paging hoffmann
October 20, 2006 – 4:54 pmquestion is, if billy is serving up “espresso pearls” at the northwest barista competition, will the judges grasp the visionary ability to esteem them (or, say, fawn like an appreciative fiancee?)? or will they behave more like, you know, swine?
p.s. thanks to reader mikep, who once again keeps us covered on vital matters of barista arcania.
p.p.s. this blog, of course, has indulgently pledged to drop the ‘underdog’ descriptor when it comes to billy’s competition status. still, the tattooed one takes the opportunity to note, for publication, the wee-morning hours of a competing production-line barista!
“The best part is staying up until 1 a.m. and then coming in to open at 5 a.m.,” Wilson says with a laugh.
was it a cynical laugh? a knowing laugh? was there a wink involved?
you can depend on CI to ask the leading, paranoid questions!
(vital background)
p.p.p.s the food scientist weighs in in the comments.
6 Responses to “paging hoffmann”
The alginate droplets are really interesting, though I steered clear as they made me nervous for a couple of reasons:
I don’t like tasting espresso if it is more than a minute or two from brewing, and I worry about it getting served in time. Plus they slowly turn hard all the way through if you leave them too long (though shouldn’t be an issue in competition)
I also worry that it would need to be served in a way that made it a drink and not a dessert as is demanded by the rules. If you can’t sip, if it needs a spoon, then it may be disqualified. I thought about suspending them in a fluid gel (the stuff I did the vertical seperation with) but just couldn’t come up with anything that I liked (and became more obsessed with the fluid gel and ended up with my weird split drink).
Where are all the live bloggers? I want movies! Images! Possibly sounds!
I really hope it works for Billy,
By Hoffmann on Oct 20, 2006
>Where are all the live bloggers? I want movies! Images! Possibly sounds!
couldn’t have said it better. this blog is now accepting impromptu sponsorships for travel to the nwrbc.
fact is, i’ve got the perfect billy puppet. but i would have to actually, you know, see the performance to spoof it.
By bz on Oct 20, 2006
might get some live-bloggin’ here:
http://www.ghostcoffee.blogspot.com/
By bz on Oct 20, 2006
Billy’s caviar was definitely a drink. The night before preliminaries we ran through his routine a couple of times at the Albina Press. It was served in a shallow bowl, but you could drink it though a straw (I had a couple of portions- this is no texture gimmick- it tastes amazing. Better than the espuma last year). There’s no doubt that its a “drink”. The caviar break on your tongue without resistance- they’re not chunky at all.
By ben on Oct 23, 2006
i don’t think i understood a single thing you just said. sweeeet.
so was there liquid in the bowl besides the pearls themselves? or just the globules? and were they sort of … moist? making them slurpable through a straw? and then, i take it, they sort of dissolve on your tongue?
dang. i don’t think i get it.
By bz on Oct 23, 2006
more explanation:
http://forum.coffeed.com/viewtopic.php?p=9473#9473
By bz on Oct 23, 2006