Tamper Tantrum (Colin Harmon and Stephen Leighton)

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is the third in the series, please give it up for Mr Anthony Benda

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files 

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.  This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn't have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.  Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.  This is the first in the series, please give it up for Mr Chris Bacca

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is the forth in the series, please give it up for Mr David Nigel Flynn

This week, continuing with an unintentional theme of “behind the scenes”, we’ve managed to nab quiet legend Ben Szobody. As Steve & Jenn chat with Ben about his former life as a political journalist in the US, current role as project development manager at One Church Brighton and editor at Longberry Press, and future ambitions, it becomes abundantly clear that No. 52 is all about the importance of creating opportunities to make a positive social impact through what we do.

We’re assuming that you’re pretty familiar with one of Ben’s projects in particular—the beautiful, impactful, and long-awaited Longberry 2—but we’re hoping that this episode draws your attention to one of Ben’s other projects, the UK’s first-ever specialty coffee professional apprenticeship. An inspiring program that has seen over 100 people trained* in its first year, Pro Baristas is the perfect marriage of positive societal impact and market demands. We could attempt to wax poetic about this program for paragraphs and paragraphs, but trust us—it’s more impactful to hear about it from the man himself.  

*Whist only 10 young people qualify for the year-long apprenticeship, Ben has developed additional training that is available to almost anyone, from light taster sessions for the homeless to provide activity and confidence to intensive certificate courses for job hunters. 

-- Want to get in on the action? Mailchimp subscribers get extra link goodies in their inbox when new things land.

We’re going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast–get in before they go!

This week, we’re doing things a little differently--we invited Mat North to revisit his talk, “The Third Wave Has Stagnated”, in light of developments that have happened since his presentation at Cup North: James Hoffmann’s three-part post on the current state of specialty coffee, the release of the WCR Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel, and Nick Cho’s comment that “when sounding smart is more important than being smart, we’re not in a lull, we’re in serious danger.”  

In true podcast style, No. 48 stumbles into several other philosophically-heavy topics (different ways of measuring success, career path expansion, prescribed learning vs. rote learning) and is dotted with little glimmers of inadvertent honesty. Also included: what it takes to put together the UKBC, competitor trends from last week’s London heat, increased interest in the Brewer’s Cup, and a new quick-fire round. 

To be honest, folks, we’re not even sure how to pitch Episode No. 49. It’s definitely a throwback to the early podcasts in more ways than one, so maybe we’ll go with that: this week, Steve & Col chat completely unsupervised about recent developments at Tamper Tantrum, including the upcoming CoLab: Antwerp and World Coffee Throwing Championship taking place this June in Dublin. Featuring all of the standard hallmarks of a Colin & Steve podcast, No. 49 features Hoffmann-heckling, jokes that won’t die, many expletives, football banter, and lots of misinformation. Also: celebrity coffee throwing, holding speakers hostage, coffee consultants, pocketbook science, the lack of interest in barista competitions, decoy podcasts, travel logs, way more googling than usual, and the dulcet tones of Colin’s singing providing a “professional” touch.

We hope you’ll forgive us and come back for Episode 50. 

-- Want to get involved in CoLab: Antwerp? Complete Talor's survey on mental health in coffee here, purchase tickets here, or get a peek at The Barista League challenges taking place on Monday evening. 

This week’s episode starts off sounding much seedier than it actually is: Colin lured the second Tim of the coffee podcast triple crown, Melbourne-returnee Tim Varney, up to his room for a “chat.” Over coffee and “forgotten” pairs of stray underpants, Tamper Tantrum’s first ever guest co-host (Vienna, 2012) revives the banter: as they talk through Tim’s start in coffee to his current role juggling two companies (the World Aeropress Championship and Bureaux Collective), they reminisce together about Tim Wendelboe topless, the Stockfleth’s manoeuvre, terrible analogies, and snuggle nights with Klaus Thomsen.

Along the way, they also cover some serious stuff, too: the meteoric rise of the WAC, the drive behind the creation of the Bureaux Collective, and the supposed saturation point of the Melbourne market. No. 50 is chock full of blatant honesty and serious silliness—a fitting milestone podcast, if we do say so ourselves. 

--- Want to get in on the action? We're going to be live at Barista Guild of Europe's CoLab: Antwerp this April 25-27th! Tickets are currently available on their site, but going fast--get in before they go! 

For once, the rumours may actually be true: this week, after an epic technical failure in Shanghai, Jenn took the opportunity to hijack No. 51 with the help of legendary behind-the-scenes lurker, Julie Housh. Past-Chair of Barista Guild of America, former Competitions Coordinator of World Coffee Events, and current Executive Assistant to SCAA Director, Ric Rhinehart, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with or have somehow been touched by* Julie’s work, despite the fact that she tends to fly “under the radar.”

Together, they drag Episode 51 in a slightly different direction from the norm as they chat about backstage shenanigans, their mutual love of spreadsheets, barista guilds, unorthodox coffee career paths, career sustainability, the performance of gender in competition, the importance of allowing yourself to fail, awkward self-serving statements, and the current role of social media in the coffee industry.

*That’s what she said.

-- Join us live for a seriously awesome lineup in Antwerp, April 25-27! Tickets are still available from Barista Guild of Europe, but going quickly. 

This week, we’re joined by the primary ambassador of SCAA’s educational program and a powerhouse of initiative, knowledge, community-building, and just plain getting stuff done: SCAA’s Director of Professional Development, Ellie Hudson. Covering everything from the alignment of SCAA & SCAE in the coming months to the future of the US Regional Competition program, Episode the 32nd offers a unique look at the other side of some of the stories we’ve been discussing the past few weeks. Also included in this week’s episode: Fritz Storm-isms, Doug Zell’s tenacity, the origin of the Gentle Giant joke, and the U.S.S. Badger.

You won’t want to miss this! Ellie has been on our podcast guest wishlist since the beginning of this year; we were so excited, this week’s recording scheduled twelve weeks in advance. For more information about the SCAA research that Ellie references in the podcast, click here.

This week, we step away from the hustle and bustle of all the fun happening with the specialty coffee community on the interwebs, turning our attention to something we should all focus on a bit more: understanding what happens at origin. With the help of good friend Alejandro Martinez of Finca Argentina in El Salvador, we take a look at what happens on the farm seasonally, what changes you might see on a farm that sells “specialty” vs. “commodity”, and how things are changing. Also covered: the ideal relationship between a farmer and a buyer, the impact of leaf rust on El Salvador, and biodynamic gnomes (or why you maybe shouldn’t stay at Ale’s house alone).

Ale had a slight complication with his microphone around 46 minutes in to recording, but just bear with us, it fixes itself within the minute. Baristas who talk about origin in competition without actually ever having been there: this podcast’s for you!

This week, Steve and Colin return to an old, familiar format: just the two of them having all the (too?) honest chats. Podcast No. 34 covers several big announcements, Steve’s trip to Bolivia and Colombia,  Colin’s trip to San Sebastian, and the Cup of Excellence’s decision to shut down some of the competitions this year.  Also included: a series of unfortunate comments about touching that can be turned into handy message alerts (“please continue to keep touching us, we really enjoy it”), sincere apologies from both Mr. Harmon and Mr. Leighton (one more sincere than the other), and very exciting news about the state of coffee farms in Bolivia. 

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This podcast has been brought to you with the support of Nuova Simonelli. 

This week, Steve & Col kick back on their respective couches at home as they work their way through recent Big Grill shenanigans, big travel plans, the African Fine Coffees Association’s Taste of Harvest program, and the start of a conversation about a recent trend in the conflagration of solubility with quality.

Also covered: sore thighs, paella pans, exciting plant stock producing tasty coffee in Malawi, building direct trade relationships in Africa, and the moral question involved when you buy coffee from countries with problematic government.

Check out photos from Colin’s bike ride and the Big Grill shenanigans by visiting his instagram account.

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This podcast has been kindly brought to you by Nuova Simonelli. 

We might have gone meta—this week on the podcast, Colin is joined by none other than Tamper Tantrum’s Wilson, Jenn Rugolo. Podcast No. 37 is features fond reminiscence of the early days at 3FE and Tamper Tantrum, how we misuse numbers, the importance of play in learning, and an extended meditation on the supposed fourth wave and how it might appear.

Also covered: how much we love Peter G, when arguments on the internet are only about winning, Colin’s inability to remember things, the need for a service-led design in coffee qualifications, and the difference in the ways we show empathy and compassion behind bar.

This week—fuelling rumours of a massive bust-up—Colin is joined by none-other-than his mirror image, Nick Clark of Flight Coffee (NZ is the Ireland of the Southern Hemisphere, get it?), as they discuss everything from Nick’s humble beginnings as an NZ milkmaid to Flight’s future plans. During this delightful romp through Nick’s coffee career, the pair cover the difference between the NZ and AUS coffee cultures, the biggest mistake you can make when you finally branch out on your own, and all about what it means to be labelled a “hipster café”. Also: what it’s like to do business with your best mate, consumer confusion about coffee roasters, and the ever-popular #coffeewormhole.

 

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This week—in a special Halloween/HasBean Birthday reimagining of No. 40, complete with the spooky (somewhat) disembodied voice of Jenn—we are joined by a guest we’ve been trying to get onto the podcast since April this year: an overachiever of the highest degree, holding not one, not two, but three highly-demanding coffee jobs—the one and only Roukiat Delrue.  Rouki’s experience growing up in a producing country, partnered with her positions as Q Services Manager with the Coffee Quality Institute and National Bodies Manager for World Coffee Events, gives her a completely unique—and extensive—perspective on all things coffee.

Episode 40 covers everything from coffee auctions to colour conflicts whilst head-judging and from Anacafe to Q updates, with much more in between, as we make the most of our hour with the coffee industry’s most beloved “Rouki-pedia”. We also revisit the head-judge industrial complex, first discussed in No. 23 with Nick Cho, as well as the highly-contested “women in coffee” discussion (which Steve has promised to give up if someone finally invites him out for breakfast) and Steve’s desire for a new cupping form. 

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This podcast has been brought to you through the kind support of Nuova Simonelli--thank you! 

On this week’s podcast, we are joined by a long-time listener and one of our CoLab: Prague speakers: the  CEO of Drop Coffee, Joanna Alm. Episode No. 41 (not the 41st) features a recap of all things Cup North, a discussion of recent changes at Drop, the Swedish/Nordic specialty coffee scene, and last week’s Nordic Roasters Forum. Also covered: a new metaphor for coffee roasting, a beginners guide to the Swedish language*, the burgeoning European Roaster’s Guild, and a few thoughts on why we’ll still be in Paris this week for Barista Guild of Europe’s CoLab event.

*Including the ever-important phrase, “skölpaddan bär en gul hatt.” 

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We hate to break it to you: the rumours aren’t true. Despite the fact that they haven’t been on a podcast together since No. 35, Colin and Steve haven’t had a massive bust-up—their schedules have just been at odds.

Episode 42.5* sees them finally reunited, as they quickly catch up on all that happened during their time apart-- New Zealand & Australia, Host, Manchester, Paris, new purchases—whilst expanding on more important ideas and questions captivating the specialty coffee community today. Among these are: expectations vs. expertise, Colin’s terrible affliction (“resting disinterested face”), how to accidentally electrocute your employees, napkins vs. brownies, “fuck cupping”, workflow, and more.

*Don’t mention the war. Or Episode 42. 

From his initial plan to move to France and cook—despite not really having extensive experience in the kitchen or even a food blog—Tim Williams has ended up on a remarkable career path in coffee. So remarkable, in fact, that one could almost argue that Tim is the “Forrest Gump” of coffee, someone who appears at seminal moments in specialty coffee history: Flat White in 2006, Intelligentsia Venice in 2009, Penny University in 2010… the list goes on.

We managed to catch Tim for No. 43 quite literally right before he leaves London to return to Australia for a new chapter in his coffee life. Using Tim’s experience as a structure within which to explore important ideas, Colin and Tim chat about on working environments, service, management, traditions, and what it means to be out of your depth. Also covered: how some of our current messaging lends itself to an awful, ambiguous grey area between what we want the customer to do and what they’re technically allowed to do, why owning a coffee shop is really just parenting on a different level, Tim Varney’s pining, and skeletons in Square Mile’s closet.

Follow along with Tim’s newest chapter on his website, instagram, or twitter. 

Well, now. The similarities are astounding: clocking in at just over one hour and thirty minutes, the return of the (anti-)hero, adoration for a much-loved mentor, a feisty rebellion, a logical robot that inspires both love and hate… Yup, Episode 44 is none other than “Return of the Cho”. It also happens to be the 2015 Tampies!

This week, Colin invites first guest of this year’s podcast reboot, Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee in San Francisco, back up to the mic to talk about all things 2015 and to help identify those who are taking active steps to move our industry from the realm of “specialty coffee” to that of “progressive coffee”, for better or worse. Join them as they romp through tangential systems of thought, including: mergers and acquisitions, cultural differences, the current state of coffee, the barista power shift, and the usefulness of innovation. Also covered: the-incident-which-shall-not-be-named, the state of the WBC, accidental and/or intentional waggling, the proliferation of the talk platform, gender imbalance, Geoff Watts vs. Peter G, James Hoffmann’s hair, and more. 

This week, Steve sits down to chat with an old friend in El Salvador— No, we know what you’re thinking, and it’s not a bucket of Pollo Campero (although we’re sure he considered it). It’s newly-titled Director of Coffee at Viva Espresso in San Salvador and superstar World Barista Champion coach, Federico Bolanos!

Episode the 45th initially takes us back to the golden age of coffee blogs, books, and forums, when Federico—after hating and dismissing coffee for years—decides to give it another try for a girl (his now wife, Lily Pacas, 2008 Salvadoran Barista Champion; Café Tuxpal), landing him in a long-time love affair with learning everything he can about coffee. From there, Steve and Federico embark on a discussion of WBC, coaching, non-insular teamwork, and a once-unspoken-but-now-not-so-secret frustration with the current competition format before finishing with some interesting thoughts on the benefits of consolidating businesses. Also covered in this episode: the biggest mistake competitors make in preparing for competition, stalking coffee people, WBC trends over the  years, why Federico wasn’t to be seen at last year’s WBC, and how bigger is sometimes better. 

After a somewhat shorter estrangement than that which occurred between No. 35 and No. 42.5, the boys are back again: No. 46 sees Colin & Steve return to their rambling, tangential selves as they recap the busiest time of the year, Steve’s travel, and some recent releases (mostly circular) that are prompting some similarly circular conversations amongst coffee folk. 

Also included in this week’s banter a how some things never change, a newly discovered varietal, biggest café pet peeves, upcoming mischief in 2016, whether or not there’s a correct way to use a poster, and poorly executed segues.

Want to get in on the podcast action? Send in any questions, comments, harangues, and/or notable mistakes made in this week’s episode to hello{at}tampertantrum{dot}com and we’ll include them in No. 47!

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Want to see or hear more? Every week, we include links to some of the things referenced in podcasts and talks to our mailchimp subscribers--get in and keep up with the conversation!

We’ve got something super special for you this week: after Steve and Colin accidentally blundered into a realm of cleverness and research on the last podcast, we received an incredible mail from Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research that filled in some of the blanks… and led to even more questions. We said we would follow up on the WCR Sensory Lexicon and the SCAA Flavour Wheel this week, but my goodness, not even we thought it would be this thorough!

In No. 47, Hanna joins Steve and Jenn to discuss the many reasons for poor taste differentiation between varieties and the potential impact of the current—and future—WCR sensory lexicon(s) on the coffee industry. Fuelled by a mass of recent writing on the subject, we deep dive into three major research projects driving towards a brighter future of specialty coffee, how the lexicon makes this work scientifically possible, and what future versions of the lexicon could look like.

-- You can download the WCR Sensory Lexicon here or read their five-part blogpost here. Tom Owens, Peter Giuliano, and Nick Cho have also written about the Sensory Lexicon and SCAA Flavour Wheel in a fair amount of detail.

Find more information on the research initiatives discussed on this week’s podcast here: Genetic Diversity of Arabica, Genetic Verification Program, F1 Hybrids, Colombia Sensory Trial. 

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is number 7 in the series, please give it up for Mr Federico Pacas

After a successful jaunt up to Manchester for the UK National Coffee Throwing Competition and Tamper Tantrum Live at Cup North this weekend, our attention has turned fully to Paris. Known for its food, wine, and café culture, Paris’ specialty coffee culture has gone on a very visible journey from having a practically non-existent specialty coffee scene, the early development phase, and the point at which Paris was recognized, on an international level, as having a specialty coffee scene.

Today’s talk from the catacombs is a truly fascinating one, offering a snapshot of the Parisian specialty coffee scene in 2012, right around the time it was starting to gain traction. David Nigel Flynn’s talk, “Jus de Chaussette” (“Sock Juice”), looks at the French culture of taste and of tradition, why specialty coffee is so hard for the French to swallow, and ways in which specialty coffee shops can frame the conversation in the way that doesn’t make traditionalists defensive. There are some real pearls of wisdom in this talk that, despite the fact that it is directly tied to a specific time and place, are still incredibly relevant to our discussions of specialty coffee today.

We’re excited to bring this talk back for two reasons: (1) we’re planning on visiting a tonne of shops next week and want to see how much of an impact the introduction of “Jus de Chausette” has had on the French specialty coffee scene and, (2) it’s making us ask ourselves, in light of recent and plentiful conversations about third wave stagnation, how much have we actually progressed since 2012? 

Earlier this week, we spoke with Ellie Hudson (SCAA) about some of the upcoming changes for the organisation as it begins to prepare for alignment with SCAE. Today, we’d like to share the SCAE side of the story—David Veal sat down with Steve in Gothenburg, not far from the excitement of the World Cup Taster’s Final, to talk about some of the exciting things SCAE launched in Gothenburg. Also covered: plans for Dublin’s World of Coffee, support for National Coordinators, and potential future locations for World of Coffee 2017-2019. 

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is number 6 in the series, please give it up for Mr Matt PErger

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is number 5 in the series, please give it up for Mr Michael Philips

In yet another completely unsupervised episode, Colin Harmon gate-crashes proper Dub (and First-Drafter) Ger O’Donohoe’s house to record this week’s podcast. What began as a walking tour audio guide of things to do whilst in Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee (June 23-25) quickly dissolves into piss-takes of the English, local attractions, and each other. Featuring more of Colin’s dulcet-toned singing and lines like “it will make you look like you’re peeing rainbows”, No. 53 is probably the best cultural preparation you’ll get in advance of this year’s WBC.

We’ve taken the not-so-concise list from Col & Ger and added it to Col’s “So you’re thinking of coming to Dublin” list to create one, mega-massive master map to save on your device of choice for your own bimbles about our fair city. 

One of our favourite results from what we do are the relationships we build with speakers when we work together and the (often) resulting friendships that come from getting someone up on stage and bringing their presentation to life. This week, we’re joined by one such speaker/friend who took the stage in Dublin way back when—Kas Ali from Waterloo Tea. Together, Jenn and Kas spend No. 54 taking a look at just how much things have changed since then.

The relationship between the specialty coffee and specialty tea industries is truly fascinating: in some ways, it feels like specialty tea is leaps and bounds ahead of us—very few people dispute the difference between “tea bag tea” and quality tea—but slightly behind in others. It’s particularly interesting to see the specialty tea industry taking bits and pieces from specialty coffee, most notably the use of a large competition (the World Tea Brewer’s Cup, taking place for the first time this year in Dublin) and the creation of large, membership-based organisations, to rally the industry together and make an impact on the future of tea.

-- Want to get involved with the inaugural World Tea Brewer’s Cup? You can find more information about the format here, or if you just want to jump straight in, register here! 

This week in No. 55: it’s like past, present, and future have alltangled into one… and it’s all Steve’s fault.* Episode the 55th starts out a little bit meta—whichrecent videos and podcasts are getting interesting feedback and what’s coming up next—butsomehow turns into an extreme example of verbal diplomacy when Steve drags Jennaway from the agenda and into his favourite kind of conversation (read: slightlycontroversial ones). Also included: more Dublin hints and tips for your trip toWBC this June, a tinder “how to”, holiday shenanigans, picky gingers, and unusualbachelor parties.

*It usually is.

-- World Coffee ThrowingCompetitor Registration is OPEN! Throw a kilo for a good cause (allproceeds go to Grounds for Health) and have some of that legendary Irish craicwhist you’re at it. ;) 

It may have taken a little longer than we anticipated, but it’sfinally here! Remember that time when Steve went to Shanghai for the WorldCoffee Roasting Championship, had a chance to sit down with Andreas fromCropster, and promptly had a spectacular technical failure that meant there wasno record of the podcast ever having been recorded? This week, we’ve managed torecreate most of that magical moment with the help of t’internet!

No. 56 is all about the intersection of coffee and tech, the resultingmutual love affair between coffee and tech geeks, and the changes we’restarting to see—good or bad—as the two become more intertwined. There are somefascinating things that crop up in this conversation to take home and thinkabout a little bit more, regardless of whether you’re a bean-browner or abean-brewer.

-- Have more questions? Cropster will be hanging out at SCAE WOC booth H12next week as well as running infoand training sessions with Cloud Picker coffee—registration closes today(June 13), so you'll need to get in quick! 

www.nuovasimonelli.it

This week, we return to our roots: recorded the morning after the Dublin WBC barista party, No. 57 is all about what went down this week as 62 national champions took to the WBC stage and thousands of specialty coffee professionals descended upon Dublin for SCAE’s World of Coffee show. We could tell you more, but where's the fun in that?

 

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Warning: considerable sweariness lies ahead. In No. 58,  Steve & Colin provide their own recap and dissection of all things alphabet soup that have happened in, around, and following on from Dublin’s week as host city for World of Coffee 2016. This week episode includes, but is not limited to (by any stretch…!), to some of the following topics: emcee rules (and how to break them), an epidemic of box-ticking, being thoughtfully dressed down, an exploration of morality, why the team at 3FE are legends, tradeshow blues, an example of what happens when you push your lackey too far, the recent flurry of online activity surrounding SCAA/SCAE unification, and Colin’s newest crush(es).

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

From football banter to staff cost percentages and potato defect theories to Machiavellian plans, Episode 59 is exactly what you should expect when Steve & Colin record together. Also: a continuation of the gender equality discussion, industry inadvertent sexism, Steve’s trip to Rwanda, recording woes, why 32.03 might be the actual answer to the universe, unification speculation, the importance of tempo, and some sneaky tidbits about 

our upcoming program in New York this September.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

This week’s episode serves as a strong contradiction to conventional wisdom: meeting your heroes can be an amazing thing. In No. 60, Colin is joined by none other than Paul Stack, Operations Director of Marco Beverage Systems and current SCAE President, to reminisce about the filter coffee revolution, chat about Paul’s past life as an industrial designer, query “interesting human stuff”, and anticipate the results of SCAA’s vote on SCAA/SCAE Unification to be released August 10. They’ve managed to pack an incredible amount of thought-provoking discussion into sixty minutes alongside some, ehm, extra-special descriptions making this one of those podcast episodes you really just shouldn’t miss. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

It’s Episode 61 and we’re switching things up! This week, Steve joins us for what might turn into a new feature—an update on his trip to Bolivia, recorded in the field. Inspired by Thompson Owen’s Sweet Maria’s coffee podcast and Steve’s own weekly In My Mug video cast, this week’s episode part history primer, part love letter, and part plea to keep Bolivian coffee alive--a must-listen for any coffee professional who aspires to go to origin. No. 61 ends with a (not so) quick interjection from Jenn with updates on Tamper Tantrum’s barrage of autumn events: New York City (September 25), Roaster Guild of Europe Camp afternoon lectures (October 6-8), and Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival (November 5-6). Have a listen and let us know if you’re a fan of the monologue!

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

It’s No. 62 and all we can say is “no”—it turns out that putting Colinand Steve in the same room to record a podcast results in an abundance of puns,terrible accents, admissions of man-crushes, interjections of disbelief, andchats covering things here, there, and everywhere. Amidst the increasedsilliness, they wrap up on Steve’s bittersweet time in Bolivia, make a case fora yearly event to bring coffee folk together in Dublin, discuss the merits ofnewer roasting business models, Colin’s goal to gain a stone whilst he’s in NewYork (tweet @dublinbarista with your recommendations!), and dream about openinga tiny little shop in the south of France. Also: football banter, even thoughthey both readily admit that pretty much nobody in coffee likes football.Thanks, guys.

www.nuovasimonelli.com/it/en

We may be one week out from our American debut (Sunday, September 25th at Taylor St. Baristas on Madison Ave! Be there, or be trapezoid!), but it’s no time to slack on the podcast. This week, we’re on No. 63 and Steve is joined by former guest, fellow HasBeaner, SCAE Board Member, and long-time friend, Dale Harris. Aside from a smattering of (somewhat inappropriate) inside jokes, they incidentally (and, as it would seem, accidentally) take on some of the bigger questions and conundrums facing the specialty industry today: how we underestimate large chain businesses, the morality of equipment and wholesale pricing, the most effective way to make positive change in the industry, and the opportunities and challenges facing a unified specialty coffee organisation. Naturally, this doesn’t stop them from tackling their own personal history, too—including why Gwilym Davies is a hero, Dale’s questionable music selection, and Steve’s newest man-crush confession. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

Oh, look—it’s Tamper Tantrum Episode 64! Steve and Colin recap all things New York: the incredible speakers who took to the stage, their presentations, and of course, their shenanigans outside of the event. Naturally, as do most episodes recorded without supervision, this podcast includes bullying Jenn—repeatedly— as well as consistently inconsistent swerving into the incredibly tangential realm of golf and football, some real audio gems, and general hilarity. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/ 

Hello and welcome to the 65th episode of the Tamper Tantrum podcast! This week, Steve is joined by Jenn to talk through their experience as production partner of the afternoon lectures at the first-ever Roaster Guild of Europe camp in Parnu, Estonia. Wrapped in alongside with sneak-previews of upcoming video releases, Steve and Jenn also chat rumours, unification, feuds, and what’s happening next!

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

Is it coincidence or a clever scheduling move on our part that No. 66—released the Monday before we return to Cup North’s Manchester Coffee Festival this weekend—features the most-watched speaker to come out of our first year there? We’ll let you decide. In any case, this week, Colin Harmon is joined by Ross Brown as they talk through the building of Browns of Brockley, the early days of London coffee scene, and why opening a coffee shop can sometimes be a terrible, messy, and cringe-y—although still wonderful—thing. 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

This week, we’re kicking off the mini-est of mini-series on the recently released documentary film about 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic, titled “The Coffee Man”—chances are you’ve seen some promo for the film if not actually attended one of the 180 screenings that have happened so far in 37 countries. As it’s about to make its online debut at the end of this month, we wanted to chat with both Sasa and Jeraff about their experiences making the film and bringing it to audiences.

 Episode 67—otherwise known as part one, we guess—features Australian documentary filmmakers Jeraff, Jeff Hann and Roland Fraval, chatting about telling stories, intent, authenticity, and getting to know the competitive coffee world.  

 

We may be right in the middle of our little micro-series on “The Coffee Man”, but the film's online release isn’t the only thing happening this week—the form for entry into Third Wave Wichteln’s international coffee exchange closes on December 1st! We’ve been watching the Wichteln since it first started in 2013 and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to start this week’s episode with a quick chat with one of the architects of the swap, Markus Reuter, before this year’s exchange officially kicks off.

 After we say goodbye to Markus, we jump right back into our little micro-series. Our last episode featured Jeff and Roland from Jeraff.tv about what it was like to film, create, and release “The Coffee Man”, a documentary that inadvertently followed Sasa Sestic on his journey to becoming a World Barista Champion in Seattle, but this week, Steve is joined by the coffee man himself. Together, they chat about Sasa’s move to Australia, his introduction to coffee and subsequent career, and competitiveness. Also: Hide’s cumulative awesomeness, what it was like to be in front of the camera, excellent analogies, the promise of a table tennis throw-down.

 

We guess you could say we’re on a bit of a story-telling kick--this week’s podcast was recorded live as a panel discussion at the release of “This Beautiful Addiction”, documentary series by Jason Breckenridge, at Prufrock Coffee in London. Edited into twelve ten-minute episodes, “This Beautiful Addiction” documents national and world level competition baristas, judges, and coaches across four competition seasons, providing a truly fascinating look back at what has (and hasn’t) changed since filming first began.

Here, Steve chats with filmmaker Jason and two familiar faces on the UKBC competition scene: many-times UKBC finalist Dale Harris, and former coach (/current judge) Jeremy Challender, both of whom were involved in the filming of “This Beautiful Addiction” over the years. Together, they consider both how the story has been told, how it might be received, and how it could have been told differently to achieve different ends.

 

It’s time for the second annual Tampies! In an all-time first, the Tamper Tantrum Trio appear on the podcast all together to review the outgoing year and hand out some prestigious awards, including the much coveted “James Hoffmann of the Year” award.

We could give you a preview of things to come in this space like we usually do, but let’s be honest—it’s Boxing Day over here and we’d much rather be watching the football. Besides—it’d ruin all of the delightful quirky surprises that occur when you put Colin, Jenn, and Steve all together to try and have an organsied chat. Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

 

We’re kicking off this year’s podcast series with a monologue: Kenya believe it? Recorded from a balcony overlooking the Aberdare national park on the last day of a week-long, Steve recounts what he and his traveling companions—roasters Roland (HasBean) and Simon (3FE)—have seen during their visits to eight co-ops, dry mills, and washing stations. Despite witnessing some exciting ingenuity and inspiring farming techniques, there’s still a disheartening and all-too-familiar downward trend when it comes to overall yields.

 

Surprisingly, despite recording podcasts since 2009, No. 72 is a Tamper Tantrum first: coffee celebs in cars! Or, rather, Steve recording and reminiscing with 2012 World Barista Champion Raul Rodas whilst they’re drive back to Guatemala City. Chatting with the (over-)familiarity of old friends, Steve & Raul revisit Raul’s road to World Barista Champ—how he got into coffee, motivations for competing, taking a year off—as well as the opportunities afforded to the champs and how they’ve influenced the development of Paradigma Coffee Roasters.

 

This time of the year is always full of origin travel for green buyers, and Steve’s diary is no different—he’s just completed a two week jaunt to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Most will be familiar with the impact of leaf rust in Central America, but new pressures—significantly popular demand for particular varietals—stand to impact production and coffee quality long term. Like all of these origin monologues so far, the rough goes with the smooth—whilst there are good things happening in every corner, there are also a lot of red flags to heed as we enter a critical juncture for the future of specialty coffee.

 

No. 74 is here and, guess what! Steve isn’t just talking to himself this week—Jenn’s managed to wrangle her way back onto the podcast only to accidentally lead the conversation down an unanticipated path. Obviously certification is a hot topic right now – we’ve announced an event with The Barista League in Gothenburg this March on that very subject – but this definitely wasn’t meant to turn into the newly written “Trusted Trade” manifesto, a dissection of coffee buying narratives, or a laundry list of transparency report frustrations. Ooops?

 

Find tickets & more information for The Barista League: Sideline in Gothenburg, "Cracking Certifications", here. 

This week, Colin & Steve reunite for a very, um, candid podcast featuring their signature rambles through topics far and wide—growth, delegation, debates, books, staffing, transitions, learning curves, things and old new. This one properly runs the gamut!

Along the way, they announce speakers for our Sideline event with The Barista League: Gothenburg, “Cracking Certifications”, discuss the importance of planning for growth, introduce a new feature to the podcast, featuring Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, and start thinking about what this year’s competition season will bring!  

 

No. 76 packs a heck of a lot into the space of an hour, and it’s partially down to Colin’s tangent-led line of questioning, but mostly down to our guest this week - Berlin’s own Cory Andreen – and his lengthy cv. Originally from the specialty coffee nexus of a Murky-fied Washington DC, Cory’s been at the centre of the specialty coffee scene in his adopted home ever since he started Café CK in 2009 straight through to today, with his newest ventures, Brewbox (nitro coffee) and Motel (beer), and his role as the director of the Berlin Coffee Festival. As Colin and Cory trace his moves across Berlin over the years, the cover everything from the city itself – and how filter coffee’s reputation has yo-yo’ed over the years – to the growth of the community and the consistent perceived dichotomy of quality vs. convenience.

Cory is cool in the way few people are – fantastic dj, killer dancefloor moves, world champion cup taster – but he’s also sharp, down to earth, and highly insightful. Definitely an episode not to miss!

How is it April already?! We’ve kicked off this week with another update from the field with Ale Martinez from Finca Argentina - where they’re making bokashi whilst the sun shines in preparation for the approaching rainy season - before diving right into an interview with this week’s guest: 2017 Swedish Barista Champ and The Barista League’s own mastermind, Steve Moloney. A former event organiser and production manager in Australia, Steve has come full circle after moving to Sweden and getting into coffee – together with Jenn, they discuss the current state of competition, the birth of The Barista League, event-organiser pet-peeves, and the value of independent events.

 

 As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, we’re seeing more and more career paths open up, but none so much as that of “event organiser.” This week, Steve chats with one of our favourite event organisers - one half of Manchester’s Cup North dream-team duo, Hannah Davies – about the recently completed London Coffee Festival, building of a community beyond the industry, and the labour of love that is running specialty coffee events. Along the way, Steve digs himself into a pretty big hole (sorry, everyone!) and Hannah has some wise but hopeful words about the future of the global barista community.

 

Ohhh dear, this time Steve and Colin ramble like they have never rambled before. The 'Published author" Colin talks about his book sales, his bok contentns and nothing but his book. Steve and Colin touch on selling books at London coffee festival, selling books on line, selling books abroad and selling book. 

In an effort for ballance, Steve talks about London coffee festival and other festivals, running a trade stand and brewers cup competition. 

A ramble of magnicient magnitude. 

Welcome to this week’s mini-milestone, otherwise known as No. 80. We couldn’t let such an auspicious moment pass without featuring a special guest, and we couldn’t be happier that we were able to borrow Vuna Consulting’s own Sara Morrocchi for an hour to chat with Steve in this week’s podcast. For those of you who follow along with the live-event aspect of what we do, we’re sure you’re well familiar with Sara and her work – she joined us for discussions on certifications and green buying ethics at the first-ever Roaster Guild Camp in Estonia last year and again for “Cracking Certifications” with The Barista League in Gothenburg earlier this year. Each time, we felt that there wasn’t enough time to dig into her wealth of experience and strongly suspected that she could (and would!) take us to school if we ever had the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one. Very excitingly, she’s done exactly that in this week’s episode!

So, yes, this week, you’ll learn about Sara’s career journey from development to Sustainable Harvest to Vuna Consulting – but you’ll also learn about NGOs, USAID, cultural imperialism, empathy, social premiums, accountability, value propositions, authenticity, risk exposure, and much, much more.

 

http://www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/

As the specialty coffee industry grows and matures, there’s been an influx of people writing and talking about coffee and, in a very meta way, conversations about how content is produced, curated, and presented are eerily relevant to how we brew, sell, and present coffee to our customers. This week, Steve sits down with Standart’s Michal Molcan following the successful completion of this year’s Standart Festival in Bratislava to chat about content curation, aesthetics, creativity, and value propositions – each of which contain insightful lessons to those looking to build and grow a coffee business of any kind.

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

When Ale sent us this month’s “Field Notes” from Finca Argentina, we felt it would be best to share with you as a stand-alone piece: despite its brevity, Ale’s update packs quite a punch to those unfamiliar with day-to-day life in El Salvador – or any coffee producing country, for that matter.  

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

“If you stop shaking, then get out of the game.” So says this week’s special podcast guest on the subject of barista competitions and, if you’re a fan of little gems of wisdom like this delivered in an amicable Irish lilt, No. 83 – now forever known as “Petesycast” – is definitely for you.

We’ve managed to corner the technologically-reclusive Pete Williams to talk about all of the different roles he’s held over the course of his career – chef, barista, builder, plumber, painter, key clamp technician, trainer, roaster, competitor, coach, consultant, manager, forager, uniqlo shop assistant, disappearing act – and the things he’s learned along the way.

There’s something for everyone this week – and then some, really – but there’s some especially useful nuggets of knowledge about building routines and sig drinks for competition that should be saved somewhere if that’s your jam!

-- Looking for the links promised in the podcast? Psst - subscribers get them!

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

And we’re back to something more closely resembling our regularly scheduled programming this week with the release of No. 84: Steve explains where he’s been all month, Jenn offers some sneak-peaks of what’s up-and-coming from TTHQ for the rest of 2017 (hint: exciting things!!), Ale shares another episode of Field Notes from Finca Argentina in El Salvador.

Also: the return of the name-drop klaxon (from the old-old-old days), facepalms a-plenty, yellow pacamaras, YET ANOTHER coffee book, parental obligation, on-air haranguing of Steve, and (at the very, very end) some thoughts on the morality of coffee farm photography.

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

Ok, folks. We know there is lots and lots of quality content happening in the world of coffee right now – and that’s an exciting thing! – but we really think you should make some space on your favourite listening device and find some time to coffee & chill with this week’s podcast guest, the one and only Liz Chai.

A graphic designer and illustrator by trade, Liz found her first specialty coffee home with none-other than the home of Tamper Tantrum’s birthplace (Octane) before carving out an incredibly exciting niche in our little world as a coffee creative in the PNW.

Regardless of whether you fancy yourself a creative – although most of us probably are, in some way – Liz brings a lot of passion, love, and wisdom to the table that is applicable to anything and everything you could possibly choose to do with your time on this planet.

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

This week, Steve is joined by none-other-than Darrin Daniel of Stumptown, A Film about Coffee, and – now –Alliance for Coffee Excellence fame. Recorded onsite at this year’s Cup of Excellence in Burundi, they use Darrin’s career story to talk through the pros and cons of working with large coffee corporations, share Duane Sorenson stories, and ponder the importance of communication.

They also talk about the tumultuous changes to ACE and the COE program which spurred quite a lot of intense online discussion – in which, we’ll be honest, Steve was a fairly vocal participant – and what changes have been made as a result of learned lessons as they look towards the future.  

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

We were excited to see former speaker Brian W Jones turn up in the audience of CoLab: Prague, so we nabbed him to have a quick chat about his experience in Prague so far, Supersonic Coffee, and the multi-roaster approach. Also covered: fried cheese, air stream trailers, instagram, and the coffee awesome podcast.

You can watch Brian W Jones' Asia talk here and check out supersonic's instagram feed here.

It's the return of the short! Official pusher-and-puller of all things Barista Guild of Europe Isa Verschraegen chats with Steve to chat about all things Euroguild, this year's Barista Camp in sunny Italy, and CoLab. Also covered: BGE's "safe haven" away from all of the crazy at Nordic World of Coffee Next week (BGE Myshorna), the importance of taking the time to have fun with your fellow baristas, and BGE's Dialogue as a way to connect with other baristas and share ideas when you can't make it to events.

In our second Prague short, co-owner of Prague specialty coffee heavyweight Doubleshot, Jiri 'Tashi' Vondracek, sits down with Steve to chat about the inception of doubleshot and the rapidly-developing Prague coffee scene. Also covered: the London influence, why baristas should come to Prague, and Tashi's coffeeshop recommendations for Prague.

EMA Espresso | Industra Coffee  | Bitcoin Coffee

In our last Prague short, Steve chats with SCAE Education Field Coordinator, Kim Staalman about her previous life as a barista, the Amsterdam coffee scene, and education at SCAE. Also covered: Ristretto horror stories, the importance of networking for baristas, and who would win in Anne Marie vs. Ellie.

In this Prague short, Oslo Kaffebar barista Masamichi 'Sami' Kaji talks to Steve about his coffee career--spanning Tokyo, Toronto, London, Oslo, and Berlin--and the differences between these different scenes. Also covered: customers' expectations, limited German vocabulary, and Sami's recommendations for coffee in Berlin in order to understand the relatively young scene there.

Five Elephant | The Barn | Companion Coffee | Oslo Kaffebar

As we come to the end of our SCAA short series, we're continuing the theme of Friday Declaimations with this incredible short from Jay Caragay. Jay is another one of our podcast heroes ("we're collecting them like pokemon!") and he regales Steve with with some fabulous stories about his start in coffee, falling into direct trade accidentally, and how he's gone about building a better company. Also covered in this short--as a follow up to Jay's comment on Podcast Episode 23 with Nick Cho--is the standard and cost of judging at the WBC. Happy Friday, folks!

Is there anything that John Gordon can’t do? The multiple-year UKBC Champ, roaster, tech whiz-kid, and innovative thinker sat down with Steve at the SCAA Event in April to talk about some of his new projects and the exciting things coming up soon. In this short, John and Steve cover imagination, the Opera, new releases planned for HOST Milano, and the difficulties of buying good green as a small roastery. Also covered: his new joint venture with Jess MacDonald (Framework) and the differences between the NZ & London coffee scenes.

 

You can find more information on Framework coffee here: http://www.frameworkcoffee.co.nz/

After years of pestering him to be involved in Tamper Tantrum, we managed to nab the very busy (and ever-lovable) Klaus Thompson in Seattle for a quick chat. In this SCAA short, the 2006 World Barista Champion and co-owner of the world-renowned Coffee Collective in Denmark reveals his unexpected start in coffee, how to get a sample roaster into a two bed apartment, and the ground rules upon which the Coffee Collective was founded. Also covered: old school online coffee community hangouts, developing green buying relationships in Kenya, and plans that DON'T include world domination.  One day, we'll get him up on stage. You just wait. In the meantime, check out the Coffee Collective's preferred method for reaching their customers here. 

Start your weekend off right: it's time for a dose of genuine Glanville. In today's SCAA not-so-short, Colin and Kyle have a straightforward chat about the decision to open G&B, motivation, hindsight, and being uncompromisingly true to yourself and your vision. Also covered: the difference between resistance to "the specialty coffee way" versus "fucking about," duties of care, why expectations matter, the best espresso in Seattle, and why Kyle would never, ever, ever compete again.

Despite the fact that you can only hear the dulcet tones of his voice, a very dapper Mike Philips joined Colin Harmon at the SCAA Event in Seattle to dish about his transition from an owner of Handsome Coffee Roasters to the Director of Training for Bluebottle, "Intelli's Greatest Hits from 2009," and why working in Tokyo has been awesome (hint: it involves Braveheart speeches). Also covered: marketing that isn't marketing and the great Colin Harmon/Mike Philips Feud, which stretches all the way back to Atlanta in 2009.

For our last SCAA short, we grabbed long-time friend and all-around super-talented guy, Pete WIlliams. The 2014 Irish Barista Champion chats with Steve about his start in the kitchens, his first mind-blowing coffee experience, and about what it's like to get creepy texts from Colin Harmon. Also covered: Finnish coffee consumption per capita, taming the beast, and some frank thoughts about what it means to deliver value to the company for which you work.

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is number 9 in the series, please give it up for Seife Tuuloskorpi

Colin and Stephen Embark on a new direction with the first ever audio version of Tamper Tantrum the 20th. Discussions range from running and 5km personal bests to "Every year Colombia takes one step closer to Kenya"

Two podcasts in two weeks, thsi week we discuss Central America, roya, Cultivars, Coffee kids and how everyone in the SCAE should be sacked. 

Fun filled, fact pact, 50 mins of rambeling 

 

In this weeks podcast we talk abotu the Irish Barista Championships 2015 the winners and the winners, and we explore Nicaragua and the outlook there. We also discuss the upcoming SCAA show and the speakers for Symposium. 

May contain the occasion curse word (Harmon has a potty mouth), and may contain nuts

 

In this weeks podcast we are joined by the legend that is Nick Cho from Wreckingball Coffee, California and of portafilter.net podcast fame. 

We cover, Nick's new shop, brewers cup flaws, the Judges of barista competiton and their bias towards making themselves happy, and the lack of female winners in the World Barista Championships. Ohh and we also discuss unimodal grinding and how I have a turd floating in my swimming pool. 

 

Its a long one at 1 hour and 29 minuetes, but its packed with amazing contnet and you really should listen. 

This week we talk about Colin's amazing trip to South East Asia and we have some special guest interviews from Jakarta and Bangkok. We also talk about cafe culture and coffee production in Indonesia .

We also talk about Stephen's experiences in the Brewers cup in the UK, and his near miss with greatness. 

Also in this episode we talk about the future of Tamper Tantrum and where the future lies and our brand new (old) full time employee. 

And we wash up from episode the 23rd's controversies and the amazing guest appearance of the Mr Nick Cho.

This week Colin and Steve talk about the run up to Seattle, Rwandan Potato defect, Grinders and scales and a whole heap of other stuff. Tune in 

In this weeks Tamper Tantrum we discuss Seattle, Portland, foodtrucks that don't truck, Yemen and the WBC and more besides. 

In this week’s podcast, we talk about Duane Sorenson’s abstention from coffee for one week, Carl Sara turning up in our kitchen (in his pants!), and Michael Sheridan who poses a simple question at this year’s SCAA Symposium: Caturra or Castillo?  

 

We close out this week with a discussion of coffee competitions, recently passed (Coffee Masters at the London Coffee Festival), upcoming (World Latte Art & World Coffee in Good Spirits at Gothenburg, June 16-18), and those currently in the works: Tamper Tantrum is planning an exciting new competition (with a cash prize!) we’ll unleash in time for Dublin 2016…

Grab a chemex and find a comfortable chair—episode 28 is epically long, clocking in at just under two hours, and covers a wide gamut of topics from coffee competitions to machiarttes and lots of little things in between.  We are also joined this week by everybody’s favourite Irish barista, Stephen Morrissey, who covers everything from his coffee journey, the upcoming changes to the WBC, and a series of one-word answers to tricky questions. 

 

To watch Stephen Morrissey’s “milestone moment”, click here: https://vimeo.com/2254130

Episode 29 shudders into existence with a discussion of “appropriate adult behaviour” (read: hangovers) before launching into a recap of our most recent event in Prague and the amazing speakers who joined us there. Also covered: why Klaus Thompson is a big fish, sweeping generalisations about the behaviour of roasters, and an exercise in the futility of Jenn attempting to curate the discussion that happens in these podcasts.

In this week's podcast, Colin and Steve chat Tim Williams' new role, Bluebottle's decision to wind down their wholesale business, and what might possibly be the biggest coffee-community internet kerfuffle since James Hoffmann killed crema: SCAA's decision to kill the regional competitions in the lead up to the USBC. Also covered: Steve's controversial take on SCAE's World of Coffee in Gothenburg, Cosimo Libardo's sage advice about how improve your business, and the saddest barista photograph ever seen.

Want to follow along with the kerfuffle? Check out the official announcement, the initial Sprudge article, Barista Magazine's blog post, the rebuttal from Sprudge, Nick Cho's blog, Trubaca's blog, James Hoffmann's blog, Heather Perry and Lorenzo's Perkin's comments on Fresh Cup, and the first signs of an SCAA backtrack. (Goodness!)

Can you claim to really be in specialty coffee if you don't know Matt Perger? The competition wunderkind, creator of the pergtamp, and the creator of the Barista Hustle joins us on episode the thirtieth to talk to us about everything from Melbourne to Malkoenig and mentors to Coffee Masters. Also included in this week's episode: disastrous competition beginnings, all kinds of apologies, when a non-victory is more victorious, fines, and big, new things for the Barista Hustle.

Want to hear more? Matt joined us as a speaker in Vienna (2012) to talk about "Macrophobia" and for the 2014 Asia Tour with a talk titled "Brew Local, Think Global". Want to read more? Subscribe to the Barista Hustle here.

This years Specialty Coffee Association of America Convention also featured the World Barista championships. This meant many interesting people were there, so we used our mic to record some of the amazing conversations had.  This one comes from Ben Put who is the Canadian Barista Champion and although he didn't know this at the time the 3rd place World barista in the 2015 competition. Listen and enjoy

This years Specialty Coffee Association of America Convention also featured the World Barista championships. This meant many interesting people were there, so we used our mic to record some of the amazing conversations had. 

This one comes from Cosimo Libardo who most will know from his trail blazing time as Sales Director at Nuova Simonelli, who now is the Managing Director of Toby Estate in Australia.  Cosimo is a previous speaker on tamper Tantrum and its always a pleasure to hear his words of wisdom. Listen and enjoy

In this SCAA Short, we nab Dale Harris, 2015 Chair of the Barista Guild of Europe (and of no relation to Dale Harris, Wholesale Director at HasBean), for ten minutes to talk about building a community, barista sandwiches, Nick Cho’s (supposed) one-day visit to Prague, and the importance of online education.

 

Want to come join us in Prague? We’ll be sharing more information soon about our program, but in the meantime, you can find out a little bit more about the full event—and book tickets—here!

http://www.baristaguildofeurope.com/what-is-colab/

This year's WBC was notable due to a distinct lack of a clipboard-bearing Julie Housh being mobbed by people with a million questions, but the 2015 BGA Past Chair was still onsite in Seattle and willing to sit down for a chat with Col. In this SCAA short, Colin and Julie discuss the relationship between BGA & BGE, what ACTUALLY happens at a barista camp, and why we shouldn't be having the current conversation about "women in coffee." 

Here at Tamper Tantrum we are very pleased to announce the outlines of a brand new competition which we will be spearheading for the 2015 / 2016 year. These championships have been designed to shake top the core of coffee competitions. Barista competition will never be the same again. 

On March 26 from 12:00 to 14:30, in the midst of a collective hangover from The Barista League the night before, we ran and recorded a special educational panel discussion hosted by local Kafferostare Per Nordby titled “Cracking Certifications” as a part of The Barista League: Gothenburg’s Sideline event series. Starting with the question, “why is talking about certifications so difficult?”, we brought together the voices of producers, certifying bodies, and green buyers to build a fuller picture of certification, from their aims to their achievements, as well as the considerations that producers and green buyers take into account when making decisions.

This week, we’re sharing the first half of “Cracking Certifications”, which focuses on the certifications themselves – Elisabet Lim (Fairtrade Sweden) and Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) gave insight into how certifications work, their primary goals, and how the business of certification is structured. Joined later by Sara Morrocchi (Vuna Origin Consulting), Angel Mario Martinez-Garcia (Progreso Producer Development) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee), we examined certifications and trading models in the context of specialty coffee and its love affair with “direct trade” – is there only one way to be accountable, transparent, and sustainable, as our current conversations might have us believe? Or are there many paths to the same summit?

www.allycoffee.com

This week sees the second and final installment of our time in Gothenburg “Cracking Certifications” with the Barista League: equipped with a shared foundation and understanding of certifications and their role in the coffee industry from our first installment, we turned our attention to baristas in the second half of “Cracking Certifications” as Steven Moloney (The Barista League) and Rubens Gardelli (Gardelli Specialty Coffees) joined Marcus Scahefer (Rainforest Alliance) and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee) on the stage: as the consumer-facing link in the coffee chain, what role and responsibility do baristas have in consumer education? More importantly, when we do endeavour to educate consumers, are we truly acting as ambassadors for those whose livelihoods are most impacted by various certifications and trading models?

 

www.allycoffee.com

This is the first in the dseris of the the Tamper Tantrum lost files from Vienna 2012 featuring the amazing Mr Tim Wendleboe

Welcome to Tamper Tantrum the lost files

Back in the summer of 2012 myself Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon hosted a group of 12 coffee luminaries, to come present on a coffee topic of their choice at the SCAE world of coffee event in Vienna.

This was not the first time we had put on such an event, but it was the first time we didn’t have control of the AV crew for the production. The previous two events we collated a set of videos which can be viewed at Tamper Tantrum dot com. But in Vienna something went horribly wrong with the video quality we had.

Although something gets lost without the visuals I decided that instead of them being lost forever, that I would make them available in audio format.

This is number 8 in the series, please give it up for Trish Rothgeb

It’s Fridaaaay, so we have another podcast for your weekend enjoyment ready to roll! This week, we’re joined by Dr. Bridgeen Barbour of Established Coffee in Belfast to talk about the nitty gritty of shops, service, and relationships. Now open four years, Established has overcome a number of hurdles – political, financial, cultural, personal – to become a comfortable, approachable, and beautiful community hub in Belfast’s blossoming specialty coffee scene.

Bridgeen’s known to be open & honest in her chats, and this recorded chat is no different: No. 87 is a great resource for anyone thinking about opening their own shop, trying to juggle multiple hats, or build a community in their local area.

 

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This week, we hope you'll forgive us: we've recorded under the heavy influence of jetlag from our temporary home in San Francisco, where we'll very excitingly be hosting our first-ever West Coast day of tantrums tomorrow (exciting! also: yikes!). Featuring lots of things we wish we hadn't recorded and then some, No. 88 is a short but sweet look at what we've been up to in our short time here with a few detours by Steve as he takes advantage of the weakened filter that comes along with transcontinental travel. 

 

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This week, we’re joined by Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research to see how things have progressed since she last joined us on the podcast all the way back in No. 47, recorded shortly after the release of the sensory lexicon and accompanying flavour wheel from SCA(A). Before jumping into the nitty gritty of research progress, we take a side-trip along the left coast of the US – partially as, at the time of recording, Hanna would shortly be joining us there for our San Francisco event, but partially as it’s one of her many areas of expertise – to talk about the history of specialty coffee on the west coast of America.

As we talk through Hanna’s own coffee history, we work our way up to her time with World Coffee Research and discuss specialty’s adoption of the sensory lexicon, the progress that’s been made with their work on F1 Hybrids, and their newest endeavour to keep the good work rolling along. No. 89 runs a little longer than the average podcast, but for good reason: Steve puts on his devil’s advocate hat as we look at various options to fund and release research.

 

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We’re back this week with No. 91 and, goodness, we have quite a bit packed into this episode: we’ve got guests aplenty! We kick off with an update from the field with Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, where they’re working hard to squeeze in as much planting and preparation as possible before the harvest starts whilst also managing the impact of the recent spate of hurricanes. Ale himself is joined by a guest – Chris Lee of Café Demitasse in LA – who is spending a month on Finca Argentia to get a feel of farm life.

After a quick Argentina update, we move onto the core of this week’s podcast: Jenn is joined by Ales Pospisil, co-founder of European Coffee Trip, to talk about their journey from home-coffee-geekdom to movers and shakers of specialty coffee media. As with previous “talking about coffee” guests with a unique view of the industry, there’s lots to ponder: is there a correlation between the growth of specialty in new locations and the enthusiasm for geekery? How do you maintain or renew your own enthusiasm and passion for your work?

We also look to the future with their newest (and biggest) project: The Aeropress Movie, a feature-length documentary about specialty’s strangest (and most engaging) brewing device, currently seeking funding via kickstarter.

 

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It's all go here at TT HQ as we prepare for the upcoming weekend festivities in Manchester whilst simultaneously preparing for the WBC in Seoul (Jenn) and getting ready to embark on a five country book launch tour (Steve) - with long days and lots of travel over the past few weeks for both Steve & Jenn, we thought it was time for a good old-fashioned skype catch up before getting on the show officially back on the road! 

No. 92 is a catch all for upcoming fun - our second year of the Brubiaceae coffee beer home brew competition and a new alcoholic twist on our industry-focused evening panel at the Manchester Coffee Festival, naturally - but also a place for us to speculate and anticipate how the most recent rule changes could impact this year's World Barista Championship. Hop in and (try to) enjoy the sleep-deprived ride!  

 

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This week, newly crowned World Barista Champion Dale Harris and long-time coach, friend, and all-around troublemaker Pete Williams take the lead on No. 93 to share stories about the lead up to this year’s WBC and the somewhat unexpected result. This one is definitely longer than usual, but for good reason – there’s lots to cover, despite the relatively short amount of time they had to prepare between the UK and WBCs. Together, they chat through ideas left behind, their (dys-)functional working relationship, “the Harris process”, the goals they worked diligently toward during their eight weeks of preparation, and more – including (for those who know where to find this sort of thing) the answer to the question that everyone has been asking. Yes, that one.

 

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en