The end of a life changing trip and the beginning of a dream realized.

I am sitting at Singapore airport after a 5 1/2 week life changing world trip on top of all the amazing places I visited I have just come form 4 amazing days in Sumatra industry colleagues including Saxon from AIR roasters, Chris White and Carl Sara.

It has always been my dream to do something with a producing country and this visit is for me a turning point in my career. Because I have forged friendships that are going to make this dream a reality.

And what better origin than where I was born, Indonesia.

The image below is Saxon from AIR roasters and myself having a bismal go at sorting/picking with the 70 or so women who do this all day every day. it's a little enbarrassing that we had a short stint for 10 minutes and then got up and left.

Ed from Single Origin Roasters having a go at picking on a farm in Sidikalang.

Life will never be the same again, home and family here we come.

Gwilym's world

An Aussie barista travelling the world to learn, experience and grow in my understanding of coffee and the way the world sees coffee. From 22nd March to the end of April I am visiting Copenhagen, Helsingborg, Oslo, Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Kees van der Westen, London, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Anaheim and SCAA, Singapore and the Asia Barista Championship and Sumatran coffee farms.

In London Gwilym Davies the current world barista champion was kind enough to do some training with me and needless to say I learnt bucket loads. I am humbled and in awe of Gwilym's world, I thoroughly enjoyed 5 of the best days I have ever had. Gwilym you are 'THE' gentlemen of the coffee industry and I consider it an honour to know you, thank you for an amazing time.

The photos say everything

A quick note, James, Annette, Tim Styles and John Gordon at Square Mile are an awesome team and I thank you for your hospitality during a very busy time. The comradery you have with other roasters in inspiring.

Kees Van Der Westen

I have always liked Kees Van Der Westen Espresso machines, ever since I worked on the Kees Mistral at Mecca Espresso Bar in Sydney I have loved the design and how they perform. And since then I have had some amazing espresso off the Mirage and in particularly the Mirage Idrocompresso, and more recently playing on the Speedster, could this be the best espresso machine on the market?

And so when I had the chance to jump on a train from Amsterdam and travel south to Eindhoven where Kees lives and works I was quite excited (even though I didn't have my bags).  

It didn't surprise me when Kees picked me up in this style, a man who makes espresso machines with such awesome design would obviously drive a cool car like this.

In the early days Kees would use this machine at trade shows to attract attention, it is basically a Speedster with some creative lights and all the internals exposed a great way to get attention and then explain to people what's on the inside. And typical Kees style.

I have always thought the Kees Van Der Westen Espressonistic Works Mirage pulls a beautiful shot, and this means that the machine is doing the job that espresso machines should do, control of temp, flow rate etc. But I have never really known exactly why, so I was very grateful that Kees took the time to explain to me what he has done with the Mirage to achieve a machine that performs as well as the Mirage performs.

He has put smaller restrictors on the top of the boiler in the thermo syphon system to slow the flow rate of the water down which means you can have a cooler brewing temp in relation to the steam pressure, so you can have a higher steam pressure and still have accurate brewing temp. Yes this is nothing new but one cool thing you can have on your Mirage if you choose is a small tap on the top of the thermo syphon system so that you can adjust the size of the restriction giving you temperature control up or down when on any given boiler pressure setting. 

Kees has also made the mushroom cup inside the E61 head bigger allowing for a larger amount of water a little like another small boiler. And he has moved things around in the head so that the water enters the mushroom cup from the bottom side of the thermo siphon system where it is cooler and more importantly more stable and not from the top. He has done this because the water circling through/around the thermo siphon system travels up through the heat exchanger around down and up again continuously but when you hit the brewing cycle this is kind of reversed and the group head takes 80% of the water from the bottom/cooler part of the thermo siphon system and 20% from the top, so why not work with this. 

He has added to this lengthening the needle on the inside of the heat exchanger in the boiler where the cool water enters, so that the colder water circling through this needle travels further up inside the boiler which gives this water more time to achieve stability rather than the standard small needle where the water travels in and very quickly enters the hotter water creating temperature fluctuation. Especially when the brewing cycle is activated and sucking water from here (the bottom of the boiler/heat exchanger where the cold water is entering) which has not had time to heat up because of the small needle. But rather have a longer needle traveling right up the length of the inside of the boiler, this way the cold water will heat up and when the brewing cycle is activated sucking water from the bottom this water if still not up to temp has to then travel all the way back down by which time the group head has probably taken all it needs and this water will be much more likely to be up to temp.

Another cool thing Kees has done with the Idrocompresso leaver machine is the option you can have of a internal purge before brewing. We all know that we need to purge the group head, how much we need to purge will depend on the different makes and models. The problem with purging on a lever machine is you need to pull the bloody heavy handle down each time just a touch, not too much or water will go everywhere (very messy). If you like on the Idrocompresso you can have a small button that will cause an internal purge before brewing each time saving you the hassle of purging with the lever which you will know is quite a task if you have ever had a go. And i might add here that the lever in this case the Mirage Idrocompresso is the original pressure and temperature profiling.

I would not be surprised if I got a lot of this information wrong and left a lot out so if anyone (Kees?) feels like sending me some additions to this or corrections please do, Kees only spent an hour or so explaining so I do not expect to take everything in on such a short time. But I was very impressed none the less.

A Mirage on the way

An Idrocompresso on the way

We then went out for dinner, its a hard life!

All coffee should be, must be there is no other way but my way?

"Sumatran coffees have no place in espresso blends!" my friend Mike swears, "they are just dirty" he said. Mike is a very respected and loved industry professional who has worked for some great specialty roasters. Two days later I met another industry professional, a respected roaster who roasted coffee for one national barista champion, who was explaining to me that this recent national barista champion from a particular country used a Sumatran coffee in his competition blend. 

Another industry friend of mine recently posted a quote on the Tweetersphere that read "washed coffees have no place in espresso blends". Funny that; because a highly recognized company that I know of use only washed coffees in their blends and at the same time one of this same companies leading baristas is using pulp naturals and naturals in his competition blend in the upcoming USBC! 

Yesterday I visited a recently opened coffee bar in Toronto where the barista who has won some barista competitions and has also worked for a few of the other highly recognized bars in town. This barista has connections with Intelligentsia and 49th Parallel, I had a siphon and an espresso here and the coffee was great and the coffee he serves is roasted well into the second crack, probably about 20-45 seconds in. Curious about this I said to him "I notice that your coffee is roasted a tad darker than the current trend towards lighter roasts, why is this?" The clearly educated barista who was grinding on demand with his Mazzer Robur and using a La Marzocco Linea said "I don't like it, it is too sour!" and incidentally he took about 7 shots to get my espresso right, more for his own pride rather than to please the stranger who had bombarded his little nook in the world of espresso bars. But clearly this man is passionate about quality and flavour and stands behind his blend with pride. He is educating his clients with siphon, specialty coffees and great customer service. Two weeks before this I was spending some time with a separate highly respected roaster who do not roast coffee even into the second crack.

About 2 years ago another industry friend, a highly respected roaster in Australia who travels to many countries to buy green beans direct said to me "Robusta coffees will never been seen on our roastery floor". In that same country in a different city another guy who has one of the countries leading espresso bars and roasts his own coffee and also buys green beans direct from source has a blend with sometimes 20% Robusta. Both these guys stand behind who they are and what they are doing with a high level of knowledge, international industry respect, integrity, pride, a successful business, and many loyal staff.  

Many people in the industry swear by multi boiler PID machines but for me the best espresso I have ever had (so far) was off a Kees Van Der westen Mirrage a heat exchanger machine.

About 2 years ago I interviewed numerous Tea, coffee and chocolate providores. I asked one roaster "where do you store your coffee?" answer "in the fridge or freezer. And I asked another roaster "where do you store your coffee?" answer "definitely not in the fridge or freezer". 

I asked another coffee and tea providore "what do you love about this industry?" answer "I love tea for its complexity and coffee for its relative simplicity" I asked another coffee roaster "what do you love about this industry?" answer "I love coffee because it is a wicked little seed that is unpredictable and impossible to understand". 

This cafe is called 'Cafe de L'ambre' in Ginza Tokya serves hand drip/pour over filter and dutch cold drip only, this man Sekiguchisan has owned and run this shop for 0ver 55 years. He does not like espresso machines.

My friends at The Coffee Collective in Copenhagen are a highly recognized specialty roaster who only use coffees that they buy directly from source.

My friend Dritan owns this shop Bazzar Caffe in Dusseldorf, he was dosing very low, probably less than 14 grams in 18 gram double baskets, I tried to show him the benefits of putting more coffee in and he didn't like it.

 

This shop in Kyoto Japan serve siphon only.

Nolan at Proud Mary's in Melbourne has a 6 group Synesso Hydra with something like 5 Mazzer Robur grinders and swapped the Mazzer dosing chambers for the Anfim dosing chambers.

And he serves Siphon in stemless wine glasses

'Cafe Nation' in Antwerpen are all about great coffee on their La marzocco Linea and rebellious art.

These guys in Singapore roast there coffee until is is as dark as charcoal.

And then coat it in butter and sugar.

This guy, currently the best barista in the world (the good looking one on the right not the ugly one in the middle) uses a lever heat exchanger machine at his bar in London.

So of all these professional, recognized, respected, educated people who is right? 

Me off course!!

For the sake of sensitivity I have not mentioned actual names in this blog.