Posted Sat Nov 20, 2004, 6:46pm Subject: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
As swimmerdave said, it was an experience that others might have paid hundreds of dollars for. Yet the folks at Counter Culture Coffee had the generosity to provide it all gratis, free and por nada. We in the southeast are fortunate indeed, to have them as a neighbor. Thank you Counter Culture Coffee for roasting, cupping, espresso making, latte art pouring and machine tinkering enough to fill a coffeegeeks heart.
Thank you, Dan Kehn for promoting the event and doing yeoman duty (in spite of the dreaded Hong Kong flu) to organize and setup a lot of neat machines for us to play with. Thanks to Chris Deferio for driving down from New York to show us how to pour latte art.
To those vendors who sent stuff, thanks! Your contribution was noted and appreciated. Todd Saltzman, of Whole Latte Love, thanks for showing up with a bunch of neat stuff and letting me measure the brew temperature of your new Expobar.
To all of my fellow coffeegeek attendees - it was great to meet you all! Let's find a reason to get together again.
To those of you who didn't make EspressoFest 2004, don't make that mistake in 2005. ;o))
Posted Sat Nov 20, 2004, 6:59pm Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
Like Bob said, the events was a success due directly to the efforts of the owners, managers, staff, and enthusiasts of Counter Culture Coffee (CCC) in Durham, NC. I want to thank Dan Kehn especially for inviting me and the other coffee geeks here on this site to an experience like no other.
The fest began with Daryn Berlin, the manager of CCC, giving an introduction and preview of the day and then breaking up the attendees into four groups of about 10 people in each group, with each group starting one of the four separate "tracks".
My group started with a cupping 101 class using CCC's "Forte'" blend, their darkest and strongest espresso blend. It was taught by Daryn himself and was both educational and enjoyable. It demystified coffee cupping.
The 2nd class, roasting, was narrated and taught by CCC's Peter Giuliano. The first part consisted of a home roasting demonstration by Mike Walsh, a commercial roasting demonstration, and an Agtron comparison of the two roasts, whole bean and ground. The two roasts were nearly identical, despite the techniques and volumes being vastly different !
The 3rd class consisted of a prosumer espresso and grinder overview and tutorial by Dan himself. He did an excellent job of preparing for the class by assembling most of the middle and top-end prosumer machines out there. Props to Chris', 1stLine, WholeLatteLove, and individuals (like brokencup and his S1 !) for loaning machines and other equipment.
Finally, the last class was taught by Chris Deferio, who drove all the way down from Ithaca, NY ! This was the very same Chris who won the Millrock Latte Art Competition on the east coast. He showed us the basics of espresso grinding, tamping, and extraction. More importantly, he showed us how to microfoam and pour latte' art of all kinds in all different sizes of cups. He was very informative and friendly and helped me to pour the best (and only!) latte' art of my life, a simple heart. A video of his is coming out in 2005. (I have a video of Chris pouring a gargantuan and gorgeous five-branch rosetta into a wide-mouthed latte' cup. However, I haven't yet found a home for the 22.1MB 30-second video.)
This is just my my own narrow experience of CCC EspressoFest 2004. I'd love to hear more thoughts from fellow attendees, volunteers, sponsors, and hosts.
187 Senior Member Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 152 Location: Monroe NC Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brewtus II & X-3 Grinder: MCI &Solis Drip: TV Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Sun Nov 21, 2004, 5:25am Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
A special thanks to Dave Haddock of CCC who spent an incredible amount of time, one on one with me during the Fest determining that my Solis was a piece of crap and sending me home with a proper grinder at a great price thanks to Chris Coffee. I hope this was the first annual EspressoFest. This had to be the calmest, most serene gathering of wired people I've ever attended.
Posted Sun Nov 21, 2004, 4:37pm Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
I had a great time; even though I only had eight hours of sleep the last two days. But there was certainly enough coffee to keep me awake. Thanks to CC coffee and all who contributed to the event. I got me a new Krups thermal carfe coffee machine as a door prize. And a lot of cool things from CCC. We need to see some photo's I won't be home untill Tuesday I'll post mine then.
Ciordia9 Senior Member Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 103 Location: Charlotte, NC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Eureka MDE Grinder Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: French Press Roaster: Heat Gun!
Posted Sun Nov 21, 2004, 5:51pm Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
SwimmerDave Said:
Finally, the last class was taught by Chris Deferio, who drove all the way down from Ithaca, NY ! This was the very same Chris who won the Millrock Latte Art Competition on the east coast. He showed us the basics of espresso grinding, tamping, and extraction. More importantly, he showed us how to microfoam and pour latte' art of all kinds in all different sizes of cups. He was very informative and friendly and helped me to pour the best (and only!) latte' art of my life, a simple heart. A video of his is coming out in 2005. (I have a video of Chris pouring a gargantuan and gorgeous five-branch rosetta into a wide-mouthed latte' cup. However, I haven't yet found a home for the 22.1MB 30-second video.)
That was a fun bit wasn't it? I might be able to host your movie if you want. I can open up my mail server to allow the file in if you want to toss it to me via that way, else do you have a way of xfering it?
As to CCC & Espressofest, woooyea.. We do need to hear from more, the event was fantastic. I had a sh*t eating grin the whole way home. Learning, exploring, sampling, and trialing, could we have tried to have more fun in one day? I don't think it'd have been possible.
I did a write up on my blog. You can also visit my gallery of the fest. My camera was pretty much on the wrong setting most of the time so it took some blurry shots more than naught.
Thank you one and all for helping and sharing!
-a
http://andy.ciordia.info "Life is all about strategy, mathematics and psychological perceptiveness."
Posted Mon Nov 22, 2004, 5:37pm Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
As a “newbie” to this exciting world of espresso and roasting, the EspressoFest 2004 was my first experience with other enthusiasts and equipment. What an eye opener!
The planning and executing of this event was impeccable. If one didn’t know any different, you would have thought this was Counter Culture Coffee’s 10th annual event. Hopefully, this event will be the first of many.
As to my personal highlights and observations, I submit the following:
It was fantastic to be around so many people with such a wealth of information – both track leaders & attendees.
Going out to lunch with Todd Salzman of Whole Latte Love and talking family, hobbies, and naturally coffee. He’s a real down to earth person.
Having Chris Deferio show you - one on one - many of his barista techniques. Then, having you repeat. He’s doing training now, I see why!
Attention to the small stuff by CCC staff. Like, after every “track” fresh coffee and snacks were available.
Seeing how Mike Walsh performed his home roasting will be a great help to myself.
And the list just keeps on going…
In closing, I would like to thank Dan Kehn for ALL his work in EspressoFest 2004. Job well done!
Please note that there should be a lot more pictures posted by people that remembered their cameras. I didn’t. DO NOT miss SwimmerDave’s video of Chris Deferio’s five-branch rosetta when it is posted. I haven’t personally seen anything like it on the web.
The cupping workshop taught by Daryn Berlin was excellent. The fact is that it is daunting to try to cup... some folks I have cupped with here in Richmond and I keep tasting "Coffee, coffee, er, coffee..." and it seems we are just fooling ourselves and dirtying a lot of cups for naught. But Daryn cajoled us along and pretty soon we were taking some chances and lo and behold, the group stayed pretty much 'within normal limits' on what we tasted... very validating.
Peter Giuliano, Mike Walsh and Joe demonstrated the relative techniques of drum and air roasting... Mike has 4 arms, I'm fairly sure... Has to in order to control all of the variables at his command with his frankenpopper. While Peter narrated, Joe roasted 20 lbs of coffee in a gas fired drum roaster. It was astounding to see how close the popper and drum roasts were on the agtron tester. Joe demonstrated an interesting concept, the 'spread' between 'whole bean' and 'ground bean' agtron readings... too much and you get a sour cup (I think?) and too little and the coffee may taste flat and baked. With all the gizmos the roasters still rely on cupping to ensure all is well. Anyway, a delightful and informative demonstration.
Dan Kehn and Friends did a great job of making a huge variety of neat consumer gear available for coffeegeek playtime. (Apparently Dan and Peter both chose to come in from their sick beds and make this happen. Pretty fine folks to care that much about us.) Todd from WLL had a very cool temp controlled 2 boiler machine which will be available soon. It looked and brewed quite spiffily. It'll be interesting to see where this increasing awareness of the importance of tight temp control will take high-end consumer machines. And just BTW, Todd's a heckuva nice guy as well.
Chris Deferio from Gimme Coffee in Ithaca, NY demonstrated the most astounding mastery of a complex subject coupled with a rare ability to boil his many hours of study into a few essential basics that he taught us most deftly. He is the 'tandem jumpmaster' of latte art... all of us acheived some success and he made sure we all landed safely. I was phenomenally impressed with his passion, technical ability and the ability to pull people into success in his domain. The video is coming... Get it, watch it, live it. Here are the key points as I heard them: Don't stretch your milk too much, leave the microfoam runny Hold the cup and the pitcher for better control Hold the pitcher handle so you use your fingers to wriggle the pitcher Start off pouring from far away so the milk dives under the crema Move closer when you want the design to start so the milk floats on top Go slow. Until you need to go fast. Cut through regardless... never know what you might get...
It was great to see some old faces and lots of new ones, and to see one of the most famous FrancisFrancis machines in the known universe... don't get to do THAT every day. EspressoFest 2004 was a delightful experience provided by a bunch of folks who worked awfully hard and donated, amongst other things, their day off, in order to share their passion. They truly are 'Coffee Driven'. Jill and I thank you for inviting us into your space and making us feel so welcome. Tomorrow I get 2 gallons of milk and start practicing!
beta14ok Senior Member Joined: 3 Mar 2003 Posts: 41 Location: Apex, NC Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Isomac Mondiale Grinder: Faema S6..or jez crunchum w/... Vac Pot: Nope....Press-Pot only Drip: Nope....Press-Pot only Roaster: Counter-Culture-Coffee!
Posted Tue Nov 23, 2004, 7:25am Subject: Re: Thank's to all who made EspressoFest 2004 a great experience.
It's hard to top the coverage above. I believe that the posts cover-it-off very well. I look forward to the pictures! I have the advantage of having Counter Culture Coffee (CCC) as my "local". These guys open their shop every Friday morning for the "Coffee-Geek-Squad" with the likes of Mike, Lino, Richard, and the "Uber-Geek"....Dan Kehn. It’s a great opportunity for us to share and learn ………..and CCC just never stops sharing their very best. So, I’m already impressed with CCC’s passion for coffee and their drive to share both that passion and their ethic with the community. But whooee, Saturday’s Espresso Fest was a whole bunch of fun!! These guys are just off-the-chart into “it”. Thanks to all of the gang a CCC for sharing even more! I was able to drink more than my fair share of exquisite CCC coffees [“Espresso Forte” (for the perfect latte) and “Espresso Toscano” (for the perfect, sweet shot straight-up)]. Participating in the cupping was the highlight of the event for me. Basically we deconstructed the components of the CCC “Espresso Forte”, by describing the smells and tastes of the individual, single origin coffees that comprise the blend. This synergistic art is fascinating to me. I’m trying to figure-out how I can sneak out of work once-a-week to participate in CCC’s cupping. That’d be totally cool!
Thanks to Peter and Daryl, and the rest of the CCC TEAM (‘cause this really is a TEAM effort! ……..“Coffee Driven People” – “People Driven Coffee”……..For sure!!
What a fun Event!
Special thanks to Dan for assembling all of those shiny espresso toys for us to play with! …..and maintaining the momentum of this event. Thanks to the vendors that trusted all of those shiny espresso toys into our hands! Thanks to Mike for the those wonderful customized small batch espresso blends all made with a popcorn-popper….unbelievable and total cool! Thanks to all for coming out……I look forward to next year.
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