A Coffee Thingamabob Showcase

Exciting coffee news!

If you live in the Springfield area and have nothing to do on Sunday night, I have the perfect thing for you. Robbie, my friend who works at Espresso Parts, is doing a demonstration of a foam knife at The Coffee Ethic.

What is a foam knife you ask?

Beats me.

Hence the title a "coffee thingamabob" showcase.

Since I will be out of the country, you guys will have to check it out on Sunday at 7pm and let me know, because it sounds super cool. 

Anything to make the life of a Barista easier and make the coffee in the life of a customer taste better is a good thing. :)

In other news, my little sister graduated high school tonight. It was super cool to return to my alma mater and see  my high school teachers. My drama teacher, Bobby Clubbs, gave a splendid speech. And yes, the band played Star Wars music for his entrance. Got to love the Clubbs!

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Coffee News: USBC 2011

So last weekend was the big event in the coffee industry:

the USBC 2011

(United States Barista Championship).

As you know if you follow my blog, I had three friends qualify to compete in this prestigious competition:

Robbie Britt

Jacque Desmarais, and

Joe Marrocco.

I also knew of a couple of competitors including:

Laila Ghambari, who made my espresso at Stumptown,

Sarah Dooley, who made my morning coffee at Olympia Coffee Roasters, and

Pete Licata, who Jacque knew and talked about.

For more info, on the actual competition check out my last blog post.


The Coffee Ethic had a viewing party on Friday in the library to watch Jacque compete,
so fun. :)

 


Everyone I knew made it through to the semi-finals.
Making them one of 26 top Baristas in the semi-finals!
I was getting ready for work while I was watching the semi-final announcements on my computer, and I think I screamed when they called Jacque's name (even though they mispronounced it). 


I was unable to watch the semi-finals because my lovely friend Lizzy was in town,
but here are the results:


6th place: Kevin Bohlin, Ritual, San Francisco
5th place: Lorenzo Perkins, Caffe Medici, Austin, Texas
4th place: Trevor Corlett, MadCap Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan
3rd place: Ryan Knapp, MadCap Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                  
2nd place: Nik Krankl, Gelato Bar & Espresso Cafe, Los Angeles                         
1st place: Pete Licata, Honolulu Coffee Co., Hawaii

(Yes, Pete, Jacque's friend!)

Needless to say, Jacque brought home a lot of awarding winning coffee from Pete. I am so proud of how well my fellow Baristas did at this competition. And I hope I didn't bore you TOO much with all this coffee talk.

Here is a video that helps you better understand coffee nerds:

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Coffee News: South Central Barista Competition

So this post is a little late, but you know what they say better late than never, or in this case, "better latte than never". The South Central Barista Competition was 3 weekends ago, and my co-worker Jacque Desmarais competed in it.

Jacque in her element!

She was on FIRE!

We were so pumped at The Coffee Ethic when we found out she made finals, and even more pumped when we found out she got THIRD PLACE!!! This was only our second year represented at this competition, and it was exciting to have The Coffee Ethic win a trophy.

For some background, the South Central Barista Competition is a regional competition for Baristas, or professional makers of coffee drinks. The competition is fierce and prestigious. Competitors make 4 shots of espresso, 4 cappuccinos, and 4 signature espresso based drinks in under 15 minutes. Competitors are judged by 4 sensory judges, 2 technical judges, and a head judge. The top 6 make it to finals and qualify for the United States Barista Competition, or the USBC, which is this weekend in Houton, Texas.

Joe's Awesome Mustache

The top 3 finalists of the South Central Barista Competition were all from Missouri and include:

• #3 Jacque DesMarais, The Coffee Ethic (Springfield, MO)
• #2 Stephen Schuh, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting (St. Louis, MO)
• #1 Joe Marrocco, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting (St. Louis, MO)

(By the way, Joe like Robbie used to work at my mom's cafe in Cape Girardeau. So I am SUPER pumped about 3 current and past co-workers competing at the USBC this weekend.)

Here is a video I made in honor of Jacque competing this weekend at the USBC:

Here is a video Kaldi's made to introduce Joe. It is pretty funny:



I will post the results for the USBC soon!

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Coffee Tour of Olympia, WA

I unexpectedly got stuck in Seattle for an extra day.

Thankfully, Robbie and Katie let me stay with them,

and I got an extra "coffee tour" of Olympia, Washington's capitol city.

First, we got our morning coffee at Olympia Coffee Roasting Company next to Robbie's job, Espresso Parts.

Olympia had a unique set up with a beautiful espresso machine, a La Marzocco.

The baristas were super sweet, and made me some yummy coffee on the Clover.

LOVE this door handle! 

Then we hopped on over to Espresso Parts.

This was a sight for a coffee nerd like me.

Coffee gadgets in every corner.

It was like a warehouse, but a lot smaller than I ever imagined.

I definitely feel like I am a cooler Barista now that I have seen where they make all the coffee making machines.

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Coffee News: Northwest Regional Barista Competition

Apologies for the absence this week. Southwest Missouri has experience a "Snowpocalypse" this week. If you want to see some of my adventures throughout my three days, go here, here, and here.

In Coffee News, last weekend was the Northwest Regional Barista Competition. The Barista competition is the most prestigious competition for Baristas all over the world. It involves making four espressos, cappuccinos, and signature drinks in 15 minutes. There are four tasting judges as well as judges in your face taking notes on waste, tamping techniques, and consistency.

Oh, and you have to talk charismatically and intelligently with the judges about your coffee you are using. No pressure.

With Regional competitions underway, everyone is watching and wondering who will make it to the US Barista Competition (USBC). The Northwest Barista Regional Competition is important because it includes the coffee-driven cities of Seattle and Portland. So the competition is INTENSE!

Robbie Britt at Competition 201. Kudos to Here

The Winners of the Northwest Regional Barista Competition Are:
3rd place: Laila Ghambari (Stumptown)
2nd place: Ryan Wilbur (Stumptown)
1st place: Samuel Purvis (Coava)

And the other finalists were:
Sarah Dooley from Espresso Parts (Olympia).
Robbie Britt from Espresso Parts (Olympia).
Tyler Stevens of Barista (Portland).

Image from last year on Espresso Parts

Robbie Britt (one of the finalists) used to live in Cape Girardeau, MO, and work for my mom's Grace Cafe. He was the first person in the whole world to train me on an espresso machine four or five years ago. I am so stoked he made it into the finals. Now, he works for Espresso Parts in Olympia, WA.

This is a classic "Robbie" look. Photo from Facebook.

He was also my youth minister growing up. So my first coffee mentor and my spiritual mentor made top 6 Baristas in the Northwest Barista Competition! Whohoo!

Kudos here

Also, worth noting, my former co-worker Jon Freihofer competed in the Northwest. He helped me with a lot of my training at The Coffee Ethic. I will keep you posted on how the rest of the competition pans out!

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