Four Sacramento, Calif., specialty coffee roasters have been in cahoots for a couple of months now putting together what could be the best city-wide community coffee latte art series we’ve ever seen. Temple Fine Coffee & Tea, Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, Insight Coffee Roasters, and Old Soul Co., have proved the merit of joining forces for good to celebrate Sacramento’s growing, damn respectable coffee culture with a series of events called, affectionately, SPLAT.
SPLAT stands for Sacramento Public Latte Art Tournament. “During the series of tournaments, which will take place once a month starting on March 13, professional baristas from the area will engage in a head to head tournament. They will be judged in four categories: contrast; texture and foam quality; symmetry of pattern; and achieved difficulty.
Each tournament will name a first, second, and third-place winner who will each receive prizes from the hosting roaster, as well as from various sponsors, including Barista Magazine. Competitors will accumulate points at each monthly event, and the barista who earns the most points throughout the series will win the Grand Prize and a trophy.
They will be judges by three experienced judges, with one from each coffee roaster except from the hosting roaster. Judges will evaluate in the four categories and award up to 16 points per pour. That means there will be an opportunity for each competitor to earn as many as 48 points per pour. The longer a barista stays alive in a tournament, the more pours they’ll make, and therefore the more points they’ll earn.
Contestants will sign up before each tournament at the host cafe and pay a $5 registration fee, which goes into a pot that the winner of that night’s event will take home.
“By bringing together a united coffee community in a competitive spirit, we hope to raise awareness of specialty coffee in Sacramento,” says Justin Kerr of Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, who is one of the organizers of SPLAT. The public is invited to each of the events to cheer for the baristas and get excited about coffee.
“We are all excited to be working together on this project. It’s the next step in the evolution of our Sacramento coffee community coming together and striving toward excellence.,” added Jason Griest of Old Soul Co. “We hope that this will be the first of many coffee events in Sacramento.”
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
(all events begin at 7 p.m.)
March 13: Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters
April 10:Insight Coffee Roasters
May 8: Temple Fine Coffee & Tea
June 12: Old Soul Co. in the Alley
For more information, look for the debut of SPLAT’s Facebook page this month.
