Come on in to Caffe Artigiano’s Kerrisdale location from July 31 to August 2 and sample Colter’s custom-crafted espresso blend that will be used in his competition in Tokyo during the same days!
I’d offer to pull you a shot, but I’ll be out of town. Kyle and Phil will take great care of you all… ;-D
I’ve been promoted to the position of General Manager for Caffe Artigiano’s Park Royal location, which means new perspective on Artigiano, coming soon…!
To be continued…
Wow. The last week has gone by in a blur! Best news is the first news to post: I’m going to Tokyo with Colter and Barrett! It’s only going to be a few days, but what an opportunity! I’ll be there to soak it all in. Tickets booked and travel guide purchased… I’ll keep you all updated!
We held a cupping at the store after closing time on Tuesday night for all the employees to try the new menu. I was really happy with the turn-out, only one person didn’t make it. We blind-cupped the Brazil CoE, the Organic Brazil, the India, the Tanzania, and the Colombia. The favourite on the table was, surprisingly, the India, followed closely by the Tanzania. Hopefully we’ll be able to hold some open cuppings soon. We’re getting to the point where most of the staff are gaining a very strong coffee knowledge base… exciting!
I’m spending more and more time at the warehouse (49th Parallel Roasters) now… having more opportunities to pick Vince’s and Mike’s brains about coffee and cupping… also trying some extra-special, unique and even some rare coffees! The drive out to Burnaby is more than worth it!
Elysian has a new espresso blend, and for our weekly manager meeting, Kyle, Phil and I decided to meet there to enjoy some good coffee to go with the conversation. It’s a two-bean blend (Brazil and Ethiopia) from 49th Parallel, and was really refreshing… with lots of body, and enough fruit to make it interesting. It might get lost easily with too much milk (ie, great in a macchiato but maybe too mild in a capp?) but we had too much coffee by then to keep trying. Also on the table were 49th’s Costa Rica Indio and the Colombia Catamosan (quite possibly my favourite of the current 49th offereings).
And lastly… I finally got a chance to visit Barrett at Metro, and got a chance to pull some Epic Espresso off their Victoria Arduino! Beautiful machine… and my first time using a manual espersso machine! Just like he said, the longer shots are still smooth and well balanced…
Oh, this is last… made some Clover at Hornby… El Salvador La Margarita. Smooooooth milk chocolate and a bit of orange as it cools…. nice!
That’s all for this time, check back soon for more!
So I didn’t make it into the store today, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to write about..!
Woke up early and met Kyle at Specialty Coffee Solutions/9 Bar, bringing some Artigiano Private Reserve and Avalon organic milk with me. Unfortunately Frankie was not feeling well and unable to meet us, but Wayne and Yvette were gracious hosts and let us have free reign on the bar and in the back work shop. We pulled a few shots off the Mistral and poured some latte art for some of the customers coming in (one huge soy matcha latte and a tiny macchiato were two that I remember serving). When Wayne showed up, he gave us an amazingly in-depth tour of the workshop in the back, plus answered all the questions we had about giculers and PIDs and steam wand modifications and other random stuff about our Lineas…
After a couple hours at SCS, I headed over to 49th Parallel while Kyle headed to work. It’s always fun hanging out with Lindsay and Mike but Vince and Colter were there as well, focusing on Colter’s WBC routine. After catching up with each other and chatting about all the new coffees that were on order or had just arrived, Lindsay and I set up the cupping for Artigiano’s new coffee line-up… which is arriving in stores in approximately six hours from now!
Caffè Artigiano™ Private Reserve Espresso
A blend of South American, Asian and African coffees, blended to produce a rich, complex yet sweet espresso. Wonderful on it’s own, excellent and powerful enough to punch through milk.
Caffè Artigiano™ Organic Espresso
A carefully sorted blend of coffees from Brazil, Ethiopia and the South Pacific. Very unique and wonderful on its own or with milk. Medium body and high sweetness.
Organic Italian Roast
This dark roast coffee highlights a smoky, powerful spicy flavour. The low acidity of this rich coffee is perfect for stove top espresso or as filter coffee.
Caffè Artigiano™, Decaffeinated Private Reserve Espresso
Our own Private Reserve Espresso, decaffeinated at Swiss Water here in the Lower Mainland. Works great as filter coffee as well. You won’t believe it’s decaffeinated!
Colombia Fine Estate Supremo
Excellent balance, strong flavour and complexity that set a solid base. Spicy notes with a sweet caramel finish. Brilliant acidity and a creamy body round out this special selection.
Organic Brazil Camocim Biodynamic
Biodynamically grown Organic Brazilian coffee! Very clean tasting with notes of milk chocolate and orange zest. Distinct flavours of nuts and sweet caramel play off of a smooth acidity.
India Merthi Mountain Selection 795
A sweetly balanced coffee to enjoy each and every morning. Full aroma with flavours of mocha and peanut with a buttery mouthfeel. This is a premium coffee that truly represents the best quality coffee from India.
Tanzania Ruvuma AAA
Strong and flavourful coffee with thick caramel dominating the cup right into the finish. A sweet delicate acidity with herbal and berry notes and a slight hint of pipe tobacco encourage a complex experience.
Brazil Cup of Excellence Winner # 16 Fazenda Cachoeira Da Grama
You will immediately notice the creamy mouthfeel with gentle flavours of honey and jasmine coming through. A more in depth taste will reveal cocoa, caramel and toasted nuts that linger to the finish. Round, balanced and uniquely sweet.
Colombia Cup of Excellence Winner # 20 Bertha de Ordonez
Polished with beautiful florals and a rich aroma. Nice caramel to start with semi sweet chocolate and white pepper to add a touch of spice. Wonderful acidity with a good and thick body. A sweet lychee finish to gently soften this strong tasting coffee.
This was an incredibly solid line up of coffees, with each coffee on the cupping table having it’s own distinct characteristics that made them very appealing and unique. The two that I found myself coming back to most often were the Tanzania AAA, which I found to have the most pleasing acidity (I’m into higher-acidity coffees lately I find), and the Brazil Biodynamic, which had a very disctinct grapefruity tone throughout its finish.
Following the group cupping for the various Artigiano managers, Lindsay let me try something extremely special. I’m not sure if I can write it on here or not, but I had an incredibly difficult time nailing down the origin of this mystery coffee. Mike and Lindsay helped describe what I was tasting, which I had thought to be a combination of two different origins (I was wrong on the first but closer on my second guess). By the time I left 49th, I was very caffinated, very happy, and took with me one of the new Espresso Parts tampers that they are selling. Now I’ve got two tampers… on with the collection!
All my photos can be found on my flickr page… http://www.flicker/photos/baristahands – happy viewing!
Nice to see Vince from 49th in the cafe again, but this time he brought with him a special visitor from San Francisco, Eileen Hassi from Ritual Roasters… 
Went to the Elysian Room in the afternoon with Kyle and Shawn for a break from our leader meeting and had one of the smoothest, most velvety espressos that I’ve had in a long time. Pure honey from beginning to end… Awesome mouthfeel on that shot. Matti was wondering where Eileen went… haha. Too bad I wasn’t the one playing tour guide!
Thursday will see the unveiling of a new whole bean menu (and by extension also the Clover/French Press/Drip coffee programs as well) for all Caffe Artigiano locations. I don’t want to give it all away, but there will be a couple surprises, including one new Cup of Excellence coffee! Stay tuned for more!
Daily ramblings about working the bar at Kerrisdale, what new coffees are coming, how the shots are pulling, and the general Vancouver coffee scene are what you can expect from this little blog…
Happy reading!
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