Cup North 2015: "Challenging The Way We Brew Coffee For The Better" | Gordon Howell

Here’s one for you, brew geeks: tucked in amongst the Cup North talks that tackled service, communication, and innovation, Gordon Howell’s “Challenging the way we brew coffee for the better” is a staunch—dare we say confrontational?—look at how we are currently brewing coffee and why it needs to change.

There have been some mutterings and murmurings about the age of the brewing standards we use around the edges of Tamper Tantrum for quite some time (David Walsh, Mike Strumpf), but this is the first time anyone has tackled it head on for their presentation. We hope Gordon’s thorough approach to examining this subject inspires you to think before you brew!

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Gordon, along with his wife Marie, owns and runs four businesses in York that are all geared to his love for quality coffee, beer and spirits: Harlequin coffee and tea house, The Attic, Attic by night, and the Northern academy of Coffee. He’s incredibly active on the world competition scene, having represented the UK in both the 2015 WBrC (7^th Place) and the 2013 WCIGS (3^rd Place) as well as acting as a sensory judge in the UKBC (2013 & 2014) and UK CIGS (2014 & 2105). As an SCAE AST in the dark arts of barista skills and brewing, Gordon mainly focuses on a one to one tailored approach geared to helping other coffee professionals gain intermediate and professional accreditation

His wealth of experience in the world of speciality coffee from the day to day operation of running a coffee shop to competing, judging and teaching at the highest level is complemented by his training in hospitality management (BSc) and export management (MSc). He also assists WCE with competition development as well as being a Dalla Corte Pro.