a step forward

Last night was the finals of the in-house barista and service competition for two local cafe/lounge/who-knows-what-else's, tryst and open city. Since both shops rock a GB5 and Counter Culture's espresso toscano, they wanted to have an in-house barista competition to see who's tops. Since both shops have table service with a wait staff, they wanted to incorporate another element into the standard USBC/WBC format. The way they achieved this was really quite wonderful and enjoyable.

As their customer relations representative, I had the distinct honor of being the presiding head judge over the final round of five teams of competitors. Yes, teams. Each team consisted of a barista and a server, with the barista responsible for knocking out four different drinks off their menu for two waiting sensory judges. Two tech judges examined the baristas technique using the standard USBC scoring. The two sensory judges were served not by the barista, but by the server, armed with an arsenal of coffee knowledge to enlighten the judges (and the crowd). Each team was to pick a theme and the finals saw presentations touching on Bird-friendly and sustainable coffees and their effect on environment as illustrated on a flip-chart as well as a touching expose on coffee in Japan complete with videos of Japanese coffee commercials projected on the wall behind the espresso machine. There were also plenty of coffee facts sprinkled throughout the presentations from the legend of Kaldi to the proclaimed superiority of Counter Culture among East Coast coffee roasters (i think Joel was sucking up to his head judge).

While incorporating a server is not necessarily revolutionary, the exciting factor was that they were encouraged to have fun. And fun they had, from straw hats and overalls to a long-winded story of high adventure that would've been delivered in a gnome costume had one been found in time. I felt free to laugh and enjoy myself and respect the humor and creativity of the presentations as well as evaluate the drinks served.

The baristas and servers accepted the challenge put before them (there were fourteen teams between the two stores at the beginning of the competition) and fought hard to take a prize that was unknown to them until the awards ceremony. Maybe it was fifty bucks-either way they were going to enjoy the experience. In the end, the winning team won transportation and lodging along with $250 each spending cash for a weekend trip to NYC as well as mad bragging rights. Pretty amazing.

The event was capped with drinks and cake at Tryst, bringing together baristas from at least four different DC-area cafes in addition to the businesses that are a part of the Tryst family. And the evening did not end without ideas on how to make the next competition (tentatively scheduled for January) better and more fun for all involved, not only to raise the level of coffee skills and knowledge but to celebrate all that it is to work in the greatest industry on the face of the planet.

Go, coffee, go!