CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

[julsajet]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Ok. Was very fun to watch.

I believe the finalists were Thundergod? and Ben (Benandfaith).

and the winner was ...




Ben!


He managed to do some lovely latte art... of Andy! A little flattery of the judge never goes astray.

Very cool.

[Dennis]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Thanks to Ofra and Renzo of Di Bartolis, Michelle for organising it, Aaron for MCing it, and Andy for tasting it!

I think everyone had fun, though I was a bit surprised to find that Andy was taking the judging seriously (lol). Poured Andy one of my very special lumpy spuds and for some reason, he didnt look all that impressed.

Nonetheless, Andy is a gentleman, and though having smelled the coffee first, he still drank some. His beard conceals a lot of facial expressions Im sure.

We all received some nice prizes that I think made the trip up from Melbourne with Andy...thankyou!

Believe it or not, I only had one coffee while I was at the festival, and I made it...the queues were unbelievable!

[julsajet]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

I managed to get 3. Man were those lines long.

[sheepie]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Well done all - I wasnt able to stick around for too long, and there was just too much going on for me to have a chance to say hello to anyone.  I did get a few pics though, of the start of the challenge, which can be found here if youre interested:  http://sheepie.smugmug.com/gallery/3189291/19/175629371#175644879

Heres a couple that caught my eye (not sure of the rules regarding pic posts, so Ive kept these small, and Mods please remove if its not the done thing )

 


And finally, nothing like a little pressure!

[lyds]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

...most people get them with a bean order.


and finding me isnt very hard.  I look like the bloke in my avatar with a few more "silver tips" created by 3 years of late night website activity.

Andy,

I thought you looked younger than the bloke in the avatar.

It was nice meeting you and some of the other CSers.

cheers,

Stuart

[Dennis]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Hey Sheepie - I love the photo of the newstand!

[Dennis]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Ok, I feel much better now. Have had a shower, made myself a nice latte, and used my new vietnamese coffee maker (didnt use the robusta, condensed milk or ice).

It make a very nice cuppa! Thanks again Andy - I hope you know what a nice bloke you are!

[Thundergod]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Congratulations to Ben.
I didnt see the etch of Andy but Im sure I couldnt have topped that no matter what Id tried.

Im proud to have come second in such an imposing field.

Im game to try the robusta in the Vietnamese coffee maker. Thanks Andy.
Ive been after one for a while but my Vietnamese friend hadnt come through yet, so I really am thrilled to now own one.

It was a long and tiring day.
I spent 10 hours on my feet extolling the virstues of the Expobar Minore and Di Bartoli in general.
Both easy tasks as I own an Expobar Leva and Renzo and Ofra are great.

I met Scott Callaghan, Hazel dropped by to say hello and I also met a lot of CSers who until now have been only avatars and words on a screen.

Next time we meet it will have to be in less hectic surroundings.


P.S. That is a nice looking news stand.

[benandfaith]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Thanks Thundergod! It was great fun, though the stress of it all sure was intense... Im sorry that last round didnt really work out for you as you had hoped - didnt really get to hear from you what happened?

Thanks to Ofra and Renzo of Di Bartolis, Michelle for organising it, Aaron for MCing it, and Andy for tasting it!

I also want to echo Dennis thanks. In particular, Id like to add extra thanks to Renzo for his encouragement to participate! But not only that, I felt that what Renzo and Ofra did was actual quite a sacrifice, not merely in the providing of the prizes, but also in giving up what would have been an extra 1hour+ of business, as they turned away customers during the duration of the competition. Thanks to you both for letting us CSers have a go and have a ball!

[nunu]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Seems everyone who pulled shots from the MinoreII did well. Seems those of us in front were subject to the VBM curse.

Im glad everyone had a great time, and congrats to Ben. I didnt get to see the final, as I was probably on the train home, or at least waiting at a station somewhere (gotta love Cityrail on weekends).

Thanks to Ofra and Renzo for allowing us to make Andy coffee in front of a bunch of people. It was definitely good fun.

Maybe we can have wannabe barista jams at future CS gatherings.

[Andy]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

WOW

My thoughts exactly, Robusto! Ive been wondering where they all are! Youd think theyd be home by now! LOL!  
::taps foot impatiently!::

Yep, I’m home now!

WOW, what a busy day.  The DiBartoli / CoffeeSnob event was a blast, it was fun putting names and faces to avatars and great having a chat with a pile of NSW CS’rs.

The competition was even better than I expected and I was very surprised at the level of passion and concentration to pull the perfect shot and pour the perfect latte on unfamiliar hardware, everyone did the CoffeeSnob community proud with their public (under lots of  pressure) performances.

[hr]

Judging

My judging criteria was intentionally fairly simple so that I could judge two people at once and everyone could have a fair chance of winning.

5 points awarded in 3 categories with an additional 2 bonus points that could be won or lost.

Category 1
Attention to detail.  Grind, dose, tamp, machine cleaning, wand wiping, wand purging and general tidiness around the machine.

Category 2
The Espresso.  A well reasonably timed shot (I counted in my head, 5 second pre-extraction, 25 +/- 5  second shot) that measured 30 odd ml with had good colour and crema.

Category 3
The Latte.  Milk technique (and noise), milk texture, temperature and taste.

+2 Bonus points for latte art.
-2 points for running out of time.

[hr]

The equipment:

Setup 1
Vibiemme and Mazzer (doser)

Setup 2
Expobar Minore II and Iberital Challenge (doserless)

[hr]

Variables to allow for.

It became apparent pretty quickly that the shots from the two machines and grinders were very, very different.  The Expobar had be dialed down to an indicated 88c and produced great shots there.  The Vibiemme seemed to be running a little too hot and that really effected the shot timings (early blonding) and taste.

The Ibertial doserless was a messy little bugger.  It did a great job of grinding, pulled great shots but it really needed a bigger tray under it.  It wasn’t fair to penalize or compare a doser and doserless grinder for mess so the house-keep component of Category 1 was more about the rest of the machine.

[Andy]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

[hr]

RESULTS
And notes.

Heat 1 Dennis & Viviane

Setup 1 – Dennis.
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 5 points
Category 3 – 5 points
Bonus -2
Total 13

Great work on the doser, clean and meticulous leveling and tamping. Tossed plenty of shots into the tray before getting one that he was happy to be judged (and it was great). Milk texture and temp were great. The latte art “lumpy spud” raised a smile and a chuckle but scored no extra points. The run well over time attracted a minus 2

Setup 2 – Viviane
Category 1 – 4 points.
Category 2 – 5 points
Category 3 – 4 points
Bonus
Total 13

The dose in the group was a little short and I suspect it was the “fluffiness” of the grind coming out of the doserless that threw her off. This caused the top of the puck to sit a little too low in the basket and gave grief during the shots. The espresso was nearly too short but the pour was very good and it tasted great. The latte was a little too hot, not burn your mouth hot but hot enough to not want to hold the glass too long and that cost a point. The milk texture was excellent though.

[Andy]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Heat 2 – Battle of the Jasons.

Setup 1 - Jason
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 5 points
Category 3 – 4 points
Bonus -1
Total 13

Great work around the grinder with some initial coaching from Nunu the dose was spot-on and tamp good. The espresso was great with a good pour, good crema and the right volume. The initial latte was great but not handed to the judge, instead an attempt at a better one was made and due to the time keeper counting down, Jason had to squeal the milk to get it finished and sadly late. This would have been a final appearance without that last minute change of mind. Nice work.

Setup 2 - JasonD
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 5 points
Category 3 – 5 points
Bonus
Total 15

Not too much to say here. Great dose and tamp, perfect looking pucks, espresso pour was spot-on and tasted great and the latte was a doubleshot (no bonus for that but it does taste better!) with great texture and sweet milk. I tried hard to deduct something but it wasn’t there, it was good solid performance under pressure and some art on-top would have netted a perfect score.

[Andy]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Heat 3 – NakedBean and Thundergod (both wearing DiBartoli shirts!).

Setup 1 – NakedBean
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 4 points
Category 3 – 4 points
Bonus
Total 13

Nice work around the grinder after Bruce dialed it in. A couple of the test shots were with a crooked tamp (under the circlip on one side, over it on the other) but the actual shots for the espresso and latte were tamped well and pulled well. The espresso was a good volume but a little shorter than the 30ml target and the latte ran a little short on milk. It was only these areas that lost points else this was also a finals appearance performance.


Setup 2 - Thundergod
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 4 points
Category 3 – 4 points
Bonus +2 -1
Total 14

Great work around the grinder, dose was correct and the use of a credit card sized plastic gift voucher from his wallet made a good dose leveler. Tamp work was square and well weighted. The espresso lost a point for being a little too short in the glass but the quality was spot-on. The latte lost a point for being a little short in the glass too but the toothpick etched “seagulls” scored the first 2 bonus points and looked very good. The other -1 was for running over time.

[Andy]

Re: CS Shoot-out @ Aroma

Heat 4 – Nunu - Ben

Setup 1 - Nunu
Category 1 – 4 points.
Category 2 – 5 points
Category 3 – 4 points
Bonus
Total 13

Excellent work around the grinder, good machine purging and quite a few test shots to get the grinder dialed-in right. Sadly the “money shot” was a little too shallow (under the circlip) and that lost a point. The espresso was a perfect volume and pour and was one of the best tasting (although not a scoring criteria). The latte milk texture was closer to old-style cappuccino so that lost a point but the temperature was spot-on. I later found-out that Nunu doesn’t “do milk” at home so it was a very noble effort.

Setup 2 - Ben
Category 1 – 5 points.
Category 2 – 4 points
Category 3 – 5 points
Bonus
Total 14

Around the grinder I think Ben was the standout. Good dose, perfect tamp, nice clean around the top of the basket and even an invert to make sure the puck stayed there. The espresso shot was well timed but was a little short in volume so it lost a point. The Latte had great texture scored full marks.