Blog Archive

What Now….

Things are a bit different for me right now... I am typing this with fingers that are sore and on the verge of blistering from sanding down a 64 Ford Falcon van, my bed is actually a couch complete with ...

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 | No Comments »

Handsome Coffee Roasters

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

As you may or may not know, this last week has been a bit heavy on the “unexpected change” side of things for me.  This last Friday was my last day at the grand old institution that is Intelligentsia.  I ...

3 Comments »

Deuces – a tale about leaving…

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

So, there is a little bit of news floating around right now that you may or may not have heard.  A few folks have brought it to my attention so I thought it wise to address here real quick like. A ...

10 Comments »

I’m silently judging you….

Monday, April 11th, 2011

In the past two months I have had a silly number of opportunities to legitimately do just that.  Silently judge people... while smiling of course.  I am speaking of acting as a judge in barista competitions.  The perspective change for a competitor to get into this role is drastic and ...

5 Comments »

Edelweiss – Tanzania part 3

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

The last few days I spent in Tanzania were not at EAFCA, the ABC or doing more boot camps.  These were set aside for something just as special but very different.  Devin Pedde and myself were lucky enough to spend 2 days under the care and guidance of the dynamic ...

1 Comment »

TED & Coffee Common

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

So this is just a quick post to get the word out, but a longer form version will certainly happen after its all over.  Myself and around 25 other top tier coffee professionals from around the world have descended upon ...

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African Barista Challenge – Tanzania part 2

Monday, February 28th, 2011

I learned a new expression last week...  “Africa TIme”  we’ll call it AT for short.  At first I thought it was just one of those cute somewhat politically incorrect sayings that had worked their way into common social use and was based mainly on romantic image instead of reality.  This ...

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Barista Boot Camp – Tanzania part 1

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

The trainings were different pretty much from the get go.  The machine was brand new and set up in different locations each day all burdened with power outages, we had only one steaming pitcher and no group brushes at our disposal and they kept on insisting on putting up this ...

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WBC judges certification Ancona

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

A sneak peak inside the little known world of judges certification for the WBC. This particular one of multiple certification opportunities held around globe was hosted in Ancona by Nuova Simonelli

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Guatemala

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

The beginning of february is not a bad time to leave Chicago, so when Cafe Imports scheduled the prize trip I won for that cold week I was more than a little happy about it. It ended up encompassing a whirlwind tour of 3 growing regions, several mills and ...

4 Comments »