I’m extremely proud of this Yellowbird, as I was involved in the process leading up to the creation of the blend. I have been working at Oriole Coffee as a barista, webmaster, and a roast apprentice under the excellent tutelage of barista champions Keith and John. Like what Steve said, I couldn’t have come to a better coffee university. As a roast apprentice, I’ve been roasting for Oriole Coffee for the past half year, and I’ve learnt more in that short span of time than I’ve gathered in all my 4 years as a home roaster.

Today, I pulled a few shots of this Yellowbird, a 20th December roast and 6 days old. The tasting notes that we got on a La Marzocco GB5 MP were “notes of piped tobacco, rich & intense mouthfeel, bright sweet prunes, hints of umami in the mid palate, lingering notes of pomelo in the finish.” On my Quickmill Anita, I had sweet smoke, hints of umami, and hint of grapefruit in the finish. From here on, I could tell the difference between a Quickmill Anita and a LM machine, the slight lack of complexity in the shot. But no bitters. On a GB5, the new mac yellowbird (as I like to refer to it) yielded the fragrance of shisha and the flavours of sweet tobacco, a definite savoury umami, hints of sweet dark prunes and subtle lemon drops beginnings which gave way to a lingering finish of pomelo or grapefruit. And the looks? Mottling and red brownish specks peppered the surface. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Of special mention and also an update to this blog post is the coffee to be brewed for the 2 weekends:

Bean:   Sumatran Aceh Takengon
Wet Aroma:  Clean and intense
Body:   Heavy
Flavors:   Licorice, figs
Acidity:   Tartaric
Aftertaste:   Creamy aftertaste that lingers

Bean:   Ethiopian Sidamo
Wet Aroma:   Floral notes
Body:   Light
Flavors:   Sweet red wine
Acidity:  Citrus, more pronounced upon cooling
Aftertaste:  Florals

The coffees can also be found on Oriole’s website.

Freshly roasted and well-rested specialty grade coffee ground-on-demand, 2 Singapore national barista champions teaching a free-for-all class, award winning French presses. What are you waiting for?

Last words: As you all know, dear readers, Bodum in Takashimaya is also located next to Nespresso, which would most undoubtedly be showcasing their newest Nespresso flavor, the Nespresso Onirio, an extremely floral espresso by their standards, and a blend of Ethiopian Sidamo and Yrgacheffe. This is a call out to ALL Nespresso fans. Here is your chance to appreciate the REAL floral notes of Ethiopian Sidamo in an economically priced French Press. The money you save from this, you can get a good grinder. And please, you want good coffee every morning, you have to put in the effort. Scoop the beans into your grinder, freshly ground coffee in your french press and 4 minutes later, it’ll be worth it. It’ll be better than THE NESPRESSO ONIRIO EXPERIENCE.

Nespresso Pixie launches in Singapore

I just got back from Red Dot Design Museum where Nespresso has just launched their smallest Nespresso machine named the Nespresso Pixie. Read this post for the Previous Nespresso Experience.

A new limited edition Nespresso capsule called the Onirio accompanied the Nespresso Pixie’s launch as well. Before I tasted the Onirio, I was introduced to the coffee by the Nespresso staff, who explained the Onirio is made up of a blend of Ethiopian Sidamo and Yrgacheffe. They also reassured me it’s espresso.

Tasting Notes of the Nespresso Onirio
Bitter. Thin bodied. A bit hot on the tongue. Zero florals, opposite of what would have been expected from a blend of Ethiopian Sidamo and Yrgacheffe.

Verdict:

TCBE. Again. This Can’t Be Espresso.  If any nespresso fan is reading this, please head to the nearest Oriole Cafe, either the Somerset outlet or the Republic Plaza outlet and order an espresso. If Nespresso is reading this, do all of us a favour and stop marketing it as espresso. It gives Ethiopian Sidamo and Yrgacheffe a misrepresentation.

As bad as the espresso tasting went, fortunately, the decor for the launch was done up tastefully by Weber Shandwick, Nespresso’s PR agency and the people who invited me to this Nespresso event. I also have them and Nespresso to thank for a wonderful set of espresso demitasse cups. One of the highlights of the evening was the presence of Swissotel The Stamford’s Beverage Operations Manager and Mixologist, Richard Gillam who crafted a whole slew of signature Nespresso beverages. I tried his Oniru-zu made up of Onirio with ginger liqueur served in a champagne flute topped with a cloud of yuzu foam. Because of the thin bodied Onirio, the dominant taste went to the fluffy yuzu cloud. I could not discern the ginger liqueur.  I also tried another creation of Gillam’s – Nescesity, made up of Onirio with cranberry juice and orange water. Again, the dominant flavours were the cranberry juice and orange water. There were also some canapes made by Chef Janice Wong from 2am Dessert Bar, but I didn’t get the chance to try any. What I really wanted to try was another Gillam creation called D.N.A., made up of “a strand of Arpeggio espresso in a clear cacao and hazelnut suspension flecked with gold.”

An interesting fact brought up this evening was that there is a staggering amount of 12,300 cups of nespresso consumed every minute, or 17.7 million cups of nespresso consumed every day. Most of these Nespresso people obviously took the upgrade path from that of a Krups / Braun to a Nespresso. That is not an upgrade. It’s more of a downgrade, especially if they were buying freshly roasted beans for their Krups / Braun and then taking the misinformed jump to a Nespresso pre-ground coffee capsule. The Dark Side of Convenience.

CUPPACHOICE INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD has been given the honour and responsibility to organise and run a Barista Challenge on behalf of MITR PHOL THAILAND and MAXWILL (ASIA) PTE LTD, in conjunction with MITR PHOL SUGAR Trade Show 2010.

The Trade Show will be held from the 4th to 6th June and the Barista Challenge will be the main focus from the 5th and finals on the 6th of June on the 4th June from 11 am to 7 pm and on the 5th June from 11 am to 7 pm.

The main event is MITR PHOL BARISTA CHALLENGE and the side event, MITR PHOL LATTE ART THROWDOWN.

Come join us in this carnival, after all, it is also the GREAT SINGAPORE SALE and there is no better place to be than in Orchard Road.

MITR PHOL BARISTA CHALLENGE 2010 (in running order)

1. Jackie (Jolly Frog Bistro Bar)

2. Terence (Boomarang Express)

3. Noribsham (Cuppachoice Café & Academy)

4. Natasha (1 Caramel Café)

5. Mustaffa (1 Caramel Café)

6. Fadhly (Cuppachoice Café & Academy)

7. Jason (Starbucks Coffee)

8. Cessna (Café Cartel)

9. Arfian (30 Mls Coffee Bar)

10. Nizam (30 Mls Coffee Bar)

11. Andy (Starbucks Coffee)

12. Main Pavan (Jones The Grocer)

NESTLE LATTE ART CHALLENGE

1. Arfian (30 Mls Coffee Bar)

2. Alif (Jones The Grocer)

3. Fadzli (Jones The Grocer)

4. Noribsham (CuppaChoice Café & Academy)

5. Art (Jones The Grocer)

6. Terence (Boomarang Express)

7. Fadhly (Cuppachoice Café & Academy)

8. Jackie (Jolly Frog Bistro Bar)

9. Andy (Starbucks Coffee)

10. Nizam (30 Mls Coffee Bar)

11. Jason (Starbucks Coffee)

12. Cessna (Café Cartel)

13. Han Bing (Café Cartel)

[excerpted from Facebook]

—————————————————————————

PANEL OF JUDGES

The judges have been announced to be the following:

Alex Chong- Sensory Judge (Master Roaster & MD of CuppaChoice)

Colin Loh – Sensory Judge (CGSG Founding Member, espresso.colinloh.com)

Adrian Toh – Sensory Judge (Nestle Professional Representative)

Zaccheus Leck – Sensory Judge (Maxwill Representative Coffee Lover)

Steve Cairns – Technical Judge (CGSG Founding Member)

Cheryl Lee – Technical Judge (2 time Malaysia Barista Champion)

John Ting – Latte Art Judge (Singapore National Barista Champion 2008,2009, WBC 2009 Ranked #21, Barista@Oriole Cafe)

Competition Blend

The blend used for the competition is a 60% Kenya AA / 40% Ethiopia Sidamo roasted by CuppaChoice to Mid-Dark.

Personal Notes:

I went to scout the location today. While my previous post mentioned that the barista challenge was to be held at Takashimaya, it is in actual fact being held at the outdoors Civic Plaza. The area allocated for the MITR PHOL Barista Challenge is super-huge, as compared to the area we are so used to during the Singapore National Barista Championships. The SNBC 2010 area was about one-tenth the size of MITR PHOL BC. The stage area is just behind the fountain at Ngee Ann City. I hope to update this blog post with photos tomorrow.

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?

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.

I was jinxed yesterday.

I thought I had a good day ahead of me. I roasted a real nice batch of SM Italian Espresso blend 4 days ago. Yesterday would be peaking at 3 days. The roast was stopped at the start of 2nd crack, giving the bean a nice dark chocolate brown, with very slight hints of oil. Perfect day, right?

My bro requested an americano. I did the usual routine of DLT, pulled the shot, and it ran 55 seconds, volume around .75 oz. A super slow pour. No one’s going to believe this one. SO. I decided to vid it with my phone cam.

I pulled out my Espressoparts.com 4 oz Lined Measuring Glass, set up my phone cam, and proceeded with the pour. Everything was looking good, the same nice super slow pour, this one ran 60 seconds long, methinks I must’ve tamped slightly harder, the crema was beautiful, speckled with dark chocolate bits, the same volume of .75 oz, and the camera stopped filming at 0:11 because I had insufficient memory. ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!! I even narrated the whole thing through, not realising the faux pas. Btw, the ristretto was heavenly, even better than Part 1. The roast was just right, and I can taste the character of the coffee.

Not to be deterred, I slipped in a new 2 Gb memory card, should be sufficient. Damn. I was late for work. I put the beans in the grinder, and proceeded to dose the portafilter. As a habit, I would try to clean out as much of the grounds as possible, using a pipe cleaner. I inserted the pipe cleaner into the shaft and suddenly the grinder halted. ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! I managed to jam the pipe cleaner in the grinder. And it wouldn’t budge. After much wrangling, I gave up and decided to vid the pour with whatever grounds I could get out of the dosing chamber. Well, the vid was good. The pour was like the previous 2, around .75 oz. I came back after work and managed to pull out the pipe cleaner. Both the pipe cleaner and the grinder are fine now. WHEW!

(Although the vid is Quicktime, I can’t get QT to open the video. So, I may have to try and embed VLC player into wordpress.)

End note: It is the beans. SM Italian Espresso blend.