An evening of snow into a morning of blooming crocuses and noon hardly ever felt so early (again, I’ll blame climate change here) as we roll in to the NERBC finals after a 28-day, three-state romp through one of the crowdedest rooms in Manhattan. It had been a little while since I attended a barista [...]

a guided coffee tasting at penny university london london london, i’ve been in you for a few days now and have i checked any cultural boxes? not so much. there has been strolling and there have been really a lot of peas, and maybe just maybe there was a little side trip to oslo, but [...]

i never know how to start writing about things that are going to end the same way, in a mushy unravelling about how coffee brings together the greatest people with the most impassioned spirits, but i’ll try to work some information between point A and point B and describe a little of what was magical [...]

Right?

2.5 hours sleep and one lucid dream on the plane later I put down on the ground this morning in MSP. (For the second time in a week, though I actually got out of the airport this time. That layover from SF *was* magical, though — who knew $4 bottles of water tasted so good? — [...]

(photo courtesy Tonx) Barista’s Barista award: Chris Baca. So humble and everyone loves him. There was a lot of buildup as there was a question if the same lineup as last year might be on stage. The final answer? All the same people, one new AMAZING ROCKSTAR: 3rd – Heather Perry 2nd – Kyle Glanville [...]

(photo courtesy Tonx) (opening convo with Sarah about RBC in South Carolina, about how Ryan has moved all around from Portland, LA, etc, etc). Final presentation. Ryan is pouring that fancy water in the tall thick glass scandanavian water. What’s it called? Voss. He’s talking about adding some flower, clover, brown sugar to the water, [...]

(photo courtesy Tonx) Drew looks dapper and cleaned up. He’s working with the Anfim, has classic brown cups, and HITS THE RED BUTTON. The music is from nintendo, the Metroid theme! Starts by pouring glasses of San Pellegrino for the judges and tells them about how he likes the flavors in <omitted>. He’s using his [...]

(photo courtesy Tonx) Heather’s from SAN DIMAS, CA. “As you can see from the menu in front of you, we’ll have a rich and creamy cappuccino to start with,” she says. There are angled martini glasses prepped for her sig later, with a matching full glass water pitcher. Her blend has some Americas (Poco Fundo [...]

(photo courtesy Tonx) 11:55 am. He jokes if he should say “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon.” Three brazils in his blend. Two from <town?> with milk chocolate, good citrus. The other is from <shit, I don’t speak Portugese>. Talking about it as he breaks some whole cardamon pods, adds salted macadamia nuts, with a little [...]