Archive for March, 2007

Saturday

Posted in Uncategorized on March 25, 2007 by chrisbaca

Overcast, misty, no work…nice breakfast with Jay and Brown at Foreign Cinema; fried eggs deglazed with balsalmic vinegar and sweet sweet bacon. Ritual (Gabe not feeling so good), Blue Bottle (capp via Arno), and back to Ritual. Messy basement/training area…shit. Clean, clean, clean. Set up station: Robur, Supper Jolly, Major. Major! What the fuck?! Water/mold/funk in the burr chamber…don’t leave your shit at work people, it’s bound to get moved from where you left it and put under a leaky pipe. Bummed, sandwich, chips. I need coffee but I gotta get out of here; bike to truck, truck to Santa Clara.

So I’m sitting here at Barefoot lurking on my laptop and lingering over my single origin Sumatra shot staring at its remnants crusted to the side of the cup forming into those wonderfull patterns that the leftovers make and I’m feeling pretty at peace. Sometimes I have so much stuff that I want to get done and so many things running through my head that I need to get to a place where I can’t possibly do anything. I can’t clean here, I can’t experiment here, and I don’t really know anyone here well enough to feel some sort of obligation to them. All I have is myself, my spro, and this here laptop to screw around on. We have much work to do before the USBC…we have a whole slew of new people we need to get trained on bar before then so we can take everyone and not worry about the store caving in on itself. I need to get a little more practice time in myself so I don’t look like a fool in front of everyone in Long Beach. I need to figure out if I can get pulled from the floor enough to help Gabe train the newbies and still find some balance with my home life. I need to find time to change tha gaskets on the Linea downstairs. But not today… today it’s just you and me chillin’. If you’re feeling saucey enough today (are you?), put down your tampers and portafilters, walk outside, smell that air, and don’t do a damn thing. Holla. lurk1.jpg

WRBC THROWDOWN

Posted in Uncategorized on March 19, 2007 by chrisbaca

Oh Snap!  Competition level was crazy!  Big ballin’ all around and TIGHT scoring… i.e. 5 people in the finals were over 800 and the spread from 1st, 2nd and 3rd was tight.  In the first round from 3rd to 2nd was a half a point and from 2nd to 1st was one point.  Yikes! 

Finalists:

Crystal Yeaw – Ritual Coffee Roasters
Kyle Glanville – Intelligentsia 
Chris Baca – Ritual Coffee Roasters
Nick Griffith – Coffee Klatch
Heather Perry – Coffee Klatch
Eton Tsuno – Groundwork Coffee

 Top Three:

1. Heather Perry

2. Kyle Glanville

3. Yours Truly 

I’m so proud of Crystal and myself as well…both in the finals for Ritual; both using single origin coffees for every drink. Everyone was killer and I had a great time chatting with all my folks in the Western Region…this region has been somewhat cast aside as far as competition is concerned but this weekend showed that there are indeed some top shelf baristas chillin in the Golden State.  Good luck to all in Long Beach!  Peace. 

                                                                                                                            

In Control

Posted in Uncategorized on March 9, 2007 by chrisbaca

Welcome to Control…new blog for the new year (a bit late I know).  Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up on this better than before.  Welcome…

go get it

Posted in Uncategorized on March 8, 2007 by chrisbaca

So I’ve been lagging as usual on the blog train so here’s a small update. Chicago: Gabe, Brown, Crystal, and myself…look for an article on the whole thing in the next Barista Magazine. Ritual has two Clovers hooked up and ready to roll, lets see how that goes. WRBC is right around the corner; I’m nervous and stressed out. On top of that I’m in the middle of moving into a new place…ah the stress. Well, look for an update after the competition. Oh boy, parting pose: