twitchy

wbc 2009 day two

April 18th, 2009

Sorry, whose idea was the flamenco club at 2am?

Okay. Day one of the WBC went by so fast I barely had a chance to catch my breath, but day two, lemme tellya. When Nicaraguan champion Rebecca de Los Angeles Ramos Moran opened with “I Don’t Wanna Wait” (theme to Dawson’s Creek), did her entire routine in Spanish (honestly, “Judges, I’m now going to prepare my cappuccinos…” is pretty universally understandable) and THEN finished off getting an entire bloc of the audience (in full ceremonial dress) to clap along to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”…well, yes, it’s supposed to be about the coffee, but I think we all got in on the other reasons why we’re here…

It would shock me if Carl Sara isn’t in the finals tomorrow. His genuine gratitude for the chance to be up there, smoothness of skill, and fiendish drive are all forces to be reckoned with. I swear when he said there were pink peppercorns in his drink he looked like he knew he could destroy us all. Also, Sara’s soundtrack is fantastic, and I have to leave the competition stage area where I am photographing on at least two occasions so that I can dance. Smooth smooth. Can’t wait to watch this again. His signature drink is pink peppercorn up front, blueberry espresso in the middle, and pink peppercorn again at the back.

After some visits to the WBC bar (where Liquid Swords said hi again for awhile) and the SCAA show floor (if you get kicked out of the Intelligentsia booth, you can always go hang at Slayer Espresso) I checked in on the US Cup Tasters championship, where today Colleen Anunu, Geoff Watts, Eric Ellison, Andy Spangler, Oliver Stormshack and Ben Kaminsky will advance, vying for that trip to Germany. This competition is a welcome addition to the fracas, though I’m a little confused by the dance music and plants. Devin Pedde tastes so fast I can’t get any pictures that aren’t blurry, and someone said something about Nick Cho blaming a chili dog on the outcome (that’s what she said?) but overall it’s a great experience for everyone that we have this here this weekend.

Much more to say, but I’ll say it after I watch day three of the WBC. Finalists will be announced this afternoon, and until then I’ll be watching the last batch of forces-to-be-reckoned with and being nervous and excited for Team USA.

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