For those heading out to Singapore National Barista Championships, running alongside Tea & Coffee World Cup Asia today and tomorrow, you can skip the lengthy one hour wait I had to endure just by bringing along your business card, which will substitute as your name tag. I, unfortunately am a lowly barista trainer and wouldn’t warrant a card at my hotel. And for those who are signing up for classes like roasting or cupping, please queue up in the SPECIAL EVENTS queue. I queued in the VISITORS queue and was told to re-queue after queuing for an hour. Are you kidding?

The number one highlight of this entire event will be mentioned in the next post after this one. I’ve only watched 3 performances yesterday, the remaining time spent trolling the numerous booths. The first was last year’s Champion from Oriole Cafe, Keith Loh. Keith was using single origin Kenyan Gethumbwini, which is also one of my favourite and first roasts, also a favourite of jimseven who utilised it and won World Barista Championship 2007. Winey, blackcurrants, I can just taste it. I have a video of Keith’s performance which I will edit later tonight. I had the privilege of tasting the alpha stage of his signature drink during this past Chinese New Year in February. His signature drink is named Gethumbwini Sunrise. Keith’s main goal here is to redefine the taste of espresso by removing the undissolved solids in the cup and replacing these with his own custom oils/fragrances. He achieves this by filtering out the “undesired” parts of the espresso with Hario v60′s and then adding chilled water (looks like 2:1) and finally spraying some lemon oils into the cup and rubbing the oils onto the rim of the cup.

Speaking of jimseven, this signature drink reminds me of jimseven’s first video blog, which caused somewhat of an outrage in espressodom. It led me to 2 experiments, which you can read about in the following links.

Espresso sans Crema Test

Americano sans Crema Test

For the balls (sorry, for lack of better words) Keith has, he truly deserves the brand spanking new machine (the actual number one highlight of SNBC 2011). He’s gone and redefined espresso as we know it. Take out the defining blackcurrants in Gethumbwini, add in the lemons. It should renamed Getlemonbwini. An extremely risky effort, which I’ve been telling him since February, but I really hope he wins this year and gets to take this performance to a world stage. Unnerving, mind-blowing.

The 2nd performance I watched was Suhaida from Marina Mandarin Hotel. She used a blend of Costa Rica SHB and Sumatra Mandheling, and her signature was supposed to use a reduction of honey and figs, but her equipment broke down, and she quickly changed her signature on the fly to a pourover over honey and figs. She’s inspired me to enter into the race next year. During her interview with Victor Mah, the president of Singapore Coffee Association, Suhaida mentioned that the state of hotel coffee is improving. I’m definitely heading to Marina Mandarin for a sip. Her colleagues were extremely supportive, ranging from the GM to the F&B Directors and the staff.

The 3rd performance looked to be another contender for the Final 6. Ryan Tan from Papa Palheta. He’s a Singaporean working in one of the cafes in Australia. His signature was a reduction of fruits and nuts?? But it was his performance that was eye-catching. He had attention to every detail and was cleaning up as he went along. Impeccable! It was a pleasure watching him perform his routine.

And looking at my own notes, I’m always roasting the few same coffees, Ethiopian Sidamo, Yrgacheffe, Panama Gesha, and of course, who can forget the evergreen Brazil Formosa, and my favourite Sweet Maria’s Italian Espresso Blend and Espresso Vivace’s Dolce.

I hope you readers (however few – sorry about the inferiority complex, it’s a growing trend) can help me out by listing in the comments below about the coffees you’ve had the pleasure of tasting, good and bad (listing here means on this blog, not on Facebook, not on Twitter.)  No holds barred. It could be the Nespresso Ristretto you just had in the office a few hours ago, or the godshot made from your Silvia, or the great cup you’ve just had in Blue Bottle or Intelligentsia or Ritual or even at a corner of a flower market in London. Or 15th Ave Coffee & Tea. Whatever. Please state where you had it. This could be seen as a survey of what my readers drink. To help you out on your tasting notes, I’ve included a taste wheel below. Please push your senses.

I regret that I didn’t take any pictures of the HIGHLIGHT AND MAIN EVENT of the day:

The . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

S A L S A ! ! !

which was prepared by Steve’s wife, Adhe. Actually, I don’t really regret as I was too busy stuffing my face with the corn chips and the springrolls dipped in the salsa. I’m hungry now just thinking of it. I think I’ll start off by petitioning that no future coffee meetup shall ever start without Adhe’s salsa. It just would not be complete.

After the fabulous salsa, we retreated inside for drinks. Steve has gotten a really nice work table from IKEA for his coffee equipment as you can see in the accompanying photos below. His line of equipment include the Expobar Brewtus, a Macap M5D grinder with a digital display and worm driven stepless grind adjuster, a Rancilio Rocky grinder (from his Silvia days), a new Reg Barber tamper with a made-to-order 58.2mm convex base, a new clicker tamping base, topped off with the familiar “Espresso Open” backlit sign on his wall. Steve went on to explain about how he and Kelvin (another CGSGer) felt that the 58.2mm base was a much nicer fit than the usual 58mm. We all took turns trying it out and I think that 58.2mm just might be my next purchase.

KaiSeng, Melvin and I brought our own home-roasted coffee, while Steve had Spinelli. My Brazil Formosa was just roasted the day before and I felt it wasn’t rested enough, so I declined to even take it out of the bag.  KaiSeng brought Bolivian AA. Melvin brought a blend of Bolivian AA and Ethiopian Limu. We all took turns as baristi, including Steve’s daughter, Samantha who made an exceptional americano for her mom. I should’ve taken a video or photos because her pour using the naked portafilter was excellent – the basket being equally saturated, the first few drips and then smoothly coming together at the centre of the basket, a slow and steady pour. WOW!!

Without further ado, here is the awards ceremony. The votes are counted (award winners’ votes are discarded) and the winners are . . . .

Best Newcomer:  Samantha Cairns

Best Barista:  Samantha Cairns

Best Roaster:  KaiSeng (that’s saying something as Spinelli was also in the running)

Best Entree which every future meetup can’t do without:   Adhe’s SALSA (which just became the best incentive for us to increase the frequency of our meetups.)

Best Salsa Stuffer: 3 way tie between Colin, KaiSeng and Melvin. (Even though Melvin came late, he caught up real fast.)

We really really have to start planning for the next meetup. How’s everyone for December or January?

Brazil Moreninha Formosa
Roasted to Full City +
4 days old
Dose: 18 grams

For this 1st shot, after separating the crema, I tasted both cups before adding water. Both taste tests were the same as previous post.

1st shot:

Eric’s Thermocouple:  Start at 200, end at 204 Fahrenheit.

Espresso only:  Slight bitterness.

Crema only:  Good fragrance. Taste spreads thru entire tongue.

Water-espresso 2:1 ratio:  Tastes like…. coffee. Smooth, even cup, no bitterness.

Water-crema 2:1 ratio:  Tastes wonderful. Pronounced fragrance.

Water-crema-espresso:  Good body, very smooth with good fragrance.

The first thing that hit my mind after drinking the 2 different cups was that if the Aldo Coffee taste test was repeated here, the ones who chose Maxwell House will go with the water-espresso cup, while the ones who were able to distinguish the CoE Fazenda Kaquend will go for the water-crema cup. Drinking the water-crema cup brings me the same sensation as my Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda. It doesn’t taste like conventional coffee. It brings the best to the table. To get a taste profile like this, I feel I have to roast the beans to almost Full City, without ever hitting 2nd crack.

2nd shot:

Eric’s Thermocouple:  Start at 198, end at 202 Fahrenheit.

Espresso only:  A bit bright, lemony feel.

Crema only:  Strong fragrance, berry-like.

Water-espresso 1:1 ratio: Citrusy lemony hints. A bright and smooth cup.

Water-crema 1:1 ratio:  Aromatic, perfumed cup. Hint of blueberries. Esmeralda-like. Not like coffee.

Water-crema-espresso:  Coffee with a good aroma. Smooth. A bit lemony. Pleasant aftertaste.

After this 2nd shot, it is safe to say that crema is not rubbish. Au contraire, watered down crema is IMHO a good way for beginners to distinguish the fragrances of the particular coffee. I would reiterate as I have stated in the previous Espresso sans crema taste test, espresso is not complete without crema. If this does work across the board for all coffees, I wonder if this process of separating the crema out will redefine espresso tasting/cupping sessions.

From Eric’s Thermometer, the pour was started at 200 degrees and ended at 203 degrees. The temperatures are a bit on the hot side as the pour had a slight bitterness. As a 4:1 water-espresso americano, hint of berry can be detected, and it is full bodied. 2 ounces in 25 seconds. I will try it at 198 tomorrow.

Ethiopia Yrgacheffe Idido Misty Valley

Crop: 2008

Roasted to Full City +.

Day One

I did only one double shot. I separated half as espresso, the other half as americano. The naked pour had tremendous dark chocolate crema, very good tiger-striping. In the cup, the crema was speckled. For aroma, I detected notes of chocolate, fruit, heavy on florals,  As espresso, it was like drinking unadulterated perfume which was very difficult at my stage to discern the different tastes.  As an americano, which I diluted to a 4:1 water espresso ratio, it was winey, slight chocolate, slight lemon fragrance towards the end, fruity. A coffee that comes to mind when I drink the IMV is Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda, the finish is unlike coffee but closer to tea. I am so tempted to make a second shot. This coffee still tastes very fresh and I think it deserves a rest of at least 2 more days. I just hope it will last that long.

Day 2

Aroma has more milk chocolate and floral notes. The naked pour is more intense today.  Heavy chocolate crema with speckling.  Despite making my grind half a notch coarser on the Compak, the pour is slower today. I flushed the group to a cooler temperature of 198 than yesterday’s 202. This coffee is extremely forgiving. a huge contrast to Square Mile’s Winter Espresso.  Pronounced chocolate and winey notes.  More fruit towards the end. Mild bodied.