Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2008

[Ben_S]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Was good to see coffee in the spotlight and coffeesnobs was a hive of activity. Tobys estate - had a great coffee, but was not hot enough. The clover machine at St Alis was really interesting. A completely different taste. The cup changed characteristics as the coffee cooled. I think I am going to have to start trying plunger coffee.

Ben

[Dennis]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Good on you Snobs! Looks and sounds like youve had a fantastic day...are you tired or wired?

Like the polo-shirts too!

Maybe next time you could have a webcam running Andy?

[E-Gene]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Was good to see coffee in the spotlight and coffeesnobs was a hive of activity. Tobys estate - had a great coffee, but was not hot enough. The clover machine at St Alis was really interesting. A completely different taste. The cup changed characteristics as the coffee cooled. I think I am going to have to start trying plunger coffee.

Ben

Yup, I agree that the St Alis Clover coffee was really interesting but Im just not sure if I really want coffee in Melbourne to head in that direction. Im happpy for it to be added to the current trend but I hope that it never overtakes it.

[martybean]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Just got back from the celebrate the bean festival.Didnt do any good in the home barista comp, found the machine controls very touchy and would have liked more time to have a play.
Having said that the beans we used seemed fresh as I tried my first espresso shot and it was ok.But I just couldnt get the milk right.

[LindaD]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Just go home myself!

Just a quick recount of today:

First I would like to thank Andy, Paula and SG for what was an absolutely awesome day! and it was with the best of company. I am so glad to be a Coffeesnob.
To seeing all the other CSs that came and said hi! and Reuben showing us his fantastic Corretto setup, and watching people go "Ohh and ahh" over it! The popcorn poppers were a hit, I think alot of people will start their coffee journeys with these.
Andys Coffee WOW went out the door! (I think I sort of helped selling it a bit too....I will admit that....I love selling a product that is excellent!!) ;D

To the people who came to us and asked questions, I hope that when you do have a go at it, you will see why we are so passionate about it And that you find this site helps you on your quest for excellent coffee!


-Linda

[Bruce]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

WoW. What a day. I couldnt believe the amount of people interested in roasting...

[fatboy_1999]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Also had a great day. The CS stand was very popular. Id love to see how many new members we get over the next week or so (hint - Javaphile!!) due to the interest generated.

They were 3 deep when I went back after the barista comp.

Like martybean, I also did no good in the comp.
I tried to remove the panerello at the start and the whole damn wand came off. That basically spooked me and I thought Id better try and muddle through with it on (after tech judge re-attached the assembly).

BIG mistake. My shots werent too bad, but the milk was atrocious with the froth enhancer doing its job of making a bubble bath in a jug.

Thought the format was a little haphazard. The grinders supplied ended up being MDFs which was a better choice. We were told we HAD to do the drinks in a specific order and the tech judge questioned me when I wanted to dump shots and go again. I said I was nowhere near the 15 minute mark, but it really seemed like they were making the process up on the spot.

Regardless, I didnt produce anything close to acceptable milk drinks as far as I was concerned, so was never in the hunt.

I did enjoy it, even though it was nerve wracking. Id do it again if they held another one, but Id rather NOT be contestant number 1 kicking things off.

A lot of people there, so hopefully it is a goer for future years and the organisers will keep it affordable for the vendors.

Congrats to all who helped out on the CS stand. It looked like good fun (and a bit of work)!

Brett.

[lochness]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

I was there (at CtB) for most of the day (10.15am till 4pm) as a "shy CS lurker" just wandering around doing my own thing. I went to a couple of the sessions upstairs. The one about coffee trading run by the ARC and the one about growing, harvesting and processing run by Jill from WA. Both were very good but I personally could have easily sat through half day session on each topic.

I watched Brett do his thing as the first contestant at the Home Barista comp. I got some pics and video too which I will edit together and put up on YouTube at some stage this week when I finish another project. I agree with the observation that the contest and its rules seemed to be a fluid work-in-progress as the comp progressed.

Also got some pics of the CS stand and the CSrs manning the booth. Its been a long while since Ive been to a CS meetup so I didnt recognise anyone apart from Andy.
There was considerable interest from the public though all day. And I have to say that the CS folks running the roasters were doing a FANTASTIC job of explaining how it all works and encouraging people to give it a go. The whole CS setup was (IMO) very well put together and run on the day. I would be surprised if there was not at least 50-100 new active members join CS that were at the CtB Festival today.

I got a couple of good ideas for improving my Coretto Roaster by integrating the heat-gun onto the main BM assembly. I enjoyed seeing first hand The Clover machine at the St Ali booth. Didnt think much of the SO they were running thru it, but Im a big fan of the machine and the concept. They said as far as they knew they had all 3 machines that are currently in Aust.

It was a hot day, but there was enough shade to make it bearable. All in all, a great day out. I drank a lot of coffee, some good, some GREAT, and some just OK. Ive gotta get me one of those CS polo shirts though. Very snazzy indeed.

Will post back with links to my pics and videos in the next couple-a-days.

Well Done to the CS Crew...

[greenman]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Wow, it sounds like I missed a great day, I was there in spirit and have been reading the posts about the events during the day. Events like this can only advance the pursuit of drinking quality coffee and educating the masses about the joys of great espresso.
Well done Andy and the CS crew from West Oz CSers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look forward to seeing pics of the day.

[Steve_Santoro]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

What a fantastic day!!

Congrats to Andy and the CoffeeSnobs team for an excellent display, thankyou Andy for the polo and it was great fun being behind the counter for a while explaining the Corretto to a number of very curious potential home roasters.

I managed to get one decent shot of the first round of the Home Barista Comp. Is that martybean in the foreground and fatboy in the background? That was some excellent work under pressure guys!!!

[martybean]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Not me I was in the second heat of the first session,the other bold guy

[sdg]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Brilliant day! -- the CS stand definitely the best there, especially if youre dying to try roasting your own! Heaps of friendly snobs -- finally inspired this lurker to get round to signing up Got some fresh-roasted beans to play with, green ones to torture with the other halfs heat gun -- now "all" I need is a decent grinder (Miss Silvias not real impressed with my faithful old Russell-Hobbs) and Ill be set...

[shawn_low]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

Was good to see coffee in the spotlight and coffeesnobs was a hive of activity. Tobys estate - had a great coffee, but was not hot enough. The clover machine at St Alis was really interesting. A completely different taste. The cup changed characteristics as the coffee cooled. I think I am going to have to start trying plunger coffee.

Ben

Plunger coffee with freshly ground coffee is a revelation. You get different subtleties and flavours from the coffee. Also, its harder to screw up plunger coffee. You dont have to worry about tamp, dosing and grind so much.

Besides, all the top roasting houses conduct cupping sessions which is sessiong steeping coffee beans in hot water before breaking the crust to slurp the brew. Its an unadulterated way for having coffee.

James Hoffman (current WBC champ) predicts that 2008 is the year of the clover...Im guessing it will in places such as the US where brewed coffee is popular.

[Andy]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March


What an awesome day with so many awesome people (on both sides of our table).

We were lucky that one of our neighbours didnt front-up so we we were pretty quick to claim their stand too which was just as well, we really needed the space to run so many roasters at once.

I even packed a fire extinguisher and we didnt need to use it!

Im a little lost for words, partly due to talking all day, both on the stand and in the 2 roasting discussions I ran and partly because Im so proud to be a CoffeeSnob! I swear between all the passionate CSrs today we must have taught 100s of people something about coffee they didnt know previously and long term that has to help raise the coffee-bar all over the city.

I had to roast some orders after the event so Ive just got home now but I really wanted to jump on and say THANKS to all that helped, all that visited and all that came to see what the noise and smell was about.

A great day had by all and I look forward to our next play event, wherever it is.

(gnight)

Andy.

[Andy]

Re: Celebrate the Bean - Melbourne 2nd March

PS: the winner of the iRoast2 today was the new user SDG!

I have sent em an email and await a reply, if we dont hear back in 24 hours then Ill redraw it.

Thanks to Les for giving us the iRoast2 to give away on the stand today.  If you were one of the 100s and 100s of pepole that really wanted to win it but missed out then you might consider buying one from Les anyway.  

www.coffeeroasters.com.au  


Congrats SDG!