Finally, the well-anticipated Cup North event is over and Rob Ward, La Cimbali’s coffee specialist reflects on the highlights of the event.
This year was La Cimbali’s second time to be involved in the Cup North event. Not only that, but La Cimbali was also the lead sponsor of the Tamper Tantrum, making sure that the speaker line-up would be able to impress—and they did not fail. Colin Harmon and Steve Leighton took hold of the reigns for the Tamper Tantrum sessions and introduced speakers such as Francesco Sanapo, Gordon Howell and Mat North. There was a wide variety of subjects including; barista attitude, coffee brewing, water and looking at 3rd and 4th waves. These talks will appear online at Tampertanrum.com in due course.
Rob was also an MC for one of the events which was the UK Cup Tasters finals. The participants , Gayan from UCC, Katelyn from Avenue in Glasgow, and Sonali from Selfridges, were challenging each other. In the end Gayan held his cool and scored an incredible 8 out of 8 cups in the final round, with Katelyn 2nd and Sonali 3rd. David Jameson from Union Hand Roasted was also a great help to Rob as an MC for the event.
The team from Dark Woods Coffee were on hand on the La Cimbali stand showing the latest versions of their blends and roasts, with Under Milk Wood proving a strong favourite in both milk and as an espresso, and their Arboretum blend showing a more complex and dynamic tasting espresso – which Rob claimed was his favourite. Damian, Paul and Ian were on hand to talk about the current blends, origins and roast profiles that they are using and educating the public in the subtleties of flavour within the coffees, as well as providing delicious drinks from the La Cimbali M100 HD coffee machine.
Sarah Dyson from the La Cimbali Team was busy working on the M34 coffee machine with bluetooth and two linked grinders showing the PGS technology, as well as TurboSteam 4 showing how technology can help busy operations drive and improve consistency to the customer. Sarah also ran the La Cimbali Sensory Challenge where visitors were invited to assess five taste solutions (Bitter, Sweet, Malic Acid, Citric Acid, and Salt) as well as guess six Aroma compounds (Garden Pea, Blackcurrant, Butter, Caramel, Roasted Peanuts, and Roasted Coffee), with the chance to win a MUMAC Museum book plus ‘How to Make Coffee: Science behind the Bean’ by Lani Kingston.
This was not only a fun competition and challenge but also some interesting research on how people taste and perceive, taste, aroma and flavour. Rob found that only 1 in 4 people who took the challenge scored everything correct! This was quite a surprise in the environment and really shows responsibility as coffee professionals not to assume but to help educate and inform all – the What, the How and Why we do certain things to help take our customers on a sensory journey that specialty coffee is capable of taking us on.
The winner, pulled at random from the 100 percenters is Tom Finch who visited the La Cimbali Stand on Saturday, congratulations! Your prize is on it’s way.
Thanks everyone for another great Cup North show!”
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