Lucky for me, my trip to Atlanta for the SCAA planning committee meeting allowed me to arrive on the same evening as the Thursday Night Throwdown at Octane Coffee in Atlanta. I raced the rental car straight to the event, grabbed a beer and found myself surrounded by friends and acquaintances from the coffee industry. I knew the competition was going be tough, so I found the Batdorf crew and we all gathered to cheer for our competitors, Chandler and Andy. The B&B cheering section consisted of Sheila, Aaron, Amanda, Scott, Michelle and Carrie. Margaret sat at the judges table with Rob Tuttle of Everything Coffee and Tea and Cindy Chang from Counter Culture Coffee.
If you’ve never been to an espresso throwdown, here are the basic rules: Each participant puts in $5, steps up to the espresso machine and gets one chance to pour the highest scoring espresso shot or the most balanced and beautiful latte of the night. If you win, you get the pool of money, an iPod and other goodies.
Due to lots of coffee people in town for the SCAA meeting, the evening’s throwdown was a sort of who’s who in coffee. Some of the 20 people who stepped up to the bar to pour that evening were current World Barista Champion Stephen Morrissey, two time US Barista Champion Heather Perry, all-around coffee pro Ellie Matuszak , and Counter Culture’s Peter Giuliano.B&B folks were rooting for our own Account Manager Andy Lee (the reigning B&B latte art king) and Production Specialist Chandler Rentz.They were in amazing company and seeing Andy’s name among the top 5 made us proud.
To read more about the event, visit here