Feb 8, 2016

🎯 Linea PB with scales; Colonna does pods; Debate Club; Douchey Dude Baristas.

Revue

Barista Hustle

February 8 · Issue #53 · View online

Views and news about the brews. Unique and relevant information for coffee professionals and enthusiasts.

Hey everyone! Welcome to the new-look Barista Hustle! 😎

This newsletter portion of Barista Hustle will now be hosted here on Revue. It’s much easier to access and share what was formerly trapped in your inboxes. There’ll also be 1,000% more emoji. Duh.

All my past and future long-form posts will still be at BaristaHustle.com. I won’t be publishing one of these *every* week as I did last year, as I’m now busy developing products and different styles of content for you.

You can still reply directly to this email with any questions, feedback, ideas, links or just delightful hellos.

This week we also bid a fond farewell to Alex Bernson, who has been editing and contributing to BH from the very early days. He’s joining WCE as their Marketing Manager! A big congrats and goodbye, it’s been super fun.

Linea PB with Scales

I’ve spent the week in Jakarta opening St Ali’s first* international outpost. We’re rocking the new Linea PB with scales. IT’S AWESOME!!!!!! 😍

- Dialling in is so fast and efficient: I’m yet to pull more than 2 shots each morning.

- Repeating yesterday’s recipe is a no-brainer. I think I’ve adjusted the yield once all week.

- It’s such a relief during service to know that the espressos are on point. I have much more energy for interacting with customers and making sure every drink is perfect.

- Volumetrics make manual shots seem archaic, and this makes volumetrics completely obsolete.

I’ve said it before: automation is the future.

*😒

Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood is Up To Something

That something is putting really delicious coffee in Nespresso pods. You can sign up for updates as they happen (highly recommended).

I’m sure you have an opinion about pods, but nobody cares. The only thing that matters about this project is how well it’s received by regular consumers and how many people it introduces to -and convinces of- the deliciousness of specialty.

Here’s why I think it’ll work:

Nespresso machines are incredibly accurate and consistent.
Maxwell and co. don’t tend to do things that aren’t excellent.
The barrier to entry is so much lower than other ‘specialty’ brewing methods we’ve been touting: millions upon millions of people already have the right equipment.
No doubt Colonna will have something to say about the water their customers should use in their machines. If they do, their roasting will be dialled to that water, almost guaranteeing a beverage that tastes as it was intended.

Q If you sell coffee, how often can you guarantee that home brewers are tasting your coffee as it was intended?
A Less than Colonna will.

Barista Hustle Debate Club

I’m really interested in hosting a series of debates about the pressing issues in coffee. So many voices, so little organised conversation.

2 teams of three.
~3-5 minutes each speaker.
Speak and rebuttal cycles of ~24hrs (to ease the international timezoney nature of these things).
I’ll organise the debate behind the scenes and post it as one video at the end.

Debate No .1 : Omni Roasts

Head to the (new) Barista Hustle Facebook Page to nominate and vote for the speakers you want to see!

This will be fun. 😬

Are You a Douchey Dude Barista?

A tumblr that rates Melbourne cafes on, well, douchey barista dudeness. I’m not saying this is the best way to tackle the various gender divides and attitude problems in our industry, but it’s something.

Most recent reviews are of Proud Mary Coffee (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Extreme Douche Alert”) and St ALi (⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Medium Douche Alert”).

An Espresso Martini that Doesn't Suck

Chefsteps -my favourite cooking website- teamed up with James Hoffmann to devise a delicious espresso martini (note: it requires chocolate bitters and a whipping siphon).

I also have a super-simple recipe for these that’s scalable for large events. It’s quite textural, plays nicely with most roast styles, and has lubricated many a Melbourne party.

100 x ~90ml serves:

4000ml Vodka
1000ml Patron XO
1000ml Cointreau

50 double espressos (from a ~20g dose)

Scale up or down as appropriate. Mix and chill overnight. The colder the better!

See You Next Week!

Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you have any feels about this new format!

To the boundaries of coffee,

Matt Perger

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