Oh it’s on… as they say… like Donkey Kong. Front page of the food section in today’s Post Gazette, a preview of “Team Pittsburgh’s” lineup for next week’s MidAtlantic Barista Championship. China Millman put together a nice preview of the event and we’re looking forward to participating. My favorite part of the article is Drew’s quote about Pittsburgh baristas “bringing it home”. My second favorite part of the article (print version) is the caption under my headshot where I explain that my favorite part of the competition is “telling the judges how to drink the drinks”. We hope to bring both our barista skills and our dry senses of humor to the competition next weekend. With just about a week remaining to prepare, “Team 21st Street” (aka Drew and I) will be using every spare moment to practice, practice, practice.
Each competitor has 15 minutes to prepare and serve an espresso, a cappuccino, and a “signature drink” including espresso and whatever other ingredients you can imagine. There are four sensory judges so each competitor will need to make 12 drinks total. There are technical judges that scrutinize every move as well. We generally do things pretty close to SCAA standards, but there are a couple of things we’ll need to adjust to from behind the bar to the big stage.
- Single shot drinks (we only serve doubles here)
- A different espresso machine (can’t bring your own) that generally runs a bit hotter than we’re used to
- Wearing a microphone
- Making drinks in Cranberry versus downtown, as we’re sure it has it’s own unique microclimate
Drew "bringing it home" and Luke "telling people how to drink it"
Good luck, guys! Sounds like an Iron Chef competition for baristas. Fun stuff.
has anyone called it the “joe-lympics” yet??
Hey, Drew…
Remember when you stayed at the Ultimo/Jensen house during Coffeefest last year? We may or may not have given you a one-year time-delay drug to release during the third minute of your performance this weekend. Watch out when you are pouring those cappuccinos–if your hand muscles start spasm-ing, don’t look at me.
Either way, I’m excited to hang out with you and the Pittsburgh crew this weekend. Also hoping to stop by 21st Street if/when we are allowed to get out of Cranberry.
See you soon.
Ryan
Peregrine Espresso
Jenni- thanks for the support!
Ryan- I hope you calculated the release properly, as he’s now going to be working at the shop on Friday. Competition’s one thing, but if it messes up drinks people actually pay for… you’re asking for it.
Anyway I’m looking forward to meeting you all. If you try to stop by our shop, just note that our hours are 7a-4p Friday, 8a-5p Saturday, 8a-3p Sunday.
i thought those eggs tasted funny…