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.

Please refer to the schedule below for details and click here to register.

Location: Fratello Coffee

4021 9th St. SE Calgary, Alberta

403-265-2112

Monday, May 26, 2008

9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Barista Level I: Beginner Barista Workshop

2 p.m. - 6 p.m. Barista level II: Advanced Barista Workshop

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Level III: Expert Barista & Latte Art Workshop

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Opening a Successful Coffee Business Seminar

2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Coffee Cupping Workshop

What does it take to be a “3rd Wave” cafe?  Read this post and find out what some of the best 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 “3^rd 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.  

(Read the rest of this post)

I have been doing some research and have found that there is not a lot of information available for coffee consumers who are interested in learning the skill of tasting coffee properly, or cupping as its called in the coffee industry.  Cupping is a daily task which most roasters and green coffee buyers do on a regular basis.  This is a SKILL, and a skill that you can learn how to do over time.  You must teach your pallet how to do this properly, and through following some of these steps we have out lined, you can begin to learn.

Coffee lovers will agree that coffees by the same name are not all alike.  Coffee “cupping”, or comparing coffees is not only a lot of fun for the consumer, but also imperative to coffee shop owners who are committed to offering their customers the best coffee.

Good coffee is worth discovering:

Ground rules for coffee cupping:

The real art of cupping comes with the descriptive terms used when explaining the different geographical regions being tasted.    (Read the rest of this post)

In August - Chris and Russ were in Brazil visiting the Sete Cachoeiras coffee estate. While there, they took some great photos of their tours and Russ decided to describe everything that he saw and learned - and we turned it into a Coffee Knowledge slide show. Click the picture below to launch slide show or click the Link. 

We recently had a representative from Numi come to Calgary to give us some more training on their great products. I noticed a DVD with a video on flowering tea - so I ripped a copy and put it up for you all to enjoy! 

Russ & I had the pleasure of taking some of our staff down to Brazil last month on an educational buying trip. We met farmers committed to more then just quality coffee, but also who were committed to making a difference in the environment and to the lives of people who worked for them on their farms.

We look forward to bringing to Calgary some of these special coffees and the stories of the families who put so much heart into producing them. I want to give a special thanks to Schieder and the good people of Tristao Trading for hosting our Fratello family while in Brazil. It was a fantastic trip!

I used to be the best in the building, but very quickly John & Joel are pulling away from me!! I had better start practicing! Good job guys.

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.

The provocatively named “naked portafilter” is also appropriately named, because it reveals so much about your espresso shot . To those who are unfamiliar with this device, it is essentially a standard portafilter that has had its bottom cut away to reveal the portafilter basket.   As a result, the espresso extraction is not routed through or concealed by a pour spout. Instead, the pour can be viewed in all its dynamics and richness, as it develops, presses through and pulls away from the basket’s micro-screen.Recently, Jason Prefontaine and myself have been brewing & watching shots using a naked portafilter we jerry-rigged from a standard issue piece.  I think Jason may have made ours using a hacksaw or other tool, although you can buy these pre-cut and nicely finished, at least for LM machines. Anyway, this rough little device is a total arbiter of truth. It reveals for example how evenly we have tamped. If the tamp is uneven, even fractionally, you can see it. The coffee pour will tend to start and concentrate on one side of the basket, before spreading out. Brewing with a naked portafilter also reveals other truths like how hard the tamp was, when the extraction is TRULY complete, and if you are over-extracting from any point inside the basket. (Read the rest of this post)

I have been cupping a lot of really good and unique coffees lately as we are looking to expand our offerings to our clients. The most recent arrivals are the top 34 farms from Nicaragua who entered the Cup of Excellence (COE) competition (you can learn more about this at www.cupofexcellence.org) and we also have the top 18 farms from Guatemala who also entered the COE. I have yet to roast and cup these but will be soon.What I want to know is if you think our market is demanding this type of coffee. These are excellent coffees; however, will our clients and their customers appreciate it and able to market it? I really hope that they will and that they do. I personally think that the Western Canadian market is looking for something different and something special. I just don’t know if the COE’s are what they are looking for. I say this as the geographical regions available is: Colombian, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Brazil. These aren’t exactly NEW Coffees or something that our clients haven’t had before (excluding Bolivia and El Salvador). Do you think that they would purchase these geographical regions for a large premium over what they typically purchase them for? COE are auctioned off to roasters, and go for a LARGE premium. Last year Brazil’s top coffee sold for $13.20 US per lb GREEN.Let me know your thoughts as we are just about to begin our testing.