I hit the ground running when I got back from California, haven't had time to update, but I need to get this down. Camp was fantastic, jam-packed, barely slept the whole time, my brain is still trying to digest everything I learned. Baristas, listen up, I'm serious here: if you're thinking about coffee as a profession, even a little bit, save up your tip money, get to this thing next year.
Barista camp was created with the idea that one could knock out a lot of education, and one or two certifications, in one fell swoop. Since a big selection of SCAA/Barista Guild/Roaster Guild classes are only guaranteed once a year at the SCAA event, and since they're pretty pricey to take piecemeal, this is a pretty good deal.
Now, first off, what are the BGA certifications worth? At the moment, I'm not really sure, outside of bragging rights—which is not insignificant for someone in my position: since I'm handling more and more of my company's training, for our staff and for outside accounts, it's nice to have my abilities verified by a third party. What I'm hoping is that the certifications will start to affect the way that the coffee profession works at the barista level. Right now, when I interview someone and they say “I'm a barista,” that doesn't mean much to me unless they've worked for the handful of companies I know take training super-seriously. However, if someone can prove to me that they're a level 1 BGA certified barista, then I know that: they've spent some money, and a fair amount of time. That they take this seriously. And that they meet certain basic requirements for the job. I'll still probably run through training with them, but it could save me a serious amount of labor dollars to bring in a serious barista—plus, I just know they'll be more invested in doing a good job, be less likely to do something flagrantly bad, etc.
I suspect, and I hope this isn't imputing too much purpose, that the BGA & SCAA have some wily long-term plans for the certifications, industry-changing things, but they need to build a good base of certified instructors and a big pool of certified baristas first.
I'll come back to the certifications later. The classes were the main thing. The first day, we had the chance to take the Level 1 Exam, after which we were split into two tracks. I've already taken most of the level 1 classes in different incarnations, so I was really happy to pass the level 1 test and move into the second tier of classes.
Classes, classes, classes. I filled notebooks like crazy, for a few different areas. Something I've come to realize more and more is how woefully ignorant I am regarding everything coffee goes through before it gets to my grubby barista paws. These classes didn't exactly abolish that ignorance so much as make me painfully aware of its extent, but as a philosopher that's pretty much all I ask of an educational system anyway, so, I'm happy. Jamin Haddox from Cafe Imports gave a long talk on issues affecting coffee quality before roasting—growing, processing, shipping. Tip-of-the-iceberg kind of stuff, as he kept reminding us.
It was really eye-opening to have so many perspectives on the larger coffee industry that I don't typically hear about. In addition to Jamin's talk, Peter Giuliano, Sarah Kluth, and Aida Batlle kept throwing info around. The background buzz to the camp was how much we just don't know, scientifically, about coffee, and Peter kept bringing up the GCQRI, which just started this week (check out James Hoffman's blog for a play-by-play, btw).
The hands-on classes were the most immediately relevant, of course. I went into the class on espresso extraction not sure what I would get out of it—and came out pretty much yelling and overturning tables, so excited about basic things I can do to improve espresso preparation at my shop. I've spent the last 4 days since I've been back with gram scales and timers, zeroing in on spro. There are some equipment and blend issues I want to tackle as well, but being able to make such a huge difference in basic manual techniques is more exciting for me than I can readily explain.
The class on milk steaming and latte art was pretty cool. I still can't pour a good tulip, but I know what areas to work on. (I can't get my head around the “heart” concept. Laugh it up, everyone who has accused me of being a robot.) The manual brewing class needed way more time and instructors; what I mostly got out of it was a few coffee professionals showcasing their favorite brewing methods and a few tips for each, including Sarah Kluth on the Chemex & Jason Dominy on the Clever. Vince Fedele's presentation on brewing and the Extract Mojo program mainly convinced me that I really need a refractometer.
One of the biggest perks for me at this shindig was the ability to play around on a lot of equipment. I'm usually restricted to my Lineas & Super-Jollies (and one sweet Compak). This was the first time I've ever spent any serious time on the Nuovo Simonelli Aurelia, and I was pretty impressed with it. Gotta restrict my anti-heat-exchange comments in the future, at least as it regards this machine.
I also think that, yes, timed doserless grinders are the way of the future. Consistently accurate dosing is awesome, and a grinder that does it well leaves the barista that much more able to focus on other skills. The Mahlkonig's I found a little messy but basically cool, and I really liked the Nuovo Simonelli Mythos, it seems really well-designed. Well, I really like the ease of dose adjustment, and the angled burrs tells me someone in their company is actually paying attention to barista concerns. I'm a little weirded out by how they hide the grind adjustment, but I've also noticed that you “need” to adjust a lot less frequently when the dose is more consistent, which makes so much sense that I'm almost embarrased to mention it.
In addition to sweet equipment, we had some awesome coffees to work with, from Verve, Topeca, Cuvee, Counter Culture, Batdorf & Bronson, I'm sure I'm missing some. But, really, it was the people that made this trip amazing.
4 years ago I was your typical arts & humanities grad, not sure what I was doing, hating how much I liked the Garden State soundtrack, know what I mean? To have found a passion for something that actually has job opportunities, and then to meet this whole community of people who are passionate about the same thing—it's immensely affirming. It's really nice to run into people from around the country who I've met at industry events months or years ago, touch base, see what we've learned, what we're focused on right now. I think that's particularly important to us as baristas, since we don't work in a field that automatically comes with a lot of respect or remuneration.
Plus, the geek in me was squealing at all the coffee celebrities hanging around, too many to list. Nick Cho administered my level 2 exam, which was nerve-wracking beyond belief, but also all the more satisfying when I passed. Heather Perry was in my group for the team competitions (Team Heather Perry, really not sure how we only got second place, come on now).
I was turned off by the idea of team events (school reflexes: “group work” always meant I did all the work.) But, by the end of camp, I gotta say, the team plan was inspired, and I hope they incorporate it even more into future Camps—it gave a nice structure to the week, and helped people with mild social retardation, such as myself, to get the ball rolling on meeting people and networking earlier than we would have otherwise.
This event could easily have gone for two or three weeks. Our days were jam-packed, we were up and running with the sun, I never went to sleep before midnight, and every bit of “free” time between sessions was hardly less intense: we were all running on this crazy passionate high, realizing how little time we had, and how extraordinary the level of passion and knowledge around us was. In the future, I hope Camp can run longer, or use a lot more buildings and instructors to break the classes up into smaller chunks.
If you follow coffee news at all, you've probably heard a few of the more notorious highlights: Peter on accordion, Papa Simonelli doing a kegstand, Sammy Piccolo (dot com) whipping out some disco-barista moves. I think my personal highlight was the way everyone freaked out when Aida Batlle got her barista certification: emblematic, to me, of the way that us coffee-folk are trying to get the scene more holistic. I've landed in one particular subset of the coffee world, primarily concerned with preparing and serving it, but to see a coffee farmer getting certified and then more than a hundred baristas (and importers, roasters, tech guys, etc) whooping and hollering about it—really epitomized, for me, just how connected we are, how vital the whole seed-to-cup idea is.
On a more personal level, the biggest thing I'll remember from camp is trying to shake out the adrenaline overdose after my level 2 exam. I'm pretty sure I nailed the written (go-go eidetic memory), but the practical part of it was really intense. I've been thinking a lot about whether I want to compete this spring, and it was pretty enlightening to have to perform with a high level of precision and cleanliness, under close professional scrutiny.
Camp was not vacation, but it's the biggest, most energizing and enlightening thing to happen to me this year. I'm back in Buffalo, convinced we can fix our espresso with some equipment stuff, some blend stuff, and a lot of technique improvements. I'm more convinced than ever that we can and need to get brew-to-order systems in place in Buffalo, for a host of reasons. My head is swimming with long-term concerns and hopes for the world coffee scene and specifically the future of the barista profession. Above and beyond all this, I met fantastic people (and drank fantastic coffee) that remind me why I'm so crazy about this field in the first place. Insert Kerouac quote here.
Thanks to everybody who made this happen, instructors, organizers, sponsors, there were a ton of them, a lot of whom apparently don't need to eat or sleep. Marcus Boni & Scott Lucey in particular, many thanks. I think Marcus might actually be Batman or something.
Still gotta write up my Los Angeles coffee experience real quick, and then hopefully fill you in on some Buffalo developments.
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Jacob, you were a class-act throughout, and you totally kicked-butt on your BGA level 2 practical! I'm glad to have met you, glad to know you, and hope that I can visit in Buffalo sometime, now knowing there's a badass barista there!
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