It was a very interesting two day event, created by the SCAE Swedish Chapter, where 12 Swedish Judges were certified to judge the Barista Competition in Sweden in 2012-2013. I had the privilege of being there, both at the workshop and tests, hosted and executed by WCE Board Member Sonja Björk Grant.

As a barista that has competed three times, and seen slight changes in the Rules&Regulation, it was interesting to sit at the other side of the table. Being presented drinks that are made with an effort and passion are hard to dismiss, yet necessary to evaluate somehow objective. This is the great challenge, to understand how to evaluate these objective. Are they judged by what we’ve seen in the competition before (in past competitions), for instance in the Creativity box?

It also became apparent that some judges had a harder criteria in their opinion on drinks that were close to their own workfield. This judging outside the box, is what is evaluated in the “judges room” (the staircase at this workshop). Also the group dynamics within the judging group was interesting to experience. Some people, you immediately seem to be judging similar to, while others are on a different page altogether. Not sure yet what my opinion is on this, since I haven’t been judging at “gun point” yet, but I am sure this have some sort on impact on the final scores.

One criteria for passing that I really enjoyed, but not sure I passed with honors, was the espresso making test. Since I’ve heard about baristi cringing at the idea of being judged by people who can’t even pull a shot, this is essential for the credibility of judging. Our “guinea pig baristi” (the volunteer baristi being judged by us as a group for two days) also got the task to judge us! Great twist!

At the end of the day, I passed the certification of which I am both happy and grateful for. I am sincerely looking forward to be experiencing the competitions and see all the fantastic baristi of Sweden in action! I know I always said that competition is a great way to learn about coffee. I have a strong feeling judging will teach me equally much!

NP: Travis Re Offender

2012 looks good from here. My whole last year was an adaption to both the Stockholm- and Swedish coffee scene. It saw me compete in the Swedish Barista Championships and Swedish Brewers Cup, visit friends and making new friends in various places such as Berlin, Paris, New York and Copenhagen as well as becoming a part of Gothenburg roasters Da Matteo Torrefazione and representing them in Stockholm and I got to meet a lot of interesting people through that as well.

This blog is not about the future, or about the current status of things. It’s more like a recap of past events. However, with 2011 still fresh in mind, there is a lot to take aim at. First of all, my family situation got very stressed with me working full time at my McJob, and doing part time Da Matteo work as well. This had to change, so from Wednesday and onwards, I am finishing my Bachelor of Arts degree at Stockholm University in 2012. A man must know his limits, and I just have to give up the idea of working a McJob fulltime, while in pursuit of making a career within my area of passion happening as well as studies and family time. Not happening. So, with time at my own mercy not bound by a specific roster, I can get back to do random bar jobs and focus more on what’s going on in Stockholm. I actually look forward to be guest barista at various outlets this year.

About 2012 and my career in coffee, I can and wish not to go into too much detail, however plans looks exciting and happening, which is the most important part. If I’d say I had taken my barista skills as far as I can take them, I’d be lying through my teeth and pissing on all serious baristi out there. I look forward to take in new inspiration in my barista work, but my interest at the moment is really leaning towards trying to understand roasting and tasting. Nevertheless, I will definitely go to the WBC in Vienna this year to meet and greet old and new friends. I also hope that at least one trip to a coffee producing region will happen within the next 12-18 months.

As for my personal life, I seriously need a change of direction regarding my food habits as well as my excercising, so I am serious in my pursuit of learning about Raw Food, as well as taking up Capoeira again. I owe that to my body! 2012 looks good from here! Excited about it, and I hope to get a chance to meet You this year too!!

NP:Bonobo Pick Up

So where would be more natural to start than the bars? Da Matteo have three outlets for coffee in the centre of Gothenburg; the first store in Viktoriapassagen, which is more of a traditional espresso bar originally, then there is Vallgatan which is the site where the Torrefazione saw its lights first. And finally, the Panetteria at Magasinsgatan, which also hosts the roastery.

Sita brewing some Vinter blend as V60

The Saturday saw me work the Passagen, together with a young enthusiastic bunch of people. It’s interesting as an outsider to observe the dynamics, work flow and skill at work, finding it’s working but also big room for improvement. As someone coming from the outside, you sometimes miss out on communication, and me arriving in the middle of the night after a storm delaying all flights to Gothenburg, with just a few hours of sleep under my belt, was a bit of a slow starter. Hence me not understanding the dosing of coffee at the brew bar, serving a few really poor ones until Christian, the roaster, happened to come by to try out a Honduras roasted for espresso, sorting me out. Lesson? You can’t brew consistently great coffee without a scale.

The following day, I rushed down to the lab, to cup our latest Ninety Plus coffee, the Gesha from Panama, just roasted the day before. Still fresh, but you could clearly tell the potential! Then off to Vallgatan for some coffee making. Again, a young enthusiastic crowd to work with, in one of the busiest cafés in Sweden. I think I did pretty good, and again I locked myself to the espresso machine, pumping out those coffees.

These are the sizes available at da Matteo

At da Matteo recently we’ve started working with what was originally Gwilym Davies concept of espresso with milk. Matts was part of putting the espresso drinks on the map in not just Gothenburg, but Sweden. Somewhat problematic is the fact that a lot of the regulars still orders these kind of Italian standard drinks, and you know what they say about old dogs and learning how to sit? In all honesty, I get annoyed each time I hear an order in Italian, maybe because I’m not from that tradition. But identity with the Italian is strong with habitual coffee drinkers. But one customer at a time, we’ll get the message through!

Christian busy packing the Xmas gifts

The rest of the week saw me spend a lot of time at the roastery. Situated in an old stable, its brick walls and warm ambience really makes this my favorite work place in the whole of Sweden. I am so in love with this space! Monday morning starting off with breakfast around the table with the bakers in the Panetteria, then hitting the lab cupping coffee. Now seeing the progress in the Gesha, it was very exciting. Next stop, learning some roasting basics from Torkel while popping the Passagen blend, and then do what I am qualified enough to do at the moment – packing the coffee into bags…

Torkel caught in action

Arriving in time for the busy week before Christmas was both a very good, and a not so good idea at first sight. The roasters are busy roasting, packing and delivering coffee, which gave me great insight in what hard work it takes to produce the coffee we love and care about so much. In between all this, the coffee needs to be cupped, brewed, evaluated, roasted again and full circle. But mostly, just get a chance to indulge in the da Matteo ambience on site was something that I had been longing for, and even though I rarely had a moment of peace (Torkel and Tomas up to their shenanigans, Christian taking me around doing new things, sitting in meetings with Matts and various other coffee people etc.) I noticed how my pulse went down and I started breathing normally again.

Pernilla cupping our Gesha at the lab

What I really love, and wanted to experience close first hand, is what is known as the da Matteo feel/vibe. It’s hard to understand, and a lot of people outside the company might not see it at first. But everyone I worked with at the cafés, the guys in the bakery and the people behind the scenes are all happy, focused and hard working people with a feeling of being part of something. I guess from what I’ve seen at some places in Australia, church has a very central place in the coffee community there. This is something similar, without beeing too cultish. But just the fact that at one of the regular staff cuppings, the head of marketing is cupping next to the glassy is for me something I appreciate and understand as being vital in creating that vibe!

myself roasting on 8 Mile

On my last day at the roastery, I had the chance to roast three different Single Origin coffees on the Loring; I roasted a Kenyan, a natural Guji and a CoE Nicaraguan (the last one for espresso). Now, this was very interesting to see how very differently different beans are approached in the roasting process, and what results to expect and then test it to experience if the outcome matches or not. I’m not claiming I now roast, but at least I got a fair bit of understanding what roasting is about, and it has definitely made me want to know more.

last lunch a DJ saved my life

And to really leave on a high note, just before I left the Lunch Beat was organized at the Panetteria. This means the whole seated area was taken out and turned into a dance floor with a DJ and a soundsystem to match. It pretty much sums up what da Matteo is about; a good good vibe. I’m proud of being a team member.

Last but not least, I also had the opportunity to meet some great people and see some really cool events. Besides meeting with some of our clients in Gothenburg (too many to mention), I had dinner with former da Matteo legend Per Nordby, coffee with bloggers and coffee fanatics such as Brian and Reggie, and even a warehouse gig with new up and coming band Travels With Charly and some beers with various people. Gothenburg has really become my home from home. Can’t wait to go back! Thanks to everyone making my stay so lovely!

NP Cut Copy Hearts On Fire

For me, this year is really about trying to understand the basics and mechanics of judging the competition, so when Da Matteo announced they were doing their annual in house competition a couple of weeks back, Joel, Charl and myself jumped at the opportunity to visit Gothenburg and face the competition in reality.

Flying down to Gothenburg saw us experiencing true barista breakfast (triple cheese burger at the airport) and other shenanigans, before hitting the coffee lab at Da Matteo Torrefazione and getting down to business. We spent a vast amount of hours in the lab, going through the presentation, drinking coffee in unbelievable quantities.

In my opinion, Charls key strength is in his technical skill. He’s a natural, but learning from my own experience in competition, you have to fit into the format. It is really exciting, and I think I can speak for Joel here as well, to compete through someone else. You’re building a monster, and hopefully this will show in the finished product. For this competition, Charl was using the Vallgatan blend, that they use at Kafé Esaias, however slightly problematic since the blend was so fresh still, it took us some time to make it work with signature drink properly.

Hours of training, crazy dancing to African tunes, coffee, apple pie and more coffee, we were ready for the night. We went to the hotel and had a sauna, and then out to some crazy event in the suburbs where Joel had some friends, and arriving at midnight again in town the guys called it a night, and I went out for some more fun with my sister in law at a night club in town that has a coffee bar on one of the floors.

The next day saw us back at the lab again (yo!), this time with Joel and Charls old work buddy Robert of Non Solo Bar and Monmouth fame. More coffee, more assessing, more feedback, more of everything really. As the units of Da Matteo were closing down, the in house competitors gathered around to see what the night had in store for them. You could literaly feel the nerves in the air, all baristi awaiting their turn. So to lighten things up, mr Da Matteo himself, had a bit of a surprise for his staff.

Matts Johansson, a long time dedicated coffee person in the World Barista Competitions and new format WCE, has been part of developing the WBC into what it is today. Admitedly though, he has never himself competed in the format, so here was his chance to both amaze his own staff and to try it out himself. Last time he competed was in 1996, in the Swedish Cappuccino Championships (I picture mountains of foam), so I bet there was a bit of a rusty feel getting up on that stage. But what an extraordinary performance. We learnt a lot from it, and had some good laughs! Again, Matts shows what a delight he is to work with!

Charl was up after Matts, since we had a plane to catch. Seeing someone train, and then judge them, it was a really interesting experience being on the other side of that table. I basically knew exactly where Charl was on the money and where he was ad lib, and though I will not reveal any results here, I can still say I am happy to see so much of Charls every day barista and hospitality skill at Kafé Esaias, shining through in his performance.

For me personally though, regardless of how great it was to see Charl compete with Joels and my own input, the main thing for me was stepping up as a judge. Matts calibrated us, and the set up was basically the same as any competition; Camilla, Pernilla, Lina (who had just come back from Barista Camp with Fritz Storm, with great enthusiasm to share) and me did the sensory judging, Christian and Victor were technical and Torkel was head judge. What great insights of the protocol I got from just this small task. I now understand a bit more of what happens when competitors are assessed in the back room. I sure hope I will get the opportunity to pass the national tests this year in order to judge the Barista Competition in Sweden 2012.

So who won?

We’ll see a lot more of this person in 2012, I’m pretty sure! Anyway, it was a great event, and a lot for all of us to take in. In house competition, using the WBC format, is really genius since it offers the perfect training and fostering your staff, both as managers and floor staff. Thanks so much for having us, and I hope that next year will be even more intense!

NP: Whitesnake Young Blood

Another important topic that came up at the Board Meeting, was the question of language. Not the barrier of the different Nordic languages, but the lack of common sharing of expressions, words and understanding of describing coffee etc. As an industry, that is admittedly still very young, the need of communicate the product with a similar language, and systematically, becomes crucial, not only for the customer, but for the industry to meet its own requirements and experiences. My own thoughts regarding this, is the one of the scoring system in any given beverage. Wine is a very good example, where two different wine reviewers gets two completely different scores, on completely different grounds, for the same wine. Now, in peer reviewing behind the scenes, such misunderstandings or subjective attitudes to the wine might be moderated to meet demand, but when both publish their reviews to the public in magazines read and spread globally, both the confused consumer and the producer of the wine stand as losers.

The real benefit of Forums like this, is to meet people from all over. Both during the seminar and afterwards. But as amazing it is to see the twitterati live, the most inspirational meetings are actually meeting the people behind the scenes; hard working roasters with firm ideas on what coffee, transparency and buying green not only should, but also can be. One thing that for a long time has been on my mind, is the almost unrealistic expectations us in the industry have on certain products put out there by certain roasters. Twitter makes us understand that there is coffee from El Dorado out there, brewed from secret recipes that Merlin made for the knights around the table. This is naturally just hyperbole, the truth is a lot of times far from it. Not saying that the coffees are mundane, but much like the hype, and misunderstanding around the Cup of Excellence, I think some points are clearly missed. How about balance, body, mouthfeel, cleanliness, aftertaste?

With that said, it was really interesting to experience the cupping sessions, both from the aspects of same coffee/different roasters as well as coffees roasted in Ethiopia in a way that I think very few people in the room had expected (well, us who don’t go regularly to Ethiopia and cup coffee that is). For me, the different roasts presented at the table had two stand outs when cupped; the Solberg&Hansen version was super clean (using the Loring), the Tim Wendelboe coffee tasted like a different coffee even.

The man behind the Loring Smart Roast, Ron Kleist, was there as well and there was a work shop on the Loring on the Sunday for those interested. Meeting mr Kleist was for me one of the highlights of this event. I might not understand roasting (yet), but I understand genius when I meet one. An open minded entrepreneur, with time and ideas to share with anyone asking for it. I hope to catch mr Kleist somewhere in the world again before too long.

Overall a wonderful weekend, organized superbly by Da Matteo in the beautiful surroundings of the Magasinsgatan Panetteria. I’m looking forward to next year already!

NP: Lou Barlow Mornings After Me

First time I ever went to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, was in 6th grade on a school trip. What to me is most memorable from that trip, probably cause my father still brings it up, is that us kids didn’t like the sausages. They actually had proper meat in them, my father used to say, comparing them to the sorry excuse for a hot dog that was available in Sweden in those days.

Another time I went, coming back from the infamous Roskilde Festival in 1997, we had no place to stay and remained outdoors all night. Hung over, completely covered in mud and looking really destitute, even the homeless people of Copenhagen that walked by asked if we needed anything.

Those two separate memories of Copenhagen summons up pretty much what I again experienced; fresh produce taken for granted, and great hospitality.

I went on a road trip with my Belgian friends Régy and Sofie (Régy was the one coming up with the name for this blog by the way, during this trip) for an extended weekend, renting a Volvo V60 (what could possibly be a better car for a coffee trip?) and driving south in one go! We arrived pretty late, after coffees at Koppi in Helsingborg, in the heart of Copenhagen and decided to leave the car and immediately hit the streets. First stop was Mikkeler bar, much raved about amongst coffee twitterati especially since their much talked about cooperation with Swedish roasters Koppi. Being more of a Corona-with-lime-beer-drinker myself, I wasn’t too impressed by the beers (found them rather extreme, and I’ll leave that open whether that’s a positive or a negative). Saying that, I found the bar itself very nice, friendly and approachable.

The night ended up in Köttbyn (roughly translated into The Meatpacking District), where some bars were open late, and where I spotted what someone said was a genuine Obey Giant art work. Approached by prostitutes, and seeing coked up models dancing with their faces in the fan felt both decadent and amusing, but the long drive was getting to us, so we all ended up at home before sunrise.

Next morning saw me and Régy going first to The Coffee Collective at Jaegersbrogade for coffee, and then to Louisiana for art. The Coffee Collective was busy roasting when we entered, ordering first an espresso, then two different Aeropressed coffees. What really impressed me with the Coffee Collective was not just the fact that it seemed very genuinly hard core coffee focused, but also that they have opted to work with a very limited range of coffees, roasting three as singles for filters and one single for espresso, as well as using the coffees in an espresso blend. All in the name of Direct Trade. For an operation as small as theirs, I guess a limited number of coffees is the only way to sure fire the quality of the relation they themselves set the standard for! Admirable and impressive. And so were our coffees.

Later that night we returned to Jaegersbrogade to a restaurant called Relae. We arrived five minutes late, and were greeted with a sneer. And besides the food, it was basically down hill from there. Apparently the restaurant have a rather minimalistic and simple decoration philosophy in order to offer high quality food at a lower price. Food was excellent, and the chefs came out introducing each dish in a likeable manner. But the wine waiter (reluctant to call him sommelier) was slack, with an uptight attitude that didn’t match. Throughout the whole meal, I was glancing at the Finca Vista Hermosa they had on the menu, roasted by their neighbours across the road. Since dessert took forever (the chef had already changed into his private clothes), it was close to the midnight when I approached the, well, let’s call him the maitre’d, about coffee. What we got back was a simple; “You’ll have to be quick then, cause we’re about to close”. Coffee arrived, French pressed, and very disappointing. If looking at the food alone, it was brilliant and at a good price, but this was the only downer in otherwise brilliant Danish hospitality.

For the following days, I had three must visits for coffee; the new Coffee Collective location at Torvehallerne, Kent Kaffe and Democratic.

Kent Kaffe didn’t look much for the world from the outside, but the syphon I had was an amazing treat (they use filter paper and not cloth, something that really inspired me to re evaluate my method in syphon brewing) together with a brilliant smörrebröd (Danish slow-fast food). I also got the chance to meet the coffee guy on the premises, Samuli, who was preparing for a slide show and lecture on his visit to Central America. Amazing guy, can’t wait to go back there!

Standing in line for ten minutes at the latest Coffee Collective outlet, without the line even moving, says a bit about the attraction it has on the Copenhagen crowd. We actually didn’t go through with ordering cause it was too late, and too long a line. But I had a glance at the premises, and it is one of the most impressive, yet simple, operations I’ve seen in coffee. To me, the approach reminded a bit of Stumptown New York, where it’s just fast service and a lay out that seems to optimize the work flow needed. Still, with our very tight schedule, service wasn’t fast enough, but I definitely want to get back there to try it out!

Instead we went to Democratic Coffee, situated in the library, serving coffee from Swedish roasters Koppi. On this weekend day, proprietor Oliver was a one man army, giving us the option to go espresso based, or filter coffee. I had the espresso, which was very good. Again, a lovely passionate coffee person that was inspiring to meet. When the library was closing, we were invited to stay as friends of the establishment, and he served us some wonderful pastries, made on the premises. I simply had to buy the t-shirt

Saturday night saw us visit my old mate, and Kura regular, Elias from Tiki Room at the Tiki inspired place he works right now; The Brass Monkey. Such a treat to see some surf bands from Copenhagen and Germany rock the crowd. Elias treated me to a Guatemalan rum that was very unlike any rum I’ve had before (I really don’t like rum, this was more like any given fine spirit). What a great way to end a weekend in Copenhagen!

NP: D A D Sleeping My Day Away

When moving to Australia, I knew I wanted to be in the coffee industry, and I got to work alongside some of Perths finest, most of my time spent at Ristretto Espresso Specialists, but also a short stint at Spring Espresso. The former exploring espresso extraction, Aeropress and V60 brewing, the latter trying to understand latte art and syphon brewing. Getting back to Stockholm, I had with me a fair bit of Australian coffee culture (one that has spawned barista champions that are ranked among the highest in the world, both within the WBC format, and the coffee expat communities globaly).

In order to remain in touch with my Australian friends, as well as giving some sort of perspective on Swedish coffee from an outsiders point of view, I started a blog I called Syn City, named after the nick name we at Ristretto gave Perth because of the high density of Synesso espresso machines there.

The Syn City blog turned into something it was never supposed to be; some sort of opinion on the industry. This is an attempt to be more honest about my opinions, stand points and biases. Naturally, when looking at the differences in coffee between Australia and Sweden (or any given country and Sweden), it has been hard to see how Sweden can be so far behind everyone else. I think now I’ve identified some of its problems. The tax system, the culture and the volume is some of the issues Swedish coffee struggles with.

I’ve focused enough on this in my former blog, and I intend to focus on the good things in life instead. I’ve made enough enemies, and been back stabbed by people I thought were friends, to the point where I realize that this blog has to be about my own development, and not about the Swedish coffee industry (nor the industry as a whole, unless I’m in the centre of where the action is and actually have some substantial thoughts in the matter).

The working title for this blog is No Heroes In Coffee, which to me comes from the epiphany that I’ve far too long been wrapped up in the chimera that I as a barista is somehow making a difference through serving drinks, talking about farms and flavors, and then tweet it up to likeminded people across the globe (Kura Café has a t-shirt that says “I Make Hot Drinks For A Living” which summons it up pretty well). Very few people actually make a difference in coffee. You could argue that your morning coffee makes the life better for so many people every day, but a hero? I’ll stick my chin out and quote Bret Easton Ellis; A Hero Is An Insect In This World. Being a competing barista, I can see that my eyes will open up a little to the world where the product I work with every day comes from (this idea of “Origin”). But what does it really do to me? And how could I make any difference to the people working with it? How could I, in my present role as a coffee maker basically, be anything but a coffee tourist? There are a handful of people out there that I admire within the industry, that actively are trying to make a difference to the people growing coffee. One day, I’d very much like to have accomplished something that matters, but for now I’m not going to lie and say I have a relation with a farmer I’ve visited a week on holiday, gave a t-shirt and took a picture with. And even if I did make a difference, would I be considered a hero? I would still like it to be profitable, both for me and the farmer.

My hope with this blog is to record and document my own journey into coffee. I wish not to be an asshole with an opinion (even though inevitably people will still consider me to be just that), but someone who wants to know more about a product I love, work with and consume large quantities of myself.

NP: Doomriders Heavy Lies The Crown