Within the Land of the Espresso Nerds

By Matt Buchanan

Illustration by Eric Palmo.

“That is what espresso tasted like in nineteenth century!” Peter Giuliano exclaimed, holding a cup of Bard espresso’s Sumatra Wahana Pure as we talked at a small stand close to the doorway of the Boston Conference and Exhibition Middle, the place the Specialty Espresso Affiliation of America was holding its twenty-fifth annual exposition this previous weekend. “I’ve never tasted something prefer it.”

This assertion might sound absurd, however Giuliano’s enthusiasm is powered by a outstanding backstory: the espresso he was consuming was grown within the northern Sumatra area of Indonesia, the place many of the espresso on the planet got here from within the mid-nineteenth century, and it was processed utilizing the pure (or dry) methodology, by which the entire espresso cherries are neglected to dry earlier than the bean is eliminated—this how all espresso was processed earlier than the invention of moist processing.

(Most Sumatran espresso is now moist processed, which implies that the espresso bean is stripped out of the cherry earlier than it’s dried.) Once I tried the Bard espresso, I famous that it certainly possessed the signature barely candy funk of espresso that had been dry processed.

Giuliano, who, wearing a lightweight, crisp swimsuit, stands out within the expo’s sea of baristas, espresso patrons, store homeowners, and equipment-manufacturer representatives, is the director of the Specialty Espresso Affiliation of America’s Symposium, and one of many specialty-coffee trade’s greatest boosters.

A lot of S.C.A.A.’s outward-facing work is about making certain that folks more and more consider espresso like wine—much less a bitter drug-delivery system than an object of immense aesthetic worth, imbued with a way of terroir, seasonality, and craft. (Kelefa Sanneh’s article in regards to the famed espresso grower Aida Batlle is a phenomenal portrait of the specialty-coffee trade and its evolution.)

The comparability with wine can border on contentious; at the USA Barista Championship, occurring concurrently in the back of the exhibition corridor, one barista famous, with subtlest trace of aggression in his voice, that “there are extra taste compounds in espresso than in wine.”

Barista competitions on the highest degree are unusual, extremely scripted rituals—half “Iron Chef,” half ted speak, half canine present. A barista has fifteen minutes to provide a sequence of espresso-based drinks for a panel of judges whereas delivering a vivid, ebullient speech in regards to the espresso, by which she or he typically relates in excruciating element the place it got here from, the farmers who produced it, and what the judges ought to be experiencing and considering as they sip every beverage.

(All whereas a wholly separate set of judges grade how gracefully the barista strikes and performs behind the bar—that is the canine present half.) I watched Trevor Corlett, from Madcap Espresso, a roaster that began in Grand Rapids, Michigan, compete with a routine that focussed on seasonality, an idea that’s come to the forefront of specialty espresso, very similar to eating places that solely serve seasonal produce.

Corlett used an older July harvest in a cappuccino, citing its softness, and, for an espresso, a brisker December harvest that was “fruity.” He then mixed the 2 in a pair of signature drinks—primarily espresso cocktails—that includes maple syrup and torched grapefruit. He completed with 4 seconds to spare and got here in third out of six finalists.

The time period “specialty espresso” more and more invokes “Portlandia” sketches with snotty baristas and Brooklyn-famous roasters like Stumptown, however the designation is usually centered on consideration to a espresso’s origin. For example, Inexperienced Mountain Espresso Roasters is taken into account a specialty-coffee firm, although it roasts tens of tens of millions of kilos of espresso a 12 months, and persons are most acquainted with its automated Keurig Okay-cup machines that make the most of pre-ground espresso.

The exhibition corridor is full of cubicles hawking all the things from soy-based gelato to flavored syrups—at one sales space, I drank seltzer water with a splash of bacon syrup, which I needed to pour myself as a result of the corporate consultant was afraid that the plastic, smoky odor would by no means dissipate if he spilled it on himself. And at one other sales space, I used to be given a sq. of “chocolate” that in actual fact contained no cocoa; it was made with floor espresso and vegetable oil and tasted like chocolate laxatives.

I’ve written prior to now in regards to the specialty-coffee trade’s vexed relationship with know-how, however, on the present, it was a bit of know-how that generated probably the most pleasure among the many espresso [specialty class]. Referred to as Modbar, it guarantees to radically rework the form of the fashionable espresso bar for the primary time in a long time.

With Modbar, all clients see is an exceptionally clear and ethereal counter with a faucet that produces espresso, a chrome stand that appears like laboratory tools with a pen-like gadget that spits water for pour-over espresso, and a skinny, bent wand that steams milk. The boilers and messy guts are stuffed right into a pair of bins that appear like stereo receivers hidden beneath the counter.

The result’s extremely trendy and exquisite. For baristas, the system is cutting-edge—customizable and modular, permitting full management over the coffee-brewing course of. The setup demonstrated on the present value fifteen thousand {dollars}, consistent with different high-end espresso machines. Corey Waldron, Modbar’s founder, mentioned that the corporate has set official expectations of promoting fifty to sixty techniques by the top of 12 months, however he suspects that it’ll promote extra.

Whereas probably the most scrumptious espresso I had on the present got here out of Modbar, a Kenyan espresso from the North Carolina-based Counter Tradition Espresso—one of many huge three high-end specialty roasters, together with Chicago’s Intelligentsia and Portland’s Stumptown—supplied probably the most profound expertise. I used to be lastly tasting Esmeralda Especial, a extremely famend espresso from Panama’s Hacienda la Esmeralda, which holds the excellence of the very best value ever paid for espresso at public sale—in 2010, the public sale value of the highest-grade lot reached 100 seventy {dollars} per pound.

It’s each the head and logical conclusion of how the specialty-coffee trade desires to rework espresso itself. Giuliano, previously the director of espresso at Counter Tradition, as soon as recounted asking himself, “Are we rewarding this espresso as a result of it’s wonderful, or are we rewarding it as a result of it’s bizarre?” Ultimately, he concluded that “it’s justly celebrated.”

Counter Tradition served a restricted amount of this espresso at its sales space. It was extraordinarily delicate and floral, like jasmine tea, and vastly not like what most individuals assume espresso tastes like.

I used to be a bit of too keen, nevertheless, and slurped too greedily, sending a few of the treasured Esmeralda down my windpipe. I choked and coughed up a hearty swallow, spritzing the sales space with the regurgitated remnants of one of many world’s greatest coffees. Jesse Kahn, a Counter Tradition wholesale consultant, calculated that, had I bought the drink at a espresso store, I might have simply coughed up two {dollars}’ value of espresso.

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