PRACTICE RUN @ BARISMO

No one said this was going to be easy.  First I had to wrap up my cups (16 of them), my martini shaker, my water carafe, my ice cream, granita, saucers, whisk, bowl, heavy whipping cream, whole milk, etc...  Loaded everything into my trunk and headed out to the lab in Arlington.  When I arrived, the roasteria had been reconfigured to resemble the set up I will face at competition.  Julia came with me for support, and Jaime was of course there, along with his brother Chris (who you might have have seen before behind the counter pulling you shots at places like Barismo, Hi Rise, Simon's, and Cafe Fixe to name a few).  Chris acted as the sensory judge, and Jamie the technical judge.  I was briefed about the rules, then hit my 15 minute timer and began.  How did it go?  Well...  I forgot my script, went over the time limit by 2 minutes and 35 seconds, my granita melted, spilled ice cubes into the sig drink while straining, forgot the sour cream for my creme fresh, and the list goes on and on and on.  All is not lost, however, despite what you might be thinking.  In fact, this experience was priceless.  After a few more of these sessions I will be ready.  It is rare and fortunate to have this kind of support from a roaster.  These guys are great.  Thanks so much for hosting the training session and for giving me your honest feedback.  If I win, it is a win for both of us.  Thank you!  By the way, we thought it would be a good idea to up the ante a little bit for the next few presentations by inviting more spectators to make the experience even more unnerving.  So stay tuned if you're interested in coming to the next run through (I'll post something here or checkout the infamous Barismo.com blog). 

Nikolas Krankl, January 20, 2009

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