Stumptown visit

I've blogged about Stumptown before but given we were just up there this past weekend for the Oregon BrewFest (more on that coming soon), and hit Stumptown several times, I thought it prudent to blog again about what we learned.

First, my cappuccinos pale in comparison to the ones at Stumptown. Seriously. Like, they blow. We figured that part of the problem are the cups we use. They are larger than a typical cappuccino cup is. Of course "he" says that's my fault because I don't like the color. Fair enough--they are brown. I like brown, but on a cup it's boring. He wanted to order some yet I was determined to find the right size in fun colors. Needless to say I haven't had much luck. Go figure. I have now broken down and said that he can get the brown cups because I am determined to make my java better. We do have two correct-sized cups that I've been practicing with and although the first two were better, the one I made today was not so much. My frothing techniques still need to grow as I usually make too much microfoam and not enough milk to mix perfectly with the espresso.

Second, there was a girl learning how to be a barista at Stumptown and we just happened to be sitting at the bar so we had front row seats to the training. If you've ever been to Stumptown you know that the baristas there know their shit. They take it seriously and they are GOOD. Like really good. We had at least 5 cappuccinos in a 3-day span and they were all wonderful. Even with that we were both impressed at how perfect everything had to be. There were two baristas (one gal and one guy) working with the barista-to-be. They began (well, began meaning that we came in at this point) at the milk frothing stage. The B (barista who knew her stuff) was showing the BTB (barista-to-be) how to hold the pitcher and feel the milk heat up. Now, we never do this. I don't because I'm a pansy and I don't want to burn myself. Plus, I like knowing the exact temp of the milk via the thermometer. It's how "he" taught me and I've just kept doing it. Anyways... The BTB frothed at least 4 pitchers and dumped them out all the while the B explained what went wrong. Can you tell that we were in total HEAVEN?! We were like spies minus the evil mastermind plot. We just wanted to make our own cappuccinos better not share trade secrets with some other coffee place. mwuahahahaha

Moving on.

Once the BTB had her frothing technique worked out they moved her onto pouring. POURING. Not making the espresso, not running the machine 100%, but POURING the milk. Can we say thorough? I can only imagine what the training at Starbucks is like, "Put the cup under here, push the button, pour the milk in, and put the top on." Now, this is where I learned a lot. This is also where the second barista (a guy) stepped in. He apparently is the master of pouring as he showed the BTB how fast to pour the milk in, at what angle to hold the pitcher, and how close it needed to be to the cup. Granted, I knew most of this but physically watching it all in person was a major learning trip for me.

They went through several cappuccinos, all of which both he and I kept saying to each other, "We'd drink that!" and lamented at how sad it was when the BTB dumped them down the drain. The gal B had stepped back in and both baristas would discuss how the milk blended with the espresso with the BTB. On one pour the gal B scraped the top of the foam with her finger revealing a milky mixture underneath that was obviously not well blended. "See how the milk has already seperated from the espresso?" she asked the BTB. "That's what can happen if it's poured wrong." Oh, and I should note that neither of the B's were "B's" (bitches). They weren't pompous, or condescending, or anything but informative.

Finally, after several pitchers of frothed milk and finished cappuccinos poured, the BTB created one that had the B's cheering. He looked at me and said, "Are you proud of her too?" And I said yes. How could I not be? :) It was then that we took our leave armed with more knowledge to try out at home and proud of witnessing a BTB make her first truly good cappuccino.

What happened to the cappuccino? She drank it. And smiled.

As a side note, most of our visits were at the Downtown location and at their new one in the Ace Hotel. The Ace Hotel is very cool and we highly recommend checking it out. In addition to great coffee they also serve hard to find, amazingly good beer.