It is with great excitement that I announce that on December 18th, Publik West Temple will start Aeropress Sundays. With help from our head roaster, we were able to organize this in hopes of showcasing different brew methods and also highlight the coffee itself. We will be using our Costa Rica Vindas Honey Process, which has shone throughout various brew methods. The paremetrs and brew process was left entirely up to me. I am using a simple recipe that I have been working with for some time now. I am excited to be able to train the Sunday baristas in preperation of the event. I am also looking forward to being able to educate the public about the differences that exist in different brew methods and how that impacts the taste of the coffee. This all comes back to education, so it will be good to see how people respond to something new. Soon after this I would like to start organizing classes that can help customers with home brewing on specific devices, and classes that introduce cupping. I would love anyone reading this who lives in SLC to stop on by and try a cup of this tasty cup; we plan on running this special throughout the winter season. I've been tasting peach, honey, brown sugar....come try for yourself.
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For a while now, I have been following as many coffee roasting companies and cafes as I can. Mainly, through social media and websites like Sprudge.com. I very much enjoy keeping up with the coffee culture around the world and being able to see how coffee shops operate. One thing I notice in Salt Lake City is that we don't have many events that take place to bring the coffee community together. There have been a few, like back in the day when Nobrow Coffee Werks was still around and would have friendly latte art competitions with baristas at The Rose Establishment, another local shop. There have been other small events here and there that have taken places amongst the shops, but none of these have stayed frequent. I would love to see more of these events take place, as I feel like this is a great way to create friendly competition in our city. I am currently in talks about hosting an event at Publik's West Temple location. We will hopefully be hosting these events in the next month or two, and attempting to make it something that will happen frequently. My goal is to have some local companies sponsor these events and even go all the way as creating posters for the specific events that would be created by local artists. I would like to not only host latte art throw-downs, but also competitions where we will compete to see who brews the best cup of coffee with an Aeropress, V60, Chemex or other methods that are used in specialty coffee. I would love these events to be open to the public as well, so that we may show anyone who is curious how dedicated we are to our craft while having a good time and realizing that we as a community can grow together.
Please let me know if you (barista or not) would be interested in attending these events or have any input at all. It has been a while since I have been able to write on this blog. I have been pretty busy with many things. As of recently, I have had more of a hand in coffee quality control at Publik. I am truly happy, because there is nothing more I enjoy than reading and researching coffee. I have been able to change some of the older recipes for our bulk brewer, that were written by our former director of coffee. I also was able to bring in the Phoenix brewer from Saint Anthony Industries to be our brewer of choice for single origin coffees. Furthermore, I will also be teaching classes in the fall time for anyone who wants to come and learn home brewing 101. It will be set with a simple approach in mind. I want to educate the public on how to brew a solid cup of coffee at home, and why/what equipment is necessary. I also want to go over the basics on how coffees will brew differently, and how to adjust according to flavor.
In other exciting news, I have taken the job as Lead Barista at Overstock's new headquarters in Midvale. The job came as Publik announced that Overstock would be using our coffee for the espresso bar. I will be working directly under the catering company Bon Appetit. The company as a whole impressed me, as they focus on letting chefs create a menu that is seasonal, healthy, and sustainable. The company itself only had purchased a 3 group La Marzocco GB5 and a La Marzocco Vulcano grinder. After consulting, I decided to suggest a pour-over station. The equipment purchased thereafter was: two Baratza Vario - W grinders (each will be filled with one single-origin coffee) , two Acaia pearl scales, two Acaia lunar scales, and Kalita Wave stations. I am extremely excited about this set up. I appreciate the fact that the company took my suggestions and were able to purchase a set up that no other bars in town have due to the high cost. This will definitely be a cafe that I look forward to working in. It has been very exciting watching the coffee scene in SLC grow and flourish. I have met more people becoming interested in the endless possibilities of something that can seem so simple. More people are interested in the different profiles of brewed coffee and espresso. I know there is much more potential, though. Sometimes it is frustrating to see that there are many shops in town that have just become comfortable with where their efforts to continue the growth and experimentation of coffee. It doesn't make sense to cut corners when the whole point of craft coffee is to offer the best coffees and brew them with the utmost care. One thing I see lacking very much in SLC is the push for education. I have become extremely dedicated to my work, and it is hard to work in an environment that does not support that to the fullest. I think their needs to be much more effort on the side of the company in regards to educating customers as to why we operate the way we do. Coffee seems to be such a simple commodity to most people in the city, especially those who are new to craft coffee. It can be difficult to try and explain to customers why we don't offer 16 ounce lattes, or why we don't steam our milk past 135 degrees. It is even harder when you don't agree with changing the integrity of a drink, but a manager tells you else wise. Of course, business is business and companies need to make money. This makes it tough when a barista wants to educate someone as to why certain drinks are made or served the way that we decide. We need to start to cultivating a demographic that is willing to accept that craft coffee shops are working very hard to maintain high quality standards, and accept the way we would like to set up our menu, even if it is something new to them. Craft coffee does not need to cater to everyone. We need to focus on quality and growth of the coffee scene and keep pushing forward.
That being said, I realize that this may sound like I aim to be a snobby asshole. That is not the case. I think everyone should have a great experience, wether they are new to the craft coffee scene or not. I strongly believe that we should welcome everyone with a professional attitude and with gratitude towards the fact that they have decided to visit our establishment. What I am trying to get at is this: with more education towards the public , we can avoid situations where customers or staff feel a negative energy towards each other. Baristas should not be bothered by customers who may not be up to date as to why we don't make certain drinks a specific way. I feel like we should be creating a platform that encourages customers to try smaller milk drinks so that they can taste the espresso we so hardly work to dial in, or to drink a single origin coffee without anything like sugar or cream added. This is to show them how pure coffee can taste, and how much work goes into that cup. If they so choose that they do not enjoy this drink, then that is quite alright. They may not come back, but that is not a problem, at least we have shown them our way of producing an amazing drink without compromising any quality. Please feel free to comment, I would love to have input from anyone. Cheers. |