Editor’s note: Barista Magazine is uber proud to be a title sponsor of the TNT Northwest Series, which has hosted Thursday Night Throwdowns once a month for the past two years! In fact, that two-year milestone was just hit with the last TNT, which took place on July 25. TNT organizer Michael Fernandez, AKA Panda, of Espresso Parts, wrote the following post about how the big anniversary TNT went, with plenty of photos below. Thanks, Panda, and here’s to the next two years of TNTNW!
Article by Panda
Espresso Parts really wanted to throw a party to celebrate the anniversary and thank everyone that make the series a success ¦you!
We mixed things up this time and held the event outdoors in our parking lot in Lacey, Washington. How does one throw an outdoor latte art throwdown in a parking lot? Well, with help from Slate Coffee and the Slatestream, amazing things can happen. The Slatestream? It’s an Airstream trailer that has been converted into a mobile cafe. So BOOM that’s taken care of.
Next, we needed some food. Our friends from Oly Smokers brought their mobile smoker and filled the air with that sweet, sweet aroma of smoked brisket. OK, now I’m full ”what’s next?
One live band would have been pretty cool, so two must be cooler, right? Right. Local acts Red Red Red (Van the guitar player is a customer service rep with Espresso Parts) and Moldy Castle (singer Mike Smith put time in working shipping with us) graced us with their face melting rocking goodness.
When all was said and done, this TNT attracted more than 100 people! Lovely baristas from all over the Pacific Northwest braved horrible traffic to join us in celebrating the two-year anniversary of TNT Northwest. We dined on brisket, did some damage to our ear drums, threw down some dope latte art, and bonus: we didn’t get shut down by the cops!
After a few hours of pouring into sweet Yama glass cups we had our top three.
- Kyle Rees @kinetic_kyle
- Robert Stofleth @RobStofleth
- Mike Cannon @SuperHarioBros
We couldn’t do this without the help of our generous sponsors! Barista Magazine, Baratza, and Craft Coffee.
Special thanks to Olympia All Ages “ Northern who provided us with the PA system we used for the music. And of course, local brewery Fish Tale for kickin’ us down a great deal on the keg of organic IPA.
Throughout these two years we have been fortunate to meet and become closer to our fellow baristas in the Pacific Northwest. It’s been an amazing experience.
