R. Willbur

I’m anxious for the coming week. I’ll be in Houston Tuesday night and through the weekend. Keeping busy with the USBC, as well as, making coffee for some folks at various spots. My focus is heavily geared towards the competition, however, my gear shipped out today, and with that done, my mind is worrying less on the routine and thinking more about other issues I’ve been neglecting. Not neglecting, as much as haven’t had the head space to process.

I’ve been thinking much about the state of coffee in Portland. The food scene in Portland is pretty fantastic. I’d say that in someways the food has made Portland just as popular as the vibrant Indie culture. Along with food, the city of Portland is given much credit for it’s coffee.

Portland does have an epic coffee scene. I’d even go as far as to say that coffee drinkers in Portland are pretty spoiled. But as people who care about what we do, we can always look to get better and improve things. That said, if coffee in Portland actually wants to be “next level,” here’s my list of things that we need to step up.

First comes price. Coffee in Portland is cheap. The market is saturated, and most of the time, coffee bars are competing on price. Not coffee selection, not quality, but price. It breaks my heart everytime I walk into a place and see espresso on the menu for $2, a cup of coffee for under $2, or an extra espresso for 25 cents.If you are reading this blog, you know that this is, in no way, sustainable.

What I see all the time, is that when a business starts to struggle, the first thing it looks to do is cut it’s coffee costs. This means that whatever bad-ass single origin they were stoked about has to get put on the back-burner for ‘better days’ and get’s replaced by whatever is cheaper on the menu. I wish there were a way to communicate to the general population of Portland that if they paid more for their coffee, their coffee would get better.

When you walk into a coffee bar in Portland, it’s almost always apparent that the focus from behind the bar is espresso. I’ve even heard it said that 75% of the coffee drinkers in Portland are espresso drink consumers. From my observations, however, I would say that people are actually drinking more brewed coffee.

World-wide, I want to see us change our mentalities. We’ve seemed to accept an idea that has been fed to us by bigger coffee corporations… The idea that you should be able to walk up to a bar, order a cup of brewed coffee, and walk away from that bar with the coffee 30 seconds later. We’re programmed to believe that it’s okay to wait four to five minutes for a latte, but brewed coffee should be available instantly.

I passionately believe that the opposite is correct. An intelligently designed coffee bar should make espresso beverages easy to create and feed to a customer. If people were willing to wait 4 to 5 minutes for brewed coffee, then nothing in a coffee bar would need to be pre-made. All coffee would truly be fresh. When coffee isn’t just prepared ahead of time, it allows for you to offer more options, and keep a wider rotation on the menu. When people can see their coffee being made, and realize it’s a coffee they chose, then it becomes even more special to them, and they are willing to pay a higher price per cup.

These are just a couple of the main points I am constantly thinking about in my head. For the record, I’m not trying to tear down coffee in Portland in anyway. I just believe that as an industry of young, passionate people, we can constantly look to improve what we do. We must continually ask ourselves, “what’s next?”

Can you name one where the wholesaler is continually undersold by the reseller?

I’m constantly learning in my new role. Thinking about things other than serving as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. I’m seeing other angles of this business. Rising commodity prices, our current economy, and other factors have me continually talking to folks about the appropriate price for a cup of coffee.

Portland coffee drinkers have been ridiculously spoiled for far too long… and that’s a whole different subject. However, I can’t think of many other industries where the product costs the most from the source. An espresso at Stumptown costs $2.25. 95% of our wholesale customers charge the same or less… and are fearful to charge more. The same applies to our bags of coffee available all over the city.
I paid $1.50 for a double americano yesterday.

In what other industry do the resellers charge less, when paying wholesale prices, than the the actual source of the product charges. It’s not just Portland… I’ve seen it all over. Why does this trend exist and how have we let it continue this way for so long?

And like that we’re full swing into barista competition season. I will say, the nice thing about being in the Northwest is that I’m pushing preparation out of mind for the month of February. The past two years haven’t given me much of a gap between the regional and USBC. In those cases, I’d give myself a week off to live some life and celebrate, but after that it was back to work.

Some Things Never Change.

A week has passed and now I feel like I’ve processed everything enough to write a bit. This regional will always be pretty special to me. Not necessarily for anything I did, but for who was there to be a part of it. Call it 30% industry and 70% personal, but I just got to compete for my best friends, my parents, family friends, and a collection of folks who have seen the photos, watched the live stream, but had never been in the room to taste the coffee and see it in person. Ladies and Gents, these competitions have consumed my life for 4 years, and to share this with my friends was indescribable.

One of the best parts was getting to help and watch my best friend, Ryan Bisson, compete. This kid lived with us in Los Angeles through the USBC last year. He watched us practice, helped us wash and polish, he hauled most of us around in Anaheim. So, it was pretty rad to watch him compete for the first… I’m trying to convince him to give the USBC a go… If his tech scores were more solid, he would have been dangerously close to the finals.

Pretty sure the glove was to make fun of me...

As for my performance, I felt good. This was a chance for me to put my last competition behind me, and to look on to a more focused USBC this year. I received some excellent feedback and can’t really complain about the result. I’m stoked for Sam Purvis, Devin Chapman, Keith, and Matt. In so many ways, these guys continue to impress me with their out-of-the-box thinking. I’m really glad they have applied it to barista competition as well.

The only thing I didn’t get to do in the finals that I really wanted to, was I forgot to give out these to the judges… Wendy, Stumptown’s designer, was incredibly helpful and full of ideas to make this become a reality.

I guess to sum up the weekend, I couldn’t be happier. Stumptown took 2 of the 3 top spots home. Laila and I used two coffees that seriously represent the good work that Ryan Brown and Aleco Chigounis are doing, and we’ve got a ton of momentum to guide us into the USBC this April.

I guess now I need to start practicing some latte art for that Chicago competition…

This is part of the first signature beverage I ever made. It was baked for about an hour to create a syrup. The idea behind the flavors wasn’t bad, but the build of the drink made it pretty terrible. I should probably apologize to some of the judges that had to endure…

This is me at that first competition… USBC 2006 in Charlotte, NC. I was 20 years old. The game was very different. The experience hooked me on the industry. I had my first shot of whiskey in the back room before the competition, I experienced many different coffees, and met many folks whom I consider to be great friends.

This girl could win the US NWRBC this weekend… and I would be totally okay with that. As someone who’s done a ton of coaching, it would be a success for me to see her take home the title. She’s also worked harder than I have.

These are two very rad dudes. One I just met recently. The other I’ve known for a long time. Both have been great with feedback and support.

This is Francisco Javier. If you don’t know him, you’re missing out. He produces coffee, roasts coffee, and loves to tell people about coffee. He’s roasted my coffee for the competition this weekend, and he is the only person who may be more excited about it than I am. I cannot thank this guy enough.

In March, he’ll be returning to Nicaragua to continue work on his family’s farm, Finca La Amistad. I will miss him dearly.

I swung by the Stumptown Annex today to pick up a fresh top burr for my Baratza Virtuoso. I’m a big fan of the Baratza grinder line because of how easily swapped parts can be. Also, the company itself seems to be kinda killer with supporting their products. It’s pretty epic compared to how many other home brewing equipment manufacturers handle their gear.

Anyway, the new burr has been epic. Something must have damaged my grinder in the move. Before the swap I was having to grind everything on the finest setting possible, and I was still getting larger particles of coffee. I kept putting off the replacement knowing I can easily get coffee while working. However, coffee is never better than on a day off when at home… and yesterday, with some snow falling from the sky, I really wanted nothing more than to enjoy some killer coffee in my own home.

Where I really realized I needed to replace the burrs was when I had a dream in which my cup and grind didn’t work out… Yes, I was dreaming about making coffee in my kitchen. When the brew tasted atrocious, I dumped the coffee bed onto the counter. Sifting through, I found whole beans at the bottom of the filter. Apparently, I think about this stuff a little too much.

Sometime in early 2007, I was enjoying a day off in my apartment in Minneapolis. Back then, I spent my early week roasting coffee, and the later part of my week was spent serving coffee.

The day off was just what was necessary for some solid decompression. My ambition was simple. I just wanted to stay away from my places of work.

However, I love coffee and I wanted to enjoy some delicious coffee. So, I grabbed some wonderfully roasted coffee from Ethiopia. My home setup was minimal; just a couple of french presses and a cheap burr grinder.

I ground my coffee, scooped it out, poured my water on top. Let the thing brew for 4 minutes, plunged, and poured. The coffee… Absolutely atrocious.

I’d been making coffee ‘professionally’ for about a year and a half. I was confident and comfortable with an espresso grinder and an espresso machine, but all my brewed coffee experience involved a Clover or a Fetco. The experience of trying to make coffee myself, away from a bar, was humbling. I had even roasted the coffee I was trying to brew… and yet I knew nothing of manual brewing.

It was such a bad experience that I will never forget the terrible flavor of the brew. It was that day off that purposed me to want to learn how to make coffee well at home. It was that day off that made me want to be able to teach many people to make great coffee on their own.

Welcome. It’s been awhile since I’ve written, and I really feel that those of you who follow my blog deserve a real update… I woke up this morning, checked the tweets, and found this. After seeing the news in writing, I decided it’s probably as good a time as any to fill the world in on what I, myself, have been up to.

It’s been three months since I worked my final shift at Intelligentsia in Silver Lake. I miss that coffee bar. I still think it is the greatest coffee bar in the Intelli fleet… and I think it will be damn near impossible for anyone to top the kind of magic that happened when it opened in 2007. I grew up in and around that coffee bar, and I’m incredibly grateful for the experience I had there.

Speaking of grateful, there are people I cannot thank enough for imparting knowledge, wisdom, and resource into me. Doug Zell, of course… Changed my entire perspective on coffee. Showed me what ambition and drive really are. Doug is the kind of CEO that can motivate you when you’re ready to give up…  He was the one who opened up huge doors for two kids from Minneapolis to come and take on an entire city with stellar coffee. He never stops believing in his baristas and fully supported us when we wanted to do something totally different from the status quo.

Kyle Glanville is a tough motherfucker. He’s demanding, ruthless, and can sometimes just be brutal. However, no one has ever taught me more on how to be a great barista. His philosophies redefined customer service for me. I was luckier than I’ll ever admit for having a chance to learn from him… He, more than anyone, has shaped me into the coffee person I am.

Justin Lacher is a quiet guy. He currently manages Silver Lake, and he’s doing a pretty killer job at it. Justin is patient, good with people, and more encouraging than anyone I have ever had supervise me before. He is the best manager I know. He’s so selfless it’s unhealthy, and there are days I simply miss the guy.

Of course there are many other people who I owe huge thanks to. Many whom I will miss…(Devin Pedde, Nick Griffith, Brandon Tyler McNulty, Mike Phillips, Deaton, Steve Lee, Nicely, Jesse Crouse, Doug Palas, The Owens’, Nic Barnette, and others) I’m excited to watch from a distance as Intelligentsia continues to grow and evolve. My time there was incredibly well spent.

In August, I moved home to the Northwest. I had no set direction in mind, other than to simply remain in the coffee industry. I took time to reset from the whirlwind of the previous three years. I took time to read, to write, to think, and to sharped my thoughts and ideas. When I left Los Angeles, I had a giant thought cloud floating above my head, filled with many loose ends and fragmented theories. Over the course of two months, I engaged in many discussions with all kinds of coffee people. Asked questions, talked about theories, and I can say that I learned more in those two months than I had in the year before that. My coffee brain went off ‘auto-pilot’ and at the beginning of September, I had a new sense of purpose to what it is I believe in coffee and what I want to do in my career.

As things began to settle in my head, I began to have a few conversations with some old friends. Those conversations paired with a more purposed mentality lead me to my new home at Stumptown Coffee Roasters. I can’t really call myself the kind of barista that I had been. I’m now working in the wholesale realm of things. However, I’m loving the new opportunities that surround me. My job now involves much more of the education and coffee geerkery that I’ve been looking to indulge on. Everyday I am handling situations that prove to me just how valuable my previous five years in the industry have been. There is no monotony. I’m surrounded by an incredibly sharp and passionate group of people, and I’m stoked to be in my new home.

Beyond the professional, it’s been amazing to be back around my best friends. Everyday I see people I’ve known for nine or ten years. Portland is still possibly the greatest city in the world. The coffee, culinary, and music scenes all speak for themselves. All in all, I’m happy… happy in a way I’ve wanted to be for some time.

…and a face-lift. More to come soon…

I recently moved from Silver Lake into downtown Los Angeles. When comparing the neighborhoods and different sections of Los Angeles, downtown is about as unique as any of it gets. If you’ve seen the movie ’500 Days of Summer’ then you can get a decent picture of where I live. The architecture is beautiful and ornate. As it mentions in the movie, everything ground level is a bit ugly, but when you look up, it’s genuinely beautiful.

Living in the new digs has had me exploring coffee at home once more. This is something that I believe to be essential to sharpening ones skills as a barista. I’ve said it before, but we can all make decent coffee at our coffee bars with the equipment we keep around. However, it becomes a different battle when the scace thermometer is gone, the water isn’t coming off a cirqua system, and the grinder is a beat-up home grinder, as opposed to your Ditting grinder. In fact, I like to challenge myself and other baristas to see what you can do with a blade grinder… But that’s a whole different kind of post.

When moving out of the house I was in, I also moved away from living with Devin Pedde. This meant that more than half the brewing methods we had were now at his apartment, about three miles from where I am. So, I had to rebuild the collection. After some thought out purchases, I’ve set myself up with three Hario V60 brewers… One plastic, one glass, and one ceramic, and all are of the 2-cup variety. I’ve got the Hario woodneck, cloth filter brewer, a Yama TCA-3, and two very old french presses that I purchased from Jana Oppenheimer when she was still working at Stumptown Coffee in Portland, OR.

For my v60′s and Woodneck brews, I’ve been borrowing the method developed by the Intelligentsia Educators. The method is based on weight of water and brew, not volume… and with the right aged coffee, and a solid grind I’m getting beautiful coffee. I’m also using the same method for both the cloth filter woodneck and the paper filter v60′s. The cup profiles are similar in sweetness and acidity, but the mouth-feel is far more velvety in the cloth filter.

What I need help with is the siphon. I’m struggling again to find stable temperature, without the water getting too hot or so cool that the water drops before my coffee has brewed. I’m using a fairly reliable butane burner. Still, somehow I’m getting a flavor in the cup that just tastes slightly scorched. I’m also finding it might be time to replace my Virtuoso. The burrs are solid, but it’s taken some beatings, and the grind settings seem to be unreliable. In fact, it’s at a point where I have to hold the hopper down a bit to keep the grind even. If anyone out there has any suggestions for a TCA-3, 12 ounce brew, I’d love to hear them. I know the industry has been back and forth and all over about the siphon, but it’s after I had put it down and am coming back to it, now, that I’m struggling again to find the groove.

Bottom line is, I’m glad to be working with coffee at home again. It’s so much more delicious when I can sit on my own couch and drink out of my favorite mugs. It’s also drinking coffee in my living room that somehow inspires me to start writing again. Who knows, maybe it’s not time to kill the blog after all…

My mind has been shifting from thinking about competition back to focusing on our store. That fueled by the conversations help during the conference, and I’ve got some ideas, realizations, and ambitions turning about.

There was a moment where I heard James Hoffmann mention that he had an idea for a grinder, but couldn’t find anyone to build it for him. Now, at first, my initial reaction (during the weekend) was why do we need a new grinder? We’ve got these epic Robur-e’s. What more do we need?

Then, I got back on a real bar… and was forced to come face to face with the problems I deal with daily. We make hundreds of drinks, and it’s an intensely difficult labor of love to keep those drinks tasting as delicious as possible. We fight heat from all directions… Especially, in our grinders. That’s when I realized that I tasted multiple espressos from different machine company booths… all with interesting textures and mouth-feels… and no one is addressing the actual problems that I have.

I’m wondering how many baristas would react to Hoffmann like I did? Where, without a solution in sight, we push the thought of an ideal grinder, with minimal heat retention, out of our heads. It seems that we’ve gotten so hooked on exploring the new (pressure profiling) that we’ve forgotten about the problems that have been plaguing us for years…

Don’t get me wrong… I’ve never experienced an espresso like Jeremy Summer, of Synesso, served me at their booth. But, I’ve got a fantastic machine. It makes incredible espresso from about 6AM till 10 AM. Then, a battle begins between fighting soaring temperatures in the grinder and the groups. As of now, the best solutions I can pursue is to obtain two robur-e’s and to switch grinders during the midday… Which, maybe some companies can afford, but that’s a difficult investment for a small cafe to make.

My shift, today, starts at 2PM. The morning rush will just be wrapping up, and I will immediately set to work evaluating the espresso. It will be good. But there will always be a part of me that is jealous of the opening crew and what they get to experience. Please, someone, make us all a grinder that will alleviate this!