All in a Day's Work

Wives, this is a post to let your husbands see, for it comes from the husband of this blogs wife. I, Joe, am here to describe for you all, a typical day at my job.

It begins at 6:12am. I roll over and turn off my iPhone alarm, and see a text telling me: Lets get together at 8:30. Thanks.

I reply: Got it.

My boss (the original texter) replies at 7:08am: Could you bring 12 bottles of water and a black Coffee Cat cap? Thanks.

I reply: Sure thing.

I roll over again, thankful for an extra 10 minutes of sleep thinking. But i do arise, get myself ready, proceed to Coffee Cat to aquire the above said items, pick up one of my employees (a certain Christopher Hoops for those in Moscow reading this) and drive 30 minutes south to Watsonville. We meet with the owner here.

We take off at around 8:35am, and head south. It is thickly clouded all the way down until around the San Fernando Vally. We poke our heads out of the clouds for a bit, just to check on the stores, make sure their doing alright.

We cruise by MGM Studios in Santa Monica, just for kicks.

Then, at around 10am, we proceed to land at Santa Monica Airport.

The main purpose of this run of the mill excursion, is to attend the Western Regional Barista Competition, in the heart of downtown LA.
The competition is being held in this cool, hip old building, that seems to have lost all other purpose.

A quick disclaimer concerning all following photographs. This place, as with all subsequent locations, was not too well lit. Combine that with the necessity for extreme zoom (as you will see) and a desire to be inconspicuous, and your net result is a less than crispily clear picture. sorry. tough luck. A competitor from Zoka Coffee in Seattle. He is pulling shots on a Nuova Simonelli Aurelia 3 group. a nice machine, though i am a Marzocco man myself.

This next guy (named Nick) was from Intelligentsia (to be pictured below). He, i am sure, will win the competition, and proceed to the nationals. Here he is using a Mazzer Robur E. A doserless conical burr grinder. Very nice.There are 7 judges total. 4 judging his drinks, two judging his technique and cleanliness, and 1 judge making sure the rest are doing their job correctly. There are four stages to the event. First, he introduces the espresso he is using; describes its origins, its aromatics, its mouthfeel, and any other notes that he wishes the judges to pick up. He then presents them with a shot of this espresso, pulled straight, from a 19g basket, into a 2oz demi.

Next he must make four perfect cappuccinos, in order to convince the judges of the featured espresso's ability to hold up in milk. Also this tests the barista's ability to steam, texture, and artfully pour his milk.

The final stage is the specialty drink. The barista develops and masters a unique drink that enhances and complements the characteristics of his chosen espresso. For example. Certain African coffees, such as Yirgacheffe (from Ethiopia) have lemony citrus top notes. Most beans grown on farms in the Huehuetenango region of Guatemala, have a mild chocolate finish, when roasted correctly. Say we blend these two together, to make our espresso. To complement this we would take rich cream, and lemon zest mixed together with some tempered 70% chocolate. to that mixture we add our blend of Yirgacheffe and Huehuetenango. the result: one can almost hear Fred Astaire singing - "Heaven, im in Heaven. and my heart beats so that i can hardly speak. for that ecstacy that currently you seek, is what you get when your a coffee geek."

this dudes specialty drink was cream and some sort of compote that he pulled the espresso into. unfortunately i do not remember exactly what it was...

but i know the judges were singing.

Next stop was Sunset Blvd.

as promised. Intelligentsia is one of the leaders of the Third Wave Espresso Pack. they are refocusing the industry on the bean. High quality, sustainably grown, honestly paid farmers, thats all the rage right now, and with good reason. there is an element of marketing that goes without saying. but by and large it is a responsible, good-stewardly thing to do.

simple, minimalistic, and straight to the point: espresso. you can get your fluffy vanilla lattes, and frufru mochas, but not much else. there are no crappuccino smoothie drinks. only high quality $3.50 10oz Cappuccino's, straight shot single origins, and traditional macchiato's (which comes in a 3oz demi, and does not have caramel in it).

Good girl. clean your wand after every time you steam a pitcher of milk. if you want to be grossed out, find a starbucks and check out their steam wands. Cant see them? wonder why...

got to love those naked portafilters. they allow the espresso to pour just beautifully.

a nice touch to my macchiato which was tasty.

next stop was down the strip and up a street to LaMill Coffee house.

a customized red clover. very cool. the clover allows you to brew anywhere from 6oz to 16oz of coffee at a time. this means each cup is fresh ground, and fresh brewed, and not just sitting on some hotplate all morning long. ughh.

nice interior.

todo...were not in kanses anymore. the numbers to the right are not page numbers. their prices. for an 8oz cup of clover brewed coffee, this particular Panama Esmeralda Geisha cost $6. a pot of the same, but brewed with a Chemex cost $20. Totally worth it too, especially if the boss is paying. it was, to say the least, delicious coffee.

This was taken right before on the runway, right before we took off. i had a hard time keeping my hands still, what with the motor two feet in front of my knees.

just a typical day. HA! i wish. it was very fun however. flying is a blast when it is not commercial. on the way home, somewhere over the paso robles, we saw a shooting star. and to see a shooting star from 12000 feet in the air is no small joy ride. it burned up about 5 miles infront of us, and at about 15000 feet. not that far away. it was amazing.

Anyway, there you are.