Taste of Canada at Square Mile

Last night the coffee community of London gathered at the Square Mile Roastery in Bethnal Green to taste four espressos from Canada. The conviviality and caffeine combined to push the colours up a notch as we downed espresso after espresso after espresso. Many thanks to James, Annette and everyone else who made Taste of Canada possible.
All the images can be found via this link.

Gwilym is the World Barista Champion

Gwilym Davies - the current UK Barista Champion - is now the World Barista Champion. A few months ago Gwilym travelled to Atlanta, Georgia to compete with approximately 50 baristas from around the world for the title. Congratulations, Gwilym!
(I am just posting this now because I have been too busy drinking great coffee from this company:)

Gwilym Davies, United Kingdom - 2009 WBC Finals

Gwillym Davies, WBC champion talks a little about his drink preparation

Gwilym Davies 2009 UK Barista Champion

Congratulations to Gwilym Davies who has just been crowned the 2009 UK Barista Champion. I've just thrown this post up for people who want to know more about this great barista. (click here for full post with embedded media.)

Gwilym works outdoor coffee carts at two busy London markets. He uses coffee from East London's Square Mile Roasters.

Gwilym's winning espresso was a 50/50 blend made up of Finca San Jose Pulped Natural Red Catuaí from Erwin Mierisch and family in Nicaragua, and an El Molino de Santa Rita Washed Orange Bourbon from Jose Antonio Salaverria’s farm in El Salvador.

During the the final Gwilym's espresso and signature drink attained the highest scores. The idea behind his signature drink was to enhance flavours that were already in the espresso he was working with. He created an infusion of butter, cinamon, orange peel, muscovado syrup, and dark chocolate that he added to the espresso.

Here is Gwilym's semi-final performance:


Here's Gwilym's championship-winning final performance:

Here are all the videos from the UKBC Finals.

Here is a video of the results and an interview with Gwilym:


Here's a podcast about Gwilym.

(Note: At the time of recording Gwilym was using beans from a different London roastery.)

Click here to download this podcast.

Here are some photos of Gwilym at work on Whitecross Market

Below is a map showing the locations of Gwilym's coffee carts.

View Larger Map

Here's Gwilym on Google Street View:

View Larger Map

Articles about Gwilym in the media:
Gwilym is the odds on favourite to win WBC from Newsdesk.
It's the third wave of coffee in the Guardian on 16 March 2009
Evening Standard 10 March 2009
All hail Gwilym, the coffee king! from the Islington Gazette 18 March 2009
Hospitality Magazine 11 March 2009
CatererSearch 13 MArch 2009

Blog posts about the man:
Square Mile Coffee Blog
Gwilym Davies Barista Eccezionali from Belaphon
Twitchy interview with Gwilym

Makin' biscotti with Gilda

starbarista catches up with Gilda Doganiero of Gilda's Biscotti. She has been dedicated to the art of baking traditional biscotti for the last 13 years since leaving her job as a pastry chef at Philadelphia's Four Seasons Hotel. In this podcast Gilda tells us about the origins of this noble Italian cookie as well as the story of how she started her company. (In the photo to the left Gilda is holding a tray of her lemon fig biscotti.) I would love to hear what you think of this podcast - so please leave your comments below.

Click here to download this podcast.

Caffe del Doge - Venice

A few weeks ago I went to Venice where I visited Caffe del Doge. This place should be on every coffee lovers list of must-visit cafes. On offer were eight single origin espressos as well as their 100% arabica and 50% arabica/50% robusta espressos and a decaffeinated one. You could also try all of these coffees in a French press as well. This is one of the most serious cafes I have been to and this really reflects itself in the variety and quality of the coffee that makes it into the cup. These people are serious about coffee in a way that lifts them to the top of the Italian coffee community. I just wish I had been able to stay longer than two days in order to have enjoyed more of their fine coffees. But don't despair if you don't live in Venice - there are also locations in Cairo, Palo Alto, and Tokyo where you can pop in and enjoy a quick late macchiatto!



Check out the setup above - eight grinders - each dedicated to grind a different single origin espresso. And don't forget to notice the piston-driven lever-style Brasillia espresso machine.

The quote below is printed on the wall above the espresso machines.

"Il caffè è un'accademia platonica...in questa accademia non si insegna niente, ma si imparano la socievolezza e il disincanto. Si può' chiacchierare, raccontare, ma non è possibile predicare, tenere comizi, far lezione". da Microcosmi

“Coffee is a platonic academy…..where no lessons are taught, but where one learns to socialize and to be enchanted. One can chat and gossip but it is forbidden to preach, lecture or instruct.”
-from Claudio Magris' Micronismi

And a view of the exterior on a grim day in late November:




They also give out these cool little trading cards for each of their single origen coffees (click the image to see the card at a larger, readable size):

The World of the Paris Cafe

In this episode we go beyond coffee to explore a bit of the history of the venue in which this drink is served: the cafe. Starbarista recently caught up with author Scott Haine, an expert on Parisian cafe society. We spoke about the prominent role cafes and their owners played in the lives of 19th century workers, and how coffee was often more about alcohol than caffeine. We also touched on the cafe's place in Nazi-occupied Paris during the Second World War. This podcast is a bit longer than the previous ones (17 mins), so you might want to download it onto your iPod for easier listening.

Please feel free to leave your comments below. I would love to get some feedback on what I am doing so I can make these things as good as they can be.

Click here to download this podcast.

The Barista/Photographer Guy

Just back from another whirlwind trip to the US. While I was in NYC I stopped in at La Colombe in Tribeca to visit Doug Wolfe - the barista we heard from in this podcast. He made me a delicious gibralter and then we talked about - you guessed it - coffee, as well as travel, and the various projects we are working on. Then Doug went into the back of the shop and brought out an advance copy of the book he did the photography for. The book is called il Viaggio di Vetri and Doug's photos are on the same high level as the coffee he makes. I have neither read the book nor tried the recipes yet but the food, bathed in kind, natural light, looked absolutely delicious. Doug spent more than a year photographing on location in both Italy and the USA. The book itself is by chef Marc Vetri of the highly-acclaimed Vetri Ristorante in Philadelphia.

You might ask what this has to do with coffee or cafe culture - or even baristas for that matter. The very essence of a successful cafe is that it connects people over expertly-prepared drink and food in an environment that has a calculated aesthetic. Doug seems to accomplish all this whether it be coaxing espresso-based drinks from his beloved Faema e61, making photographs with his medium format camera, or just plain chillin'.

You can purchase the book directly from Ten Speed Press.

The above image of the book cover was taken from the Ten Speed Press web site.