NPC Barista 101 Training

Sorry for the delay in uploading guys, at long last, here’s the pictures.

I’m still looking for the pictures of the first batch. I’ll upload them as soon as I find them. Thanks for viewing guys

More pictures inside. Sorry for the delay in uploading guys.

Had a great time guys. Thanks for attending!

I shot the people that attended a recent Barista Training class..I felt no remorse after…Yes I shot them…

I shot them with a camera of course. Sorry if it took a while. Enjoy the pictures guys.

Not too may pictures. If you guys could send me yours so I could add them then that would be great. Let’s share them with the others.

Thanks for attending guys.

Barista Training overview for students of La Fortuna College Part 2! They were given the chance to try their hands on being a barista albeit for a short time. Enjoy the pics!

Sorry if some videos were blurred, never take pictures after 3 cups of coffee. Thanks for visiting guys! Hope you learned something new!

Ever wondered what the calorie and caffeine count of some food and drinks are?

calorie and caffeine count chart

Found this site all you health conscious slash caffeine freaks might be interested in. For a more extensive caffeine count list check this site out.

We were honored to have the HRM students from La Fortuna College in Neuva Ecija visit us the other day. Pictures attached.

La Fortuna College HRM students

The Setup

A different view of the setup

The calm before the storm

The early birds

smile guys

Almost looks like they are really listening. Joke

Hands shaking. Obvious sign I've had too much coffee.

The wait

The students sampling the coffee

That bottle of Absolut Vodka looks mighty enticing!

Selfless promotion. Hey, after making 30 lattes in just 20mins I think I deserve it.

More to come guys as soon as I get the other pictures from the other cameras used.

Thanks to the students, the teachers and the people that organized this event. Hope you guys learned something new with your visit.

Hope to see you guys again!

A stove top cappuccino maker.

I was checking out Kape Isla with a couple of friends when one of them pointed out to a contraption displayed near the bar.

It was the Bialetti Mukka Express, which according to Bialetti was:

“The ingenious novelty that allows you to prepare two creamy mugs of perfect cappuccino just like the one at the Italian Espresso bar”.

It costs around 3,000 php and up. I have never used one before or a stovetop esspresso maker for that matter so I did a little research and found a review about it here.

I will not pass judgement on something I have not tried yet, so for now, let the comment of the others be your guide.

Pictures from a recent Barista 101 class.

Welcome to Jurassic Park

A bunch of pictures from a recent Barista 101 class. Encountered a few problems at the beginning due to some power line issues, sorry for that guys. All went well after that (though the silence was deafening) .

Baileys, Kahlua, Frangelico and Amaretto to put the class at ease. Yummy.

They say “Inhibitions go down when it’s bottoms up.” So I left the liqueurs on the table for the class to drink. Barista and Bartending in one.

A big round of applause.

The Espresso Machines

The set up could be better, improvements are sure to happen, already have a few ideas in mind .

I’m still waiting for a few more pictures, I’ll upload as soon as I get them. For the people who took pictures, penge naman please . Hope to hear from you guys,

And the winner is….

But first, their methodology. The judges sampled cappuccinos and regular black coffees from all three chains served in a overcup to hide their names. Criterias for judging were taste, consistency, presentation and process.   

Contrary to what majority might think, Dunkin’ Donuts serves better black coffee than both cafes! For a better and cheaper cappuccino go head to McCafe. If you want to spend money on bad coffee, go to $tarbucks. 

Just goes to show that $tarbucks ain’t what it’s cracked up to be and can be beaten by the anyone. It’s just sad that whenever someone here in the Philippines puts up a coffee shop, they always try to imitate $tarbucks, hopefully this will discourage them and force them to come up with a more original idea.

So, the next time you have that sudden craving for good coffee, you know where to go.

Read the full article here.

Kape Isla supposedly is a local coffee shop with backing or support from the government. REALLY NOW?

Kape Isla is a local coffee shop located in Serendra in Taguig City. This is being supported by the Philippine Coffee Board according to their site.

I think it’s not getting the support it needs.

Me and and a couple of friends went to Kape Isla in Serendra (Taguig) one day to check the coffee shop out. Two of us ordered the “Choknut” (sorry I forgot the exact name as it was some time ago) and one ordered a Cafe Mocha (again I forgot the exact name).

Kape Isla Choknut and Cafe Mocha

I did not get to try the Cafe Mocha as i did not want to exchange fluids with my friend due to the H1N1 scare (luv u japz). But I did get to scrutinize the Choknut.

Choknut

And now the verdict.. IMHO,  it could have been better. First of, it lacked the choknut taste some of us loved when we were kids (I still buy Hanny for desert every now and then). Second, it still had ice chips indicating that it was not properly blended. For all of you would be coffee shop owners out there, never go cheap on the blender if your planning on including blended drinks on your menu. It does cost an arm and a leg but you’ll grow those back in no time. The texture using a quality blender is so different from let’s say using a crappy kyowa (sorry) blender. 

The last problem with the Choknut deserves it’s own paragraph. There was something wrong with the espresso used. Was it old? Was the technique in extracting the espresso incorrect? I do not know. I only relied on what I saw, and what I saw was the espresso came rushing out of the portafilter as soon as the barista pushed the extract button. Too fast, no crema, not good.

Kape Isla is supposed to be a coffee shop with the backing from the local government, but things are not looking good. IMHO, just the fact that they have another store (Echo store, can’t remember exact name again) inside their store and the fact that there were only a few people inside (tambay) indicates that the store is failing.

Echo Store selling local products (I think)

In the end, local coffee shops including Kape Isla are not seeing the advantage they have against foreign franchises. ACCESS TO FRESH COFFEE! Foreign franchises get their coffee from abroad so by the time it get’s here it’s most likely stale. We get our coffee locally so we should make sure that we are serving it fresh, if not, then wala talaga tayong pinagkaiba sa kanila. Lamang pa sila just by their name and equipment. It pains me to say that the future doesn’t look good for Kape Isla. To the Philippine Coffee Board who’s members are supposedly are experts on anything coffee, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!