It's on like Donkey Kong!!

May 30th is the date for this months Saturday Night Smackdown . . . same bat time, same bat place. Which for the sake of clarity means 2222b Guadalupe Street (Caffe Medici), Austin, TX 78705. We'll start sign up for the Throwdown at 5pm, first come first served and it stops at 30 people. This means a potential prize of $300 . . . holy cow!!

Cuvee Coffee's Mike McKim and Dan Streetman will be elucidating us on the finer points of coffee processing. They received some coffee from the El Salvador San Francisco Estate Cerro Las Ranas processed three different ways, Natural, Pulp Natural, and Washed. This promises to be eye opening.

There have been a couple of rule changes since the last Smackdowns, so be ready for a slightly altered format, and thanks for bearing with us as we attempt to perfect our art at perfecting your art. You can read the new rule posting by clicking the Rules and Regulations link on your right.

The two big changes are the creation of "theme pours", that is every competitor must pour into a predetermined cup size and design. The theme pour for this month is 12 ounce single rosettas . . . please remember though how varied rosettas can look and get creative. The second big change is in the scoring, half points are now given, and ties will be broken by Overall Impression scores . . . which rosetta is the most appealing and creative breaks the tie.

We'll have a pony keg of some tasty tasty beer (you know us) and we encourage you to bring a sixer of your favorite to share, or not to share. Here's to hoping the Dallas boys and the Houston boys come on down for the Smackdown in the ATX.

See y'all there.