Attention all Barista Competitors!!

For those of you who are competing in the South Central Regional Barista Championship, I have good news. On December 19th starting at 10 am, Caffe Medici at 2222b Guadalupe St will be setting up a mock competition stage and is inviting EVERYONE in the area to come and run through their routines, however finished or unfinished they may be.

Dan Streetman, a USBC certified head judge, will be acting Head Judge. He has been a judge on the USBC circuit for the past two years, judging in four regionals and two national competitions. Dan is also on the USBC Committee and can answer any and all questions you have about rules, regulations, scoring, etc. Your fellow competitors will be your tech and sensory judges. This will give everyone a better understanding of both sides of the table, how to perform, and what to look for in your own performance.

Caffe Medici will be providing everything that the USBC will provide, grinders, tables, espresso machine (La Marzocco, we don't have the Nuova Simonelli), and you will be asked to bring everything else that you will be using in your routine. This is a great opportunity to do a run through in front of a crowd, and hopefully everyone will beneift from this. January is promising a great SCRBC, and we are excited to be a part of it.

If you have any questions about this event, please email me at SaturdayNightSmackdown@gmail.com. For questions reguarding the regional and national championsips, please visit http://www.usbaristachampionship.org/southcentral/. I hope to see a lot of y'all come out to this "jam" of sorts, there will probably not be a latte art throwdown, as we will be putting most of our focus and time into creating better baristas through competition training.

Rock.

Edible Austin: Drink Local Coffee

December 6th was a fantastic time. Nine roasters & cafes set up, in spite of the rain, to strut their stuff to foodies, coffeegeeks, and localvores alike. Caffe Medici set up their GS/3 serving espressos and cappuccinos, Cuvee Coffee was french pressing their hearts out, Kohana Coffee was spreading the Hawaiin goodnes, Austin Java pressed up some love, Little City poured it old skool, Texas Coffee Traders set up a baby Faema, Brown Coffee Company was introducing the newbies to the world of Chemex, & Owl Tree graciously hosted us all under one roof, sharing the coffee love.

Now, we baristas get together across company lines on a semi-regular basis, but to see all of the roasters together was something else. Sharing tips and techniques, swapping bags of coffee, networking, and occasionally high fiving. I hope this starts a beautiful trend.

David Alan, of the Tipsy Texans, with the help of Edible Austin, put this event together and also helped to judge the Latte Art Throwdown along with Jenee Ovitt of Once Over Coffee Bar, and Jodi Bart of Tasty Touring. All three were intensely studying each drink that was presented them, conferring secretively, scribbling notes, and having a great time.

Baristas from around the city, and even as far away as Dallas, came to show their skills that pay the bills. With cup size and pour up to the individual baristas, the judges were amazed by the variety of designs. Jon Meadows of White Rock Coffee in Dallas took third with a rosetta, Tyler Wells from Frank took second with a rosetta in a 5 oz Gibraltar, and Dan Streetman of Cuvee Coffee taking top honors with his signature six-tiered tulip. Thanks to everyone who came out to compete, you who came to serve their coffee, and those of you who came to drink it. This is only the beginning.

Commence the Drinking!

Alright y'all, the Saturday Night Smackdown is up and running once again. Sunday December 6th from 11 AM to 2 PM at Owl Tree (click for directions) is the first part of Edible Austin's Drink Local Day, part of the week long celebration known to us as Eat Local Week. (To those of you who caught it, yes, the SNS is now on a Sunday) Around a dozen roasters from in and around Austin will be there, set up with booths, tents, beans, and all sorts of crazy shit to show off to you and other onlookers exactly what it is they do.

David Allan is putting this together with Edible Austin, and he will be judging a cocktail contest later on that evening (we should all go to that too!). David is a cool guy and he makes yummy booze stuff, hi five him if you see him at the event.

The pour off will be back to a standard Smackdown pour off - you choose the cup, you choose the pour, ONE PITCHER ONE POUR!!!! $10 buy in, winner will take ALL. Now, this event is an open invite to anyone across our great state (Texas, you dolt!) HOWEVER, the top ten AUSTIN competitors will go on to represent our fair city in Texas' first ever City VS City throwdown: ATX v. ATL. (Brainchild of Scott Lucey, actualized by yours truly) It's gonna be awesome. So bring your game, bring your face, but most importantly, pour your face off!

Rock.

An Interesting Time of Year

Holiday season is upon us. Last months throwdown couldn't be held on a Saturday, as it fell on Halloween so we held it the day before. This month it appears to fall a few days after Thanksgiving, and December seems to present the same dilema.

With that in mind, the next throwdown will be scheduled in conjuction with the Drink Local event held at Owl Tree Roasting and sponsored by Edible Austin. Dave Allen of Tipsy Texan fame is the coordinator of the event, and from what I've heard it will be held on December 6th. Go ahead and mark your calendars, because we're working on some really fun ideas that should get those little coffee brains churning.

Throwdown in H-Town

The last throwdown in Texas was held in Houston over Halloween weeekend as a benefit for CoffeeKids, an excellent charity that provides educational grants to children of coffee farmers. All totaled, we raised over $2500 for this charity. Not too shabby for the first fundraiser for CoffeeKids ever held in Texas. What can I say, Texans have big hearts.

A huge thank you to Dave from Tuscany Coffee, Max and Sean from Catalina, and JR from Coffee Groundz for putting this whole show together. I don't have any pictures (yet) but I do have the top three latte artists.

Jon Meadows from White Rock Coffee took third.

Fabio, a home barista and photographer took second.

And Dan Streetman of Cuvee Coffee took first. A second win for Dan . . . looks like we might have a streak on our hands.

Yours truly also poured, but decided to drink my latte before handing it to the judges. It was tasty. That is all.

blindfolded latte art competition.

from the september smackdown.
told in pictures because they are easier than words!

we had three esteemable judges:
cavason


august winner tyler wells:


and juan. he's awesome:


some nice people showed up.
like clancy rose and patrick hallett:

cameron. did you know he makes awesome movies?

andy pants, but he had to be there. the bosses required it.

justin, from medici. he doesn't like having his picture taken.

and some sweet folks from flipnotics came, too.
lisa and elliott!

the nice guys from white rock coffee:


meg, wife of douglas from waterfalls.


and many more:


and shortly after the photographer's camera died,
first place went to dan streetman and clancy rose of cuvée coffee:

and second place went cameron burr and ryan van eck, from caffé medici:

and third place went to jen hellow (that's me!) and jenée ovitt of once over coffee bar:


and then dan streetman told us a joke:


so much fun, you guys! many many many thanks to rob and jenée from once over for being delightful hosts.

much affection:
jen hellow

October News on the Status of the Smackdown

Hey everyone,

I know this hasn't been updated in a while, but I managed to pry myself away from my beautiful La Marzocco for a moment and I'm back on the computer.

Word on the street is that the blind folded tag team awesomeness that was the Smackdown at Once Over Coffee Bar was a huge success. An update from barista/photographer/all around awesome chick Jen Hellow will be coming soon.

If any of you have looked at your calenders recently you will have noticed that the schedule for this months Smackdown falls squarely on Halloween. Hmm. Now, I love coffee as much as the next person, but I don't want to miss stuff like this. So the Smackdown is officially-unofficially on the move for October.

A good friend and great barista Dave from Tuscany Coffee in Houston has put together an awesome latte art throwdown for charity on Friday, October 30. It's going to be lots of fun, and some sweet prizes have been donated, AND it all goes to benefit an amazing coffee charity. Below is a little info on the event and a link to Dave's blog for some more details and directions. I hope that all of you can make the drive to Houston to support a great cause, pour some sick lattes, and have a great time.

Rock.

Charity Latte Art Throwdown

Charity Event Details

Coffee Kids helps children of farmers go to school rather than work on the family farm.This event will help raise money to Coffee Kids by donating all cash raised from the function to Coffeekids.org! Even Coffeegroundz has committed a portion of the sales from the night to go towards Coffee Kids.Sponsors of the event will be listed as generous donors to Coffee Kids as well as be displayed at the event in levels of donation. Door prizes and competitor prizes will also be donated by charitable companies. Every ticket sold will have a name written on the back. After the event we will compose an email to Coffee Kids displaying all names of ticket donors!If you know of any companies who would love to make a charitable donation, please email me at tuscanycoffee@gmail.com