barismo.com : Coffee, tea, and espresso

Independence day hours

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:30:24 PDT

We will be closed tomorrow (July 3rd) and Saturday (July 4th) for the Holiday weekend.

Sunday though, we will be open from 10am to 5pm. Chris will be covering the shop and brewing up free coffee all day. I found a replacement burner so he'll be doing Syphon and pour over depending on interest as well as having Soma on bar all day.

New equipment arriving soon

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:54:45 PDT

The open house went over very well and we are working on a few little projects this week before we set longer hours at the shop starting next week. Even with the damp weather, in store sales have been brisk and we want to say thanks for all the local support!

LM GB5, originally uploaded by coffeedirtdog.

We have a new shipment of equipment arriving soon. It is available for pre order to be shipped on arrival next week. Browse the shopping cart and check out what's available. We will

A lot of people have been asking for a method guide for pour over and I promise we will get something up here soon.

Let it rest

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:56:38 PDT

Noted something I had seen also at the shop, the SOMA needs a good amount of rest to calm down and then it really shines. While I still try my best to keep the coffees as fresh as possible, I have found this particular coffee really pops after a 10-12 day rest in the bag unopened.

If you are going to pull it after day 3, keep it tight and avoid channeling but until it degasses a bit after opening the bag, it can be a little harder to work with. I opened a bag on day two that was giving me fits but recently was really enjoying two roasts that were 12 and 15 days off roast right out of the bag.

As to that, we sent out some coffees today for the MANE barista jam and for the PACA spro down. The barista Jam has a competition gong where you are given descriptors and you have thre shots to get the most out of the coffee. Should be interesting to see how they handle our espresso.

We have Syphons in stock again, TCA-2 and are a week away from a full shipment of Hario product. (for overseas orders, please contact lex@barismo.com before ordering) Local readers are going to see a lot of this product in the more reputable cafes. Hand mills, pour over equipment, you name it.

Open house: Sunday June 21st 12-6pm

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:44:20 PDT

The finishing touches are going into the bar and I intend to have some extra roasts on hand for this weekend. With that positive note, we welcome everyone to come out Sunday and sample some coffees and check out our new space. We will be serving Soma espresso and Kiandu for non espresso type coffees (Ben C will be doing Syphon brews).

barismo
169 Mass ave
Arlington, MA 02474

Free coffee and a chance to check out our new coffee bar are as good an excuse as any to drop by! See you there-

You're Beautiful Espresso

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:24:00 PDT

We are now offering this espresso online. The feedback on this blend and sales in shop are forcing us to roast quite a bit extra and we are making it available here as well. It will get re-tuned as new crop coffees arrive but the flavor profile is set and feedback has been very positive.

I had been having several shots of this recently and spent time today talking with barista serving it. Consistent, easy to pull and no complaints.

That's the upside, the downside is being short staffed this week and the lame weather recently.

'Full Immersion' Cold Brewers

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:13:10 PDT

We have 8 cup cold brewers at the shop which are quite refreshing in the summer heat.

For our coffees, we recommend 1g of coffee per 10ml water. A drip grind to almost a Syphon grind works best. Use cold filtered water and steep for 12-18 hours. For darker roasts, a shorter steep time of 8 hours can work well and some lighter roasts may need more steep time up to 24 hours.

Cold brew is very smooth and rewarding when compared to the many alternative iced coffee methods. It mellows out roast note and balances acidity while yielding a highly caffeinated cup. Full immersion cold brewing is quite easy to do and requires a few simple steps.

Load the ground coffee into the nylon filter. Add cold water. Steep for ~12 hours. Remove the nylon filter and coffee once a desired taste is achieved. Cold brew will continue to age and change over the next few days after initial brewing. It is important to note the change and plan to consume the coffee in the first week. We recommend the day 3 through 5 window after brewing as having the most complexity.

It also works for cold brewing tea as well, but rinse well or it will taste a bit like coffee. For teas, a heavier dose than you would normally use is preferable. Use loose leaf teas and tisane of your choosing. We recommend whole leaf teas like a dark Oolong or anything with clean and unbroken whole leaves for the best experience. Unlike hot brewed teas that are then iced, cold brew will stay clear and not become cloudy.

We have more Syphons on the way and a new shipment of equipment coming soon.

Building out the bar

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:56:46 PDT

Finished up some details at the shop today. Need one more day to be done and then I can focus on the smaller projects.

One of the side projects was to get my old grinder back in shape so we broke it down and Ben C. stripped the paint, a little base coat, and some new color (finished paint job to be featured with some photos of the bar later). I think we will eventually get to the other 4 grinders but this one was travel weary and just plain ugly having had it for a while now.

The bar top took me a few tries to get it down to the right tint. Had to strip it down and redo the whole thing to get the right match but I am happy with the current color.

I figure we can have the machine up and running once the bar top is hardened enough for the equipment to set on it. Tough business taking on all these projects and working a normal job. I really do enjoy it though. Strangely, there is a sense of satisfaction in being tired and covered in paint at the end of the night. Truth is nobody truly appreciates the details until they do them themselves for their own benefit.

Details are important though. With all the national roasters in town recently scouting for victims, you'd think Boston was the next big thing in coffee. Maybe, but Boston is a funny place. Locals are fiercely loyal to established businesses. As a new roaster, I have learned that you have to stay around long enough to get entrenched and then people will begin to give you a chance. After you have been around for a while, you are established and nobody around here roots against a familiar haunt. I'm not sure how roasters in other shipping zones will fare coming into town but who really can say? There are some large shops now locally who are shipping in roasts from out of region but how sustainable is that long term? I believe that in a few years the larger coffee community will someday see an explosion of true micro roasters that will break the string of Regional turned National roasters we have seen in the last few years.

Part of our own business model right now is to begin a movement towards zero waste and we started by using as much reused material as possible in building out the kiosk. We already recycle as much material as we can and have more compost than we know what to do with but I am talking more about the build out as a starting point for a more aggressive stance. It's not something you would see on our print materials or something we will market because roasting is not a very efficient use of resources to begin with but it's on my mind as we move forward. We paid more for VOC free paints but the upside is they were full spectrum and that was worth it on many points. On the other end were the oak counters that took us a while to get cut and mounted, then stained properly. Luckily there is a local reclaimed wood outfit just off Alewife Pkwy and we were able to get some really unique and charactered pieces of Oak. It was a bit tough matching them up but I am pleased with the hours put in. For smaller projects like the standing counter, I salvaged an old kitchen table left behind by the previous tenants. After some cutting, planing, and a little sanding, it's set for service. I even went as far as to cut up some of the pallets that had hard wood to use as fly board under counter and some shelving.

The remodel moves to the office areas next but it will return late summer to the front to work on benches outside and taking down the air conditioning system for a more efficient one. We are measured for a bike rack out front to be installed soon. Something we volunteered for on our block but is really obviously necessary. I seriously wonder if the construction will ever stop or just have brief intervals.

Before the weekend

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:28:27 PDT

Dreary weather lately. Hasn't affected the roasts but has made some of the cafes a bit slow. Makes the shop feel cold when it's overcast.

Our new site goes live soon. More on that later. Final bits of construction will happen this weekend. Much delayed but that's about how it goes.

GabeR was in town the other day, thanks for the photos! Merry 'corky' White was around the shop the other day. Anthropological type coffee studies in Japan. Book coming out soon, will keep our readers posted. She had taken some of my coffee to Japan and had feedback for us. She also brought a new gadget to muck around a bit with, thanks!

Coffees are on the shelf if anyone intends to make it out to Arlington. Later barista-

Soma in the rock garden @ grumpy

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:31:36 PDT

barismo soma in the rock garden @ grumpy, originally uploaded by confusedbee.

Props to Liz on this shot.

That reminds me, Cafe Grumpy has some Kenya of ours and one of the locations has some Soma on guest. Three of our new crop Kenyas arrive in only a couple of weeks so keep an eye on our site.

Locally, I think the (Hi Rise brattle St.) has some Soma or will open some up tomorrow.

Kinda busy lately but that's a good thing. Thanks for the support!

Noodling around

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:02:42 PDT

Try everything is an approach, just not a very good one. It leads to a lot of dead ends though and doesn't always tell us anything in the process. Seriously, a lot of long and very unproductive sessions come from lacking a methodical approach and I do speak from personal experience. It's better to start with a base of knowledge, test it, and have experiences that either shape or reinforce that base. I get irritated every time somebody gives me that spin, ohhh, but we should try that because so and so did and... This is barismo though. We don't approach anything in that manner. We don't really care about famous so and so who did whatever whenever.... unless their coffee tastes amazing, at which point you have our full attention.

That brings me to our Syphon method which has grown a lot over time. It either has to do with more experience or control over the roast. We did, once, try a glass rod and decided never to bother again. We tried paper filters one time and it was an incredible waste of time. Cloth is pretty much the best and if you think about the physics, it makes sense. You can't really beat depth filtration no matter how you hack or modify other filtration methods. Metal screens and glass rods will always need a slightly coarser grind and always have too much silt(one problem creates the other). Paper can provide a clean cup but it restricts fines and flow, traps oils, and often tastes strongly of paper unless rinsed religiously. Cloth is however, harder to keep clean and takes a bit more effort. It's hard to rinse it out after each use and before each use.

Sometimes I think the noodling done in our online forums and blogs is not a search for quality but trying to simply luck upon some particularly cool looking method using the simplest technique with the easiest cleanup (Like that nylon filter tried in Abid that was akin to brewing coffee in a swimsuit and tasted as such or the halogen lamp heater). I wish it was that easy, but the most rewarding methods take the most investment.

Truth is, the two best brews I have had in the last two weeks were a cloth pour over in a v60 and a Syphon. Therein lie two commonalities. Stable temps and depth filtration. The Syphon with our method is incredibly temperature controlled and the measured temp drop of our preferred pour over kettle is surprisingly small.

I now make an assumption that if the basic physics aren't there, don't bother. If it doesn't have a stable temperature or depth filtration, I might not like the results. You would think I might like chemex but the third component I always look for is an even extraction and loyal reader, I have yet to see a chemex methodology that gets just that. The v60 is comparable in visuals but has more side ventilation or 'drainage' which separates it from chemex. I have seen some forumphiles talk about analogies relating evenness to cooking a steak. The retort is that we don't want channeling in our espresso, why would we think it so romantic in our drip coffee? Poetic prose sounds good but it better have the taste buds to back it up.

Don't get me wrong, I care about a better cup and am not into rigid methodology. I just believe our approach as a community is often too loose and empirical.

I am not going to be diplomatic for our dear readers. Garbage in and simply put, garbage out. Without diligence and serious effort as input, you might be simply rolling the dice with varying brewing methods. On the other hand, if it tastes good to you, enjoy. If you are curious that it could taste even better, set up some variables to test and experiment.

Micro and macro

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:09:57 PDT

I have been talking a lot lately with people about roaster sizes and why we chose our roasting equipment. Since there are about 5 new coffees arriving over the next 3-4 weeks, this is a good time to address some roaster nonsense.

I spend a lot of time worrying about how large is too large in regards to our long term goals. There are many reputable roasting outfits that are what I would think of as very large. The problem is that they are not quite large by general industry standards but by a layman's concept of size, they are on an obviously big scale to be romancing anything micro(thought they frequently do).

At what point do you lose control of quality as it relates to volume and output? In my eyes, there must be a point where quality roasting no longer means finessing and tweaking a roast but rather relates keeping the production consistent and avoiding problems. At larger volumes, it then becomes about repeatability and logistics instead of refinement and optimization.

I make this statement because I believe roasting in it's truest sense is about mass and momentum. When the mass gets large enough, it becomes very stable but harder to drastically change the momentum. It's the difference between a touring car and a dump truck if that analogy works for the reader. There is an obvious cutoff point where some more challenging roast profiles would no longer be achievable.

If this, then a larger batch size in a roaster becomes increasingly predictive and slow to react to changes. Obviously, this is a common observation, but the implication is that a smaller batch can do more unique profiles if the user has the ability to utilize this properly.

The problem is that smaller roasting outfits have very little access to (due to scale) better coffees. The smaller a roasting outfit, the more dependent it becomes on existing supply lines for coffees. In a business that deals in containers, a truly small batch roaster (unless well connected) is going to be locked out from some great coffees.

Simply put, a small batch roaster with knowledge and an adequate setup has more upward roast potential but little access to exceptional coffees. A larger batch roaster has less control over the roast in comparison but can consume more coffee and has more leverage to get any coffees they want.

It is very strange right now that our community, the online one, is not having this discussion yet. How big is too big to produce quality? How small is too small to have access to quality?

Up to date

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:05:10 PDT

The kiosk is a little off target thanks to a longer than expected lead time on the reclaimed oak counter top. We are trying to do as much as we can to reuse materials and pay a little more for things like VOC free paints. Two weeks to a month at most. It's not quite the hangup we had when we originally opened(a 6 month setback that delayed building the kiosk) but a slow down nonetheless. Just to confirm for the locals, it's not a cafe and we won't be serving food or trying to give the neighborhood bakeries fits. Just coffee and keeping it simple.

I have classes in shop tonight and tomorrow night so though the place will look busy, we will be closed for these private functions.

I just brought on some new persons to help in several areas. For readers, that means a new website is coming soon with someone to monitor the shipping and updates. I need this to help refocus. It's easy to micromanage but I am the roaster and not a web guy. I spend hours behind the till and cupping production roasts so that's what I need to continue to focus on.

Noting the name

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:18:41 PDT

I had a funny conversation today about our blends and labels which got me thinking I should update some bits on the blends around town right now.

Syphon Saturdays are a new thing at Hi Rise on Brattle St. I hear it's finally starting to get a little more headway and we hope people will go out and give it a push forward. Weather permitting, the patio will be a nice place to enjoy a beautiful Syphon experience this weekend. They have classic Linnaean St. named after the first place I lived by when I moved to Cambridge.

Taste has a batch of Soma right now on bar. For those of you wondering about the name, it has little to do with Brave New World, Nectar of the Gods, a song reference, or anything quite that complex beyond the simple etymology of a word. While reading up on the term, I noticed a bit that stated the word is derived from an Indo-Iranian root *sav- (Sanskrit sav-) "to press" and thought it too funny to pass up given all the alternative meanings and the misdirection it would provide.

On other espresso naming fronts, Simon's has this new blend reverting to an old name called 'You're Beautiful'. When Simon took over the shop from Hollywood Espresso, his visiting friends did a bit of art in several places around the cafe. One was a mirror placement that had Simon's face and the phrase'You're Beautiful' placed there. A delightfully cheeky statement that I was always fond of.

I wish naming was more complex or thought out but the components change and new names are defined by the coffees and profiles therein. Rather than trying to define a blend as a brand, we are going to have fun with it. Espresso is espresso and we aren't trying to rebrand a blend of coffees with an umbrella term for 'our espresso.' Keep it simple and rough, function over form. We are going to roast through a lot of coffees this year and there will be a ton of pairings to keep our barismo espressophiles satiated regardless of the identifier on the bag.

Get the coffee right

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:08:56 PDT

We have been very conservative with our approach as new business owners. We took our time and have been careful, not gotten greedy or tried to force things to happen. We consolidated where we were at and waited until we felt our roasts were very consistent and of a level we felt comfortable with every week. Getting enough roasts under your belt that you fear no coffee is a great thing.

It seems to be that we are ready for the next stage (or stages rather). This weekend, the bar will get finished or pretty close to it. It will need a paint job and some shelving work but that will happen sooner than later. Shortly after, our hours of operation will firm up to reflect what we are. What we were was a wholesale roaster who happened to be open to the public during limited hours. We are now about to become a kiosk that will represent our coffees and tie together a few important items. Syphon, v60 pour overs, and espresso. No air pots, nothing but fresh brewed coffee.

To show what your coffee is, you either need competent representation (we have had that so far) or internal representation. We want to showcase a lot of brew methods and spend our time focused on the resulting cups at the shop and change the dialogue.

We came from an outside view of the dangers of rapid growth well beyond the ability to have effective quality controls. It was like watching an evolution where a multitude of compromises led to coffee in bins, black label blends, pre ground, hidden roast dates, and almost every single pitfall short of flavorings known to quality roasting. There was no feedback loop with accounts as to the results, no training, and very simply put, no barismo.

Our approach is going to be a direct response to those lessons which were taught indirectly. We are going to focus on training, focus on methodology, and most importantly taste. This is a mission statement in itself of making sure our coffees are executed at every step as well as we can influence it.

There is a time when the realization comes that you are surrounded and supported by an amazing group of people and the mix just needs to be fitted together in the right way. For that, we will be adding some new members to our family in different roles over the next few weeks. There have been more than a few phone calls in the last few days made to reach out and find the right mix.

I want to say thanks for all those who have supported us through the changes and see the potential in our style of coffee. To those who have hung around and been there at tastings, chipping in a thanks, or have been spreading the word, we appreciate it.

The kiosk is on the way. See you there soon barista.

WBC and the US Cup Taster's Championship

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:25:50 PDT

Gwylim Davies of England wins the WBC for '09. A really nice guy all around and as humble as they come. Great capps on stage and looked really calm.

red dot, originally uploaded by confusedbee.

Our own Ben Kaminsky won the title of US Cup Tasting Champion '09 in competition at Atlanta. Mark one up for the little guys. Ben will write an update for Barista Mag about the experience and detail his days of eating only oatmeal in preparation. Ben will be headed off to Germany in June to shoot for the world title.

We met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. Not much else to say but a lot of roasting to catch up on.

Atlanta

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:48:24 PDT

Ben K. and I are headed to Atlanta for a few days. We are there as a part of the anti boiler project and the icing on the cake is getting to hang out with old friends and contacts.

The shop will be open 12-6 this week though may close an hour early on a few days. We had a ridiculously full roast session so expect there to be plenty of coffees. The SOMA is so good, I don't expect there to be a whole lot left by the weekend but Simon's has guest of it and some Nimac as espresso this coming week. We are going to limit SOMA to the kiosk or as a guest for other cafes right now. Hoping the kiosk will progress farther after a return from travel and we can showcase this blend a little more. It is the most complex espresso we have roasted yet.

See you next week barista.

Espresso pack

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:30:56 PDT

We have a new espresso blend, SOMA, which though we are about to run out of some of it's components in the next month as new crops arrive, it's pretty darn good. I think that after all the time we have spent with these coffees, at a certain point we understood them well enough to know the pontential in these coffees as a roaster. There are few things we haven't tried to get more out of these coffees and this blend is a culmination of these lessons.

The blend consists of 10% Nimac Kapeh, 15% Kiandu, and 75% Cardenas. That's two Guatemala Atitlans and a Kenya Nyeri.

Sweetness, viscous mouthfeel, and ripe fruit dominate the cup character. Balance from top to bottom makes this smooth blend less challenging but still overtly complex. Front of the mouth cask conditioned red wine yields mid palate to soft cocoa, then finishes with sweet lingering spiced fruit jam.

It's a thick dark red shot that pulls well as a 19 gram double @ 201.5f and at shorter volumes.

During the WBC we are offering an espresso pack where you can pick up our three current blends at a reasonable price.

How I spent Easter

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:25:01 PDT

I admit I was so wrapped up in getting John Pierre's roasts done and helping get him a good base for what will be a crazy experience, I only had a few moments to watch the zombie Jesus parade as it was on the way to Harvard Sq. I didn't really know what it was but wasn't the least bit fazed as is often the case when you live in a place like Cambridge for very long.

Highlights of the day were taking JP for lunch at what was his first try at Mexican food and then getting his reaction as we dropped into a couple of cafes. Much of the day was spent trying to get a firm idea on Rwandan cuisine, comparing roast styles, pulling shots, and the likes. On a personal level, it is great to work with people who want to learn and willing to absorb anything you can throw at them. So much of my time gets spent dealing with drama and non coffee stuff that it's refreshing to just work on the coffee.

The big lesson was that this is something we do enjoy doing. While Ben K. might occasionally risk burning down Hi-Rise for forgetting to turn off grills and be averse to mops, he is good at training for competitions. On the oddball notes, JP brought only a small amount of his competition coffee, Kivu with him so we had to arrange a little more coffee. Ben K. contacted his friend at Terroir and got a little of their current Rwanda for JP as a backup. I was not prepared for how difficult this coffee would be to roast. It was not anything in the behavior itself but the oddity was in coloration and the core of the roasted bean. It was hard not to burn and strangely difficult to roast. I have no real clue why but it was a bit like if Rod Serling wrote the script and we suddenly were having tipping and scorching when the roast should be too conservative as is. There is a lot of pressure when a last moment competition roast comes in for the World Barista Competition. We did get him a solid roast to work with and JP will have many other things to think about besides the coffee in the next few days.

Three barismo things to think about

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:34:52 PDT

We are doing some training sessions with the current Rwandan barista champion in shop right now and were put in the position of roasting his competition coffee last minute. That brings about one phrase that is funny to type, 'Rwandan green coffee sourced by Terroir, roasted by barismo.' Half of the green will go back to Acton but we will probably host a small charity event for the leftover espresso from his competition batch at a later date. We will also give Jean Pierre a tour of Cambridge cafes tomorrow so keep an eye out for him. We will be in Atlanta for the WBC soon so I am not sure of the time line on the charity stuff.

The anti boiler prototype got us thinking that it could revolutionize how we look at manual methods. Instead of trying to automate, use science to refine and support the execution of methodology. A firm time line for production does not exist but it really does hold some incredible potential.

The weather stinks right now but later this week you will be able to try a new espresso blend that will be available only as a guest at Simon's and Hi Rise on Brattle St. We need to settle it a little more but the espresso currently called SOMA consists of Cardenas, Kiandu, and Nimac. Depending on the feedback and final results, this will be a stock barismo blend going forward. As new crops come in, we will be running more SOE offerings and playing with experimental blends at shops that are geared up to run two espresso simultaneously (a guest/SOE being the second offering). Since our espresso machine is somewhat offline right now, we will see how things go but there will not be any on site activities at the lab until the kiosk remodel is finished.

Let the line flow

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:04:43 PDT

Just saw Simon's finished remodel and it looks like a change for the better. It was progressing in several stages but we helped a bit tonight in passing by taking some shelving down. His standing bar on the side adds a lot to the space and really opens it up with better light and a more comfortable feel without the shelving adding shadows. That and the new paint job is really helping.

Knowing how cafes run and having ideas on how the lines flow is a tricky business. The design Simon originally had was not his own, he took over another shop and did only superficial changes. After years of watching the customers cluster and have trouble moving the line, he made some nice changes in this remodel. In an interesting way, it is a parallel to what we are going through in the lab right now.

Ben Chen pointed out to me today that the barismo layout is pretty symmetrical with our new counter installed. It still lacks a counter top but his estimation is correct. When you first walk in the door, you walk right up to the counter where ordering happens. It's a subtle thing but it influences the flow. Order with the person pulling shots, pick up on the other side of the machine down the counter, then pay a little further down the counter. At each of those moments, a step forward. Don't underestimate the psyche of a customer. Something as little as making a step forward every now and then feels like progress where as standing and waiting can feel frustrating.

The worst thing I see in cafes is when a line backs up at the drink pick up point and there is a small group of customers waiting for drinks. There will always be the person who hears exactly what you said and will still pick it up regardless of how wrong the size is querying 'Is this mine?' More times than you would like, this person will walk off with the drink forcing the staff to remake drinks and do damage control.

The second worst flow is the criss cross design. A condiment station or drink pickup area that forces customers to flow back through the line that moves forward to access the station. Having a register past the espresso machine but drinks are ordered at the register is always a fun thing to watch as a customer. The old shout out to figure out who went and sat down leaving the abandoned drink for half an hour only to come back later confused they did not have their drink yet.

Shop design is tough and there are few places that really nail it. I guess we are looking to maximize customer space in a tiny shop and move the line. I have learned some lessons from the other shops I've worked at or visited and I decided to keep it tight and efficient. No barista self indulgence this time around. Resulting success still to be decided.

Changes on the horizon

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:22:05 PDT

Silas is back in town for a little while and we just picked up a sales person to help work on account building later in the month. We are growing slowly and making certain we focus ourselves well as we expand.

Part of that means the shop is an incredible mess but the barismo remodel is at a stopping point for a few days. That means after a cleanup, we will have a few days to catch up. A new counter, shelving, and a multitude of little organization projects will keep me busy pre World Barista Championship travel. After that, we should be up and running to get the kiosk cranking. Shots, cappuccino, cloth pour overs, and Syphons oh my!

Simon's has a custom version of the L. St. espresso blend forhis main espresso more focused on body and mid tones. Ask for it short and you will be rewarded. I am pretty excited by some of the shots Lauren has pulled me there lately and I recommend looking for her to pull your shot. She really seems to be an up and coming barista to keep an eye on. This week, Hi-Rise on Brattle St. will have Nimac by the cup in pour over. Judson is slowly developing his mix of coffees for per cup offerings there and it will take a little time to see it expand but I am hopeful that it will be something special. My former workmate already has good espresso (classic Linnaean St.) and teeny tiny cup sizes but the per cup program looks like the real wild card. On the other side, Vicki Lee's is half way through a long training schedule and will be an interesting test of what we can do in a lunch type setting. In time, we hope to do something very creative with them but they are just some of a few projects we have right now that we are very proud of.

Things in this town change quick and the barista jam was one of those that shows there is promise here. This town isn't locked in yet to any one style and there is much more yet to be written. Who the players are is the real question to be answered in the next few months.

Flawed brews and the benefit of understanding

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:22:11 PDT

I have been thinking a lot about how quickly methodology can become inherently flawed by a series of estimations. Empirical observations where we use a vague understanding of science and develop a creative theory to justify method. This can be a disastrous approach. Starting with an off premise and then adjusting to compensate leading to a series of hacks to adjust for the initial flaws is very common. Making it worse, it is inherent in our barista culture that ownership of a method means making changes or adjustments. Adopting a method that may not have been fully understood becomes an exercise in tweaking which is often thought of as improvement though it may have simply been mere compensation for early flaws.

What I am getting at is that in our young coffee culture, our methods shift too often for reasons that are little more than a flawed initial interpretation.

We started with a version of pour over that was acceptable but have been playing with new equipment for the kiosk that makes me think we had ventured in the wrong direction for a little while. It happens a lot. Right now, the brews are coming out as good as our Syphon brews but with a different profile emphasis.

Coffee isn't simple, in fact, it's more complex than it should be and that's the basic problem. Our barista culture is always looking for the shortcuts. Skipping steps, trying to create a new approach that is simpler, easier, or gets results quicker. There is an inherent danger in this. As I see it, an inflexibility happens with ownership of a method. By changing the original method, it becomes personal, therein defense of the method becomes rigid even in the face of contradicting results. In short, we change it, we own it, we then defend it even though it may possibly be wrong. What's worse is there are very eloquent speakers in our community who pass prose for science but it's little more than empirical data given romantic aspirations.

This is a flaw in our current coffee culture which is justified simply because there is a very weak base which the new wave of coffee people can build upon. There are no forefathers of the pour over movement around on bar to give advice. No syphon masters locally to compare notes with. This is good because there is no rigid methodology and the options are wide open but bad because there is nothing to compare to. There is no great coffee culture here beyond the multitude of faceless airpot brewers which are often programmed with refractometers and spreadsheets. How does it become that taste is no longer part of the equation but graphs and charts are the end measure in many roasting outfits? What should we as barista gain from this?

Given this, it's easy to throw out everything and rewrite the book as you see it. To adopt your own independent methodology over how you brew. The problem is that without a base to begin, finding a good method or approach is about taking a lot of wrong turns. A good method is built upon scientific method, testing, repeating, and analytical approach. Most people in our culture don't have the time or patience to spend months roasting before going into production. They don't have time to pull a thousand shots or brew hundreds of brews to figure out and refine a single approach. They wing it, adjust, and all too often fall in love with their own approach even if there are gaping holes in it.

I think it's good to have true peers to give you a reality check. To tell you your pour over is just under extracted or that your bar routine is too inefficient. To pat you on the back when you make great gains or represent yourself professionally. Without that, the route to getting better is a longer tribulation than it should be and may be full of dead ends. Getting better depends on having respected peers be they in Taiwan or across the town line.

This is why I believe in a local community. If we simply hole up in our spaces behind terminals on the internet, we can debate all day and make careful arguments. Mostly rubbish but furiously typed nonetheless. It has little worth because of the distance of contributors and the lack of a commonality, the shared cup of coffee to sample. If we do not venture from our own cafe, how do we ever really experience this?

Our real peers, those that can taste our coffees and may then understand us, are the ones that matter most in our improvement. They may not agree but they can taste what you taste and that's the real key to getting better and raising the proverbial bar. Method grows from competition and understanding. The base of knowledge is built on a foundation not within a single roaster/cafe culture but in competitive improvement across many. To get better, there is a certain point at which we must understand others and learn from them, even challenge them and tell them they are wrong once in a while.

Growth is not always a singular movement. Often, it is a shared movement whether we like it or not. Those who benefit are often those who participate and the real challenge is to participate. To grow may in the end require that others grow with you.

The big jam in review

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:40:17 PDT

We had barista from A&E, 1369, Diesel/Bloc 11, Hi Rise, Simon's, Espresso Royale, Bonhoeffer's, Cafe Fixe, Amherst Coffee, Formaggios, as well as Taste and barismo! I hope I am not leaving anyone out but that's what I remember after that crazy night. Quite a few crews showed up in force putting to shame those who snubbed the invites.

Rene from Hi-Rise brought lemon Meringue pies, Gus of Toscanini's dropped off a special coffee ice cream, and Zack from 1369 came bearing gifts with a special bottle of Bourbon. The pourover bar was well manned and a big thanks to Ben Chen and Chris for offering our coffees up. A heaping big thanks to Fazenda for donating the tampers. That added a lot to the event and was very generous. A big thanks to High Lawn milk for donating a few cases of their 100% Jersey milk and sending out a rep to attend the event. I guarantee a few shops are taking a long look at upgrading their dairy to a local quality focused farm like High Lawn after this.

The place was really packed and a big thanks to the staff at Taste: Jason, Jamie, Clare, Logan, and of course Nik. It was a big mess to clean up, a lot of things to keep track of and they did a great job. Professionals to the letter.

Out of 20 some competitors (Nik will update this in detail later) in the latte art throw down, the six finalists were:
Jess (Diesel)
Ethan (A&E Roasterie)
Clare (Taste)
Emily (Diesel/Bloc 11)
Simon (Simon's)
Nik (Taste)

The overall winner was Emily (pour pictured at left) who took home a pour over kit from barismo and a red powder coated tamper from Fazenda. Second went to Clare, who took home a Rosewood handle tamper from Fazenda. The most creative award went to Simon who took a bumper tamper from Fazenda back to his shop.

For those curious, the winner of Kranky's latte chug contest was Logan (Taste) who took down a 12oz latte in 3 seconds flat.

I was very happy to see our community come out and represent. It is already making a difference and bringing new ideas to discussions on everything from milk to gear and of course, the coffee.

Metro Boston's First Jam @ Taste this Friday

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:45:56 PDT

We have quite a few cafes confirmed and a full list of barista showing up for this event. It's impressive to see the community coming together. I am sure I am forgetting something but here is the general idea of what's happening Friday Night. Schedule subject to change as we are just going to go for it.
5:00pm
Kranky's introduction: barista sign in and welcome. Name tags and id's please!
Coffee: Per Cup Bar - barismo
Espresso: Shots and Machiatto - Taste
Limited Edition Coffee Ice Cream - Toscanini's
Live music till late!!!
5:30pm
The Boston Metro '09 Latte Art Throw Down:
Entry is $5 each, all comers welcome: One shot, one pour. Prizes for best pour, most creative, and most difficult pour. Prizes include tampers by Fazenda (equipment division).
6:00pm
Kranky's Latte Chug Contest:
The challenge is to make a latte and then chug it in the fastest time. Entry is free and the prize will be decided day of the event, sponsored by Taste.
6:05pm
Beer and chips barista social sponsored by barismo.
7:00pm
Winner's announcement and prizes handout.
8:00pm
Last call.

We need volunteers, judges, and general help getting the word out so don't be shy. I will update this post as I have time.

Then there's tomorrow

jaime@barismo.com (Jaime van Schyndel) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:30:15 PDT

The roaster's creed is always about what the next roast is. Rarely is it spent dwelling on last weeks roasts but it's always about moving forward and adjusting as we go. The weather is always changing and the coffees are always aging, nothing is really that firm and predictable.

We have new accounts on the way working the program slowly and surely but right now the big goal in front of us is Kranky's barista jam. Looks like a lot more shops are interested in it than you might expect. We haven't had a lot of SCAA sponsored events here (this one isn't) and in fact, the jams and competitions seem to get farther and farther from New England every year to be called New England. It's refreshing to see our scene forming and what's next is the real question.

In the meantime, the barismo lab will be undergoing several stages of renovations while we build out our kiosk so we can offer a little sampling to the Arlington public. That will be a great space to unveil a new prototype to help us brew our per cup offerings. More on that later...