Barista Magazine

AUG-SEP 2012

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PULL JOURNAL OF JAMS, COMPETITIONS AND BARISTA EVENTS BOOZE MEETS BREW IN NYC The second annual Coffee-Cocktail Mashup commenced in high style at Weather Up, 159 Duane St., in Manhattan, on Sunday, June 24. Teams consisting of one barista and one bartender served a coffee-centric cocktail of their own creation to a panel of five judges, which included notable chroniclers of both the coffee and cocktail worlds: Mike White of ShotZombies.com; Mari Uyehara, food and drink editor for Time Out New York; Kara Newman, cocktail writer for Wine Enthusiast; Shawn Kelly, who represented event sponsor Pernod Ricard; and Jenny Adams, of Mixing New Orleans. Organizer Cora Lambert came up with the idea for the Mashup last year while managing the now-shuttered RBC NYC in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood. Conversations with bartenders revealed that there was as much interest in the craft of specialty coffee within the within the world of craft cocktails as vice-versa. The opportunity to capitalize on this joint interest arrived with the opening of Compose, a cocktail bar under the same ownership as RBC, in the space next door. The easy accessibility of each venue's drink program to the other laid the groundwork for an event marrying the two disciplines, with the aim of bringing New York's coffee and cocktail worlds closer together. This year's edition was run with an even broader marriage of specialty coffee and cocktails in mind. Lambert and writer Amy Zavatto are using proceeds from the event to fund their panel "Coffee: The Missing Ingredient" at the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Madcap Coffee's Trevor Corlett, Handsome Coffee Roasters' Michael Phillips, and Alchemy Consulting's Troy Sidle will also sit on the panel). Weather Up filled quickly with spectators from both the coffee and cocktail communities. The room was abuzz with excitement over the impending competition. Attendees mingled under Katherine Weatherup's signature subway-tile ceilings, lingering by the back-bar or crowding around the judges' seating area, sipping complimentary coffee cocktails devised by Lambert and Sidle. The first team to present consisted of Dallis Brothers Coffee's Teresa Von Fuchs and Meaghan Doorman of Raine's Law Room. The duo was friendly and welcoming, 22 each complementing the other's area of expertise as they described, simply and accessibly, the story of the barista magazine coffee and the concepts behind the flavors and presentation of their drink. The drink itself was both challenging and elegant, marrying a cloth filtered French press of Dallis' Finca Rufino (from the Dominican Republic) with mezcal, Cynar and cream sherry to create a layered, smoky complexity. Next up: Mike Jones of Coffee, and Danny Gil, Third Rail of Weather Up. Their presentation was simple, light-hearted and low-key, but no less professional, with a drink modeled after a classic julep, but using Stumptown's Ethiopia Duromina (both Aero- Pressed and cold-brewed) as its 'base spirit. ' The For the second year in a row, Cora Lambert organized the Coffee Cocktail Mashup, which brings baristas and bartenders together in a fun competition in New York City. Sam Penix (pictured above) of Everyman Espresso, and his teammate, John deBary (below), a bartender at PDT, created the winning drink and presentation, a tiki-inspired concoction which brought together Finca El Puente, white rum and blue flames. wow-factor came from the service itself: the drinks arrived before the judges in cups hewn from blocks of ice. Alex Bernson of Joe NYC, and Clover Club's Brad Farran made up the third team. The pair was perfectly matched in their exacting attention to detail and technique. Their drink was based around Stumptown's Finca El Injerto from Guatemala, both as cold-brew concentrate and as Japanese-style iced coffee frozen into cubes. To this, they added Ron Zacapa (a Guatemalan rum), as well as a float of a banana cream, creating a drink that riffed on the flavors found in espresso affogato. Up fourth was the team of Sam Penix, of Everyman Espresso, and John deBary, a bartender at PDT. They were a crowd favorite from the start, with a brash and dynamic style that garnered rapt attention and hooting excitement. Their presentation was a show-stopper: a complex tiki drink built around Counter Culture's Finca El Puente from Honduras as espresso, with bourbon, rum, passion fruit, and lime juices, and finished with pours of over-proof white rum, set alight to create streams of blue flame. Married to the spectacle of the drink itself was a tale of a Polynesian god and his bride, and live musical accompaniment from a ukulele player. Finally, defending champions Park Brannen of Handsome Coffee Roasters and Jane Danger of Jane's Sweet Buns, took center stage. Imbued with disarming wit and charm, their presentation ended the evening on a playful note. They promised a fun, accessible take on a familiar drink, and delivered, serving a riff on a piña colada built around Handsome's Dukunde Kawa, Rwanda (brewed over ice with a Kalita Wave), using Bittermen's Amere Sauvage in place of pineapple, and served to the judges in a whole young coconut. In the end, Penix and deBary's presentation earned them the gold, with Bernson and Farran coming in second, and Brannen and Danger rounding out the top three. The event was a resounding success, bringing together New York's coffee and cocktail communities in a way that will hopefully set a precedent for future collaborations. —Sam Lewontin PHOTOS BY KATY YEN

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