Who knew wine tasting was a transferable skill?

While my weeks are normally filled with an assortment of wine tastings, winery lunches and winemakers dinners, sometimes something comes along that is just plain fun. Monday morning on September 28^th, I got an email invitation to be a guest judge for the Krups Kup of Excellence http://www.krupskupofexcellence.com/ they had a last minute cancellation from a judge and I was able to clear my Tuesday.

Krups, for those that may not be familiar with the brand is a producer of high end home coffeemakers, espresso machines (including a snazzy self-tamping model the XP 5240), and grinders though I also found out that they do make some high end toasters as well. For the last 5 years (3 in Calgary) Krups has been hosting the Krups Kup of Excellence which starts with a voting process to find the best espresso from independent cafés in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver, and Calgary. Votes are tallied and a short list of the top 5 is compiled. It was this short list of cafés that I was going to be part of the judging panel for.

Meeting for a quick breakfast at the St. Germain restaurant we had a chance to meet the other judges, meet the representative from Krups and have a brief orientation about espresso, what to look for, and the criteria we would be using for each of the cafés. The criteria we used included;

Atmosphere (up to 24 points), including cleanliness, ambiance, and design

Staff (18 points), friendliness and knowledge etc.

Beverage Presentation (up to 18 points),

and most importantly, Evaluation of the espresso (30 points multiplied by 1.5). This included the crema, balance, and taste.

After a quick calibration we were off to the waiting limo to the first of our 5 stops. This years finalists were Primal Grounds, Bumpy's Café, Caffe Rosso, De Ville Luxury Coffee and Pastries, and A Lady Bug Bakery and Café. As we worked our way from café to café sipping and savouring the espresso offerings we learned quite a bit about what goes into the perfect espresso experience. Some cafés were a little more diligent, a few more rustic, but overall they put out a great cup. I can't speak for the other judges, but my favorite spot was De Ville in Art Central, a tasty espresso with a great atmosphere and friendly staff that definitely seemed to know what they were doing. The other cafés were all great and for the most part put out quite the shot, and there was only one that I don't think I would return to if given the choice, but it was fairly popular with the other judges.

It was a tremendous learning experience and a chance to see the differences and similarities between coffee and wine tasting. Both processes are quite involved and take some focus, both to score consistently and fairly, but also to avoid scoring favourably a place you frequent on your own or a place that plays the music you like. I would say I was exhausted from this experience, but 5 cups of espresso, a few coffees flanking the program, and one delicious pastry later, I was wide awake.