Hey, welcome to Monday! What an awesome week it’s going to be! Let’s all get pumped! And in case you thought it was going to be a quiet week for coffee, guess again! Check out the news that’s brewin up (yuk yuk) in coffee this week…
First up: GET YOUR VIDEOS FOR CAMP PULL-A-SHOT IN ALREADY!!
If you haven’t already heard, the BGA and the kindly Marcus Boni are offering an all-expenses paid trip to Camp Pull-A-Shot, which is sure to be a downright amazing adventure for baristas and cafe owners, and is right around the corner: Oct. 18 “21. Here’s the skinny: make a video ”do it on your phone, your camera, whatevs ”about why you want to attend Camp Pull-A-Shot. Video shouldn’t exceed 3 minutes in length, and can be as serious or as of the wall as you want. Email said video to me, Sarah Allen, at sarah@baristamagazine.com, and you’ll be entered to win an incredibly sweet prize: All meals and lodging at Camp Pull-A-Shot, which will take place at the gorgeous El Capitan Canyon in Santa Barbara, Calif., domestic airfare (!), air transfer from LAX, and all classes and workshops at Camp Pull-A-Shot.
A secret: I am shocked by how few videos we have so far received ”the field is wide open. Just get your videos in THIS WEEK, and you’ll be entered to win this awesome trip. Email me or Marcus (mboni@scaa.org) with any questions.
NEXT ITEM OF BUSINESS: Check out the cool stuff going on over at MadCap Coffee!
I’ve been chatting with Trevor Corlett a lot lately ”ABOUT HOW EXCITED WE ARE ABOUT CAMP PULL-A-SHOT ”and he told me about this really cool thing they’re doing over in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at his company, MadCap Coffee.
Inspired by the contest ARTPRIZE, MadCap is doing a coffee version called DRINKPRIZE: Here’s what Trevor has to say about it:
Starting September 24th and extending through October 6th MadCap will be offering signature espresso beverages that were created by our baristas. The signature drink that sells the most in that time period will be the winner. Customers will also be able to vote for the drinks in different categories such as taste, originality, and true-to-the-coffee.
So, as you are out and about enjoying ArtPrize, stop in MadCap and enjoy a whole other experience with DRINKPRIZE!
THE DETAILS:
*The baristas signature drink can be no more than 3oz.
*The barista can only use a maximum of 3 additional ingredients.
*Things that we carry on a regular basis like milk, sparkling water do NOT count towards one of the 3 ingredients. They may be used freely.
*The barista can only use one shot of espresso per drink.
*They must use the Third Coast Espresso Blend.
*Baristas are not permitted to tell customers who made what drink. So don’t ask.
*The drink that sells the most will be the big winner. Voting cards will be available for voting on various categories. They are as follows; originality, overall taste, and true-to-the-coffee. Be sure to vote!
So be sure to stay tuned to the MadCap blog to hear how DRINKPRIZE is going!! Thanks for sharing, Trevor!
MORE NEWS IN OUR WORLD OF COFFEE…
RF just sent me an email the other day, telling me to check out his blog post (cool blog ”check it) on Coava Coffee’s new KONE filter.
The idea for the K-ONE filter began as, what owner Keith says was a “selfish project”: he simply wanted to create an alternative to paper Melitta filters. What he came up with is, in my opinion, pretty revolutionary. But I’ll let RF tell you about it on his beautiful blog, Marrow Magazine…
AND AS LONG AS WE’RE TALKING ABOUT BLOGS, AND SHARING…
James Hoffmann and Colin Harmon have posted their WBC scoresheets online in an effort to help future competitors and make the whole scoring process more transparent. Colin did this first, and James applauded him and followed suit. It’s a very interesting thing to do, and sheds quite a bit of light on the judging process. I also appreciate how, if competitors start making a practice out of making their scoresheets public, it might make the judges more accountable for their actions and decisions. Thanks for sharing, guys!
ANYTHING ELSE?? YES!
Thanks for letting me run down the news this Monday morning, folks. The last thing I have to tell you is that we are days away from the release of the October/November issue of Barista Magazine! While I’m not going to reveal who is on the cover of this new issue, I can tell you that it is NOT Mike Phillips. OK?
There are some super cool features in this new issue, such as an article on PRESSURE PROFILING, a how-to business piece on RETAINING STAFF, an amazingly complex and interesting article about how you can GATHER DATA ON YOUR CUSTOMERS AND USE IT TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS RUN MORE EFFICIENTLY, and much, much more!!
