April Elite Event @ Artisan Roast

The folks at the Artisan Roast put on a fab spread for us select few lucky enough to have been invited along to the event. There was cofffee tasting (a bit like wine tasting but you slurp from a spoon. Eye opener), coffee making, cake tasting, cheese and wine. If you ask me, there was just the right amount of educational stuff about coffee and how they do it at Artisan, mixed with just the right amount of food and wine. Although, admittedly, I may have overdone it on the dark chocolate and cherry brownies.
All in all, we all had a lovely evening learning and then whiled away a little longer than we should have done taking advantage of the hospitality and chatting to the staff. We came away buzzing and happy — determined to return to the roast soon. And you know what? We already have.

I brought a few friends along to this Unilocal event and we all had a wonderful night.
Coffee tasting, latte making, and foods galore, nothing disappointed. Megan (Scottish Barista of the Year, don’tcha know?) has opened my eyes to properly made milk, expertly brewed coffees and literally the tastiest latte I’ve ever consumed.
The staff are a friendly, knowledgeable bunch and the food and drinks were superb.
Thanks for an amazing, night, Artisan Roast! And thanks to Chris for organising this smashing event.

Good night with lots of lovely free food — especially the brioche… mmm tasty!
Learned loads about coffee and it was nice to do a proper tasting and learn more about how growing effects the beans.
Peed all over my 2 years working in a coffee shop — i know nothing!
Didnt avoid the camera as well this time — oh dear

It was a lovely warm spring/summer’s evening and as I walked along Gibson Street looking for Artisan Roast I was informed by the lovely Jessie, who greeted me at the door and issued me with my fab Unilocal badge, I looked like a little lost child. Probably the plaits!
It was a lovely cosy coffee house and the atmosphere had a truly strong buzz to it. (Get it?!) After mingling we were separated into small groups and taken to different areas where Artisan had set up various tasting stations.
I was in the food tasting section first up in the mezzaine level. Yum! We had samples of what they use in the sandwiches on oat cakes, cheeses they use from local cheesemongers and various tasty cakes. Mmm brownies gooooood!
Our next station was the filter coffee tasting. Ok so I wasn’t looking forward to this as I’m not a fan of coffee. We were given very in depth information about each coffee bean we were going to try including a score card. They grinded the coffee bean there and then and carefully prepared each drink. We were demonstarted on how to properly taste your coffee by given it a good ol’ slurp. Well, I gave it a go and slurped one by one. My reaction was amusing to others it seems. Hmph! As you probably guessed I did not enjoy any of the coffees and scored them very low. Sorry guys! They did smell really amazing though.
We then moved onto our next station of expresso coffee. This I knew a little about as I was a barista many years ago. I knew about the crema and used to carry out daily coffee audits. I did let them know I wasn’t a fan of coffee but I was told it was maybe down to «bad coffee» experiences and they hoped to convert me. We were given samples but yet again my taste buds hated me. I heard cries of «stop the bitterness»! We were also given the chance to foam some milk, which I haven’t done in yeeeeears. I drank plenty of foamed milk to try and take the taste away to be honest.
Overall I had a really good evening with great company and a good coffee learning experience. The Artisan staff were very passionate about coffee and this came across well in the tasting stations. They did a fantastic job but unfortunately, I’m sorry guys, I still don’t like coffee. I will pop in for a wee hot chocolate though.