What is a Cappuccino?

Drink made and Photo Taken by Jacque Desmarais

"Cappuccino" is a fairly common drink to order at your local coffee shop,

but what is a REAL cappuccino?

It is...

...unlike most gas stations would have you believe.

"Cappuccino" literally means "a small cap" in Italian.

The traditional Italian drink is made with:

This is very similar to a latte.

The main difference is that a cappuccino is served cooler, has more foam, and higher milk to espresso ratio.

In other words, this little 6 oz. drink has a kick.

Crafting the perfect cappuccino is no easy task.

Temperature is important.

The espresso shot is paramount.

The amount of foam is crucial.

And the presentation seals the deal.

One way to test a "perfect cappuccino" is the spoon test.

Lightly, scoop the spoon over the foam.

This should reveal about 1 cm of foam..

...if it is perfect!

Traditional cappuccinos, or cappes, are definitely my favorite drink.

Mine are usually gone in an instant!

Good luck to your coffee endeavors!

-Beth

Cappuccino made and photos taken by Bethany Parry at The Coffee Ethic in AG Headquarters.

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Coffee News: USBC 2011

So last weekend was the big event in the coffee industry:

the USBC 2011

(United States Barista Championship).

As you know if you follow my blog, I had three friends qualify to compete in this prestigious competition:

Robbie Britt

Jacque Desmarais, and

Joe Marrocco.

I also knew of a couple of competitors including:

Laila Ghambari, who made my espresso at Stumptown,

Sarah Dooley, who made my morning coffee at Olympia Coffee Roasters, and

Pete Licata, who Jacque knew and talked about.

For more info, on the actual competition check out my last blog post.


The Coffee Ethic had a viewing party on Friday in the library to watch Jacque compete,
so fun. :)

 


Everyone I knew made it through to the semi-finals.
Making them one of 26 top Baristas in the semi-finals!
I was getting ready for work while I was watching the semi-final announcements on my computer, and I think I screamed when they called Jacque's name (even though they mispronounced it). 


I was unable to watch the semi-finals because my lovely friend Lizzy was in town,
but here are the results:


6th place: Kevin Bohlin, Ritual, San Francisco
5th place: Lorenzo Perkins, Caffe Medici, Austin, Texas
4th place: Trevor Corlett, MadCap Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan
3rd place: Ryan Knapp, MadCap Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                  
2nd place: Nik Krankl, Gelato Bar & Espresso Cafe, Los Angeles                         
1st place: Pete Licata, Honolulu Coffee Co., Hawaii

(Yes, Pete, Jacque's friend!)

Needless to say, Jacque brought home a lot of awarding winning coffee from Pete. I am so proud of how well my fellow Baristas did at this competition. And I hope I didn't bore you TOO much with all this coffee talk.

Here is a video that helps you better understand coffee nerds:

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Coffee News: South Central Barista Competition

So this post is a little late, but you know what they say better late than never, or in this case, "better latte than never". The South Central Barista Competition was 3 weekends ago, and my co-worker Jacque Desmarais competed in it.

Jacque in her element!

She was on FIRE!

We were so pumped at The Coffee Ethic when we found out she made finals, and even more pumped when we found out she got THIRD PLACE!!! This was only our second year represented at this competition, and it was exciting to have The Coffee Ethic win a trophy.

For some background, the South Central Barista Competition is a regional competition for Baristas, or professional makers of coffee drinks. The competition is fierce and prestigious. Competitors make 4 shots of espresso, 4 cappuccinos, and 4 signature espresso based drinks in under 15 minutes. Competitors are judged by 4 sensory judges, 2 technical judges, and a head judge. The top 6 make it to finals and qualify for the United States Barista Competition, or the USBC, which is this weekend in Houton, Texas.

Joe's Awesome Mustache

The top 3 finalists of the South Central Barista Competition were all from Missouri and include:

• #3 Jacque DesMarais, The Coffee Ethic (Springfield, MO)
• #2 Stephen Schuh, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting (St. Louis, MO)
• #1 Joe Marrocco, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting (St. Louis, MO)

(By the way, Joe like Robbie used to work at my mom's cafe in Cape Girardeau. So I am SUPER pumped about 3 current and past co-workers competing at the USBC this weekend.)

Here is a video I made in honor of Jacque competing this weekend at the USBC:

Here is a video Kaldi's made to introduce Joe. It is pretty funny:



I will post the results for the USBC soon!

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