Ok ok... i'mmmmm back 
Just got some food in my stomach and am now ready to sit down and write a little
For those of you who don't know... i went to San Francisco to train in coffee roasting and cupping with two guys that are pretty damn big in the industry... Willem Boot and Ken Davids... both are awesome guys...
The trip started out with a decent plane ride where i got to relax, write and listen to music... well untill the last 20 mins when this random girl said she thought she knew me and then started drunkenly rambleing about a bunch of things...
I got to San Fran and sadly had no idea how or where my hotel was... all i knew was there was something called Marin Airporter and it would get me there... i looked around until i found a big sign that said Airporter and did some asking around and found on that was going to Marin... simple i guess... i waited around and it finally came... i told the guy i was going to Mill Valley... he said something about another town... so i said... ummm yeah... and got on the bus... he dropped me off at that other stop he mentioned and then i found myself standing in the middle of a parking lot in an industrial area in the middle of the night with a suitcase... shit... i decided i should try and get a cab or start walking somewhere... i started walking down the street until i found a holiday inn so i could call and get a cab... until i looked across the street and saw the type of hotel i was staying at... i though "no way" that can't be the right one... it actually was... i had accidentally found my hotel... i checked in got some food and passed out...
The next day i checked out my hotel... well motel a little better... it was disgusting... the heat didn't work (which normally i wouldn't care... but San Fran was errily cold) no one spoke english and there were ants in the bathroom... thus started my bitching at Expedia... after a long telephone conversation they moved me to the Holiday Inn across the street and things were a ton better...
The coffee class that day was pretty general... just introducing all the things we were going to be doing and working on and starting a little... nothing major that day but still very productive...
That night i just hung at the hotel watched some Adult Swim... which because of the time difference starts at basically 10 our time instead
The next day we did some crazy cupping triangulations (3 cups of coffee 2 are the same the other is very similar) we then had to figure out the pair and rate them using these strict scoring protocols... each time we did one the got harder and harder... later on it was just slight differences like all the same coffees but one was blended slightly different or roasted an agtron or two darker... damn that was really hard...
That night was more of the same... relax and watch cartoons Though that night i went to this itallian resturant and got corrected by the snoby waiter multiple times... i made fun of him and we called it all good
The last day we did 6 different roasts, blended them, tested them and pit each teams best coffee against the other teamns... we came in third though it was out of 4 teams... dang... but we had some major problems and our original blend had to be scrapped... we just through something together at the end and submitted it... though we did get an SCAA rating of 83.2 which is considered gormet the top team had a 85.5... to put this in perspective it's on a 100 point scale... something like starbucks would get about a 60 something you would get at a nice coffee shop would be high 70's to low 80, once you get into the high 80's and 90's you are talking about an orgasmn in a cup... so we were pretty happy with our 83.2
That night i checked out of the Holiday Inn and went on an adventure to the Airport and my hotel there for the night... this one was less eventful and worked out a little better
Later that evening I went on an adventure to Union Square to wonder around... it only took a shuttle and two Subway rides to get there... but ohh well... I just wondered around checking out all the places for about 2 hours or so... grabed a beer... saw some guy peeing on a car... met some crazy guy in army fatigues cut into a dress singing show tunes ( i would have joined in but i didn't know the words) saw a prostitute getting busted... got asked if i needed any weed like 3 times... and saw more porn shops then in toronto... damn that city is awesome
After i got back i napped for a few hours and then caught my 6 am flight back... with the connection and the time change i didn't get home until around 5... wow.... long day...
So now i sit here... your all caught up... i'm full of coffee knowledge... and now i'm off to slack off for a little bit Catch you all soon...
P.S.
Whats Up With All The Quizes??
Opps apparently I goofed... the one question about college should say Bachlors Degree not Masters... opps sorry Sorcha
Just got some food in my stomach and am now ready to sit down and write a little
For those of you who don't know... i went to San Francisco to train in coffee roasting and cupping with two guys that are pretty damn big in the industry... Willem Boot and Ken Davids... both are awesome guys...
The trip started out with a decent plane ride where i got to relax, write and listen to music... well untill the last 20 mins when this random girl said she thought she knew me and then started drunkenly rambleing about a bunch of things...
I got to San Fran and sadly had no idea how or where my hotel was... all i knew was there was something called Marin Airporter and it would get me there... i looked around until i found a big sign that said Airporter and did some asking around and found on that was going to Marin... simple i guess... i waited around and it finally came... i told the guy i was going to Mill Valley... he said something about another town... so i said... ummm yeah... and got on the bus... he dropped me off at that other stop he mentioned and then i found myself standing in the middle of a parking lot in an industrial area in the middle of the night with a suitcase... shit... i decided i should try and get a cab or start walking somewhere... i started walking down the street until i found a holiday inn so i could call and get a cab... until i looked across the street and saw the type of hotel i was staying at... i though "no way" that can't be the right one... it actually was... i had accidentally found my hotel... i checked in got some food and passed out...
The next day i checked out my hotel... well motel a little better... it was disgusting... the heat didn't work (which normally i wouldn't care... but San Fran was errily cold) no one spoke english and there were ants in the bathroom... thus started my bitching at Expedia... after a long telephone conversation they moved me to the Holiday Inn across the street and things were a ton better...
The coffee class that day was pretty general... just introducing all the things we were going to be doing and working on and starting a little... nothing major that day but still very productive...
That night i just hung at the hotel watched some Adult Swim... which because of the time difference starts at basically 10 our time instead
The next day we did some crazy cupping triangulations (3 cups of coffee 2 are the same the other is very similar) we then had to figure out the pair and rate them using these strict scoring protocols... each time we did one the got harder and harder... later on it was just slight differences like all the same coffees but one was blended slightly different or roasted an agtron or two darker... damn that was really hard...
That night was more of the same... relax and watch cartoons
Though that night i went to this itallian resturant and got corrected by the snoby waiter multiple times... i made fun of him and we called it all good
The last day we did 6 different roasts, blended them, tested them and pit each teams best coffee against the other teamns... we came in third
though it was out of 4 teams... dang... but we had some major problems and our original blend had to be scrapped... we just through something together at the end and submitted it... though we did get an SCAA rating of 83.2 which is considered gormet the top team had a 85.5... to put this in perspective it's on a 100 point scale... something like starbucks would get about a 60 something you would get at a nice coffee shop would be high 70's to low 80, once you get into the high 80's and 90's you are talking about an orgasmn in a cup... so we were pretty happy with our 83.2
That night i checked out of the Holiday Inn and went on an adventure to the Airport and my hotel there for the night... this one was less eventful and worked out a little better
Later that evening I went on an adventure to Union Square to wonder around... it only took a shuttle and two Subway rides to get there... but ohh well... I just wondered around checking out all the places for about 2 hours or so... grabed a beer... saw some guy peeing on a car... met some crazy guy in army fatigues cut into a dress singing show tunes ( i would have joined in but i didn't know the words) saw a prostitute getting busted... got asked if i needed any weed like 3 times... and saw more porn shops then in toronto... damn that city is awesome
After i got back i napped for a few hours and then caught my 6 am flight back... with the connection and the time change i didn't get home until around 5... wow.... long day...
So now i sit here... your all caught up... i'm full of coffee knowledge... and now i'm off to slack off for a little bit
Catch you all soon...
P.S.
Whats Up With All The Quizes??
Opps apparently I goofed... the one question about college should say Bachlors Degree not Masters... opps sorry Sorcha
VIEW 26 of 26 COMMENTS
I got a 50.