SERBC: lem rough cut
October 21, 2007 – 5:15 pmUPDATE: to the untrained eye, lem appeared to take fastidious care not to earn himself another nickname. the trademark quirky declarations about blow torches and nemeses and the shapeliness of his milk foam were strangely missing. we blame his employer — that bastion of soulless corporate culture — for homogenizing mr. sexy foam.
otherwise, the dreadlocked barista-come-roaster was the only finalist to go sig-capp-spro, kicking off his routine with honey in the bottom of talls shot glasses, a custom spro on top and a layer of “espresso foam” for a topper, made of cucumber, lemon, ginger and more spro tossed about in a martini shaker. the glassware, he said, cooled the bev to an ideal slightly warm state of being. “dig deep,” said he.
did we mentioned he used the cypriot-favored terra keramik bling for cups?
uh, yum. there’s little else to say from the stands. no latte art on the capps — just quasi monksheads and a custom brazil-ethiopia-double-el-salvador espresso blend. the cuppa now steaming in front of this blog meets lem’s public description in at least one key area: it’s one of those brews that lingers fat and spicy on the tongue, making its smoothness a groovy presence well into the afternoon. we don’t know if it has a name. we’re calling it “alter ego.”
as in, lem’s. nothing flashy. a lot smooth. all good.
12 Responses to “SERBC: lem rough cut”
Cool seeing Lem do his thing, but man, the angles make it seem like an upskirt video.
That stage was so not a good idea, at least from the spectator perspective.
By Mark on Oct 21, 2007
Way to go Lem.
Strange angles indeed.
When is the puppet version coming out?
By the bioluminescent on Oct 21, 2007
the stage: um, yeah. as if a regional barista competition needed another obstacle to spectating.
the puppet version: talks are being had!
By bz on Oct 21, 2007
Here’s a flickr feed of shots from my perspective as a runner during the event…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14099920@N06/sets/72157602606809550/
Sorry that I don’t have shots of all the competitors. Between work and bad lighting conditions, I didn’t have much to work with.
By true on Oct 22, 2007
Thanks for the shouts and support everyone…you too B-dog. I wish I would have thrown out some quirky comment about sexy foam or the wondrous milk vortex. All I could think about was getting my ass kicked by these new jacks. Mainly my teammate Danielle. She really had her act together. Also, Katy from Murky was out for blood too so I was trying to stay focused on the task at hand while being calm. It was the first time I was using two different spro blends, UPS damaged my grinder, we had a short and shaky judges table, and we had to deal with a crazy stage. WHO THOUGHT OF THAT ONE?
Big up to Monin for a great first run. AND a big SHOUT to Gary and crew at ASTORIA for repairing my grinder enough to get me through competition.
As for quirky quotes, sorry Ben maybe at nationals.
Besides sexy foam is so ‘05.
holla.
By Lem "Mr. Sexy Foam" Butler on Oct 22, 2007
lem: what was your score? were you really in danger of getting eclipsed? what was the scoring gap?
that cucumber … smooth.
the stage … bad, bad.
By bz on Oct 22, 2007
I scored a 695. I don’t know what anyone else scored but I was worried because I saw some great presentations.
As for the cucumber, I wanted to go for a little something different and refreshing.
By Lem on Oct 22, 2007
During the first round the other runner and I didn’t see any way to bus your glasses without risking them, so everything left after judging was poured into the trays so we could lay the shot glasses down. I’d swear we had a half dozen people stop us on the way back to the set-up stations, all trying to get a sip. Everyone was bummed that they didn’t get to sample the ginger-lemon-cuke-honey shots.
By true on Oct 22, 2007
ben was about 10-15 pts back of lem and danielle was about another 15 back of ben. katie from murky was 4th, only 7 pts behind danielle.
i can’t remember 5 and 6, but i know that there was less than 100 pts between 1-6.
congrats again to lem and all the stellar competitors this weekend. i think the list will be out by the end of the week.
By resting on Oct 23, 2007
good info. it was determined today that shannon was fifth, michelle sixth.
i think.
By bz on Oct 23, 2007
yes…shannon, then michelle. i just don’t remember the scores. actually, i think michelle had a 601. it’s more shannon’s score that eludes me.
By resting on Oct 24, 2007
shannon: 620. i think.
By bz on Oct 24, 2007