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Some of you may have already heard about a book being put together by Dani Cone, who spends the majority of her time running Fuel Coffee in Seattle. Dani has been contracted by Sasquatch Books, in indie publisher out of Seattle, to put out the tentatively titled book, Coffee Crash: Baristas reveal the unfiltered truth of life behind the register. And she wants to hear from y’all.

“This book will feature 50 baristas from the Northwest and their version of the truth of what it’s like to live the barista lifestyle,” she writes in her press release, which calls for baristas like you to submit your stories. “As a barista-turned-coffee-shop-owner myself, I am particularly excited to bring even a fraction of the experiences, stories, hilarity, nightmare customers, favorite playlists, early morning dramas, and more to the forefront of the general publics mind.”

Sounds cool to us. My only complaint is that she’s not scouting baristas from around the country, or even the world. Coffee certainly doesn’t start and end in the Northwest, that’s for sure. Recognize this guy?

Yup, it’s The Pete of PT’s Coffee in Topeka, Kansas, second place finisher at the 2007 US Barista Championship. Now that’s a guy I’d like to learn more about. And what about this guy?

That’s latte art whiz kid Chris Deferio of upstate New York rockin the finals at the USBC. In fact, none of the six USBC finalists this year were from the Northwest at all! Of course, we all know the Northwest is home to some of the super-est baristas on the planet, but the culture of coffee from the barista perspective is so much more broad than just Oregon and Washington and Alaska and sometimes Idaho. Right?

Just look at this photo of some of the barista world’s best and brightest: I see Amber of Intelli Chicago; Kyle of Stumptown Seattle; Justin of Alterra in Milwaukee; Salvador, the two-time Mexican Barista Champion; Klaus of Copenhagen (2006 WBC Champ); Deaton of Australia and now Intelli LA; Duck of Latteland in Kansas City; Nate of Dog River in Hood River, Oregon; and others. They represent our far-reaching community perfectly!

This book looks like it’ll be cool though, and maybe Dani’s next project will cover baristas on a more broad scale. Or, I don’t know, maybe someone will start a magazine that features stories about baristas from all over the world. Hey… wait a minute…!

If you want to tell Dani your story, email her at dani@fuelcoffeeseattle.com by January 10, 2008. She asks only that you “be creative, have fun, pretend like you’re making the greatest barista srapbook ever and send me some cool stuff to publish. Be simple, be serious, be good, be edgy, be whatever you want… this is your chance to represent yourself!”

I’ll drink to that, Dani.