realize this is a subjective of a topic as any, but I’d like to see some discussion.

There used to be only one option.  Flat base.  Most of them were one-piece aluminum or stainless steel, and were not entirely ergonomic, but weren’t all that uncomfortable either.  Rarely did they ever fit the basket like a glove.

Now days, we have several options to choose from.  There are a wide variety of manufacturers of quality tampers, each with their own ideas.

There is massive range of styles of tamper handles.  From skulls to giant sticks.  From ergonomic form, to rubber handles.  But really, the only part that has any impact on the espresso is the business end.  The piston, or base.

(click for larger version)
There are plenty of opinions and ideas about why each is better or worse than the others.

The original style was the flat base.  Then came the convex base, now known as “euro curve”.

Then along came the milder “american curve” to serve as a bridge between “flat” and “convex” bases.

Well, Reg Barber decided that this just wasn’t good enough, and designed what he calls the C-Flat base.  The ultimate hybrid design.  Curved edges, and a flat center.

I have personally done a lot of experimentation with the different tamper styles, and the results are about what one would expect if they felt they had a good intuitive understanding of espresso preparation.

There are also ideas floating around about how the tamper base should be paired with the shape of the shower screen on your espresso machine.  For example, if the shower screen is flat, you should get a flat tamper.  If the shower screen is curved, you should try to match that curvature with your tamper.  A more aggressively curved shower screen needs a euro-curve tamper, a flat shower screen needs a flat tamper, and so on.

There are other ideas going around about how the tamper should be based on whether or not your filterbasket is tapered or straight-walled.  The degree of curvature should, in theory, be determined by the degree of inward tapering found in the filterbasket.  There is a theory that states that the supposed benefits of a convex tamper base are only applicable if the filterbasket has an inward taper.  Unfortunately, the theory doesn’t go into many details, but I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.

I tend to prefer an American Curve base, for all filter basket applications, personally, althought I used a flat base in competition, and I tend to vary between them from time to time, just for taste or observational purposes.

But this blogger is curious.  What is your preference?  Whare the reasons you think your preferred base is beneficial?

Leave comments below, and let’s get this discussion rolling.

(flickr also loves being blurry)

We love coffee pictures.  Doesn’t everyone?

We’d like to see yours.

Roasting, green coffee, cupping, nake espresso pulls, spouted espresso pulls, spent puck shots, latte art, milk frothing, customer interaction, cafe layouts, and anything and everything else that you can possibly photograph that is somehow related to coffee.

We want to see your coffee experiences through the eyes of your camera’s lense.

Join the Texas Coffee People Flickr group, and note the sidebar display of the contents.

Texas Coffee People

It’s pretty baren right now, but hopefully you can help fix that.

1 = Kyle Glanville

2 = Pete Licata

3 = Heather Perry

4 = Chris Baca

5 = Nick Griffith

6 = Drew Cattlin

The scores were tight!  Kyle’s performance was something to behold.  He was smooth.  He was suave.  He was sovereign, and he used the semi-SimulSpro™ technique.  Not entirely SimulSpro™, but not far off.  His art was by far the best of the competition (not that art matters.. in fact, someone made a comment that latte art was soooo 2007, and I happen to think they are right, if it matters.)

In case you were unable to see the semi-finals or finals performances, they are all available to watch online at the official SCAA live blog. -> http://scaa.wordpress.com

And in case you missed the semi-finals round performance of our very own Mr. Patrick Pierce, here he is ;o)
Patrick Pierce, Semi-finals round, 2008 USBC

For those who missed the live-feed discussions, you don’t know what you were missing. It was a great time. Almost as good as being there.

I realize I didn’t post a run-down or primer for the semi-finals round. Apologies!

Unfortunately(or fortunately?) It’s one of those times in which tangible life beckoned.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the finalists. The final six. The elite. The worthy. And so on.

Nick Griffith, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea

Pete Licata, PT’s Coffee Roasting Company

Chris Baca, Ritual Coffee Roasters

Heather Perry, Coffee Klatch

Kyle Glanville, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea

Drew Catlin, Ritual Coffee Roasters

I couldn’t help but notice that all but one of these competitors is from California.

I also couldn’t help but notice that there are two representing Intelligentsia, and two representing Ritual.

Pete Licata took second last year, and Heather, as we all know, took gold (and went on to take silver at the WBC).

This will be a good round to watch!  (and at only 2.5 hrs long, it should be managable, I think).

They are scheduled to begin at 12:00pm CST.  You can watch it LIVE by following this link.-> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2008-united-states-barista-championship-live-feed

NOTE!:  You can also watch the recorded semi-finals round.  Just click the feed above, and click on the recorded video links under the viewing window.

If you want to keep up with photos from the event, there is a group for the SCAA show on flickr which can be found here:  http://flickr.com/groups/scaa2008/

Enjoy!

Today two of our Texas Trio ran in the first round.

Clancy Rose was the 6th competitor of the day. I missed seeing his performance, but I heard from others that he did really well. Go Clancy!

I did happen to catch the end of Ashlind’s performance, however, and she’s been practicing! She’s had a rougher run at this than almost everyone else in the running, but she’s been putting in the time and definitely has the spirit to persevere.

I really enjoyed Scott Lucey’s performance, personally, and Chris Deferio rocked my socks.

Tomorrow is the second day of the first round. Patrick Pierce got a by-in to the semi-finals round as the reigning champion of the South Central region.

To see the official SCAA Conference and Exhibition update blog, click here->http://scaa.wordpress.com/

In case you haven’t discovered it yet (and assuming you care), there is a live-feed being broadcast straight from the competition floor. To view it, click here!->http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2008-united-states-barista-championship-live-feed

To see the schedule of competitors for Day 2 (that’s Saturday, for you folks), click here (PDF)->http://scaa.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/usbc2.pdf

If you only want to catch the prime cut, Sunday is the day to watch.

I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely loving the ability to watch the competition LIVE. I wish I could be there, but since I can’t, this is a GREAT next best alternative.

Ex-USBC Champ Bronwen Serna will be competing 3rd tomorrow. (scheduled to go on at 10:00am)

Reigning USBC Champ Heather Perry (and second place in the WBC, with the title of “Best Espresso”) will go on 10th tomorrow (scheduled for ~12:40pm).

Ex-USBC Champ Phuong Tran is slated to go on at ~3:00pm.

The famous foodie/shaved ice junkie/Barista extraordinaire/PF.net Podcast partner Jay Caragay is the last competitor of the day scheduled to go on at 6:27pm.

If today’s schedule was any indication, things are going to be running a bit quick, so plan to begin watching earlier than the competitor you want to watch is scheduled to go on.

Tomorrow should show some excellent footage for those interested in maybe competing in the future.

Enjoy!

Who is going?  The SCAA United States Barista Championship will be held at the same time.

The talent present this year is absolutely astounding.  As the CI blog mentioned, there will be 3 previous national champions in the mix, as well as Chris Baca who scored an amazing 798 points in the WRBC.  Absolutely stunning.

Patric Pierce, Clancy Rose, and Ashlind McAshan will be competing.  (the Texas trio?)

Patric Pierce is the reigning South Central Regional Champ.
Clancy pulled a 2nd place finish in the same competition.
Ashlind was working for Starbucks when she competed in the SCRBC, and I don’t remember her final placing.  She’s competed a few times out of region since then, and I expect she has improved much over the past year.

Also going on is the Roasters Guild Coffee of the Year Competition

“The Coffee of the Year is an event intended to evaluate exceptional coffees utilizing Q-Graders, SCAA Certified Cuppers and other industry cupping experts as selected by the competition’s organizers. Coffees will be ranked after the competition based on the scores provided by the participating cuppers.  more…“

I am sorry that I am unable to go.  I’ve been asked by a lot of people, and I hate to tell them that no, we don’t be able to meet, grab a drink, shake hands, etc.. at the show.  I won’t be there.

For those going, have a GREAT time!  And Tell us all about it when you get back.

If you don’t, I’ll source the information elsewhere and blog it anyway.

Oh yeah, and there is a ton of live-blogging scheduled for this year’s conference.
Apparently, according to Mr. Nick Cho, we will be able to find it RIGHT HERE. (where Mark Innman’s face is)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we now offer Email subscription service.

Lord knows I have a hard time keeping up with everything I mean to read.  I stay busy, and love it when I can get updates via email.  It makes it easier to keep up with things when I seem to be too busy to remember to check for updates.

I thought, why don’t we offer this for Texas Coffee People readers?

Why not indeed.

Well, now we do.  Just click the orange email feed icon.

Or, just Click Here.

Enjoy the hot juicy succulent content fresh to your Inbox once a week.

Email updates sent every Sunday evening, so you can read them first thing Monday morning.

What a way to start your week off right:  with a cup of coffee reading about coffee.

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

I received an email from John Ennen, who owns a shop in McKinney called Coffee N Cream.

Coffee N Cream sent one of their baristas to compete in the 2007 SCAA South Central Regional Barista Competition, which might be something worth mentioning.  Usually shops don’t sponsor such things unless they care a bit about quality.

They serve coffee and ice cream as well. (in case you couldn’t tell by the logo)
The combination seems to be a growing concept.  Slowly, but surely, I see more popping up here and there.

John has this to say,

We are an upscale coffee shop, with 2 locations in Collin County…one in McKinney, in historic Downtown McKinney, and the other in Allen.  We are opening a third shop in Allen this fall, and have plans for two more in Dallas in ‘09.

We feature some of the finest TX roasted coffee that can be found. We serve it with exacting standards and engaged baristas.  Our menu of food items is unparalleled in the industry, with food sales more than twice the national average as a percentage of sales.

We cater to those who wish to “get away”, not “drive thru”.  Those who want a place to come to, “N”-joy, relax and “N”-dulge themselves.

Come visit us sometime soon.  Thanks!!

It is not known which roaster they source their coffee from.  Has anyone been there, or tried it out?

http://www.mycoffeencream.com/

This is a great new probject from a gentleman named Mads-Ole Bak who lives in Denmark.  The concept is to have all information about all national competitions all over the country consolidated into just one easy to find and navigate location.  Brilliant!

He had this to say:

The purpose of the site is to make a thorough coverage of all the competitions that will be going on during the SCAE Wonderful Coffee exhibition in Copenhagen this summer.

We will have access to the competitions and SCAE have agreed to cooperate with us during the event, so we (hopefully) can make a very interesting site for everyone who would like to follow the competitions but are not able to be in Copenhagen.

In addition to the World championships, we would also like to collect a lot of information about all the national competitions. It has proven pretty difficult to find out who won the national championship. So we hope that some of you would like to help us if you know anything about national competitions that we should bring on WBConEspressoBar.

Please feel free to visit the site, register in our forum and post any information you might have in the “National Chapters” forum

We hope that you will find our site interesting and that we will be able to bring you a lot of good stuff during the competitions in June.

For some reason, national coffee associations have a hard time making competition information as easy to find as it could be.

It’s high time something like this came along.

Check it out, and sign up to join by visiting: WBConEspressoBar

I received an email from a Mr. Robert Keller who happens to make and sell an interesting product.

Robert writes,

Hello Texas,

I want to be a friend of TCP. I have a coffee related product. I created a plug, learned how to manufacture it and now make them in California. True I am not a Texan but I do have friends and family that are Texan.

Kind Regards

Robert Keller
AttPlay Solutions

He calls them Coffee Kisses, but they look an awful lot like other products I’ve seen in the past.

The only real difference I can see is that these look to be a lot lower profile than other varieties I’ve seen.

Straight from the website:

A Simple Plug Designed to Fit Snug in
the Sip Hole of Your Travel Plug Lids.Less Mess  $$$     Saves Time  $$$
Protects your customers and baristas $$$
Gives a GREAT Coffee Experience !!!
Increases Customer Loayalty !!!
Makes You Money $$$

Designed To Fit Travel Cup Lids By:
Solo…
Sweatheart…
Insulair…
IMx…
Graphicup…
Dopaco…
Karat…
Chinet…
and Others.

You can also buy online from packs of 2, all the way up to packs of 1,000.  In packs of 600 or more the plugs are only $.01 each.  Such a simple investment for that extra bit of customer satisfaction.

http://mycoffeekisses.com