should know if you work in specialty coffee-- after running a coffee bar in Oslo for a few years, she moved home to Sweden, and started working at Drop in 2010. A few years ago, Joanna became partner in the company and is now the CEO, head roaster, and green coffee buyer at Drop Coffee. If you're not familiar with Drop, you might recognize Joanna from World Coffee Roasting Championship: she won the Swedish Roasting Championship two years in a row, placing 3rd (2014) and 2nd (2015) at the worlds.

Joanna's talk, "Espresso: Letting the origin speak from the cup", is all about her vision, for both roasters and baristas, to work with coffee in a way that keeps the most possible tasty flavours in the final cup. A strong argument for moving away from roasting for brew method so that we can better focus on showcasing what is inherently present in the quality of the green bean, Joanna's talk offers a look at the vision driving one of specialty coffee's most well-known and respected brands. 

Episode the 36th

We've gone all out for solubility! This week, Steve visits Jem Challender of Prufrock Coffee for a face-to-face chat about Prufrock's "test roast solubility quality control protocol", which has sparked much conversation and debate about how science and sensory sit together in coffee.  

In addition to tackling some difficult questions about where responsibility lies (with baristas? with roasters?), Steve and Jem also discuss the early days of Monmouth, the Prufrock basement piano, and Prufrock's seedy beginnings alongside a shop specialising in "dignified erotica." 

--

This podcast has been brought to you through the support of Nuova Simonelli. Thank you! 

CoLab: Prague : Adam Neubauer

Some of you may recognize Adam Neubauer from this year's World Barista Championship in Seattle--the 2015 Czech champion made it into the semi-finals with his presentation highlighting every part of the coffee's journey. Adam is also head barista of both the beautiful EMA Espresso bar and Café Lounge in Prague—our host city for the first-ever CoLab with Barista Guild of Europe.

Adam’s talk, “Barista as Psychologist”, is an incredibly engaging exploration of how concepts from the field of psychology can be used to improve baristas skills as well as customer experience. Covering studies from psychology heavy-weights Lieberman and Seligman as well as those more directly applicable to the coffee industry (Velasco, Jones, King, and Spence), this is a talk you won't want to miss, particularly if you spend any time behind bar! 

Episode the 35th

This week, Steve & Col kick back on their respective couches at home as they work their way through recent Big Grill shenanigans, big travel plans, the African Fine Coffees Association’s Taste of Harvest program, and the start of a conversation about a recent trend in the conflagration of solubility with quality.

Also covered: sore thighs, paella pans, exciting plant stock producing tasty coffee in Malawi, building direct trade relationships in Africa, and the moral question involved when you buy coffee from countries with problematic government.

Check out photos from Colin’s bike ride and the Big Grill shenanigans by visiting his instagram account.

--

This podcast has been kindly brought to you by Nuova Simonelli. 

CoLab: Prague : Morning Panel Q&A

CoLab: Prague saw the return of the extended Q&A session to the Tamper Tantrum stage for the first time since the first-ever panels at World of Coffee Nice, 2013. We’re really not sure why there was such a hiatus with this feature—it always provides additional insight that we wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise!

This week’s video is the morning panel from CoLab: Prague with Chahan Yeretzian, Erna Tosberg, and Tibor Varady—Steve and Kalle dig further into their presentations after the barrage of information that was the morning session: where we’ve gone wrong with water profile recommendations, what it’s like to be backstage at the WBC, why some staff leave, and a big follow up on the science of extraction and aroma. Also covered: what it’s like to watch a barista comp from the outside of the competition niche, why baristas should be more humble with their pocket science, a few thoughts on how we could improve competitions, and ways in which we could collaborate as an industry to learn more about how coffee works. 

Episode the 34th

This week, Steve and Colin return to an old, familiar format: just the two of them having all the (too?) honest chats. Podcast No. 34 covers several big announcements, Steve’s trip to Bolivia and Colombia,  Colin’s trip to San Sebastian, and the Cup of Excellence’s decision to shut down some of the competitions this year. 

Also included: a series of unfortunate comments about touching that can be turned into handy message alerts (“please continue to keep touching us, we really enjoy it”), sincere apologies from both Mr. Harmon and Mr. Leighton (one more sincere than the other), and very exciting news about the state of coffee farms in Bolivia. 

--

This podcast has been brought to you with the support of Nuova Simonelli. 

CoLab: Prague : Tibor Varady

We’re willing to admit here at TTHQ that we knew CoLab: Prague’s third speaker pretty well: a long-time friend and annoyingly intelligent guy, Tibor Varady is a former environmental lawyer turned owner of one of Hungary’s prime coffee destinations, Espresso Embassy, as well as a finalist in both 2013 World Brewers Cup and World Aeropress Championship.

Tibor’s talk is refreshingly candid and insanely useful to anyone wanting to either start or progress a career in specialty coffee. Speaking very frankly about how he reviews and interviews prospective candidates, Tibor offers a much-needed glimpse into the mind of many specialty coffee shop owners when it comes to hiring.

Curious about Espresso Embassy? You can find out more about Tibor’s shop here. 

Episode the 33rd

This week, we step away from the hustle and bustle of all the fun happening with the specialty coffee community on the interwebs, turning our attention to something we should all focus on a bit more: understanding what happens at origin. With the help of good friend Alejandro Martinez of Finca Argentina in El Salvador, we take a look at what happens on the farm seasonally, what changes you might see on a farm that sells “specialty” vs. “commodity”, and how things are changing. Also covered: the ideal relationship between a farmer and a buyer, the impact of leaf rust on El Salvador, and biodynamic gnomes (or why you maybe shouldn’t stay at Ale’s house alone).

Ale had a slight complication with his microphone around 46 minutes in to recording, but just bear with us, it fixes itself within the minute. Baristas who talk about origin in competition without actually ever having been there: this podcast’s for you!

CoLab: Prague : Erna Tosberg

Our second speaker at the Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab event is a familiar face to those on the competition circuit: Erna Tosberg, a barista and trainer working for roestbar Munster, represented Germany at the 2014 WBC. A passionate advocate for coffee education, she was also involved in the first-ever Barista Camp (Athens, 2014) as an AST and is responsible for Kaffeschule Munster, a coffee school associated with roestbar: “because the more people know about coffee as a product, the more they will appreciate high-quality coffee.”

In her talk, Erna poses a question that frequently crops up in our community: do we need barista competitions? Walking the audience through her perspective both as a competitor and as a trainer, Erna thoughtfully explores the positives and negatives of our current competition platform and lands on a very firm answer.

You can keep up with all of Erna’s work with roestbar here and her work with kaffeschule munster here.

Gothenburg Short : David Veal

Earlier this week, we spoke with Ellie Hudson (SCAA) about some of the upcoming changes for the organisation as it begins to prepare for alignment with SCAE. Today, we’d like to share the SCAE side of the story—David Veal sat down with Steve in Gothenburg, not far from the excitement of the World Cup Taster’s Final, to talk about some of the exciting things SCAE launched in Gothenburg. Also covered: plans for Dublin’s World of Coffee, support for National Coordinators, and potential future locations for World of Coffee 2017-2019. 

Episode the 32nd

This week, we’re joined by the primary ambassador of SCAA’s educational program and a powerhouse of initiative, knowledge, community-building, and just plain getting stuff done: SCAA’s Director of Professional Development, Ellie Hudson. Covering everything from the alignment of SCAA & SCAE in the coming months to the future of the US Regional Competition program, Episode the 32nd offers a unique look at the other side of some of the stories we’ve been discussing the past few weeks. Also included in this week’s episode: Fritz Storm-isms, Doug Zell’s tenacity, the origin of the Gentle Giant joke, and the U.S.S. Badger.

You won’t want to miss this! Ellie has been on our podcast guest wishlist since the beginning of this year; we were so excited, this week’s recording scheduled twelve weeks in advance. For more information about the SCAA research that Ellie references in the podcast, click here.

Prague Short : Kim Staalman

In our last Prague short, Steve chats with SCAE Education Field Coordinator, Kim Staalman about her previous life as a barista, the Amsterdam coffee scene, and education at SCAE. Also covered: Ristretto horror stories, the importance of networking for baristas, and who would win in Anne Marie vs. Ellie.

CoLab: Prague : Chahan Yeretzian

Our first speaker at Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab event could very easily be known as “the King of Coffee Geeks”: now the Head of Analytical and Physical Chemistry at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Chahan Yeretzian is a prolific coffee academic, having previously held various management positions with Nestle R&D, and has initiated the first-ever post-graduate degree in “The Art and Science of Coffee.”

Chahan’s talk to the attendees of CoLab: Prague is a rollicking journey through the sciences of water, aroma, and freshness in relation to coffee. This is one talk where there is a benefit to watching it recorded: there is so much information packed into Chahan’s time on stage—we’re probably using the wrong water, only 25-30 of the 1000 volatile compounds in coffee have a recognizable flavour influence, we’re sealing our coffee bags incorrectly—that we’ll all benefit from the ability to pause and take notes so that we can absorb the information presented.

You can keep up with all of the exciting work that Chahan is doing as chair of SCAE’s Research Committee here and find more information on his exciting post-graduate degree here. 

Prague Short: Brian W Jones

We were excited to see former speaker Brian W Jones turn up in the audience of CoLab: Prague, so we nabbed him to have a quick chat about his experience in Prague so far, Supersonic Coffee, and the multi-roaster approach. Also covered: fried cheese, air stream trailers, instagram, and the coffee awesome podcast.

You can watch Brian W Jones' Asia talk here and check out supersonic's instagram feed here.

Tamper Tantrum episode the 31st

In this week's podcast, Colin and Steve chat Tim Williams' new role, Bluebottle's decision to wind down their wholesale business, and what might possibly be the biggest coffee-community internet kerfuffle since James Hoffmann killed crema: SCAA's decision to kill the regional competitions in the lead up to the USBC. Also covered: Steve's controversial take on SCAE's World of Coffee in Gothenburg, Cosimo Libardo's sage advice about how improve your business, and the saddest barista photograph ever seen.

Want to follow along with the kerfuffle? Check out the official announcement, the initial Sprudge article, Barista Magazine's blog post, the rebuttal from Sprudge, Nick Cho's blog, Trubaca's blog, James Hoffmann's blog, Heather Perry and Lorenzo's Perkin's comments on Fresh Cup, and the first signs of an SCAA backtrack. (Goodness!)

Prague Short: Masamichi 'Sami' Kaji

In this Prague short, Oslo Kaffebar barista Masamichi 'Sami' Kaji talks to Steve about his coffee career--spanning Tokyo, Toronto, London, Oslo, and Berlin--and the differences between these different scenes. Also covered: customers' expectations, limited German vocabulary, and Sami's recommendations for coffee in Berlin in order to understand the relatively young scene there.

Five Elephant | The Barn | Companion Coffee | Oslo Kaffebar

Asia Tour: Kim Elena Ionescu

You may not know this week's speaker, recorded in Taipei on our 2014 Asia tour, but you should: as one of the main architects of Counter Culture's Direct Trade Certification and the driving force of their annual transparency report, SCAA's Director of Sustainability Kim Elena Ionescu has a wealth of information about all things coffee-buying and sustainability. In her talk, Kim shares some of the story behind Counter Culture's sustainability endeavors, what it means to be a "Sustainability Manager", and how to measure sustainability success.

Even if you aren't even beginning to think about sustainability seriously, Kim's talk is a great exercise in how to adopt new ideas into your business model and measure their success, but after watching her talk, we're pretty sure you'll see a value in starting to measure your sustainability, too. This is an inspiring call for our entire industry to be transparent about the things we do in order to better learn and grow together.

Prague Short: Jiri 'Tashi' Vondracek

In our second Prague short, co-owner of Prague specialty coffee heavyweight Doubleshot, Jiri 'Tashi' Vondracek, sits down with Steve to chat about the inception of doubleshot and the rapidly-developing Prague coffee scene. Also covered: the London influence, why baristas should come to Prague, and Tashi's coffeeshop recommendations for Prague.

EMA Espresso | Industra Coffee  | Bitcoin Coffee

Tamper Tantrum episode the 30th

Can you claim to really be in specialty coffee if you don't know Matt Perger? The competition wunderkind, creator of the pergtamp, and the creator of the Barista Hustle joins us on episode the thirtieth to talk to us about everything from Melbourne to Malkoenig and mentors to Coffee Masters. Also included in this week's episode: disastrous competition beginnings, all kinds of apologies, when a non-victory is more victorious, fines, and big, new things for the Barista Hustle.

Want to hear more? Matt joined us as a speaker in Vienna (2012) to talk about "Macrophobia" and for the 2014 Asia Tour with a talk titled "Brew Local, Think Global". Want to read more? Subscribe to the Barista Hustle here.

Prague Short : Isa Verschraegen

It's the return of the short! Official pusher-and-puller of all things Barista Guild of Europe Isa Verschraegen chats with Steve to chat about all things Euroguild, this year's Barista Camp in sunny Italy, and CoLab. Also covered: BGE's "safe haven" away from all of the crazy at Nordic World of Coffee Next week (BGE Myshorna), the importance of taking the time to have fun with your fellow baristas, and BGE's Dialogue as a way to connect with other baristas and share ideas when you can't make it to events.

Asia Tour : James Hoffmann

It’s pretty rare that we invite someone back to speak again at Tamper Tantrum, not because the speakers aren’t amazing, but because we want to provide a diverse range of opinions and thoughts from different people across the industry. Every now and then, however, the stars align and we find ourselves with a repeat speaker. In truth, this makes us a little nervous: will they be able to deliver something just as good, if not better, than their original presentation? Will it still be as thought-provoking and inspiring?

 James Hoffmann has spoken at Tamper Tantrum Live twice, co-hosted our Asia Tour, and was a massive part of Episode the 19th, announcing the newly formed Euroguild (Barista Guild of Europe). He had already outdone his Dublin 2011 talk with his Birmingham 2014 talk, but could he do it again?

It is with great pleasure that we present to you his unprecedented THIRD talk for Tamper Tantrum, recorded in Taipei, Taiwan on our Asia tour last year. An annoyingly clever presentation, James speaks here about the importance of telling stories in the coffee industry and how we’re doing it all wrong. And, of course, in honour of his incredible contribution to Tamper Tantrum over the years, we hereby declare today to be #jimsevenday.

Tamper Tantrum Episode the 29th

Episode 29 shudders into existence with a discussion of “appropriate adult behaviour” (read: hangovers) before launching into a recap of our most recent event in Prague and the amazing speakers who joined us there. Also covered: why Klaus Thompson is a big fish, sweeping generalisations about the behaviour of roasters, and an exercise in the futility of Jenn attempting to curate the discussion that happens in these podcasts.

Asia Tour: Brandon Loper

This weeks video comes from the Asia tour and Brandon Loper the Director of the "a Film about coffee" which was partnered with our Tour premiering in Busan, Shanghai and Taipei. Brandon talks about the making of the film and the unique challenges he experienced. 

A film about coffee is available to watch here

SCAA Special Featuring Petsie Williams

For our last SCAA short, we grabbed long-time friend and all-around super-talented guy, Pete WIlliams. The 2014 Irish Barista Champion chats with Steve about his start in the kitchens, his first mind-blowing coffee experience, and about what it's like to get creepy texts from Colin Harmon. Also covered: Finnish coffee consumption per capita, taming the beast, and some frank thoughts about what it means to deliver value to the company for which you work.

Tamper Tantrum special competition announcement

Here at Tamper Tantrum we are very pleased to announce the outlines of a brand new competition which we will be spearheading for the 2015 / 2016 year. These championships have been designed to shake top the core of coffee competitions. Barista competition will never be the same again. 

Tamper Tantrum Episode the 28th

Grab a chemex and find a comfortable chair—episode 28 is epically long, clocking in at just under two hours, and covers a wide gamut of topics from coffee competitions to machiarttes and lots of little things in between.  We are also joined this week by everybody’s favourite Irish barista, Stephen Morrissey, who covers everything from his coffee journey, the upcoming changes to the WBC, and a series of one-word answers to tricky questions. 

 

To watch Stephen Morrissey’s “milestone moment”, click here: https://vimeo.com/2254130

SCAA special Featuring Jay Caragay

As we come to the end of our SCAA short series, we're continuing the theme of Friday Declaimations with this incredible short from Jay Caragay. Jay is another one of our podcast heroes ("we're collecting them like pokemon!") and he regales Steve with with some fabulous stories about his start in coffee, falling into direct trade accidentally, and how he's gone about building a better company. Also covered in this short--as a follow up to Jay's comment on Podcast Episode 23 with Nick Cho--is the standard and cost of judging at the WBC. Happy Friday, folks!

SCAA special Featuring John Gordon

Is there anything that John Gordon can’t do? The multiple-year UKBC Champ, roaster, tech whiz-kid, and innovative thinker sat down with Steve at the SCAA Event in April to talk about some of his new projects and the exciting things coming up soon. In this short, John and Steve cover imagination, the Opera, new releases planned for HOST Milano, and the difficulties of buying good green as a small roastery. Also covered: his new joint venture with Jess MacDonald (Framework) and the differences between the NZ & London coffee scenes.

 

You can find more information on Framework coffee here: http://www.frameworkcoffee.co.nz/

Tamper Tantrum Manchester "Cup North" Dale Harris

2015 Chair of Barista Guild of Europe Dale Harris joined us in Manchester to talk about "the Post-Apocalyptic Barista's Handbook," where research and development has made technology king and our carefully honed skills of dosing and tamping obsolete. In this talk, Dale outlines how the role of the barista will need to change if we want it to be a sustainable career and why we should go ahead and make those changes now--by investing in people--if we want to be able to keep drinking tasty coffee, full stop.

SCAA Special Featuring Kyle Glanville

Start your weekend off right: it's time for a dose of genuine Glanville. In today's SCAA not-so-short, Colin and Kyle have a straightforward chat about the decision to open G&B, motivation, hindsight, and being uncompromisingly true to yourself and your vision. Also covered: the difference between resistance to "the specialty coffee way" versus "fucking about," duties of care, why expectations matter, the best espresso in Seattle, and why Kyle would never, ever, ever compete again.

SCAA Special Featuring Mike Philips

Despite the fact that you can only hear the dulcet tones of his voice, a very dapper Mike Philips joined Colin Harmon at the SCAA Event in Seattle to dish about his transition from an owner of Handsome Coffee Roasters to the Director of Training for Bluebottle, "Intelli's Greatest Hits from 2009," and why working in Tokyo has been awesome (hint: it involves Braveheart speeches). Also covered: marketing that isn't marketing and the great Colin Harmon/Mike Philips Feud, which stretches all the way back to Atlanta in 2009.

Tamper Tantrum Episode the 27th

In this week’s podcast, we talk about Duane Sorenson’s abstention from coffee for one week, Carl Sara turning up in our kitchen (in his pants!), and Michael Sheridan who poses a simple question at this year’s SCAA Symposium: Caturra or Castillo?  

 

We close out this week with a discussion of coffee competitions, recently passed (Coffee Masters at the London Coffee Festival), upcoming (World Latte Art & World Coffee in Good Spirits at Gothenburg, June 16-18), and those currently in the works: Tamper Tantrum is planning an exciting new competition (with a cash prize!) we’ll unleash in time for Dublin 2016…