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the blog of Stephen Leighton

Bolivia COE2007 Day 1 Calibration

(DAY 1 PHOTOS CAN BE FOUND HERE)

So the first real day of the competition. My early to bed and early to rise is quite a different approach to my previous visits to South America. I must admit I feel good for it and ready to cup. The morning I rise at 5 am and feel good. I check my emails I phone home and do all the things I want to which is great.

The first day of these things is a calibration. You talk about how to score what to do and then cup three tables of the same coffees. The first two the same order the last one mixed up. I hate calibration. this is not because I don’t need it quite the contrary I normally do its just frustrating I want to get into it. I guess its like any housekeeping thing. You don’t wan to do it but you have to. I just want to get cupping tomorrow, This takes us up to 3:30pm where we get 40 mins to do what we need to then were on another long bus journey to Coricio a small town near by (I find out Bolivian near by isnt quite the same as UK near by). Its a chance for us to stretch our legs and see the locals. But my interpretation of a local is a local pub so we find one and have a beer with the locals. A nice cold Cervesa (I hasten to add only the one) I think is well earned after the bus journey.

The evening we are taken to a local hotel for our evening meal, and introduced to the local dignitary’s, and presented with a certificate as esteemed guests. Quite a turn up as I’m normally just escorted from places. I feel really proud of my certificate and its very official like take a look here

We arrive back at 9pm and I fall straight into bed and fast asleep before any one can convince me the bar would be a good place to meet for a chat.

not a lot to report so far

So I’m here in Bolivia. After the longest flight ever (actually one of my shortest but 24 hours in an aeroplane or airport doesn’t excite me as much as it once did. The food in flight is not good, I lost my head phones to my iphone so no music all the way (and all of this week and the flight home), and I’ve since found out it has to be an iphone set to use with it as they have slightly changed them.

But enough moaning. The altitude has surprised me. I do feel quite short of breath but its really nice the air being so thin, like a fresh spring morning. La Paz is beautiful, one of the most stunning city’s I’ve ever seen. When we landed (there were 9 of us on the flight in from Miami we were taken to a hotel in la Paz for a few hours to shower and sleep. I chose to shower and then sit in front of the TV. Amazed to be able to watch the Arsenal vs Sunderland game live I like this country. I know the coffee is special here, but add into that mix there love of football and the wonderful people (spent much of the day seeing familiar faces, who are as pleased to see me as I am them) then it’s a great combination.

The hotel were at is in the Yungas around 2 and a half hours from La Paz and is really in the heart of coffee growing country. This means its in the middle of no where which is fine by me. Far away from the hustle and bussel, you can see from my photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hasbean/) that its very nice place. But I’m shot its 8pm and as soon as I’m done here I’m off to bed. Call it age, call it jet lag, I don’t care as long as I can go to sleep.

Royal Mail Postal Strike

Just a quick post as I have been asked on email a few times since yesterday whats happening with the postal strike and our orders. While the royal mail postal strike is ongoing we have a contingency in plan that should make sure most orders are still dispatched using city link parcels. We will be covering these extra costs and wont be asking you for any more for postage, it seems like the least we can do. We have been doing this since yesterday so I hope everyone who ordered coffee gets it in time to enjoy it over the weekend.

The only items that will be effect are international orders (including mainland Europe) under 2kg in weight and off shore inland post. There will also be a slight delay in dispatch of the twelve month orders which we will hold back until the end of next week or when the strike ends. We do ask for your patience during this industrial action but rest assured all is operating normally here.

Barista Magazine Article

Well its out (although I’ve not seen it in print yet), the article I wrote for Barista magazine is on line at this link here, and I’m one of the featured articles in the on-line version which is very nice, add I’m one of the leading headlines on the cover. You don’t get to see the whole article without buying a copy (and I know you want to) but you get a flavour. Its also the first time I’ve seen the illustrations which I think are very cool.

The front cover is Mr Hoffmann the World Barista Champion of the galaxy and everything. I actually phoned him when I was asked to do the article to share it with someone who understands how excited I would be. He made all the right noises and told me all the right things, well done and alike. But strangely (its a weird world) when I phoned him he was walking around London taking lots of photos for the cover (well done Anette you did very well). Talk about always getting one up on me ALL of the time. I tell him I’m in the magazine he tells me he’s on the front cover 🙂

But I’m so pleased, at 33 years old its the first time I’ve ever seen any work I’ve done in print (well I can imagine what it looks like in print), and I’m rather proud of it as a piece of work (thanks Mark for all the proof reading), even if my Mom went “ohh that’s nice, anyway I’ve been…..”. I just wish I could show my old English teacher who was convinced “there is no place in society for a fool”. Well I wonder what she would think now.

So subscribe, send your life savings to Barista magazine, ohh and tell them I sent you they may ask me for another piece one day that doesn’t have “The Hoff” on the front page.

Caption Competition

In this months newsletter we have a free to enter competition. Its a caption competition the best 5 received at my email address or left as a comment here for the photo below will win a sample pack of Grindz cleaner. Closing date is the 21st of October giving everyone a chance to participate. You can enter as many times as you like but if you email make sure the title says “caption competition”.
Caption Comp

Starbucking The Movie (a review)

I recently made a purchase on Amazon US for a DVD called Starbucking. All I knew about it was about a guy who has made it his life’s work to visit every Starbucks in the world. My motivation to buy it I think was to sneer at this guy doing this really strange project, and also wondering a little if this was some sort of promotional thing Starbucks had set up.

In the beginning I had no connection with this main character Winter. He seems very excitable a little immature and very strange. Straight away you realise there is no corporate intervention here, if they were going to select someone he wouldn’t be your guy. You can see the physical and mental strain Starbucks PR department must have with Winter. They want all the good publicity he brings (and he gets treated like a mini superstar when he arrives at a “bucks”). But you can see they want to keep him at arms length as he is very unpredictable, he is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

The more the film goes on, the more I begin to warm to him as a person. Yes he’s strange but he loves this mini celebrity he has become, and you realise Starbucks is just the vehicle he has found to make people be interested in him, and more importantly to give him direction. In fact Starbucks really doesn’t mater, it could be anything or any one in the world. The coffee became less important in the film and the whole looking at someone’s life became the primary focus. I didn’t even mind he liked Starbucks (although I was desperate to pull him a real shot of something to wake him up). There seemed a different personality to Winter when he was talking about what he did than we he was doing at it.

You get insight into his personal life. The relationships he builds seem to be very transient and very shallow a little like his everyday life driving up and down the country for coffee (even swapping continents). He doesn’t seem to have a lot of substance to anything he does apart from a drive to do what he does and become a celebrity.

You also find out a little about his upbringing, and his real name isn’t winter. In fact you don’t really know who he is apart from a loner who goes to Starbucks.

I finished up upside down from my original expectations of the movie. I really enjoyed it, I didn’t expect too, I thought I’d hate the guy, I really liked him, and I thought I’d hate his goal and you know I loved it. Its something he can really never achieve I’m sure he knows it but he carries on, because it gives him some notoriety, it gives him a goal and it makes him feel good. Great film.