Cup of Excellence Education Manager Alex Pond Gets Inspired by Giving Tuesday for his Holiday Cheer Drink
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Barista Magazine is proud to partner with Pacific Foods Barista Series for a special holiday celebration that we’re calling Holiday Cheer (follow along on Instagram at #baristaseriesholidaycheer).
We invited eight outstanding baristas from all over the United States to create an original drink with a winter holiday theme using one of the products in the Pacific Foods Barista Series line. And that was the only rule! Some of them turned in boozy Hanukkah drinks, others created a drink that’s easy to scale up for a crowd during Kwanzaa. But every single one of them has quality and creativity in common—we can honestly say these drinks are some of the most fun, unique, and delicious holiday coffee beverages we’ve ever tasted!
Every few days through the end of December, we’ll be posting one of the drinks right here at Barista Mag Online, and the posts will include a PDF download of each drink recipe.
First up was Karla Ly Quiñones García, who owns Café Comunión in Santurce, Puerto Rico, with her husband, Abner Roldán. You can read all about her drink, Miel de Avena, a spiced honey oat latte that uses Pacific Foods Barista Series Oat to reach perfection, by clicking here!
Second was Emilee Bryant, manager of Everyman Espresso’s SOHO shop in New York, and current contestant on The Barista League Online season 2! Read about Emilee’s wildly delicious drink, the Drunkin Donut, which uses Pacific Foods Barista Series Almond, by clicking here!
The third holiday drink was brought to us by the incredible duo behind Cxffeeblack in Memphis, Tenn.: Bartholomew Jones and Renata Henderson. They created a fantastic drink to celebrate the fourth principle of Kwanzaa, Ujamaa, which uses Pacific Foods Barista Series Hemp!
And today, we are stoked to share with you a recipe by Cup of Excellence Education Manager and instructor Alex Pond. Having won the Northwest Regional Barista Champion some years ago, and gone on to build his career as quality control chief for one of Portland, Ore.’s best roasters, and now in his position working with producers and consumers around the world through the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, Alex knows his way around signature drinks and incredible coffee! Alex was inspired by the Giving Tuesday holiday, and created the incredible drink you see below using Pacific Foods Barista Series Unsweetened Almond.
Stay tuned for more drinks from other outstanding baristas in the Pacific Foods Barista Series Holiday Cheer Project right here at Barista Mag Online, on the Pacific Foods Barista Series Instagram, and at Barista Magazine’s Instagram!
