Aldo Coffee Company

So We're Competing After All

Sonja has decided to compete in this year's Mid-Atlantic Barista Competition, March 5-7 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

While Melanie and I had planned to attend the CoffeeFest trade show, which is hosting the event, we were not figuring on having any competitors this year.  However, due to an illness, Sonja missed the opportunity to take part in last year's competition in Cranberry.  She said she wants to take one last run at it, bringing daughter Clara along as a competition volunteer, so Clara can "experience the experience" and perhaps catch the fever herself (Clara has already spent time with two World Barista Champions, so we think she'll be ready next year).

Given Sonja is a two-time regional finalist and two-time USBC competitor, we know she can be ready in time.  As she's also one of the fastest competitors out there (she's left more than 2 minutes on the clock a couple of times), it opens us up to a lot of possibilities regarding what can be packed into her performance.

We'll have decided on the final espresso by middle of next week.  We're working with one of our coffee suppliers on several single origins roasted specifically for this performance.  This may mean that the Hairbender is unavailable at times in the shop so we can use that grinder to work on Sonja's competition espresso. Apologies for that inconvenience, but it's for a good cause. (Black Cat will still be on bar).

As for the signature drink, a lot of work left to be done there.  But we have some ideas. Stay tuned.

Sometimes You Make the P-G Just for Showing Up

Fun read from Sunday's Post-Gazette on how much of Pittsburgh handled "Snowmageddon".

Frank got a few paragraphs.  Like most of us, he didn't have power, but made it in to open.

Frank Battista was luckier. He awoke at 5:45 a.m., took care of his dog, shoveled off his car and then drove from his Mexican War Streets home to help open up Aldo Coffee Co. in Mt. Lebanon at 7:15 a.m., where he's a barista.

It's a good thing he did: business was extremely brisk, thanks to a mix of regulars and others who'd trudged though snow-caked and largely deserted streets to find the lights on and coffee brewing inside.

"Our phone was ringing off the hook," he added. "We should have had, like a ski report, you call in and we say 'We have five lifts open.' "

For all the people without heat and power overnight, "This was a warm place to come to, that had coffee," Mr. Battista said. "Everyone's been very friendly -- just happy to have a place to go to."

Everyone made it in, on time.  Thankfully Frank has 4WD.  Jess walked, having left her car in the back lot Friday night.  It took her 90 minutes to shovel it out.  Sam walked a mile or so as the T was down (but got a ride home).  Sonja and Clara both trudged the six blocks from their house.  They were all our heroes for the day.

The Next Movement - Where Specialty Coffee Is Headed by Geoff Watts

A great summation of thoughts on the direction of Specialty Coffee by Intellgentsia's green coffee buyer and chief innovator, Geoff Watts.

We agree with just about everything on the list.  A couple of qualifications: 

Updated Class Calendar (and what you missed on Saturday)

New dates for all the upcoming tasting/barista classes.

If you're interested in taking part of any of the classes, drop us an email.

Here's what y'all missed on Saturday.  We had three cancellations that morning, so it was just Rich with Scott from East End Brewing and his lovely wife for the cupping of four direct trade and auction Colombians.  As Tom had come in for lunch, we invited him over for the grand finale - the six way brew fest. 

We brewed up the new Burundi Bwayi, starting with Chemex, then proceeding to Hario V60 pourover, Abid, Cafe Solo, press pot and finally, the siphon, to compare what each brew method did to the coffee.  Tom took some great photos of it all. 

As always seems to happen, most everyone had a different favorite method, depending on whether they preferred articulated flavors or rich body.  But all agreed that the siphon offered probably the most interesting and complex result.

Best "keeping it real" moment of the day came from the table next to where we were doing the cupping. An elderly lady watched the steaming water being poured into the cupping dishes.  When we were done pouring, she asked, "Is that hot water in there?"  Rich nodded yes.  So she asked, "Well then, can you pour some into my cup because this coffee is awfully strong!"

La Verdad Trapichitos Cups with the Big Boys

During our Christmas travels, we gave our buds Ann and Neil a couple of different roasts of the Guatemala Traphichitos that Rich has been roasting under the La Verdad label.

Unbeknownst to us, both samples ended up on TampTamp's cupping table alongside a couple of Intelligentsia's coffees.

As far as body and acidity, we were worried about the longer roast not developing fully enough. But the notes from TT's public cupping are encouraging.  Not bad for a startup.  Beginners' luck.

The bad news is we're out of it until Thursday :(

Direct Trade, In Season, Micro-Lots - Where Did These Concepts Come From?

Here.

UPDATE: Saturday's Advanced Tasting Class Full

Got an email with a cancellation so three seats just opened up. Leave a comment below or DM us on Twitter if you want to participate. It's 1:00-2:30pm and free.

Actually we're overbooked by one, but we'll make room. 

As we've got a local food professional sitting in on this one, we're thinking of something a bit more 'out there' to really challenge this group.

Thinking this is a good group for a Columbian cupping.  We've got a few to choose from.

We might throw in a Guatemalan roasted three ways.  And finish with a brew-off of the table's favorite coffee.

Fun times.

Not sure if we're going to a formal public tasting next month as we're pretty busy every weekend through mid-March, but we will have some informal ones for staff that we'll tweet in advance if you want to stop by.

Get 'Em While You Can - Old Coffees Out, New Ones In

Six new coffees are being released by Stumptown's Brooklyn roastery this coming week.  We'll be getting our next shipment on Thursday.  Two new ones from Intelligentsia will be in the week after.  Six of these eight will be East African.

Meantime, a couple of Kenyans are being discontinued.  We've got one bag of Kangocho and a few of the Githima.  The Ethiopia Sidama is already gone and won't be replaced.  Same with the Rwanda Vunga.  We think there's a couple of weeks of availability left for the Ethiopia Mordecofe Natural, but that could change. We're also dropping the Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon to make room for something else.

If you like any of these coffees, jump on them this weekend as they won't be around next weekend (except maybe the Mordecofe).

On Today's Abid Article in the P-G

Local food critic/writer China Millman has a feature story on the Abid Clever Coffee Dripper in today's Post-Gazette.  It's a well-researched article and we really appreciate China's continuing attention on coffee in the paper's food section.

We've Got the Gold Standards and Great American Benchmarks, But Where Is the Great Pittsburgh Espresso?

Earlier this week, noted espresso expert Chris Tacy posted on a tasting he and some culinary pros did among his home region's (San Francisco) espressos and coffees.

Stumptown's Hairbender was the preferred espresso and a couple of Intelligentsia and Stumptown single origins fared very well.

So did some espressos and coffees roasted locally in San Francisco, indicating that the Bay Area is gaining ground on Portland and Seattle as a legitimate coffee destination.

As local coffee gadfly Michael Hoffman noted on a recent Tweet, Pittsburgh also offers a wealth of great coffees, including Intelligentsia (us, 21st, Big Dog, Dozen), Stumptown (us), 49th Parallel (Voluto), Counter Culture (Espresso a Mano*, Blue Horse), Verve (Tazza d'Oro), Ecco (21st, testing it here soon) and we'll throw Victrola (Oh Yeah!) into that group.