Sunday, April 15th was the “Jam in the Ham,” a barista jam located in Bellingham, Wa where baristas and other coffee fanatics got together to try some amazing coffees, different espresso machines, attend seminars, and to see the movie Black Gold. For little to no advertisingthe turnout was “a great success!!”-borat.
Justin and I lead 2 of 3 cuppings. The first was a blind cupping of seven different Colombians sample roasted the day prior. Five were from the recent Colombian Cup Of Excellence auction, one was our current offering “Colombia Monserrate Excelso” and the last was a defective Colombia Supremo from last year. Almost everyone picked out the defective right away and of course the standout on the table was the #1 from the COE. After revealing those twoI asked if they could pick out our Colombia Monserrate out of the remaining four COEs. Seemed like all had a difficult time choosing which one was a COEand which wasn’t. After eliminating three more it was left to the Monserrate and the #8. It was nice to see that our current Colombia offering was a favorite on the table next to the higher ranked COEs. Our second cupping was with five different Victrola offerings. This was a chance for everyone to try our offerings and to taste first hand the differences of each origin. People gravitated towards the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe for its lemon zest and the Sumatra Lake Tawar for it’s exotic fruit and herbal qualities. Everyone had the chance to hear from two former United States Barista Champions, Bronwen Serna and Dismass Smith, share what makes an outstanding barista. We followed up with free time on the espresso machines and an informal latte art competition. We couldn’t let the day end without our after cupping ritual. So, in true Victrola style, Justin and I shared a pint at the Boundary Bay Brewery. -Keith Gehrke
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