Just So You Know I'm Still Alive...

I just thought I'd post something so that people know I'm still here, and still blogging. A huge apology to you all for being so quiet for the last week, but I'm working on a lot at the moment, not least of which is a post for this site. It should be up very soon.

Again, very, very sorry.

Seamus.

The Search For The God Shot...

Here we go, lets try and throw up some controversy. The God Shot. Is there REALLY any need?

I don't think so. Making a good cup of coffee is a well documented art now. With all the books out there, all the fantastic barista trainers, online resources, etc there is no excuse for making consistently crap coffee. But as any self-respecting pro-barista can tell you, the God Shot is not simply a good cup of coffee. It's an experience that transcends the usual coffee shop coffee. Flavours should explode in the mouth, and it certainly should be one of those memories which remains with you for the rest of your life. The only problem is that it's impossible to achieve consistently.

Making a good cup of coffee is entirely dependent upon your ability to control certain variables such as water temperature, the consistency of the grind, the distribution of the coffee in the puck before and after tamping, the pressure with which you tamp, and the amount of coffee grounds and water used to make the shot. The God Shot is made when by some utter fluke the barista manages to control every one of these variables. Therefore it is impossible to reproduce over and over again.

But why not strive for the God Shot I hear you say? Because I feel it gets in the way. Rather than sit around as coffee professionals at point of sale, or at home trying to make the perfect shot with what we have, why not put that effort into sorting out the coffee at Origin, making a real effort to give farmers a fair price for the coffee we all love so much. Or why not spend that time teaching home baristas, or amateur coffee lovers how to make good coffee with their little press pot, or their little Gaggia semi-auto. Education is what we as an industry need to concentrate on; both technique and the ethics behind commodity trading. Yes, good coffee is what I want to see, but lets start by educating people how to make good coffee before we sit around deciding how to make the perfect coffee.

There, your thought for the day.

Seamus.

Not so good...

Right so I've been in Durham since saturday just gone, and I've only just ventured out into the city center today as I needed my course textbook, £40! for one book. Anyways, this presented itself as an opportunity to find some coffee. 

I passed O'briens of which I'm not a huge fan, but its drinkable, so decided to have a go, must say I've not had a coffee for about 5 days now, which is torture so I walked in. Then swiftly out again, the machine was filthy, the portafillers were scruffy, the steam arm white and thick, the jugs dull and stained. I'm sure it was a health hazard!

Second port of call a small independent, coffee house by day, wine bar by night, nice set up. Ordered a latte paid up for it, watched the guy make it, bag of starbucks beans next to the grinder :( 'nough said

Cheers,

Dane

Just to let you all know!

Right, I moved into my uni on saturday, been looking around durham, gonna have lots of reviews for you in the next week, or two, when I should be sober, in the meanwhile if anyone knows of anywhere good please comment!

Cheers,

Dane

Finding Your Third Place...

Firstly, sorry about the total lack of posts for the last few days. It's been a hectic time for both Dane and I. He went off to Uni for his Freshers' Fortnight yesterday, so don't expect much intelligible from him for a while lol. As for me, well, I've spent every waking moment building a remarkably complex website in html...God it's hard...

Anyway, I was spending some time today with the girlfriend sat in my 'Third Place'. The subject of the 'Third Place' is something I've meant to mention on this blog for a while, but something I've only recently experienced. Now, for those of you who don't know, the Third Place is a part of a concept which assumes there are three places in a coffee lover's life. These are the home, the workplace and the coffee shop. I love Coolaboola. I think we serve the best coffee in Newcastle, and I think we have some of the most committed and professional baristi in the surrounding area. But it's where I work, and for that reason I can't ever relax when I stand at the bar.

The Third Place is something which should be very important to a coffee lover; a place in which you feel comfortable, where the baristi know who you are and, of course, somewhere where you love the coffee. Every coffee shop has it's own unique feel, it's own soundtrack and it's own ethos. In my opinion the ethos is the most important. There are some coffee shops (though they tend not to last very long)who try to appeal to everyone. One coffee shop in Newcastle (who shall remain nameless, for now) which has a laid-back, Costa-style atmosphere, with multicoloured lighting in the ceiling for the local gay community. Another nice touch is the tremendously capitalist Che Guevara milkshake. At the other extreme there are coffee shops who refuse to compromise on drink quality for anyone, serving only 6oz drinks, refusing frappes, etc.

My Third Place is a mix. As a barista I love it when people challenge me to adapt drinks for them. I have total respect for the hardcore baristi who refuse to change anything, and who refuse to serve capps after 11, but I love the culinary aspect of coffee, and the creativity it allows. I love caramel capps with chocolate sprinkles. They're great. That's what my Third Place allows. A huge drinks menu, with a real chance for the consumer to play about and customise their drink. I'd love to tell you all where my Third Place is, but I would hate to upset all the other coffee shops lol.

So, go, find your Third Place! And if you already have, feel free to tell me about it! Comment, and let us all know what you love.

Anyway, I have a web book now, so the reviews should be coming thick and fast soon, and hopefully posts will be a bit more regular.

Cheers,
Seamus.

Manchester coffee scene.

Right so I went to Manchester this weekend to visit a good friend of mine, with a side mission to look for coffee, good coffee. So at this point I'll be honest, I was far too ill to do that on both saturday and sunday, so...the joys of train station coffee on the way home, AMT was the target.

I bought a cappuccino, their "award winning and critics choice" cappuccino. 

A waste of 1.90 if you ask me, burnt and burnt, all I could taste was burnt milk, I cant really say too much more about it. When it cooled down I got a hint of coffee, slightly hazelnutty.

I think train station coffee is best left to coolaboola!

I'll be back in Manchester at some point, so if anyone knows of anywhere decent please send me a message! 

Cheers,

Dane

It's Been A While, But With Good Reason...

I know, I haven't spoken up for a while now. Sorry. But, I plan to make it up to you. Firstly, some news. For those of you entering competition, the Northern regional for the UKBC has a venue finalised! It is Pumphreys Coffee, in Blaydon. They use a fully up to date WBC set up, so I look forward to getting stuck into it. Also, the same coffee shop is holding a Barista Jam on premesise, so something else to look forward to :)

Now, if any of you have watched the Youtube link above, you'll see that a new website is coming soon. Well, now I get to give you a teaser.





Well, there's the (very) basic first draft. It was done in paint, from a plan in a sketchbook. The red won't be quite so scarlett, and there will be a lot more colour in the form of adverts, photos, etc. This is, of course, one design, and I'm sure many others will appear over time, but this is my favourite so far.



So, what is the website for?



It is not a new site for this blog. Sorry guys, but Blogger is the way forward for the moment. I do plan on Wordpressing it, but Third Wave Coffee is the priority at the moment. Also, I want to make some kind of distinction between the blog and the site. The blog will NEVER have adverts, or make money in any way. It will also remain the way it is, unbiased and fair, and will not advertise anything either Dane or myself don't love.



The site is aimed at being something akin to a UK CoffeeGeek, a repository for UK news, reviews of equipment available in the UK, and other such things. It will have a links page devoted to UK coffee sites. However, it also has another use. In conjunction with this site I will be running consumer events which will be advertised on this site. I aim to have a series of leaflets and articles on the site which will tie in with the latest events, as well as an archive of old documents. With time I might open up an eBay shop as well, selling basic cupping essentials, Third Wave T-Shirts, etc. This, along with advertising slots for UK coffee businesses, will fund the site, and consumer events.




This is, of course, all just a dream right now, but a dream I'm passionate about. Some of it may come to pass, some of it may fall by the wayside. I aim to have a functional site up by New Year, but this is dependant upon me having a basic knowledge of CSS and xHTML, as well as a copy of Dreamweaver CS3.




Anyway, any comments are truely welcome. The last thing I want is to make a fool of myself by wasting money on a crap idea. What do you guys think? Do we need this site? And if we do, what do YOU want to see on it?




Anyway, cheers, and I'll have a coffee-related post soon.




Seamus.