On Friday, September 5, there is a Barista Jam to be held at Kawa Espresso Bar located at 1331 – 8 St SW. All Pro Barista and the home enthusiasts alike are welcome. There is a $5.00 cover for entry with all proceeds generated from the entry, competition and silent auction going to support Coffee Kids. This is a great cause and this is sure to be a great event. For more information on how you can become involved, you can contact Elyse at ebouvier@gmail.com. Otherwise we’ll see you there. For those who’ve never participated in a Jam with the inevitable Throw-down, it’sa ton of fun and an excellent opportunity to meet other coffee enthusiasts, and industry professionals alike. Plus Elyse has arranged for a couple of great DJ’s.
For more info on Coffee Kids, you can visit their website at www.coffeekids .org.
This weekend Fratello is hosting the Canadian Prairie Regional Barista Competition – and we’ll be streaming all the action LIVE on www.ustream.tvHere’s the URL:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prairie-regional-barista-competitionSo, if your in Calgary – you should come to Fratello and hang out (open to the public)…and if you can’t watch it in person then make sure you check in to see who the next rock stars will be!
The Canadian Barista & Coffee Academy will be offering two days of barista training at Fratello this May 26th and 27th – following the Barista Competition.
This special training academy for barista (espresso machine operators) and those interested in learning more about coffee and espresso presents its 2008 Educational Program. The hands-on training workshops are lead by Canadian and international expert trainers and professional baristas. They are for those new to the industry or those who want to perfect their coffee skills and include: Basic Training, Advanced Training and Expert Barisa workshops.
I pulled this on our 3gp Slayer with a PID setting of 200 F. This shot took about 20 seconds to pull on a double basket in our naked portafilter. After working with John (and of course the inevitable good natured competition that occurs at Fratello) for the last few months on the variations of Latte art, I had a local Barista in who showed me how he was working on a swan. I decided to learn this new technique to raise the anti on our internal competition.
I finally gave this a try on Friday afternoon and succeeded to beat John, making me the new Barrista Champ at Fratello. This was my first attempt of the day, and it came through pretty good.
Its exciting to be able to bring this kind of presentation to the cafe’s I work with, training their baristas in advanced beverage preparation techniques. These kinds of images are in truth nothing more than evidence of the components of a drink being done correctly. From having an espresso shot that has nice tight crema, to poperly textured milk creating very stable and sweet micro-bubbles.
The best part is it takes no longer to prepare this drink than a tradition drink, and it also TASTES BETTER!
Below are more picture of our internal latte art competition.
My brothers and I spent a day last week touring 14 of some of the best cafes in Seattle! We had a lot of great coffee and gained new insights as to where coffee culture is going.
Our hope is to influence the coffee scene in our home town of Calgary with some of what we are learning. We are committed to doing our part to raise the bar in Alberta.
What does it take to be a “3rd Wave” cafe? Read this post and find out what some of thebest in Seattle are doing.
On December 6th, a group from Fratello Coffee and Slayer Espresso met in Seattle for 1 day. In this 10 hour day we visited, reviewed and tasted a lot of amazing products. When originally planning this trip to we had 2 goals. The main purpose of this trip was to visit the Slayer Espresso’s studio to witness their break through in brewing technology and to experience their ability to develop new characteristics in its espresso brewing techniques. It is too new for me to talk about this, so I won’t……
Our second purpose was to educate ourselves with a few of the great Seattle “3rd Wave café’s” and to bring this knowledge back to Calgary to help our café’s in elevating their skills in offering excellence to their customers. With the knowledge of new competition coming to our back yard we felt that this was the best way to help prepare our clients for what the new standard of running a café will be, and what it will take to compete on these new levels. We know that many people don’t have the time to fly to Seattle/Vancouver them selves, so we decided to bring Seattle to them. My next plan is to do the same thing for Vancouver.
14 cafes were chosen, all different and all excellent in what they are doing. This tour consisted of Chris and Jason Prefontaine, Eric Perkunder, Trent Breitkreutzt and my self. I decided to document this trip, but please keep in mind that I am not a journalist, I am a professional coffee cupper and roaster, who simply loves coffee. The views below are my opinion only!!
Below are some notes and observations I made while visiting these great cafes. I hope that this will be helpful in setting a new direction for those cafes that are looking to improve with what they are currently doing everyday.
Caffe Beano has spent a lot of time with us at our facilities over the last few weeks. Some in this group have been back 4 or more times to practice proper coffee-distribution, tamping & pulling shots w/ naked filters, plus getting used to heating and texturizing milk on the Slayer espresso machine. Their’s will be the first Slayer to hit Calgary, and owners Janice & Margie want to be sure that the espresso machine isn’t the only upgrade – which is why these staff have invested so much time with Jason & I to upgrade their skills.
This weekend Fratello is hosting the Canadian Prairie Regional Barista Competition – and we’ll be streaming all the action LIVE on www.ustream.tvHere’s the URL:
Prior to the Barista Competition will be a Barista Jam, held at Cappuccino King.
The Canadian Barista & Coffee Academy will be offering two days of barista training at Fratello this May 26th and 27th – following the Barista Competition.
