I had hoped to visit Woolfest but it didn't happen. All week I had been checking laterooms website to see if I could snaffle a cheap overnight stay in Carlisle or Penrith in order to visit the festival today but there were no cheap rooms.
So a last minute trip to Harrogate was the next best thing and of course a visit to Bean and Bud for some deliciously lush lemon drizzle cake and a cup of the new guest coffee, a Limini blend called Liscio which was very lovely, a sweet soft coffee with no bitterness. It's a blend of Brazil, Costa Rica & Indonesia.
Had a really interesting & enjoyable evening yesterday as I attended a Cupping Event at Limini Coffee.
The idea was to sample a selection of 5 coffees of the world, to try and detect each coffees properties of sweetness, acidity, balance etc. etc. but just basically find out the type of coffee you like.
Youri roasted the fresh green beans in his table top roaster which took about 5 minutes for each batch, we did the smelling, aroma test first and then the slurping to sample the coffee (no spitting, why waste good coffee!).
We cupped 5 coffees individually and made our comments and gave ratings, then we cupped the same 5 altogether at the end (mixed up) to see if we had managed to figure out which was which.
I'll admit now that I did rubbish and didn't spot one of the coffees, fortunately I wasn't alone, this proves how difficult and what a skill it is. Amazingly one of the other girls on the course spotted all 5, she did so well and was rewarded with a prize of a latte art course.
It was all very fascinating, everyone enjoyed it, met some lovely people, a mixed bunch of home users and cafe owners. If you are looking for a good coffee or specialist tea in Harrogate, give Bettys a miss & check out this place as the people were on the course and they are very passionate about what they do.
http://www.beanandbud.co.uk/
As always a great event put on by Youri at Limini and hopefully they will be creating some more events in the future.
It finally happened yesterday, braved the sub-zero temperatures & went for barista training at Limini Coffee and also collected a bright red La Spaziale espresso machine. Youri & Howard did the training on the actual machine which was great to get to grips with your own piece of kit.
It's a wonderful machine and we were more or less pulling good shots from the start. Youri showed the different taste results you get by going through the range of temperatures.
It was then the milk steaming and the latte art. This is going to take some practise but I'm sure it will come and after all that is the icing on the cake. I now have the ability to make great tasting coffee at home, or at least I should have when the new grinder finally gets delivered.
It was a fab day being trained by such passionate coffee heads!
http://www.liminicoffee.co.uk/
