R. Willbur

Over the weekend, we had an interesting issue arise. We ran out of chocolate. Our chocolate is something we took a lot of time to develop when we opened our store. It’s actually a gnache made by breaking down bars of Scharffenberger chocolate and mixing it with heated heavy cream and agave nectar. The initial recipe was created by Nick Griffith, and it’s been amazing ever since. Our mochas and hot chocolates are phenomenal, so much so, that even I, on my anti-milk campaign, have to sit down every so often and drink a hot chocolate.

The issue we ran into was that we ran out of the Scharffenberger bars. This happened on Black Friday… the beginning of a weekend we knew would be filled with hot chocolate and chai. Normally, the bars show up direct from the factory, so we knew it could be a couple of days. To fix the problem, we decided to run out and grab some chocolate from a local grocer.

In the end, we were left with a very different gnache. It was less ply-able and harder to blend with our espresso… slowing down a busy line. The really frustrating thing was that it wasn’t our gnache. We had hundreds of customers pouring in from all over the country, coming in for what may be there one and only experience at our store, we had to give them something different.

I started to wonder what is worse… To not have a mocha or a hot chocolate on the menu or to have it there, but not to be serving our version. To me, it’s a balancing act. We aren’t just a neighborhood coffee shop that is trying to get by. We’ve made it very clear that we want to offer the finest and the best of everything we do. Yet, we also want to be approachable and have a non-elitist mentality. Did we do the right thing? I’m interested in hearing others perspectives…

Personally, I think we could have handled it better. We handle every other issue by not telling our customers what they can’t have, but by telling them what they can have… Want an espresso to go? I’d recommend a small americano with less water… Iced espresso? How about iced coffee… it has more caffeine! I think we could have gotten by without chocolate. Our chai is also pretty damn good…

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had to deal with, since moving to Los Angeles, has been the changing (or lack of changing) in the seasons. This year seems to be the worst. It’s my third year and the city of angels seems to be struggling to make up its mind on whether it’s still summer or not. Halloween, for me, usually means that cappuccinos start sounding delicious again. Coffee becomes less of a fuel for my friends, and it moves to being a thing to do. A way of bringing people together, and keeping you warm in nippy weather. Yet, the past few weeks have involved more shoveling ice than anything else. Rumors were floating about that the weekend was supposed to hit 90… I was concerned.

None the less, it’s working out. The nights, here, are finally leaning towards that cooler, chilled state. I have to wear long sleeves now… As long as I’m in LA, I may never need a coat again. In the last few days, I’ve steamed more chai and poured more hot chocolates than I can remember (Which, if you haven’t had our hot chocolate, you’re missing out). Making coffee feels right again.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m looking forward to the next couple of months. I am heading up to Portland in the early part of December and I haven’t been this excited for it in a long time. I need to feel the moisture in the air. I need the rain and the overcast. Beyond that I can’t wait to see Intelli’s new Northwest wholesale rep, Jared Linzmeier and his rad girlfriend, Deanna Moody.

It’s full-on competition season again, and I’m getting pumped. I spent some of my day today thinking about converting the flight case for my amplifier into a case with layers for all my ceramics… Dreaming of a way to create foam cut-outs for all my cups. I’ve got a great plastic box that holds everything and has worked for the last couple of years, but how much better would it be to not have dozens of sheets of tissue paper? Plus, casters… I’m going to get back to you on this one… I’ve got some other fun ideas tucked away. The only thing that’s not too exciting about competition for me this year is the lack of travel. Rumor is that the Western will be held in Los Angeles again, and then the USBC will be in Anaheim… At least my manager will be happy.

I’m also stoked about the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ve stepped our home brew equipment way up from last year. We’ve got stellar pour-over methods, grinders, and more to offer our customers…. Plus, with the Hario hand crank grinders, there’s no excuse for people to not have a conical burr grinder! On my list of awesome, but offensive ideas, I want to create a shirt that says something like, “I never want to grind another pound of coffee for you ever again” on it… Then, maybe put a picture of the Hario grinder on the back… I know, a bit elitist, but a barista can dream. Besides, what’s elitist about wanting people to taste the best coffee possible in their home? I’m just hoping we can turn the crazy shopping season into a time of education and instruction for all those seeking to just give gifts.

With seeing this, I’m beginning to wonder if the Esmeralda hype is finally calming down. My first experience with this coffee happened in 2006. Since then, the farm has become notorious for it’s high priced, rare geisha varietal. Books have been written, and many tale a told about the coffee.

In recent days, Devin Pedde and I have debated what the real value is of this coffee. In the store this year, we’ve sold it as chemex and espresso. The most interest and success has come with the single origin espresso. The thoughts been thrown out about offering V60′s (melitta) this coming week, as it would lower our required dose and how much of the coffee someone may have to buy. The challenge for us, has been to simply find the best way to have our customers experience this coffee.

All in all, I can tell you that for me, the hype is over.

Here’s why I am no longer infatuated with this coffee. It’s good. Really, it can be incredible. However, I think that many of the other offerings that we’ve had this year have been on par with this coffee. To clarify, many of our coffees have been really good. Guatemala, Kenya, and El Salvador all stick out in my mind. We’ve had some great micr0-lots to spice up the mix as well. These coffees come from relationships we’ve built over time. They come from faster transport handled by Intelligentsia’s imports. These coffees taste great, but they come to our  customers at a much easier price-point. We don’t have to play any kind of novelty card because they are what coffees should be… delicious.

I’ve head geeks and snobs gripe about how the Esmeralda is not as good as it was in 2007 or 2008… Sorry buddy, I don’t care about what kinda sentimental-palate shattering moment you had when you first tasted this coffee back then. This is the now, and the coffee is great! But that’s the best part… it no longer stands alone.

While I was in Portland, I heard several comments from people that got the gears turning a bit more about single origin espresso vs. a blend. A few times I heard people make comments about how a particular single origin had maybe been sweet, but now is spicy… but how it’s always delicious. Follow that up, though, with how it’s great, but how it isn’t too universal because it’s not as complex as a blend.

At the new Intelligentsia store in Venice, there are two grinders for every barista. One, hold black cat, and the other, holds a single origin coffee. The single origins haven’t been coffee that was roasted in any special way for espresso, rather, they are production roasts. We’ve followed that now in the Silverlake store. I held a tasting, the other day, with a few of the guys that I work with. We tasted all the coffees that we were serving as brewed coffee, but we pulled them as espresso.

As we went through the line up we discussed each coffee. Talking about where the coffee comes from, how is it processed. What about the origin of the coffee was affecting the flavors we were experiencing. We talked a ton about temperature and its effect on flavor.

I chose to set the machine (A Synesso) at 201.5 degrees Fahrenheit. My dose was low, as I was aiming for around 18 grams in a (Synesso) triple basket. The espresso ran between 21 and 29 seconds (varying between the 4 coffees). Each coffee had such unique character. So many flavors emerged throughout the experience, from craisins, red delcious apple, maple, figs, smokey bbq, meyer lemon, bubble gum, watermelon candy, and the list goes on…

The thing that was consistent about the tasting what how easily perceptable the flavors were. The layers of flavor were absolutely lovely in each coffee. Nothing tasted bad. The espressos that were rough, we held discussions around how we could improve the extraction (be it temperature, grind, dose, etc. ).

It got me thinking more about what I had heard before… Does an espresso need to be complex? What’s wrong with a coffee that is easy to explain? It’s almost like a barista competition, where I’d rather have one coffee to fill my customers in on than to have 3 or 4 to try to share about. There’s a part of me that is a constant coffee evangelist… and that’s the part that goes crazy for single origin espresso. I get tired of the conversations where I ask someone what’s in their coffee and I get the standard response, “It’s a Brazil, a little Sumatra, and an Ethiopia.” Okay… well, what Brazil? Where’s that Sumatra from? and where’d you get that Ethiopia? I wanna know!

In the end, the biggest reason why I love single origin coffee so much is because those are the espressos I remember. Call me Morrissey, but if there are only 10-15 good espressos I’ve had in my life, then probably 3 have been from a blend.

Just a quick word on my recent trip to Portland… after a few days of reflecting on it all. Definitely the most stressful trip home ever. What was supposed to be a 15 minute vehicle emissions test, turned into 48 hours of running around, back to the mechanic, back to the test, driving to get the on board diagnostic system to run it’s test, and then running back to try to retest. I got to know the people at the emissions test well. I never passed… They just told me to call their offices and fill out a form. I felt very defeated on the trip back to Los Angeles.

I had some pretty epic cups of coffee during my time there. Notable was the first espresso I had on the trip. I stopped on the drive up to say hello to the wonderful crew at Verve. Chris Baca seems quite happy, and I’m stoked for him. He pulled me an SO El Salvador that set me straight.

On the drive up, I debated whether I would have time to hit my old home turff at Lava Java. Ironically, I ended up there every morning. All week long they were pulling Stumptown’s single origin Panama Carmen Estate. Each morning I had a 5 oz. americano made with the stuff, and it was interesting to see how the coffee developed. Lime citrus, brown sugar sweetness, all the while, maintaining a clean finish on the palate.

My first day in town, I made my way to Coffee House Northwest. Possibly my favorite barista in all of Portland, Daniel Gunther, made me several drinks, all using a coffee from the Muraba Coop in Rwanda. Sweet black cherry sweetness, and a molassis finish made both the espresso and a cappuccino terrific.

Honestly, I think my favorite part of this trip was the lack of hairbender. Don’t get it twisted and think I’m hating all over the place… I would say the same thing about black cat if I was in Chicago. It says something about how the coffee scene is maturing when I can go to several coffee bars and get good espresso that is not the same thing. I had black cat, I had coffee from Rwanda, I had coffee from panama, I had a coffee from Bolivia, and I had hairbender.

I had coffee with friends and old customers whom I hadn’t seen in quite awhile, and in the end, that was what made the trip. I’ll probably forget what single origin it was that I had with that 5 oz americano, but I won’t forget the three ladies I was sitting with.

It was shortly after I landed in Los Angeles, that I began to hear murmurings from Doug Zell about importing our own coffee. At the time, I knew enough to make a good cup, but I had little understanding of what actually importing coffee would mean. To me, Intelligentsia importing our own coffee was simply a sign we were growing. Maybe business was getting better. I really didn’t think it would have much of an affect on me, a barista.

Here we are, two years later. We’re importing many (almost all) of our own Central and South American coffees on our own. I have a little bit more knowledge of coffee and the path it takes from seed to cup, but I still have a lot of questions. Regardless, I am seeing why importing was such an exciting endeavor to Doug.

Start with the Flecha Roja (Our project in Costa Rica), which we just started serving in the last couple of weeks. The coffee arrived a little late last year (which means even later for our Los Angeles roasting facility) and so we didn’t get to begin serving it until sometime in late summer. I remember how much anticipation there was for this coffee during most of June and July. We were so excited to taste it.

Upon arrival, the coffee was stunning for about three weeks. Then, quickly, it began to lose it’s luster. It didn’t show defect. It didn’t taste rotten. It just wasn’t the same coffee we first had. The brilliant pop! that had us excited, was gone.

It’s June 20, and we’ve already been serving this coffee for a couple weeks. It’s arrived so much sooner, you can almost feel that the green still needs to settle a bit before the coffee will peak. It’s still got that pop, and shows only signs of getting sweeter, with more clear and perceptible flavor.

Yesterday, June 19, we released the coffee from our project in Guatemala. Last year, this coffee was released on August 1st. That means that things are arriving 6 weeks ahead of last year. So, where in 2008, the coffee was sitting in a warehouse, waiting for a boat. This year, it’s already in my hands. I, the barista, am already preparing and serving coffees that last year were just sitting there.

I guess that’s what importing our own coffee means. Nothing is waiting. We’re getting to experience these coffees as the world should. Fresh, poppin‘, and with little delay.

My favorite question that I get from customers is “Who do you get your coffee from?” or “Where does your coffee come from?” They’re such innocent questions, and in a city filled with hyped businesses that come and go as quickly as our seasonal coffees do, I love to take that moment to tell them about how the store they are in is merely a small piece of bigger pie… And how it is the work outside of retail that really makes our coffee worth the experience.

Well, friends, another competition season is over. You can tell because of how quiet the online coffee world has become. My lack of blogging is a fine example. However, I think I’ve finally come out of my “Post Competition Depression (PCD)” cave. It’s something I’ve come to face every year since 2006. You gear up for a regional, step into the USBC, hopes are high, you’re on bar 30-40 hours a week, and spending countless time practicing after-hours, and then, it’s over… Suddenly you’re not traveling anywhere for awhile, your friends were left behind somewhere a couple of weeks before that regional, and you’re really not sure what else you do anymore, beyond compete and practice. Yeah… I’m glad I’m coming out of that.

In fact, there’s a lot to be excited about. My Intelli Family has recently doubled in LA. I posted some photos a bit ago capturing some of the BBQ we hosted at our place… Thanks Kyle, my fridge is still full of meat! It’s exciting to have awhole new crew training and preparing to do something epic. It makes me reflect and appreciate all the time we spent in the training lab at our roasting works. The foundation they are laying is going to play a huge roll in how the next 3-6 months of their lives will play out.

I’m anxious for the Venice store to open. Personally, I live too close and spend too much time at the Silverlake store to enjoy coffee there. I drink it and I love what we’re serving, but it’s that whole “most memorable cup” thing where it’s more about the context in which you are drinking coffee that matters more than what you are drinking.

In fact, while on the subject, I’d say these are the top 5 cups in my life so far…

1. Post USBC 2008 Ecco Experimental Espresso III @ Kopplin’s in St. Paul, MN

2. Hairbender, as Billy Wilson walked me through the layers of flavor. (My 1st straight espresso, Sept. 2003)

3. My first Cafe Niko @ Vivace Roasteria with my friend Ashley, sometime close to midnight, with still a drive back to Portland ahead of us.

4. !st experience at Broadway Intelligentsia, post an 8 hour drive from Minnesota to Chicago (Feb. 2005). My espresso was automatically served in paper (WTF). But it was the first good espresso I’d tasted in probably 5 months.

5. The French Pressed Kenya that Drew Cattlin, Chris Baca, Brent Fortune, Jared Truby, Devin Pedde, and I pan roasted last year over a campfire. (Looking forward to doing that again this year… it tasted like lemonade).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to more of those cups at the new coffee bar opening soon. The party, which I’m sure most of you have heard about it, is a week from tomorrow (5/22). It is going to be epic. Just like the store. I’ve already had a good couple of ‘soul searching’ kinda conversations in the entry way, and I look forward to many more. For the crew that will beworking this coffee bar, it will be place to scientifically dissect every part of what makes coffee so great. For me, it will be a place to finally connect with what coffee is really about… and I’m stoked for that.

So, I know I’ve been on this kick about teaching everyone how to make coffee at home. When I started becoming interested in coffee siphons and slow brew methods, I told myself I wanted to learn where most consumers do… At home. So, I started building the home bar. We just started carrying a couple new items at the store, and looking at it now, we have built a pretty impressive collection of home coffee equipment… Anyone wanna trade 3 Virtuosos for 1 Vario?

The entire bar...