David's Blog
Packing for Espresso-35 years later
Dear Reader,
When we opened in 1988 I toured Italy twice to study extraction techniques and equipment. One of the takeaways was the hand position and tool for espresso packing. We trained on scales for years and I thought the straight arm and wrist position I has seen in Italy , combined with 40 pounds maximum force, would be sufficient to avoid long term injury.
I was wrong. As baristi pass the 20 year mark on daily shifts, some have developed wrist or shoulder injuries from packing the coffee by hand. And as for myself, at the 35 year mark of packing by hand…I developed wrist problems.
So I am recommending two packing machines.
Mechanical hand packer from Italy. This works but still requires a repetitive, forceful lever pull to achieve packing. The repetitive nature of the activity will probably result in tendon and ligament problems also.
Enter the PUQ press…
We have used this for about one month. It can be made to pack at a force of your choosing, we set it at 40 pounds. It has a few tricks up it’s sleeve however. Here is what we have learned:
For our naked porta-filter (PF), you need to adjust the height of the bracket that holds the PF in place as tightly as possible. Even after doing that check your level with a hand packer and adjust your usage angle if needed by lifting the PF handle at the moment of packing. If the pack is not level the pour will be off center, not good.
Ground coffee will accumulate on the piston surface and we wipe it every few shots with a rag.
Ground coffee will also accumulate on the sides of the piston and may enter the motor enclosure and ruin the machine over time. There is a cleaning button on the control panel to lower the piston as shown in the picture. We wipe this about once every hour.
I never expected staff to run the front bar for more than a few years but several Vivace veterans have reached that point. Not all of them have developed problems from packing but I have switched to the PUQ anyway. We went with the GEn 5 Q2 model and it is capable of hundreds of shots a day.
Agora Refreshments is a Seattle Vivace distributor!
Dear Reader,
For years different organizations have approached us to distribute our Northern Italian roast. I say “great but the coffee must be in the customers hands within three days of roasting”. They become strangely quiet at that point. But finally, I have found one that truly respects our bean! I am excited to announce that Agora does deliver truly fresh Vivace coffee to offices in the Seattle area. We even created an “Agora Blend” for them!
Check them out at www.agorarefreshments.com
-David
Bourbon Pointu-34th Anniversary Offering
Vivace 34th anniversary espresso tasting
This year David will personally prepare one of the rarest coffee cultivars in the world: Mexican Bourbon Pointu
Bourbon Pointu, like most coffee varietals, was a natural mutation in the coffea arabica plant. Pointu features a natural sweetness and 40% less caffeine than other arabica typicas. For the bush, caffeine repels insects naturally so farmers abandoned this varietal due to the difficulty of growing it. It almost became exinct except for one micro-lot farm in the Chiapas region of Mexico. In fact only 20 bags are available annually and Vivace bought 15 bags for you! (Thank you to the representative of Chiapas farms, Luis Gomez Andere!)
Truly I’m very excited about this coffee. In the cup it features a medium body, a savory caramel, a hint of black pepper, and a sweetness that reminds me of effervescent cola. Let me make you a shot…
Thursday April 14th 12 to 2:30pm Alley 24
Friday April 15th 12 to 2:30pm at Brix
Featured coffees also include
Ugandan Ekende and
Swiss Water Dcaf Sidamo
In Praise of Mexican Microlot Coffee
Dear Patient Reader,
With Ethiopia experiencing civil war and extended drought conditions, I began to search for coffees that might be able to match the quality I have enjoyed for years at Vivace. Coffees from the Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harrar, and Guji regions of Ethiopia have been unmatched for flavor intensity, body, notes of blueberry, and a savory quality that emerges in our roast when prepared as espresso.
I have been terrified that Ethiopian coffee might be unavailable in the not too distant future. Thanks to the efforts of Luis Gomez Andere of Chiapas Mexico, salvation has appeared in the Mexican micro-lot farms in the region. (Luis company is Roasters Warehouse Trading Company).
Luis explained to me that leaf rust had decimated many larger Central and South American coffee farms. However smaller farms were able to hand trim affected parts of the plant saving the farms. This small, focused way of farming also produces very high quality in the cup. Individual attention by the farmers to soil composition, proper water management, and unique processing gives them an edge over massive farms located throughout the Americas.
In fact, Ethiopian farmers made a trip to the Chiapas region to study the processing methods employed by these small farms.
Here are our tasting notes for some of these coffees offered on Sundays at Vivace’s single origin program…
Estate Huehuetepan ,
Processed with Anaerobic Fermentation, a process of sealing the coffee cherries in an air tight container while fermentation of the mucilage of the cherry occurs, imparting (hopefully) pleasing notes to the coffee after drying. The farm is located in Veracruz Mexico. When prepared as espresso it features a medium body with active citrus notes and a pleasing caramel.
Mexican Pacamara
Grown at Finca Muxbal on the slopes of an active volcano, (Tacana) at 4060 meters asl. Espresso featured a medium body with notes of nutmeg up front, a caramel umami, and light stone fruit in the finish. Very unique coffee…
Mexican Bourbon Pointu
A bourbon is a sub-species of coffea arabica which originated on Bourbon Island, (renamed Reunion Island). Pointu refers to the shape of these tiny coffee beans. A unique note of black pepper combined with a effervescent cola sweetness, makes this one of the most interesting coffees we have offered. Lower caffeine content compared to most arabicas offers and easy drinkability and reduces bitterness.
Schomer Consultation
Hello Espresso Lovers,
I’m ready to teach your company how to create the most flavorful and beautiful caffe espresso and latte art. Three days with me and I guarantee you will be making the finest espresso in your city.
In this intensive format I will be:
-Evaluating and tuning equipment for perfection.
-Training baristi on specific techniques, (and training your trainer to ensure the information is retained and a culture of excellence is created in your company.)
-Presenting my theory lecture live to cover every aspect of creating this culinary art
In my thirty three years of training and developing this into a culinary art I have written over 100 trade articles, produced three video courses, and written the seminal book series “ESPRESSO COFFEE Professional Techniques” in 1995 and updated as new information and equipment is discovered. These materials and research are widely credited with starting the world-wide trend to prepare caffe espresso as a culinary art.
“David Schomer has changed the way the world makes espresso” “The Art of Perfection” Green Coffee Review Dec. 2015
Consulting Bewley’s of Ireland-1998
“We met David on a research trip to Seattle and persuaded him to come to Ireland and do a week of consulting in the form of Espresso Workshops & Keynotes. It was a revelation. The influence was enormous. The language inspiring. The lights had come on and not just for me. Industry stalwarts were stunned such was his impact.”
“David was the American Irish coffee revolutionary we had all been waiting for. He was hands down my biggest influence and his legacy remains today. A legend.”
Hugh Gilmartin-The Filter Business Consultancy, Belfast Ireland
To apply please email me directly. I would like to chat on Zoom to allow you to get to know me and see if we “click”. I will need a sample of your roast, and a list of your equipment. If I can help you we can proceed with scheduling.
ESPRESSO PERFECTION is on sale now
Dear Espresso Lovers,
ESPRESSO PERFECTION
Preparing caffe espresso as a culinary art
By David C. Schomer
Available Friday March 19th in our stores and online at www.espressovivace.com
Caffe espresso has revealed so many new secrets since I released “ESPRESSO COFFEE 2013” I felt compelled to revisit and greatly expand the information in the book. I can say truthfully I am very happy with this edition.
I have done a deep dive into theory and practice to prepare this as a culinary art. Of particular note is the explanation of requirements for demand grinders. If you have been following my work you know that dosing the coffee into the porta-filter has emerged as the toughest problem for these grinders. I will explain here two dosing solutions for grinders that currently exist. And, I have added new theory, and for the first time explained the appearance of sweet espresso shots.
Price $35
COFFEE FRESHNESS-Update
Hello Coffee Lovers,
For the past three days I have enjoyed our Vita blend that was roasted on February 8th! (It is March 9th today) The coffee was very good. I have tested several refrigerated samples in the last two weeks and I’m ready to state that with proper handling our roasted coffee stays perfect for one month in the refrigerator!…here is exactly what I did for this test. (Samples included Ugandan Ekende, Vita Blend and Dolce Blend.)
In all test batches the beans were held at room temperature, at or below 70 degrees F. for two or three days to simulate shipping conditions that our coffee will go through for online orders, then placed in the refrigerator and held around 45 degrees in the original bags. Shots featured full flavor and viscosity with normal crema production.
From personal experience I know that coffee is very temperature sensitive so I’m not sure this will apply to the summer months. It will depend on the temperatures the coffee is exposed to during shipping.
Culture of Excellence-business structure
Owners and Managers,
In the previous post I mentioned that of course, to achieve a culture wherin’ staff are truly excited about your business, it is necessary to remain fairly small and tightly focused. In an artisan business it is the passion of the owner that is the seed that can grow into a true culture of excellence… but only if it is nourished and protected while it grows.
In my experience a person that is passionate about coffee might not be able to handle the mind numbing detail necessary to run a coffee business and still maintain that initial passion. They will wear out trying to handle accounting, payroll, taxes, inventory, store management, scheduling…and on and on…Business administration is a separate skill from creating beauty and inspiring others to follow your dreams. So if the business is too small the owner will burn out trying to do everything themselves. If it is too big the owners passion will be diluted through intermediaries that conduct training for them. For us the Goldilocks Zone is three stores and a roasting plant.
So let’s analyze Vivace for clues why my staff and myself can remain fresh and excited after 32 years of doing this.
First I stop in at all three coffee bars, and the roasting plant, daily. I show up and make sure equipment and techniques are up to par. I taste a lot of coffee with them. And I get excited with them to see beautiful latte art and perfect pours when they come out … Staff know this and it keeps them sharp and excited to excell at the art. So, in general, the size of the business is important. If it is too small you cannot afford bar managers and accountants and you will eventually fail. If it is too large you cant keep up with staff performance and training personally and the excitement gets watered-down.
Bar Management
I have a general manager with 18 years of experience, and a bar manager (also 18 years with VIvace), dedicated mainly to our Alley 24 location. They protect me from the daily blizzard of details required to run the bars. I totally trust them to handle the shops and they have meetings with me weekly.
Accounting
My partner handles this as her main responsibility. She has one professional accountant to assist in her department. This area also includes payroll and taxes.
Macchinesti-the machine specialist.
For all the coffee equipment, especially grinders, I personally maintain them. On the espresso machines, major repairs are usually delegated but “tuning” the temperatures and pressures, and handling small issues like replacing group gaskets, is done by myself. And, as I have mentioned making this my immediate priority when I visit reinforces my stated drive for perfection.
Training
This is my primary responsibility. I’m directly teaching fundamentals such as flow rate control, distribution and dosing, rinsing and machine cleaning, milk steaming and latte art. They see me monthly for the first few years at Vivace. When I personally teach them this culinary art the message is clear-Vivace is an authentic artisan business. The coffee matters.
We have one additional dedicated trainer for extraction fundamentals whose responsibilities also range into line management, and alternative milks. Also, we have a dedicated latte art trainer.
Training is where it all happens…we share the frisson of excitement at creating and tasting perfect shots. And we share the thrill of each employees first success pouring hearts, rosettas, winged hearts and other patterns as they learn them. This year some staff that have been with me for eight years were thrilled to free-pour Christmas trees for our lock-down holidays. (I love it when long-run pro baristi are still excited). And training each one keeps me fresh also because each person is a unique puzzle to figure out how to best teach them the skills required while instilling ownership of this art form. And, as baristi get better we honor their work with our online latte art gallery.
So the takeaway from this short series I’ve written is that authentic passion is required in the owner to be the seed of the culture of excellence surrounding your company. And that passionate person has to be protected by dedicated partners and managers to survive the realities of small business. The size of the company has to be small enough for the owner to personally check in daily at all stores, but big enough to have professional bar management and accounting to run the machine that is a business.
And, an artisan espresso business, once established, is a tough little entity, financially stable through the ups and downs of economic cycles. And it brings discerning and intelligent customers into the door which serve to reinforce staff interest in the art.
Culture of Excellence-the seed
Owners and Managers,
Of course, any business striving to hire and motivate employees to take pride and become personally involved in the company charter, has to be fairly small. The seed of the culture must be the passion of the owner. An authentic passion for coffee that stands the test of time, and the rigors of small business, must be present in the owner. There is no hiding.
Staff members are like family in one important aspect: they can see your true priorities through your actions over time. You are key to their livelihood and they will keenly zero in on your true priorities whether or not you know them yourself. They will give you what you prioritize. It’s an easy thing to say “we will make the best coffee possible every day!” But to succeed it is a classic case of actions speaking louder than words.
For example, if you visit the shop and staff says the grinder seems to be heating up and shots are coming out thin and whitish. But you are busy heading to an important branding meeting. “Ill try to get to that as soon as I have time” Staff will quickly surmise that marketing is more important to you than excellent coffee. As owner you have missed a chance to be authentic to your charter: making great coffee. Staff are not stupid, they know as owner you are very busy. However, if you pull that grinder immediately and change the burrs (or replace it with a back-up grinder) they will believe in you as having authentic passion. In the long run this is much more important than marketing.
You cannot fake passion because running a small business is too tough and will wear you down to your true nature quickly. But if your true essence is passion for coffee, that passion can create a wonderful business model containing many hidden treasures.
On your side of the counter having a reputation for authentic passion attracts intelligent, sensitive applicants to work there. In the US right now, many happening young people want to dedicate their time and energy to something beautiful. An authentic artisan business has a deep meaning to the people that bring it to the world. It is more than just chasing the almighty dollar. So, staffing is easier. Great people apply all the time.
On the other side of the counter, quality attracts a discerning customer. It sounds elitist of me but over time I see a correlation between possessing a discerning palate and intelligence. (The opposite is not necessarily true, I know lots of brilliant folks that are simply not interested in quality food or drink.) In espresso preparation artisan preparation is almost impossible to find, so the sensitive customers are very appreciative and respectful of the staff and the gorgeous coffee they can create. This appreciation manifests in better tips and excitement over the drinks trained staff can create. This excitement from the customers makes an artisan espresso business an exciting place to work. Although artisan espresso preparation is very difficult,if you can pull it off the customers will be exceedingly loyal, and your business will stand the test of time. (People will cling to their coffee even when money gets tight. We prospered right through a the sub-prime mortgage recession, and are going to come through our first pandemic.)
So as a business model, artisan espresso brings in great applicants to work there and great customers to appreciate them and that fosters an environment wherein staff can remain happy over time.
Culture of Excellence-initial training
Owners and managers,
In the second installment of this series I mentioned that our interview process includes an hour of training on the espresso machine with myself. I can learn a lot more about an applicant going through the espresso training process than I can by sitting and chatting. I’m looking for attitude expressed by physical “tells”, artistry and native talent, and their learning style. And of course every action is a two way communication. The fact that the owner dedicates his time exclusively to the act of teaching to be an artisan barista speaks a lot about the priorities of the company. And it gives all staff a way to get to know me.
And, I can make my coffee for them. I learn a lot by their reaction when we taste results together. It’s one thing to tell them that the espresso is ultra sensitive to flow rate, fast pours are sour, slow pours can be hollow, sour or bitter. But tasting a 20 second extraction really drives home the point, it’s sour astringent, so never serve it. In the states a lot of folks do not drink straight shots. So one trainer trick I employ is for them to taste the sour/astringent shot then a perfect shot right after. Most people will perceive the “god-shot” as much sweeter and richer after their palate has been assaulted with sour crema.
We run through settling and distribution technique, and dosing manually up front. I emphasize that distribution is always a focused moment and over the years it is crucial to maintain a student attitude, never dashing it off without paying attention to the process. A big tell here would be impatience with the process being expressed by rushing or excessive noise being generated- the hands revealing frustration or a “you’ve got to be kidding” attitude. Body language can be quite revealing. In a future great barista, this part of the training is always fumbly and cautious out of respect for the level of artistry Vivace has achieved. A “know it all” applicant will always try to appear really confident and cool. (This is not an automatic deal breaker with me but it is more difficult to teach someone that thinks they know it all already.)
Next we focus on rinsing the group head and cleaning techniques. This requires very precise timing. During this part of the training I mention that running an espresso bar to our standards is a series of small precise timings. For example, the shots are quite perishable and must be combined with the milk instantly at the moment that the milk is perfect. Rinse timing gives me a good window to see if precision is in their skill set.
Next we practice milk steaming and a latte art intro. I’m looking for some kind of enthusiasm or appreciation of beauty. At this point their attitude and appreciation towards the process is much more important that initial skill levels. I can teach skills but the appreciation of the coffee, and their own artistry or lack of it is innate to that person. And, nothing reveals this as well as an hour of training.
Next we will dive into the structure of a business that supports, or erodes, a culture of excellence.