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Ill be starting work in a couple weeks at a new coffee house opening up smack dab in the middle of a city, extremely prime location, at least 10,000 people walk past its location in a day, perhaps more.
With that said, you can understand it a commercial scene with two x three group machines (they havent decided as to what brand they will go for yet) and two cimbali magnum grinders.
All equipment is new, everything is brand new. Theyve asked me to come in a couple days before hand to run everything over, move things around and get a natural feel for the new place where Ill be running my grand show.
Im an experienced barista in a sense that I know how to tamp correctly, I know what I should look for when pulling a shot and I should know what I should be tasting in my coffee and not be tasting. Ive been in the coffee scene for three years.
Now for the questions:
Is there anything I should look out for with brand new machines? Are they going to be a little touchy over a certain period or time until theyre broken in?
Do new machines even need a breaking into.. This question also applies to the grinders, there seems to be a very subjective look into breaking in grinders, if it isnt proven to make a different, should I perhaps just run a few kilos of crappy beans through it just to make sure, for good measure?
Ive noticed that in this stores other coffee shop, they order a special blend with no name and no date on the bags that arrive, this had me raise an eyebrow and Ive yet to bring it up with management if this is what I will be working with in the future. Should I bring it up? Something about throwing beans into the grinder without even knowing the roasting date really puts me off, just the thought of it or should I be looking at the taste of the bean through the coffee machine or how the beans look and how the grind feels out of the bag.
I noticed that the man running the management show is alledgely "ranked 7th in the world", can I get some confirmation on how thats checked? I was unaware of a massive ladder broadcasting who is the best from 1 to 10 in the Championships around the world in coffee.
When I went for a trial at their other shop to show them my stuff, with my usual tamping pressure, leveling, etc, I locked it into the la cimbali they have running there and noticed my shot coming out in five seconds flat, blonding within a second. I stood there shocked and almost like "What the @#$ did I just do, did I do something?" and tried three more times with a different approach to check if it was me. It was not me, it had to be the grinder I thought, so I changed the grind bit by bit till I got a nice, dark tailed flow of coffee pouring out of the pf from the machine.
It went slower and I at the very least could get a 20 second+ shot out of it from changing the grind; however, it still went fairly blond before the usual 27 - 30 second benchmark and I reached a point where I did not understand why, could someone perhaps explain if thats normal or not normal? Could it possibly be that their machine was running a little hot and just need to be taken down a degree or half?
After changing the grind from 14 on the la cimbali grinder to 9-10 and pulling through consistently more stable shots, the 7th ranked in the world man came in, locked in a pf with his shot and said to me "why did you change the grind, its to stay on 14" "Its pouring too slow" and then proceeded to taste my shot, which he actually didnt comment on at all.
Did I tread on something I shouldnt have? Im a tad worried, I really didnt want to insult another barista, I dont know his background, but inside of me I just felt something could be better.
Also, with the milk, every other person on the machine stretched/heated the milk to the point it smelled a little sour and even tasted strange. They all used a thermometer and stopped at the apparent 60 degree mark on it and that was that--now I dont use a thermometer myself, I use my hand and personal judgement, and when I pulled my hand away at the usual sense during heating milk, using the thermometer as a guide to see where Im going, it was showing 50-55 degrees, yet the milk tasted fine, was still hot and didnt scold my tongue. Another wtf moment ensued inside of me and I was left standing in a daze, confused by surroundings in this place.
At the end of the day, I left my Barista-trial with a head full of questions that couldnt be answered because the manager was no where to be seen--too busy apparently and I, left questioning my own ability and stance on coffee..
Please, I beg of you all, tell me honestly in your opinion, from the information I have supplied and questions, what the hell just happened.
With that said, you can understand it a commercial scene with two x three group machines (they havent decided as to what brand they will go for yet) and two cimbali magnum grinders.
All equipment is new, everything is brand new. Theyve asked me to come in a couple days before hand to run everything over, move things around and get a natural feel for the new place where Ill be running my grand show.
Im an experienced barista in a sense that I know how to tamp correctly, I know what I should look for when pulling a shot and I should know what I should be tasting in my coffee and not be tasting. Ive been in the coffee scene for three years.
Now for the questions:
Is there anything I should look out for with brand new machines? Are they going to be a little touchy over a certain period or time until theyre broken in?
Do new machines even need a breaking into.. This question also applies to the grinders, there seems to be a very subjective look into breaking in grinders, if it isnt proven to make a different, should I perhaps just run a few kilos of crappy beans through it just to make sure, for good measure?
Ive noticed that in this stores other coffee shop, they order a special blend with no name and no date on the bags that arrive, this had me raise an eyebrow and Ive yet to bring it up with management if this is what I will be working with in the future. Should I bring it up? Something about throwing beans into the grinder without even knowing the roasting date really puts me off, just the thought of it or should I be looking at the taste of the bean through the coffee machine or how the beans look and how the grind feels out of the bag.
I noticed that the man running the management show is alledgely "ranked 7th in the world", can I get some confirmation on how thats checked? I was unaware of a massive ladder broadcasting who is the best from 1 to 10 in the Championships around the world in coffee.
When I went for a trial at their other shop to show them my stuff, with my usual tamping pressure, leveling, etc, I locked it into the la cimbali they have running there and noticed my shot coming out in five seconds flat, blonding within a second. I stood there shocked and almost like "What the @#$ did I just do, did I do something?" and tried three more times with a different approach to check if it was me. It was not me, it had to be the grinder I thought, so I changed the grind bit by bit till I got a nice, dark tailed flow of coffee pouring out of the pf from the machine.
It went slower and I at the very least could get a 20 second+ shot out of it from changing the grind; however, it still went fairly blond before the usual 27 - 30 second benchmark and I reached a point where I did not understand why, could someone perhaps explain if thats normal or not normal? Could it possibly be that their machine was running a little hot and just need to be taken down a degree or half?
After changing the grind from 14 on the la cimbali grinder to 9-10 and pulling through consistently more stable shots, the 7th ranked in the world man came in, locked in a pf with his shot and said to me "why did you change the grind, its to stay on 14" "Its pouring too slow" and then proceeded to taste my shot, which he actually didnt comment on at all.
Did I tread on something I shouldnt have? Im a tad worried, I really didnt want to insult another barista, I dont know his background, but inside of me I just felt something could be better.
Also, with the milk, every other person on the machine stretched/heated the milk to the point it smelled a little sour and even tasted strange. They all used a thermometer and stopped at the apparent 60 degree mark on it and that was that--now I dont use a thermometer myself, I use my hand and personal judgement, and when I pulled my hand away at the usual sense during heating milk, using the thermometer as a guide to see where Im going, it was showing 50-55 degrees, yet the milk tasted fine, was still hot and didnt scold my tongue. Another wtf moment ensued inside of me and I was left standing in a daze, confused by surroundings in this place.
At the end of the day, I left my Barista-trial with a head full of questions that couldnt be answered because the manager was no where to be seen--too busy apparently and I, left questioning my own ability and stance on coffee..
Please, I beg of you all, tell me honestly in your opinion, from the information I have supplied and questions, what the hell just happened.
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