Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Barista Workshop, Antwerp.


Barista Workshop, Antwerp., originally uploaded by - di.

I'm just in from an excellent night out tonight.

You see, I had wanted to write an article on one of my favourite coffee cafes here in the city and then suddenly had the opportunity to attend one of their 2 hour barista workshops.

I always forget the difficulty of participating and/or doing an interview while taking the photographs. My very first handmade cappuccino was okay but I had hoped for perfection and my love heart on top was all but unrecognisable.

The course began with a 20 minute movie and talk by the guy running the course - I actually learnt a lot. There were things I wish I didn't now know about coffee however knowing does mean I'll be a little more selective in which coffees I buy.

If in Antwerpen and curious, you can check out Kaldi's website here.

9 comments:

Gary's third pottery blog said...

holy cats that looks DELICIOUS

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful picture, and if I owned a cafe or an eating/drinking establishment I'd frame a large print of it and give it a prominent place on the wall! Pssst... Can you tell us what secrets you learned about coffee? We won't tell anyone:-)

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

I second anonymous's question - what don't we know that maybe we should, about coffee that is;)

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

I second anonymous's question - what don't we know that maybe we should, about coffee that is;)

A said...

We keep on bumping into each other Di: I walked by around noon ;-)

Di Mackey said...

It was, Gary ... it really really was!

Thanks anonymous. Hmmm the coffee secrets. Well let's just say I would prefer my coffee beans arrived in a jute sack as opposed a big hot no-airflow container that comes from a hot place, gets condensation at sea and then ... well, never mind.

Hi Peter, kind of ... but I was there from 7pm until 9pm. You would probably enjoy it actually, and they're lovely people and their coffee is excellent!

Di Mackey said...

Well Barbara, it's as I said but it's complicated to explain. There are some brands here to avoid and there are some brands that are superb. I'm still processing what I was told actually and I'm curious now.

Anonymous said...

Di, I'm now wondering where I might buy my coffee in a jute sack! I think it's transported that way by some suppliers and then bagged locally, but I see what a problem no air flow could be--even on the store shelf. By the way, "anonymous" was me. I hit the publish key before I'd entered my name.

Di Mackey said...

Oh RD, I'm sorry. No, all you need to do is make sure that the people roasting your coffee buy good coffee and it arrives in good condition. That they don't tip it from the hot sweaty container into the roaster ...

It's about the roaster I guess. Apparently one rule of thumb but not guaranteed is that you pay more for good coffee because you can't get good coffee beans cheaply but our situation is European, after the ship has come from a long way off. You are probably much luckier in American, less distance and etc :)