Barista Exchange
Charlie Biando
Male
Khillerdelphia
United States
Profile Information:
- What is your position in the coffee industry?
- barista, barista trainer, home barista, coffee enthusiast
- Where are you located? ( City and Country )
- Real-a-delphia USA
- How many years have you been in the industry?
- a few years
- If you are a barista or shop, are you interested in a barista exchange with another coffee shop/barista?
- yes
- Tell us more about your coffee shop or barista skills.
- My job: uhhhhh...i deal in secrecy and ambiguity. Get back to you soon.
I know my way around an espresso machine pretty well, can do latte art, am lethal with a mop, and play the game "will it press" a lot. - What cities or countries are you interested in traveling to?
- Definately not Pittsburgh. J to the K.
Portland, OR
A lot of places. - About Me:
- Three B's: babes, burgers, and banjos.
the other three B's: Bassisms, Bikes, Barista-ING-isms
I also like "nice" beers and bears, as well as pull up bars, knuckle push ups, and Chris Weybright...especially Chris Weybright.
THINGS ABOUT ME CURRENTLY!
soooooo, I currently work at Shot Tower Coffee in PHiladelphia. It is great. I get to mostly not take advantage of pressure profiling because I'm so hung up on consistency. But it's a beast. I'm working on holding monthly presentations on factors that affect coffee and are fun! I also hold cuppings at Shot Tower. If you have samples and want notes, you should get in touch!
Prior to Shot Tower, I have been lucky enough to work at some really radical shops. And while I've pulled shifts at a few shops, the last shop I worked at full time was Case Study Coffee in the Hollywood section of Portland, OR. It was a great experience: serving espresso from a very fair, yet mean, 3 group Marzocco Mistral that has individual boilers, preinfusion, pressure profiling, and foot switch activated steamwands! Also CSC's Roburs are foot switch activated. If a foot switch can be added to something, they will do it. They have a commitment to serving locally roasted coffee. The program currently includes Stumptown and Water Ave Roasters; Coava and Sterling are next up on the roster. It was a great experience as I had the opportunity to work directly with these roasters. I had a bit of an espresso renaissance out here. Some serious food for thought on making a great shot.
Prior to Case Study I worked for Ultimo Coffee in Philadelphia. It's a Counter Culture Account, run by the awesome Ultimo duo (Aaron and Elizabeth Ultimo, former Murky folk), and one of maybe three or four shops in Philly that's serving some decent coffee. At Ultimo, I was fortunate enough to work with some great people on a beautiful 3 group GB5 (with lights!), Mazzer Robur E, Bee House Pour Over Kits, some press pots, and some Chemexzzzzzzz! They hold cuppings every Friday at 5PM and are always serving different coffees with the seasons.
Also, as hinted at above, I am a bassist. I play in a variety of settings. I grew up playing jazz, went to school for orchestral performance, and am currently getting around in two bands that tour frequently: Hermit Thrushes and Folklore (featuring members of Elf Power). They're pretty different in sound.
Hermit Thrushes is a five piece that has a heavy emphasis on art song. Songs are typically short in length but very dense in content and often change timbrely from delicate, fragile, and soft to very noisy and spastic. We just finished up our first monstrous US tour. It was Totally Rad to say the least and gave me some awesome opportunities to check out some AMAZING coffee. We currently have two albums out: Benaki (Single Girl, Married Girl 2008) and Slight Fountain (Joyful Noise 2009) as well as a much coveted Daytrotter Session under the belt, a 7inch, and a full length album coming out hopefully very soon. Fun, right? check us out: www.myspace.com/hermitthrushes
Our Tour Dates are posted and if anyone's interested in seeing us, hearing us, caffinating us, feeding us, and/or loving us, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME (through the BX or miraclefeet@gmail.com). you the best.
Folklore is a newer Philly band that started in Athens, GA with Elf Power guitarist Jimmy Hughes. The band typically consists of two guitars, a drummer, a violinist, a violist, a clarinetist, a bass clarinetist, trumpet, keyboard, and two upright bassists! A lot of sound. Songs tend to genre-wonder between Folk, Yo La Tengo-esque Party Rock, and Venus in Furs-style drone psych! Check us out too: www.myspace.com/folkloreband - About My Company:
- We make hippo-locks
- What is your favorite thing about the coffee industry?
- Free McDonalds. & "no one serves coffee, no one wakes up..."
- Website:
- http://www.myspace.com/miraclefeet
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