KN, just my honest opinion, but re "...I am interested.....in what members of the forum expect from such a body"...(i.e. an Association). The general public doesn't necessarily expect anything...or doesn't necessarily know enough to make an informed judgement...ask instead, what perceived needs do the directors see that their particular associations might service...and to what end? Re "...a national standard for making and serving espresso coffee, and for maintaining and monitoring coffee service..." Does the general public know or care? Will they refuse to frequent cafes/eateries that are not "quality assured"? Regulation gone mad? Regulation for the sake of building a training and certification consulting industry? If this is the only country that now has such a system, ask why, in the country of origin (of espresso), they dont appear to require such a specialised system. In the metropolitan areas I occasionally frequent in Italy when visiting trade shows and espresso machine manufacturers on business, high quality coffee beans OR NOT, almost every cafe seems to know how to brew and present wet coffee properly. As many wise men have already said before, rules regulations (and probably standards) are for the guidence of wise men and adherence of fools. Operating an espresso machine properly is like being a cook...you need to know how to enterpret the rules, not stick to them robotically. You can teach rules and regs all you like, but you cant oversee what your pupils do with the instruction (and their "certificate") afterwards. That is up to professional cafe ownership and management. Are there any associations helping in this area...Lobbying for training and certification of professional cafe ownership? I fear the "certification" of "baristas" (there goes my nervous twitch again) according to a "standard" is a glamour excercise that lifts profile but is actually a furphy, taking awareness away from much more deserving areas of interest (like proper regulation of the out of control "cafe" industry). Are these "coffee", or "roaster", or "grower", or "cafe", or "barista" associations? Coffee roasters do have an obligation to get involved (whether from within "associations" or not) to help lift the standard of coffee brewing...they have a direct interest that their product does not continue to be destroyed by unqualified EMO's (espresso machine operators). Were there any roasters, who were not members of any "coffee" association, involved in the standard developing process? Who judged the suitability of the credentials of all those involved, was it a "coffee" association? Who judged the Judge, and what are the Judge's credentials? These are not questions requiring an answer, just questions designed to make us all think. Fresh Coffee.
