There were many enlightening moments from last weekend's World Barista Championships, from the "almost reluctant" participation of the winner, to the increasing excellence and maturity of the barista presentations from coffee-growing countries (particularly Central America), to the technical wizardry that we've already remarked on ad naseum.
A week later, the thing that's sticking out in our mind is how many of us buy into a set of parameters for roasting and brewing that may be well-founded, but can be proved otherwise in the hands of a skilled barista.
We're as guilty as anyone in buying into dogma. But you have to start somewhere, so going with commonly-held perceptions on espresso and coffee brewing is as good a place to start as any.
We've talked about the importance of coffee freshness quite often on this site over the past four-plus years. Anything we brew on bar at Aldo Coffee is less than 14 days old, and often less than that. Retail coffee that's pushing three weeks off roast ends up in the 20% off bin. The handful of bags each year that go over a month without being sold are given to churches and charities (still beats the stuff in a can by miles).
Freshness is what we were taught. And it is important if you're looking to get the flavors and mouthfeel from the beans we sell.
But we're not Attila Molnar, the Hungarian Barista Champion who finished sixth in the WBC.
In the chat room that accompanied the live stream of the finals, more than a few eyebrows were raised when Attila said the Ethiopia Beloya beans he was using were 20 days off roast.
Most competitors were using beans six to 10 days off roast. A few might go to 12 days.
"Did he just say 20 days?"
Keep in mind that in order for Attila to have won his own country's championship and emerge from the WBC preliminaries as one of the six finalists, his coffee had to taste extraordinarily good. The WBC judges are some of the most competent coffee tasters in the world. Style points don't win. It's what's in the cup.
Great Ethiopia Beloya coffee doesn't sit on shelves very long in the US or Canada. Select lots of this year's Beloya are so good that head Coffee Geek Mark Prince (or was it Alex?) even coined a term for the ecstacy one feels when drinking it: beloyagasm.
Most North American baristas (professional or home) who had possession of Beloya wouldn't consider saving some to continue to make espresso and cappuccinos at 20, 25 or 30 days off roast to see how it tasted. The coffee would be long gone by two weeks.
Thus, even more eyebrows were raised when Attila added that 20 days was a compromise he had to make in order to do all three drinks with the same beans. While he likes 20 days off roast for cappuccinos, he prefers his espresso with beans that are 33 days off roast.
"Did he just say 33 days?"
Yes, he did.
You can imagine that baristas who took notice of Attila's performance will be experimenting on their own to see just how long their beans are capable of pulling great shots and what adjustments need to be made to dose and grind to get there. We know we will.
Unfortunately, we don't have any Beloya. But we hope to find some.
During our trip to Guatemala, we were fortunate to be able to spend time with Linus from The Coffee Collective in Copenhagen. Just like Attila, they let their espresso rest for 2 weeks. I was surpised, since I've always been told that the best window is from ~4-7 days off roast. Perhaps it's an American thing that we always want 'fresh roasted' coffee beans and have a penchant for expiration dates that we miss out on the possible flavors of 'expired' coffee?
Posted by: Spronomy | April 27, 2009 at 12:03 AM