it's my island

Vacation and Back

// April 17th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Excursions, On the Radar

The whirlwind surrounding the SCAA conference are finally ebbing down. Robin and I took off the following Thursday for a quick trip to see some family in Pensacola, Florida. We were in attendance for my grandmothers 83rd birthday which was a real pleasure. It’s the first time we’ve been back since Robin’s scuba certification before our wedding and that was three years ago. Since then Dennis, Ivan, and Katrina both laid waste to the region. While most of the debris removal is done the city and surrounding areas will take years more to rebuild. Costal towns have to face so much adversity of mother nature it’s really a testiment to how much people want to be there by just how much rebuilding goes forth. My folks are selling their home on the bayou so if you’ve got a heafty chunk of change and want some excellent and I mean _excellent_ property drop me a line. Our only mistake was laying out an hour too long one beautiful day at the beach. We were smart and sunscreened our face/ears/shoulders but forgot about bellies/legs/knees/feet and are paying for it in spades. Oh well, it’s fun being able to heat a room (wry grin).

It’s time to get the gears rolling again and find traction for the coming quarter. To those many people I met at SCAA man it was a pleasure. To those I missed, lets try harder next time! Now I’m sitting on a ton of aggregate data from the conference and need to find a way to piece it together.

-a

SCAA Day 3

// 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.

SCAA Day 2, quickie

// April 8th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Interests, On the Radar

I think these quickies will have to be it for now. Rising early and getting home late are a bane of a writer hehe. I don’t know how the press-core does it.

On our way to a [Counter Culture Coffee](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) party. Had a busy day of education classes that have imbued me with the knowledge once again not to hang around bad apples. How does one do that without destroying the grove? Another question for another time. I toured the floor from the 0-800 isles. At that point my brain started to skid and I figured I would continue more tomorrow. The industry is so thick and so vibrant.

I’ve seen [tonx](http://www.tonx.org) but was sideswiped by more people we knew and when I turned back around he and Kyle were out of sight. The USBC seems to be going strong. Lots of judges, lots of sensations, some amazing participants. I certainly wish them all the best.

Robin and I also attended the [Coffee Kids](http://www.coffeekids.org/) reception and presentation and that was very moving. If I was out of this rat race I think I’d dedicate my world to good causes. If you have the ability, why not?

I’ve got a few more classes tomorrow. The afternoon I porter the advanced cupping lab, which will sadly make me miss the [Home-Barista](http://www.home-barista.com/) espressofest. Alas. A few more classes monday..I think.. My brain hurts. I think I need to libate. I’ll get pic’s up as I can. If you want a specific picture of something let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Out for now,

-a

SCAA Quickie

// April 8th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Interests, On the Radar

I’ve got to bolt in a few minutes to get back down to the convention center to start a day of classes so I’ll make this brief.

It was a mad house yesterday. Yesterday being Friday for those not local. Friday at SCAA consisted of intensives and workshops. I was a porter in espresso beginner and intermediate level classes. Working beside [Matt Milletto](http://www.espresso101.com/) in the morning and [Mike Lanz](http://www.esiespresso.com) in the afternoon. These two gave everyone a sweeping understanding of what they need to do, to hit those proper extraction times and care for there hardware. It was lots of fun to work for these individuals and all the trainers who gave it their all to bridge the knowledge divide.

Afterwards Robin joined me onsite for the keynote which was delivered by Wade Davis (think Serpent and the Rainbow). This guy blew our lids. I mean, I think we knew going in to it that we were going to be globalized, but I don’t think anyone could have guessed how well. He delivered a stirring speech on defining global cultures (anthropologically) and how we are losing part of our culturesphere through ugly means at a much faster rate than the ecosphere. One of his many points was how when we were born there were 6,000 languages spoken and how now there are only half of that. He really nailed home the point well that we are all people. While the West has looked towards industrial and technological growth, other peoples have been using the same intellectual potential to look elsewhere (inversion/nature/harmony/etc). I’ve got a whole article that needs to evolve from him and I hope to be able to give it some time in the future. Least to say if you ever have a chance to see Wade talk I highly encourage you to go out of your way to see him. He will make your head expand.

Then we exited for quite a feast of little foods. Grabbing a beer eased my aching joints we mingled and saw so many online and offline entities it was fantastic.

Getting late.. gotta run. Good people, good fun!

-a

Cupping for the Masses, part 1

// April 3rd, 2006 // Comments Off // Interests, On the Radar

I’ve been a consistant [cupper](“Flickr: Cupping” http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/search/tags:cupping/) at our local [Counter Culture Coffee](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) training facility since its inception. Over the last year I’ve met all flavors of coffee drinkers, start-ups, enthusiasts, professionals, and the curious. I’ve also held informal cuppings in the home and been to [Earth Fare](http://www.earthfare.com) for their community tasting classes/gatherings. Over time I’ve started to have a tickle in the back of my head wondering about how cupping is carried out. Not in the formal sense but how cupping is done for different reasons down the chain from farmer to consumer and whether or not one size fits all at the consumer level.

Let me illustrate.

*Attribution: [CCC](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) & [tonx](http://www.tonx.org/) for some photography*

This is what I approximate as the coffee chain. In general there are only three major groups. You’re either at origin, a roaster, or some form of consumer. Each of these sections have gradients that make up the processes and differing ways the bean is used.

If I had to draw a line from top to bottom at the top would be *Criticality* and at the bottom *Passion*. At origin a farmer will need to know his crop, and a green buyer is going to want its strengths, weaknesses, and defects known. Very important stuff.

As we move from green to roasting the need begins migrating from defect to consistancy. A professional has to have consistancy & quality as monikers. As we graduate further towards a consumer cupping it is no longer for a person to find a defect or to see if the roaster has done his job right (tongue-in-cheek). It’s for us to learn and be inspired.

A cupping amounts to a test-drive for a client (being coffee shop, restaurant, insert bulk buyer). Trust is very important. Both the client and roaster need to have it. A roaster wants his product to shine right in a clients care; a client gets to see, sample, and talk with one of their product links.

An enthusiast is already in love. A standard consumer (or user) is just a push away from being an enthusiast, and someone who doesn’t drink coffee regularly has a high likelihood of being inspired to drinking coffee by the way a cupping is run. Inspiration and passion. These two things are not thought of enough in our world and I give a lot of credit to [Creating Passionate Users](http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/), for making me aware of the greater [memes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme).

No matter where you are in this chain, it all funnels to a consumer. A consumer who if they glow, illuminates the entire chain and can be viral in terms of promotion and marketing. Now you should see where this is going. We need to continue driving ideas down to the consumer level so that they can be further enthusiasts within the (or any) industry. We do that by better inciting their passions. In part 2 we’ll look at the current forms of consumer cupping and examine ways we can make it better. There is a lot of milage in this model. I’d like to see it eeked out even further so that we can continue to grow, explore, and enjoy all we can.

[Specialty Coffee Association of America](http://www.scaa.org) is going to be in town (Charlotte) this week and I can’t wait to percolate on these and other thoughts with experts and enthusiasts alike.

-a