Note for all TMC’ers www.toomuchcoffee.com

Just a short note for those looking for Too Much Coffee. There is a slight issue with the TMC server this morning which is being addressed. Normal service will be resumed shortly, meanwhile please keep an eye here for any updates.

Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Update:  It is all sorted out now. The site is back up and running. Once again, apologies for the temporary outage.

UK Barista Championships 2009

For the past three days a remarkably large number of geeky coffee types have been staring at their computer screens whilst Lawrence Brown and his camera pals streamed live coverage of the UKBC finals to the internet for all to enjoy. And enjoy it we did!

Daft shenanigans prevailed on the accompanying web chat with some well known coffee names from around the globe dropping in and out as time zones, work commitments, alcohol consumption and just plain nodding off allowed. It was, in short, a good time with a great bunch of people who I am sure could not have had more fun if the same group had all spectated at the finals themselves …… and in all honesty, we could not have been so silly without being thoroughly told off!

The big news to come  from the web chat, and Steve Penk said it was no secret so I’m going to mention it here, is that the World Barista Championship is coming to London in 2010. Very exciting times.

There is much commentary and discussion about the UKBC competition itself on TMC (www.toomuchcoffee.co.uk). The standard was very good this year with solid presentations all round.

Thanks to Lawrence, individual performance videos can be viewed on demand at www.viddler.com/explore/ukbc/videos/

Huge congratulations to a very worthy and extremely popular champion, Gwilym Davies, who runs two coffee carts in London and is one of the nicest people in coffee. Gwilym, wearing his trademark flat cap and waistcoat (see photo on the right, shamelessly stolen from the official UKBC flikr stream) looked assured at all times, also taking the honours for best espresso and best signature drink.

Gwilym is the latest in a line of champions to be coached by the venerable Square Mile Coffee Roasters of London (www.squaremilecoffee.com), following the successes of two time UKBC and WBC 2007 winner James Hoffmann, former Irish Champion and current WBC holder Stephen Morrissey, and former World Cup Tasting Champion Anette Moldvaer.

TMC member Gwilym will go on to represent the UK later this year in the WBC being held in Atlanta, along with fellow TMC regular Colin Harmon, who was recently crowned Irish national champion.

Maxine Beardsmore of The Bottle Kiln in Derbyshire was UKBC runner-up and also won the coveted best cappuccino award. In third was another popular TMC member, and these days an independant entry in the competition, Tristan Stephenson.

Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to all concerned behind the scenes for three excellent days of coffee fun. Good luck to both Gwilym and Colin in Atlanta -  both are real contenders for the title.

Is it really February already ………..

In my usual slack style, February has managed to roll round before I finally completed the ‘Favourite 5′ list from 2008. Actually, it wasn’t easy and I kept changing my mind. That is a good thing though, if not for the timeline of the list, it certainly says much for the healthy state of the speciality coffee scene in the UK. Anyway, the list is now complete and appears in the ‘Favourite 5′ menu at the top of the page.

Also woefully late, thank you for the prod with a rather pointy stick Beany, is the result of the roaster naming competition. Thank you for the suggestions. They were all very good and it was not easy to decide on a winner. The entries from both Marcy and Technojock were excellent, however, in deference to Matt’s roasting prowess and fond memories of a chaff filled Whirley Pop session in our kitchen some years back now – that yielded both smoke and an excellent roast – plus and not least because his suggestion was a really good choice of name, the winner is:

Espressomattic, a.k.a. BreakoBoy, the king of the Whirley Pop with the name ‘Bernie’.

Congratulations mate and again thank you to everyone who took part. Matt wins the bag of homeroast that I said could not be sent overseas, though we will try to find a way if it’s at all possible.

Well that’s it for now. A massively belated wish to everyone for a very peaceful 2009.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

At the risk of the title sounding like a Slade classic of yesteryear, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

It looks as though 2009 will be a tough year for many with the current economical crisis and the disappearance of much loved high street giants like Woolies and MFI. Let’s hope things improve as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, best wishes for a healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year.

The I. T. Crowd

It takes a lot to make me laugh aloud at a television programme, and a great deal to make that more than a little chuckle. The I. T. Crowd, now a few series old and demonstrating it’s maturity as a ‘fine wine’ of a comedy has brought me to tears more than once.

The depiction of a computer department ‘dungeon’ and those who inhabit it is perfect, and the subtle social references can easily be lost.  Hey, this is all sounding far too serious!

If you haven’t seen it, I would suggest you give it a go – and a couple of episodes for you to get into its groove. If you have ever worked in or with an I. T. department, you’ll probably ‘get it’ immediately.

Damn my sex pants ………..