// April 10th, 2006 // 2 Comments » // Interests, On the Radar
Started off the morning with a bang seeing [Michael Teahan](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/126346391) & [Mark Crawford](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/126346024) run the gamut of machine principles and future thought. I’ve taken a lengthy session of notes that I’d love to write up once I have some cool down time of the “State of the Machine”. Least to say we (the west) are doing some amazing things, but we’re still catching up to the Italians in so many regards.
After that class I grabbed a coffee, talked to Mike Love for a bit then headed to “[Basic Coffee Roasting Chemistry](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/126345599/)” to learn the effects of temperature and time have on a roast on a chemical level. Getting an early feeling for those consituents that react (sucrose/trigonelline/chrologenic acids/etc), don’t react (caffine/salts/oils), and are produced (sulfer/pyrroles/furans/etc) to form the cup you taste. Amazing stuff that will need some digestion. In the end you must take great notes and you must cup your coffee a lot. The dynamic nature of heat application creates so many different products that if you want consistancy you’re going to have to work for it. It is nice to know though that you can get there. Everything is repeatable if you know.
Taking a break I went to the floor and met [Jeff and Robin](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/126345194) before my next volunteer session started. They had made it to the 200’s I walked with them to the 400’s then had to excuse myself. Onwards to pay for all this fun! I porter’d for the comparitive cupping class which was run by Carribou’s green buyer and even though I didn’t get to cup I got to smell most of what was. Comparing washed/unwashed/semi-washed, the differences between baggy, fermented, and mold. We preped 5 flights of trays and cleaned 1200 some glasses. Only two cutting injuries, myself from cleaning up a broken glass at a table and our administrator from cleaning a broken rimmed glass. Those guys are sharp! It was fun to meet everyone as usual. I got to spend a good deal of time with another porter Brian Babcock, who roasts for Virgina Tech. He’s got some great ideas and I really really hope he can get the school to see all the amazing angles coffee can be researched and enjoyed at. If you’re a roaster in the mid-atlantic region June 2-4 he’s holding a training weekend up at tech. If you’d like more information drop a comment and I’ll relay you his contact info.
One more time down to the floor to show my exaustion and be held up by Counter Culture-ites. The floor closed and we watched the end of the [USBC](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/126344931) for the day. Finally got to talk to [Tony](http://www.tonx.org) after a year of following him around. It seems wherever he and Kyle would go, we would follow behind and test what skills they had given others. heheh. He is a great great guy to meet and I plan on keeping in touch as I can. Hopefully today I can say hi to Kyle as well. The man is an excellent trainer/artist.
Everyone said I looked rather dead so instead of heading to the BGA party I decided to get a good meal and some quality rest. Today we’re heading in to do the floor one last time, grab samples and watch the finals of the USBC and say fond farewells to those people we only speak to online. This has been a very rewarding experience and I hope to carry the momentum forward.
