Australian Coffee

Today and tomorrow we'll be serving some single origin coffee all the way from exotic Australia.

Traditionally, coffee has generally been grown in areas with reasonably high altitude. Recently however, some plantations have popped up in locations further away from the equator but at lower altitude which can give comparable conditions as far as agriculture is concerned.

One such farm is the Mountain Top Estate near Byron Bay, in far north NSW. If you add these reasonably good conditions with the technological advantage that a more developed nation has, you have the potential for some high quality beans.

Now I'm not saying that these guys are producing the best, as they often claim. That would be a flawed statement, since the upper band of quality coffee is not about a simple ranking of quality but about what the drinker gets out of the cup, which will vary for each individual. They do however prove that a solid bean can be produced in non-traditional circumstances. Regardless of the claims they may make to sell their beans, the operators of this small NSW plantation do genuinely have a passion for producing the best coffee possible, and will use all innovations and experimentations to improve the process. Often old plantations in traditional countries of origin are operated with heavy tradition built up over generations which can hinder progress to new methods of growing and processing.

One point of difference though is that due to the high cost of labour in Australia compared to many coffee growing nations, most of the processing and sorting must be done by machines rather than human hands which are capable of a much more thorough job.

I'm interested to see how projects like this in nations like Australia will ultimately aid growers in developing nations to produce better coffee and to live well and sustainably.

WBC Result

Here are the results for the final six of the WBC. Congratulations to Australia's Scottie who placed third. (It seems there has been some confusion over whether he was third or fourth but they seem to have settled on third.) Either way it's a huge achievement.

Michael Phillips (USA) 706 points

Raul Rodas (Guatemala) 691 points

Scottie Callaghan (Australia) 672.5 points

Colin Harmon (Ireland) 659.5 points

Soren Stiller Markussen (Denmark) 644.5 points

Stefanos Domatiotis (Greece) 632 points

Congratulations as well to Michael Phillips on winning. Special mention to Stefanos who Sam met with a matter of weeks ago in Greece, clearly he is a passionate and gifted barista.

I couldn't help but take note of the prominence of countries of origin this year also. There were four entrants from coffee growing nations in the top twelve, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. This in combination with the location for next years WBC (Bogota, Colombia) should make for an even heavier level of interest from South American and Central American nations. My prediction is a much more open field, and heavier competition from a higher variety of nations.

WBC Finals Update

Scottie Calaghan has progressed to final six. The finals are due to take place over the next couple of hours.

So close! Bring it home Scottie.

WBC - Quick Update!

Just a quick update to let you know that Scottie has made it through to the final 12. Considering there are 50 odd entries this is already a great result.

Today he will be performing in the semi-final around 11am London time, you can watch it here online. The Top 6 will make it through to a final later Today.

Go Scottie!

***NEWS FLASH***
After a highly polished performance, Scottie has made it through to the final. He should be on stage just after 3pm London time. Will keep you posted...

***NEWS FLASH II***
Just announced, Scottie finished in 3rd place behind Raul Rodas from Guatemala and the new World Barista Champion Michael Phillips from the USA. A wonderful result and one we are very pleased about. Congratulations Scottie from all the Mecca Team.

2010 World Barista Championship London UK

This week London plays host to the World Barista Championship for 2010. For competition baristas, this is the big gig, and it does tend to cause quite a fuss each year.

Here is the blurb straight from the WBC website. (http://www.worldbaristachampionship.com)

"The World Barista Championship (WBC) is the preeminent international coffee competition. The organization—founded by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe and the Specialty Coffee Association of America—focuses on promoting excellence in coffee, advancing the barista profession, and engaging a worldwide audience with an annual championship event that serves as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe.

"Each year, champions representing more than 50 Nations each prepare 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos, and 4 original signature drinks to exacting standards in a 15-minute performance set to music.

"WBC Certified Judges from around the world evaluate each performance on the taste of beverages served, cleanliness, creativity, technical skill, and overall presentation. The ever-popular signature beverage allows baristas to stretch their imagination and the judges’ palates to incorporate a wealth of coffee knowledge into an expression of their individual tastes and experiences."

So what's the big deal? The WBC is a good thing for demonstrating the extreme dedication many baristas go through in the continual pursuit of the elusive perfect espresso. Making amazing espresso, and espresso based drinks takes more than a few hours training. It's a long term pursuit and requires all of the elements of the process to come together, from the seed in the ground at a coffee plantation, to the harvest, processing, grading, shipping, roasting, and finally to the barista who brews the bean hopefully to perfection.

Similarly, a good WBC barista spends many hours training, working with a roaster in selecting his or her blend of choice to use, creating a signature drink which gives a unique and interesting sensory experience, and honing every minute detail of their craft right down to the finest part. At the WBC level, a barista will generally have needed a great deal of support from other coffee professionals to allow them to prepare, and corporate sponsorship plays a big part of what goes on.

To even win the right to compete in the WBC, a barista must have won the national barista championship for their country of origin, something which generally requires rising through competition stages at a state or provincial level and in some cases a local level as well.

Of course, when you quantify what makes a good barista in the ways necessary to create a rule set for a judgeable competition, you will always have to turn some opionion into absolute. Therefore what makes a good WBC barista is not neccesarily what makes a good barista in the opinion of many other roasters, baristas, and cafes. Not to mention that specialty coffee is always advancing and changing, as we discover new and interesting ways to process and produce coffee and as the culture changes and advances. For this reason WBC rules are always being debated as to their relevance.

All that being said, the WBC is a big and important event in the coffee world and a great opportunity for baristas from all over the world to compete and show off their craft.

This year the Australian competitor (and hence, winner of the Australian Barista Championship) is Scottie Calaghan (http://www.scottiecallaghan.com/) who, incidentally was one of the original baristas at MeccaCQ when it began in October 2007. He's using two single origin coffees, one from Colombia and one from Kenya, both roasted at our Mecca roastery.

We'll be keenly following his progress and we wish him all the best. For those who are interested, the WBC is streaming live here: http://www.livestream.com/worldbaristachampionship2010.

Check it out.

Coffee Trail: Athens

After a week without Espresso i arrived trembling with withdrawals in Athens. I had heard good things about the local coffee scene from Mecca old boy Alex Mac. He had managed to find two diamonds amongst the rough in Evergreen and Cafe Taf.

Fortunately for me both cafes happened to be located in the area that i was staying, the business district of Panepistimiou. First stop was Evergreen where i sat and ordered an Espresso and began to take some pics of the baristas feverishly working behind their Synesso. As soon as i was spotted taking pics the head barista Antonius came over to greet me.

It is quite funny that even walking into another cafe on the other side of the world you are instantly welcomed as one of the fraternity. Antonius graciously invited me up to the bar, made me several espressos gave me a tour of the place. Evergreen is a vibrant cafe that has some wonderful food to accompany its excellent coffee.

Next stop was to visit 4 time Greek Barista Champion Stefanos Domatiotis. What was intended to be a quick stop to fill the caffeine debt that i had built up, turned out to be a 4 hour visit . Stefanos is preparing for the World Barista Championship at the end of the month and we sat and chatted about his preparations, the battles of the local coffee scene and about coffee in a global sense. He made me several single origin espressos as well as an Esmarelda filter. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm he had for developing specialty coffee in Greece and it was very familiar to spending time with local pioneers when i was first starting out.

All in all it was a wonderful experience to be on the other side of the world, but be welcomed like you were walking into your local cafe that you had been going to for years. Next time your in Athens be sure to check out these two places if your longing for a quality coffee. Tell them Sam from Mecca sent you...

For the more photos from Athens click here. Next stop Florence.

Time-lapse Photography

We photographed this today just to see what it would look like.  In total it covers 4.5 hours, during which we made 550 cups of coffee, with a total of 4 baristas rotating with 3 making coffee at any one time.