"When next waking
bleary-eyed and the only thing to kick-start your day is a caffeine hit
made within minutes of boiling the kettle - imagine taking six months to
brew your morning cuppa.
This is how long it took for 30-year-old Alex Sargeant, a
self-taught barista from Norwich who did not even like coffee until
recently, to develop his "signature macchiato" - the 'Apple Mac'.
An espresso-based drink created with a serving of molecular
gastronomy from the Institute of Food Research, he hopes it will secure
him a place in the UK Barista Championships final on Sunday.
"What excites me about a good espresso coffee is complexity -
I want a coffee I find challenging, that has a whole host of flavours
fighting for dominance on the palate," Mr Sargeant said.
Alex Sargeant's competition performance will be broadcast around the world online
A co-owner of Strangers Coffee House in the city's Pottergate,
he has made it to the London finals weekend for the second year running
and is the only person to qualify from the East Anglia regional heat.
Mr Sargeant is a former mortgage broker, private investigator
and policeman who swapped his beat for the bean four years ago with the
opening of his own coffee house.
"I wanted to be an expert in what I was doing. I started by
creating latte art as it looked awesome and customers really appreciated
the 'wow factor', but then I wanted to start making better tasting
coffee," he said.
Mr Sargeant now talks about his
single origin Nicaraguan coffee as a sommelier would enthuse about the
subtle tasting notes in fine wine.
"My espresso has that crisp acidity you get from Granny Smith
apple flesh that pinches around the inside of your mouth, but it's also
got a vanilla sweetness, maple tones and rich, dark chocolate flavour
notes which I wanted to extenuate in my signature drink," he said.
"I knew I wanted to use apple, but not quite how. I've
created the drink with jellies, syrups, caramels, pralines - all of
these things you take to a point which either tastes lovely, or you
discover will never work in a million years."
To compete in the championship, Mr Sargeant's signature drink must retain espresso as its dominant flavour.
During his performance held at the London Coffee Festival he will be given 15 minutes to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks.
The drinks are judged for their technical accuracy and
"sensory values". The overall winner goes on to represent the UK at the
World Barista Championships in Australia.
"It's everyone preference as coffee is such a personal thing -
but when I present my drinks to customers it's about presenting
beautiful drinks, the same way as a chef would present beautiful food.
"My customers are also now are far more interested in where the coffee is coming from, how is it roasted, by who and when.
"You have so many people who are really interested and
passionate about why the coffee is important, you then have others who
don't care - they just need the caffeine.
"The competition is a bit scary but I think it's great be able to start to put Norwich on the UK coffee map.
"There's a couple of independent shops here getting on the
radar within the industry and it's great to make people aware of that."
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