November, Part 1 (the jam)

So, today was the fall/winter Midwest Barista Jam. Held at the wonderful roasting faculties of The Roasterie, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Nothing better than an early morning, hour and a half drive to get coffee! Maytag and his lady friend set off at 7 am, which is early in college times. Drive wasn't bad at all, lots of discussing about the new Dragonball live action movie that will be coming out sometime next year, that took up most of the drive there. Then, there it was. Just off southwest boulevard on 27th street, The Roasterie.
We got there a bit early so we sat down in the new cafe section of the warehouse, which is brand new. It's very well equipped. It has a two group La Marzocco GS3 for latte drinks, a Clover and various other brewers. They had a single group GS3 on display, along with other cool things on the counter, like; several trays of roasted and unroasted beans. One group showing the progression of the roast from green to past the 2nd crack. And, another group of beans showing different qualities of beans.
After about 20 minutes it was time to begin. We started off the Espresso Extraction class that was being run by David Herman, the head roaster at the Roasterie. He showed us some very interesting things. Including tasting what over-extracted, under-extracted and perfect shots all tasted like(done with their Super Tuscan Espersso). And, two different shots of their Colombian Pilolito Estate, one shot as a light roast, and one as a dark roast. I was really surprised on how the light roasted Colombian tasted as an espresso. This was my first taste of a single origin espresso, and it was very bright and floral, almost having an Ethiopian yirgecheffe citrus-ness to it.
Next, we went on the the cupping class that was being help by the green buyer Norm Kilmon (one of the founders of the company, along with C.E.O. Danny Edwards). What Norm had set up in the cupping room were three different types of Sumatran coffee. One being just a straight non-sorted batch. It was very, very earthy in flavor and in the nose. But, as it cooled some very nutty flavors started to come out, almost a cashew taste. The next cup was a Sumatran that had been "Double Picked" (sorted twice for defects). This was my favorite out of the three. It was very fruity in the nose, this was also reflected in the taste. Had a very strong fruit flavor, almost as bright as an African coffee. The flavor almost a really dark cherry, but there was a hint of nut flavor on the back of the tongue. The third cup was "Triple Picked", and had almost no flavor or nose. After it cooled it did develop a sourness to it, much like an under extracted espresso would have.
The final class of the day was a latte art demonstration run by John. It was a lot like the other latte art class they have two or three jams ago. Covered the "physics" behind steaming the milk and the pouring of the milk into the cup. Taught us how to do a heart and the ever popular Rosetta. This class was followed by the Latte Art Throwdown! Pretty much just bratwurst, beer and latte art. Fun times!

Keep checking back, my friend Barry and I have a tour of the Boulevard Brewery scheduled in a couple of weeks, and we will crack open out first bottle of Bully's "Saison with George Brett" their limited Smokestack Series beer!