fad Senior Member Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 633 Location: Sydney, Australia Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Grimac La Uno, Isomac... Grinder: Mazzer SJ. Cunill... Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: SwissGold Roaster: Ron Kyle BBQ Drum,...
Posted Mon Jun 2, 2003, 2:15am Subject: Newcastle Coffee Festival Report
Yesterday (Sunday 1st June) Newcastle (1) chased the sleeping dogs and tumbleweeds (2) off of a major road and had a Coffee Festival.
The general entertainment ranged from jumping castles for the kids to belly dancers for the adults. Well, adult males, anyway. Bands, DJs, food stalls, a juggling troubador and a mime made up the festival part of the day.
The locally made product, Boema, is well represented among the independents, where price is a major consideration. (Providing they aren't Borged by a major supplier. See Alan Frew's comments.)
The stand-out machine for me was the Faema E61. According to the Barista it was made in 1969 and recently refurbished.
I asked him what it was like to drive. His comment: "I've been using La Marzoccos for 18 months now. I'd pay $10,000 for a Faema E61 over one of them".
Coffees on display ranged from your traditional Vacuum Packed Brik-o-Sawdust to locally roasted single origins and blends.
Accessories for the aspiring home barista? This is Australia. You could buy french presses, and moka pot/coffee bundles for the daring. But tampers? Steam tips? Jugs? Thermometers? Ha. I Laugh.
CoffeeGeek being a site for, well, Coffee Geeks tends towards technofetishism, a trait I share in full measure. But the goal achieved through these nice toys should be good to great coffee.
So how was the coffee on the day? What I drank, good to great.
The majority? average to dreadful.
The E61 was driven by Baristas, as was the other stall I frequented. Grinding beans fresh. Tamping. Good pour. Milk frothed per drink. Latte art. Piccolo Lattes, mmm
Most of the other stalls had Persons Behind The Counter. Underfilled baskets. Levelling tamp on the grinder. 12 or 30+ second unwatched pours. Huge frothy milk made in large jugs. They got points for keeping the machines clean, but not much else.
I'm nowhere near the level of expertise that can tell a washed Colombian from a dry processed Brazilian, but I can tell Coffee from Charcoal, and that's what some stalls were selling, I swear. No wonder people order large lattes and then add sugar and syrup. They need the additives to make it tollerable.
I came away from the day with mixed feelings.
The part of me that spends money and time on all things coffee was disappointed at the just another job mentality on display, along with an almost wilful disregard as to what good coffee can be.
The positive side was that hundreds of people turned up, the coffee culture is alive and well, and there are people who see the problems and are working on them.
And I got a couple of shots from a classic machine by someone who took pride in his job. I couldn't ask for more.
(BTW, does anyone know a diplomatic way of telling a PBTC that you'd drink the coffee in your drip tray before their concoctions?)
Quotable Quotes: "All Italian coffee contains Robusta" "It's difficult to get a consistent espresso without Robusta"
For those of you who'll be in Sydney in July, there's the Rocks Aroma Coffee Festival. I'll be the one with the camera, notebook and stopwatch, timing pours.
Paul Haddon Sydney, Australia
(1) Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Approximately 160km from civilization, er, Sydney. (2) I'm from Sydney, OK? (3) Sites that force you to the main page are a pain (4) Sites (Mazzer.com) with complicated menus are also annoying (5) Do we have mutant Rancilios in Australia? None of the sites I found show the cylindrical looking Rancilios.
ljguitar Senior Member Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 2,450 Location: Cheyenne Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Expobar Pulsar Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly, Solis Drip: Bunn Roaster: iRoast2
Posted Mon Jun 2, 2003, 6:27am Subject: Re: Newcastle Coffee Festival Report
fad Said:
--- So how was the coffee on the day? What I drank, good to great. --- The majority? average to dreadful. --- (BTW, does anyone know a diplomatic way of telling a PBTC that you'd drink the coffee in your drip tray before their concoctions?) --- Do we have mutant Rancilios in Australia? None of the sites I found show the cylindrical looking Rancilios.
Hi Paul...great report!! I enjoyed reading through all of it.
Mutant Rancilios... Why not? All the other Australian animals look like mutants to the rest of us.
Diplomacy Out of diplomacy and decency, I don't hold the grocery store clerk responsible for his/her lack of knowledge of food, nor do I hold Persons Behind The Counter liable for their ignorance and do applaud cleanliness (beats food poisoning). I never say anything critical to this minimally paid group of people, but do foster relationships with owners and managers. (Good Baristas I do chat with . . . and watch closely to see what I can learn).
We could do an entire thread on the topic of how to get our local establishments to serve SOTS (Something Other Than Swill). For me, the process probably would not start with addressing comments to the PBTCs, but building friendships with owners and managers of said establishments (we live in a small and friendly community).
Did you have fun? Sounds like all in all you had a good time with lots of stuff for people to do besides drink coffee (good thing huh). Thanks again for the report.
Not a mention of the poor guy with a trestle table set up with a fine collection of domestic / commercial espresso machines reflecting the hot midday sun!
Cimbali, BFC, ECM, San Marco, Tranquilo, Pavoni and of course a 1960 2 group lever Bo-ema all polished and stealing the show.
Seems at least there is a geek in Newcastle after all. And someone with a bit machinery knowledge.
Not all, but most Italian coffee roasters have 100% arabica blends, which are not best sold in Italy;
I do not think so.
Peter in Beijing ------------------- http://www.kaffa.cn/ ------------------- I have got a new website, just started to establish. If you have any question or suggestion, let me know and it is mostly appreciated.
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