WBC Champion James Hoffmann East Coast Tour - March 2-15

[MarkO]

Counter Culture Coffee cordially invites the Home-Barista community to join reigning United Kingdom and World Barista Champion James Hoffmann for his 2008 U.S. East Coast Tour, March 2-15!



The 8-stop tour will include coffee presentations, skill demonstrations, barista workshops, and more at Counter Culture regional training centers and other locations listed below. We'll have more details on our website soon, but I wanted to get the word out asap. Hope to see many of you at the events!

James Hoffmann Tour Info

Regional event details:

March 2
New York, NY

3:00 p.m.
Live Barista Performance and Mixer
Ninth Street Espresso
Chelsea Market


March 4
Hyde Park, NY (Culinary Institute of America)

10 - 11:30 a.m.
Signature Drink Presentation
Danny Kaye Theater

2 - 3:30 p.m.
Signature Drink Presentation
Danny Kaye Theater



March 6
Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Barista Jam

10am - 12pm
Espresso Extraction Presentation


March 7
Washington, DC

10-11:30am
Coffee Cupping

DC Regional Training Center
1836 Columbia Road NW
Suite 202
Washington, DC 20009

7 - 9:30pm
Food Pairing Presentation

DC Regional Training Center


March 9
Durham, NC

2 - 5pm

Three-Part Presentation:
1) James' personal history in coffee
2) Single origin espresso tasting
3) Preparing for barista competitions

Durham HQ and Regional Training Center
4911 South Alston Avenue
Durham, NC 27713


March 11
Asheville, NC

7 - 9pm
Barista Comp. & Classic Drinks Presentation

Asheville Regional Training Center
77 Broadway Street
Asheville, NC 28801


March 12
Charlotte, NC

7 - 9pm
Barista Competition & Signature Drink Presentation

Charlotte Regional Training Center
1435 West Morehead Street
Charlotte, NC 28208


March 14
Atlanta, GA

10 - 11:30 am
Coffee Cupping

Atlanta Regional Training Center
King Plow Arts Center
887 West Marietta Street NW
Suite m210
Atlanta, GA 30318

1 - 3:30 pm
Barista Competition Presentation

Atlanta Regional Training Center

8pm
Party at Octane!


March 15
Atlanta, GA

2 - 5pm
Three-Part Presentation:
1) James' personal history in coffee
2) Single origin espresso tasting
3) Preparing for barista competitions

Atlanta Regional Training Center



James Hoffmann Biography:

James Hoffmann started working as a barista back in 2003. He started working for the espresso machine manufacturer Gaggia, and quickly progressed into a training role. From there in 2005 he moved to another espresso machine company - La Spaziale to work as their national training manager. He also began competing in barista competitions that year and in 2006 won the UK Barista Championship and placed 5th in the World Barista Championship in Berne. He competed again in 2007, winning the UK again and this time went on to win in Tokyo, Japan and became the World Barista Champion. In May 2007 James left La Spaziale with the aim of starting a roastery and cafe in London. He continues to train and consult, as well as write for a variety of different publications and has an interest in food science, having worked with the chefs at the world famous Fat Duck restaurant when working on signature coffee drinks for competition.

[jesawdy]

Wow, nice lineup. I'll plan to be at the Asheville event.

[aindfan]

I'll have to stop by at the NYC events. It looks like the March 2 event in Chelsea Market disappeared though...

[MarkO]

Hey Dan,

Local organizers are still finalizing times and details for the Chelsea event, but everything looks good for the date. I changed it to TBA as a placeholder until we have a final time slot. Please do mark the date on your calendar and try to make the event.

Best,

Mark

[MarkO]

http://www.counterculturecoffee.com/jameshoffmann


Click on the event dates for regional event fliers. Looking forward to seeing lots of H-B's at the events!

Mark

[aindfan]

Hey Dan,

Local organizers are still finalizing times and details for the Chelsea event, but everything looks good for the date.

I'm glad this event is staying on the west side (reasonably close to the 1 train). I'm looking forward to it.

[Ardvaark]

Sweet. I am so going to be there for the cupping. I might be able to make it for the food pairing, too, but it depends on whether I can convince the wife to show up a bit late for her favorite band...

[MarkO]

The incomparable Ninth Street Espresso is hosting the Chelsea event in their space. Each event should be terrific, but those of you within driving distance of NYC do not want to miss this one.

Abe, I'm talkin' to you!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

- Mark

[Abe Carmeli]

Abe, I'm talkin' to you!

I hear you mon. Just keep us informed as to when, and I'll grace the crowd with my presence.

[MarkO]

Right on. The Ninth St. Chelsea event kicks off at 3pm with James' demonstration.

An informal reception will follow directly afterwards.

NYC Event Flier

Best,

Mark

[MarkO]

NYC Update:

Ninth Street Chelsea will be selling $1 raffle tickets for a chance to win a front row tasting experience during James' demonstration on Sunday, March 2.

[Abe Carmeli]

It is not very often that the reigning World Barista Champion descends on New York for an afternoon of coffee fest with us mortals; so understandably, there was a lot of excitement at Chelsea Market on Sunday, long before the event started.

Andy Schecter and I got there early to spend some time with James Hoffmann before it got too busy. James, with Annette his girlfriend were still on London time though you wouldn't see it on them. We chatted for a while about everything coffee, including the coffee scene in London. New Zealand came up as the place with the largest number of micro roasters in the world, and of course espresso machine development. He has been testing equipment from various manufacturers some of which are doing out of the box pressure profiling, going up to 14 bars.


From left: James Hoffmann, Ken Nye & Andy Schecter


My two seconds of fame

The event, courtesy of Counter Culture Coffee was hosted by 9th Street Espresso. Their shop in Chelsea Market is truly a coffee bar and is beautifully integrated into that space. No chairs or tables and no walls for that matter. It is an integral part of the shared common space in that market. That large open space, so rare in New York City Coffee Shops, gave the place almost a European, even Italian flare, and for a moment transported me to Rome.


9th Street Espresso Bar



The meet and greet with James was in essence a series of drinks he prepared and served to a lucky few who won a seat at the table in a raffle. Lucky for me, Andy & Andrey Akselrod both won seats and made sure I was not left high and dry.

The coffees were all new coffees he hasn't tasted before, so his prep for the most part was pulling shots on the GS3 to fine tune his brew parameters for each coffee. That took about 30 minutes during which we had our own private party among the audience, with a few HB members in presence.


James hoffmann during his prep (picture by Andy Schecter)

James started his presentation preparing a straight shot of CCC Ethiopia Beloya. He tamed the acidity nicely, and served a sweet concoction of mango, papaya, passion fruit, and a hint of apricot & tangerine. Yum!


Look at that picture perfect pour (picture by Andy Schecter)

The next round was a 5 oz cappa. He used a straight shot of Kenya as the base and said we should taste black currents cutting through the milk. And so we did. In competition, we award a barista extra points for delivering on a promise and it is always a pleasure to see it in action.

The last round was his signature drink. The same drink he served in the WBC, kind of. Not exactly the same coffee and he was missing a scale to weigh the ingredients. He infused rosemary, hazelnut, chocolate & tobacco leaves in simple syrup, added it to a shot of espresso, and topped it with whipped cream. (This is all from memory, and I may be wrong on the exact recipe). The drink was delicious though too sweet, and unbalanced. Too much chocolate overwhelmed the drink. After the presentation, he noted that without the ability to weigh the ingredients, it was tough to get the quantities right.


The Lucky Four. From Left: Andrey Akselrod, two other guys & Andy Schecter sniffing the sig drink for explosives

It was a wonderful afternoon, and a fine presentation by the champ. I must say, regardless of his title, James is just a great guy to spend time with, and many thanks to Counter Culture Coffee, Ken Nye at 9th Street Espresso, and James Hoffmann for giving us that fortunate opportunity. Those of you who happen to be in London later this year, James & Annette will be opening their own roastery and coffee shop in East London by the end of the year. Definitely worth a visit.

Andy Schecter's Flickr Photos From the Event
My Flickr Photos

[MarkO]

Thanks for the terrific write up, Abe. Combined with Andy's photos, your recap really makes me feel like I was there. You two should publish an espresso version of the book Road Food together. Seriously.

[Abe Carmeli]

Thanks for the terrific write up, Abe. Combined with Andy's photos, your recap really makes me feel like I was there. You two should publish an espresso version of the book Road Food together. Seriously.

Thank you kindly Mark. I will discuss your proposition with Andy. Looking at the size of his telephoto lens, he can take all the pictures of coffee shops in New York City without leaving his home in Rochester. I believe he accidentally caught a satellite in orbit when aiming at a roof top billboard.

[chelya]

Great writeup, Abe. I still can't believe I won the raffle.
Big thanks to Counter Culture and 9th St Espresso. The opportunity to meet WBC Champion and taste his work does not happen every day.

[HB]

Reminder to those in the Triangle: James will be at Counter Culture Coffee in Durham tomorrow, 2-5 pm. I'll post a report, hopefully with photos by Ian. Directions

[HB]

Ian took pictures and I made videos of the Durham leg of the James Hoffmann tour. James was joined by fellow barista Anette Moldvaer and Lem Butler; together they served a good sized crowd of 50+ people three single origin espressos. A lucky eight attendees were served James' winning signature drink.

Many thanks to Counter Culture for sponsoring the tour, and many many thanks to James and Anette for traveling to the US to share their love of coffee and barista skills. There are still four more stops of the tour (Charlotte, Ashville, Atlanta * 2). It's definitely worth the trip!

Peter Giuliano welcomes attendees:


James introduces himself:


Explains the competition format:


Describes the three single origin espressos for today's tasting:


Why single origin espresso in competition?


Explains the genesis of his winning signature drink:


Serves signature drinks:


Several other videos: introduction to cupping, jostling through the cupping line, and the joy of slurping.

[HB]

The obligatory "brush with greatness" photo. I was secretly pleased that James was seated, otherwise he would tower over me. For those who may be wondering, my shirt choice was not product placement. It's one of the thank-you gifts from the sponsor of the USBC.

[woodchuck]

A few more of the event. Cudos to Counter Culture Coffee for doing a great job of organizing it!

Cheers

Ian

[DC]

Just wanted to say thank you very much for posting the videos and pics, wonder if he'll be doing something similar on our side of the pond...?