Tasting award-winning coffee
And I thought I was a coffee nerd.
One of the joys of living in Galway is the amazing food scene. My favourite café is a little independent specialist coffee shop in Salthill that opened in the pandemic. Run by a lovely young couple, they were fairly new to coffee, but have gone from strength to strength, and the co-owner and chief barista Enda regularly wins or places in competitions.
Most recently, he came fourth in the Brewer’s Cup, a national coffee-making competition. I have only been dimly aware of coffee competitions in the past, but after Kali closed yesterday he ran a 90 minute session, recreating his competition brew, talking us through the presentation, his choices and technique and, of course, sharing the coffee.
Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious, and the vibes were great - a small group of just six of us, being taken through how coffee competitions work, how Enda came up with his routine and presentation, how he selected all of the elements, the cups, the filters, the brewer, the innovations he brought to the brewing process, his timings, the grind sizes and most importantly, the aromas and flavours he was able to bring out in the coffee - at different temperatures!
I consider myself a coffee nerd by normal standards, but this was really eye-opening, what the pinnacle of coffee craft looks like, at what felt like a Michelin Star level of ambition.
And again, can’t stress this enough, it was delicious.