Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
What are you taking away from our awesome coffee world right now? Let us know about cool trends, fun gear, killer drinks, events, places, people— you get the idea! Email takeaway@ baristamagazine.com. Watch Your Weight Millennial baristas love their scales, with stand-alone gram balances from Hario, Acacia, Escali, and Brewista now claiming counter space in some of the best cafés. Don't think equipment manufacturers missed the memo. The new machine and grinder roll-outs at the mammoth HOST Milan show in October were markedly heavy (wink) in scales: scales on drip trays, scales for dose weight— essentially, scales on everything, in an effort to give baristas more control over their espresso than they've ever had before. Attendees were particularly impressed by Mahlkönig's new grind-by-weight technology on the German grinder manufacturer's highly anticipated EK43 Barista model and Peak grinders. Coffee, Meet Weed Though marijuana legalization hit Colorado and Washington states first, Oregon—where pot became officially legal to anyone over the age of 21 on July 1—is embracing the legislation with a coupling specifically designed for specialty-coffee lovers. Portland, Ore.'s Ristretto Roasters partnered with Leif Medicinals to create Cannabis Coffee Cacao, which blends white chocolate with Ristretto's Beaumont Blend coffee, cacao nibs, organic full-extract cannabis oil, and smoked sea salt. Though THC-infused edibles won't become legally available for general retail sales purposes until 2016, the chocolates are already wildly popular among Oregon Medicinal Marijuana Program (OMMP) cardholders, who are snatching them up from dispensaries around the state where Leif Medicinals are distributed. Everyday I'm Hustlin' Two-time Australian Barista Champion Matt Perger has kept baristas across the world continuously informed about best bar practices with his blog, Barista Hustle, and its popularity prompted Matt and Hustle editor Alex Bernson to beta-test a more community-based project, calling it Opn Coffee. Existing as both a Slack group (a group messaging app with subjects, like a forum) and a web platform for long-form posts, these new portions of the site connect baristas across the world with each other in the name of coffee. This amount of connectivity has been unprecedented, especially with the sort of shorthand, colloquial prose that Slack facilitates. Now, these two worlds are moving out of beta, and being launched alongside Barista Hustle. See it for yourself at www.baristahustle.com. 20 barista magazine