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Sarah’s article in The Guardian

Yesterday, Barista Magazine’s editor, Sarah, was contacted by the Guardian and asked to write an opinion piece on today’s Starbucks closure for employee training. If you want to check it out, here it is: Coffee clash

Baristas for Bikes

By now most of you are familiar with the nonprofit, Bikes to Rwanda, based here in Portland, Ore., which has successfully delivered hundreds of custom-built bikes to coffee farmers in the highlands of Rwanda, where they are used to get cherries to the mill faster and easier than the old way: on foot.

It was no […]

A weekend in pictures…

(I.e., Sarah will save her stories about Coffee Fest Washington D.C. for the April/May issue of Barista Mag)

Thank mercy for Clover in the morning…

Nick and Heather co-MCing? Michelle looks nervous…

Nick and his murkies did a bang-up job with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition, securing some of the coolest trophies in the history of FOREVER, an […]

Washington, D.C., it fits me to a T…

Thanks to one of the bestest bands ever, Magnetic Fields, I had the song “Washington, D.C.” (from the record, 69 Love Songs, Volume 2) spinning in my head for all of last weekend, as we traipsed around Coffee Fest D.C., the Millrock Latte Art Championship, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition. (Thanks, Stephin Merritt!)

The weekend […]

Well, it’s a start…

How long does it take you to train a barista? Starbucks seems to think a few hours one afternoon ought to do it. See the post below, copied from the Chicago Tribune’s blog, The Stew:
“Starbucks has announced it will close its almost 7,100 company-owned stores across the country on Feb. 26 for several hours so […]

Cheers, Luis—Nicaraguan Barista Champ!

The second annual Nicaraguan Barista Championship, which took place February 1–3, was totally a world class event! Judges from Honduras, Costa Rica, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, and Estonia, not to mention 12 locals who got certified by head judge Jose Arreola, were impressed by the professionalism of the 19 competitors—many of whom had received recent training […]

Hail to The Pete!

Congratulations to Kaldi’s Coffee, the outstanding host of the Midwest Regional Barista Competition, held in Saint Louis, Missouri, February 8–10. According the Michelle Campbell of the SCAA, Kaldi’s did a phenomenal job organizing and implementing this long-running competition. Bravo, Kaldi’s!

Congratulations to first-place winner, Pete Licata of PT’s! Now a two-time MWRBC winner, Pete took second […]

Report from Africa

Today I received an email from our friend Shane Devereaux, owner of habit coffee + culture in Victoria, B.C., about how his extended trip to Africa for various coffee trainings is going, and thought I’d share it with all of you…

“At the moment I’m in between two semi final matches of the African World Cup. […]

The Loss of a Legend

illycaffe’s honorary president Ernesto Illy died on February 3, 2008, at the age of 82. Throughout his career, Dr. Illy has openly shared his dscoveries—not only to advance the interests of his own company, but for the benefit of all people who enjoy and appreciate the authentic Italian coffee experience. Dr. Ernesto Illy had a […]

Farewell, Nicaragua… Hello, M’lissa!

It’s hard to believe that we’re back in Portland. In many ways, this trip to Nicaragua for me and Ken was one of the most important coffee ventures we’ve been on. Nicaragua is a beautiful, complex, poverty-stricken, vast, friendly, and unforgettable place.

It will take me many more days to process what I saw, the wonderful […]