VESPERTINE PRESS

A blog about coffee, books and design...

Long live the guide…

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We were recently fortunate enough to have been interviewed by Donald Strachan from National Geographic Traveller magazine, for a piece he was writing about the current state of travel and niche interest guides. This is obviously an issue at the forefront of our thinking at present, especially as we await the second edition of the Independent Coffee Book: London back from our printer. In the internet era it can seem at times that travel-based enquiries revolve around internet searches and business directories; a sorry state of affairs when you consider how much false and unreliable content is out there, perpetuated by a host of faceless websites who’s foremost function appears to be advertising. When compiling information and content for one of our guides, we rely as little as possible on internet searches and go direct to the source for information if it needs clarifying. But further to the minefield of unreliable information and user-based reviews, it is also extremely difficult to find trusted sources for most coffee related searches, from brewing methods, to it’s history and on so on. Whilst there are hundreds of websites - some of which that are entirely dedicated to providing links to reliable coffee content - a large part of the process comes down to how discerning a reader or traveller you are. And this is where the purpose of a guide really become necessary. Where do you turn if you have searched high and low for a recommendation, only to be left having to use your own intuition to find it? It brings about an interesting question with regards how informed we are as tourists or city dwellers and, more specifically, what serves as the best medium for relaying reliable and informed content. In going forward the argument between apps, internet searches and books will no doubt continue, but for our part, we will continue to strive for factually correct content and recommendations that won’t disappoint. It’s not about ratings, advertising money or a competition over who has the most recommendations. We still want what we always have done, in this regard: reliable recommendations that show us something that has hitherto been hard to find, coupled with content that we can be sure of. It’s the crux of a complex issue that is insightfully argued by Donald, and one that is dealt with better in the article than we can do justice to ourselves. Long live the guide…

You can read Donald Strachan’s full article here:

http://natgeotraveller.co.uk/how/features/147705/

UK Aeropress Championship 2012



Saturday 24th March saw one of the new highlights of London’s coffee calendar, the inaugural UK Aeropress Championships. Organised by Paul Radin and the crew from Coffee Hit and hosted by Taylor St. Baristas (Bank), the 1st prize was a ticket to Portland to represent the UK at the 2012 World Championships in April.

Despite such an incredible award, the challenge was relatively simple on paper: Each competitor was allowed 8 minutes to grind, brew and present 200ml of a chosen Columbian coffee using their preferred method.  The versatility of the Aeropress left a pretty open playing field for competitors to experiment with. Their coffees were then judged on taste by Andrew Tolley (Taylor St. Baristas), Lynsey Harley (United Coffee/SCAE) and David Walsh (Marco). James Hoffmann was also on hand to adjudicate and to lend a hand in tie break situations.

For the opening heats the 18 competitors were split into 6 groups of 3, with the winners of each group put through into two semi-finals.  The first placed baristas from each semi, namely Shaun Young and Adam Obratil, then faced off in the final, whilst runners up Jochem Verheijen and Bill Tahtis contested the 3rd and 4th placed positions. 


After a pretty intense final brew-off and much deliberation from the judges, Shaun Young was crowned the first ever UK champion, closely followed by Adam and Jochem in second and third place respectively.  Shaun, who admitted later to being a relative newcomer to the Aeropress, used a Samaniego coffee from Square Mile, usually one of the components for their Red Brick blend. For all the coffee geeks out there, the breakdown of Shaun’s winning Aeropress method are listed below.

Coffee: Samaniego from Square Mile
Roast Date: 15/3/2012
Dose:15.5g
Water Weight: 250g
Water Temp.: 80 degrees C
Coffee TDS (Total Dissolved Solids): 1.2%
Coffee Grinder/Grind Setting: Mahlkonig Tanzania/4.8
Water type: Reverse Osmosis
Water TDS: 150 PPM
Water pH:6.8
Recipe: 15.5g of coffee, prewet to 35secs, 250g water, 2.30mins total extraction time
 

Shaun will be flown out to Portland, Oregan on Friday 20th April for the World Championships. Best of luck to Shaun and congratulations to all the competitors for taking part. 


Photographs courtesey of Glenn Watson at www.coffee-photography.com

Coffee data kindly supplied by Andrew Tolley


Last night London’s coffee community were out in force to attend the Safe House Fundraising event at Prufrock, kindly organised by John Gordon of Square Mile. Safe House Coffee and Tea is a non-profit roaster and coffee bar in Griffin, Georgia, that was destroyed by fire on the 30th January 2012.  Since the blaze, which gutted their building and effectively rendered Safe House homeless, other fundraising events have been organised throughout the US and donation sites have been set up in order to help get them back on track.  Last night it was London’s turn to show its support.

There were raffles and auctions throughout the night featuring some incredible prizes and lots donated by many charitable industry names including Marco, Keep Cup and Coffee Hit (the full list can be viewed on John’s blog).  There was an awesome list of coffee on offer donated by the likes of James Gourmet, Has Bean, Extract Coffee and Square Mile, expertly pulled on the Spirit by Prufrock baristas Oli Bradshaw, Dave Robson, James Bailey and recent UKBC South East heat winner Sang-Ho Park. Craft beers were donated by Kernel Brewery and the guys from Big Apple Hotdogs parked their stall out front, donating a percentage their takings to the nights collection. There was also a hotly competed thumb wrestling event where challengers faced off against former World Barista Champions Gwilym Davies and James Hoffmann.

Aside from battling it out with their thumbs, James Hoffmann and Steve Leighton of Has Bean also contested arguably the most coveted auction of the night: the Kees van der Westen ‘Frankenstein’, a one group espresso machine hand-built and finished using old bicycle parts, constructed in just 13 hours in the Kees workshop. The healthy rivalry culminated in Hoffmann placing the winning bid for the machine, which will no doubt be gracing one of benches at Square Mile HQ as of today. 

The generosity of the bidders and the supporters made for a hugely successful and enjoyable night, the proceeds of which will go some way to seeing Safe House back up and running in the near future. If you’d like to contribute to the cause, you can also donate here.

The coffee industry is full of creative people. Something about drinking coffee seems to inspire great work in all fields of design, artwork and literature and to cultivate new ideas and innovation. Whether it is the fact that the industry is constantly developing or whether coffee shops provide perfect venues for solitary creative work is up for debate.  What is certain is that in the last few months, since publishing our book about London’s coffee scene, we have had the great pleasure of being reviewed and acknowledged by some of those at the forefront of this creative outpouring.

One such coffee lover and self-proclaimed “doodler” is Ben Blake, aka Draw Coffee. Having been rarely without a pen in his hand since childhood and having more recently discovered a love of coffee, Ben began embarking upon the natural convergence of these two interests in January this year.  Every day over his morning coffee in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Ben doodles about the particular coffee he is drinking onto a filter paper, incorporating brewing methods and logos into an elaborate and ornate series of designs. Ben’s caffeinated compositions have already attracted collaborations with specialty coffee roasters and stellar industry names. As you can see, he was also kind enough to do a doodle for us too. 

Ben was inspired to begin his coffee exploration in no small part by Brian W. Jones, the multi-talented creator of Dear Coffee, I Love You.  For the past few years, DCILY has been relentlessly promoting cutting edge design and great coffee to a wide audience, becoming in the process one of the leading voices and sources of information for coffee lovers the world over. As a design driven resource, DCILY combines discerning reviews and beautiful artwork to promote great coffee and creativity.  Draw Coffee is just one example that the DCILY mission statement is most definitely being fulfilled.

Brian is currently entered into a competition to earn a trip to the World Barista Championships 2012 in Vienna this summer. As a former barista, one of Coffee Common’s founder members and tireless campaigner for coffee, please show your support by giving him your vote at http://www.sendmetovienna.com/86-Brian-W.-Jones.html

You can also see what DCILY had to say about our book here.

Big thanks to both Draw Coffee and DCILY. Long may the creative cross-pollination continue.

LONDON COFFEE BOOK PRINTS AUCTION - RAISING MONEY FOR COFFEE KIDS

Every day for the next 10 days we will be auctioning some very limited edition photgraphic prints by Victor Frankowski, in order to help raise money and awareness for the very worthwhile charity organisation Coffee Kids - www.coffeekids.org

The prints are each a ‘1 of 1’ and will be signed and dated by the photographer.  They are taken from the series of photoshoots Vic embarked upon during the production of the latest Independent Coffee Book. They are A1 sized high resolution Giclee Prints, printed at 1440dpi on 200gsm premium quality semi-gloss photo paper. They come unframed and the bidding begins at zero.  To bid, simply email us at vespertinepress@gmail.com with your offer. We will email you back at the end of each day if to confirm whether you have been the highest bidder.  

These are lovely prints, ideal to hang on your wall at home or in your cafe.  All proceeds from the auction will go directly to Coffee Kids.  An image will be posted on Twitter each day, at which point bidding begins.  Even if you do not wish to take part in the auction itself, please Retweet and send to as many people as possible.

Merry Christmas and happy bidding!

THE INDEPENDENT COFFEE BOOK HAS LANDED! Available now priced £10 from London cafes including: Taylor St. Baristas (Mayfair, Bank, Richmond & Brighton), St. Ali, Prufrock Leather Lane, Notes (Covent Garden & Trafalgar Sq.), Espresso Room, Kaffeine, DunneFrankowski @ Protein, Nude Espresso, Dark Fluid, Federation Coffee, Flat Cap Coffee Co. (Strutton Ground & Fleet St.), Browns of Brockley. From Brighton coffee shops: Small Batch Coffee Co., Marwood, Ground Coffee Houses, Taylor St. Baristas and Coffee @ 33. Also available online (wholesale and retail) at CoffeeHit http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/the-independent-coffee-book-london/p921

THE INDEPENDENT COFFEE BOOK HAS LANDED!

Available now priced £10 from London cafes including:

Taylor St. Baristas (Mayfair, Bank, Richmond & Brighton), St. Ali, Prufrock Leather Lane, Notes (Covent Garden & Trafalgar Sq.), Espresso Room, Kaffeine, DunneFrankowski @ Protein, Nude Espresso, Dark Fluid, Federation Coffee, Flat Cap Coffee Co. (Strutton Ground & Fleet St.), Browns of Brockley.

From Brighton coffee shops:

Small Batch Coffee Co., Marwood, Ground Coffee Houses, Taylor St. Baristas and Coffee @ 33.

Also available online (wholesale and retail) at CoffeeHit

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/the-independent-coffee-book-london/p921

Yesterday I had the great priveledge of helping out on the Dark Fluid coffee stall at Brockley market alongside Lawrence and Karen.  Having spent alot of time talking with Lawrence over the last few months and having visited his roastery a number of times it was such a pleasure to see how all his hard work is put into practice and also how many people are embracing what he is doing.  Whilst Im no expert behind an espresso machine, the Kees that Lawrence has refurbed was a pleasure to use and turned out some delicious shots. The iced coffees were very much the order of the day and people seemed to really enjoy their drinks. Alongside Dark fluid there were a host of other excellent producers on show throughout the market and a healthy cameraderie between the stallholders.  The blazing heat and quality goods saw yet another good turnout and I believe that before long the market will become a real hub for the community.  See www.darkfluid.co.uk and www.brockleymarket.com for more info.