Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

Many in the coffee industry speak volumes about wanting to market themselves to the public as the “new wine.” But if we examine the practices the industry has taken on to accomplish any of this, it has failed miserably on nearly all fronts. What becomes all too clear is that the coffee industry either doesn’t [...]

Tags: barista_championships, barista_magazine, brewers_cup, coffee_cupping, coffee_marketing, consumer_marketing, cup_of_excellence, event_marketing, latte_art, wine_analogy

15 Comments »

Now that we’ve caught your attention with the sensationalist title, we’ve had a thought that has been milling around in our heads for quite a while. All this talk about a supposed Third Wave in quality coffee (it truly is that hard for us to restrain our contempt for that term) seems to have coincided [...]

Tags: Barista, barista_bias, barista_championships, barista_magazine, fair_trade, social_networking

7 Comments »

Because there are only about three or four people who write any original content anymore — and millions of others who just copy them and each other (see: us) — the Washington Post joined in on the San Fransisco Chronicle‘s act (ROAST WITH THE MOST / A new generation of Bay Area coffee roasters pushes [...]

Tags: barista_magazine, coffee_roasters, coffee_writing, counter_culture_coffee, third_wave, washington_dc_coffee

No Comments »

With Spring upon us, that means it’s time for the 2008 Western Regional Barista Competition (WRBC): ‘Attention to every detail’ at Berkeley barista contest – San Jose Mercury News. Starting this past Friday and ending today (check out their photo album), the 2008 WRBC performs a time-honored ritual to select a barista champ representing our [...]

Tags: barista_championships, barista_magazine, chris_baca, clover_brewer, heather_perry, intelligentsia, la_marzocco, ritual_roasters, wrbc

6 Comments »

Previously, we had written about Coffee Bar when it was still under construction. It has since opened on the longest night of the year, December 21 — with limited initial fanfare, as the partners first wanted to iron out some of the kinks that naturally come with opening a new space. And it is a [...]

Tags: acf_cups, barista_magazine, espresso_review, faema, mr-espresso, nuova_point, potrero_hill, single_origin_espresso, third_wave

4 Comments »

I have a lot of respect for Nick Cho, owner of Washington D.C.’s murky coffee. He’s established a place that pulls some of the best espresso shots on the East Coast. He’s arguably the primary brainchild behind the Portafilter.net podcasts. And he’s also known for his quality coffee industry “altruism”: supporting aspiring baristas and café [...]

Tags: barista_magazine, christopher_columbus, coffee_beans, juan_valdez, mr-espresso, naked_portafilters, nick_cho, portafilter.net, sopranos, Starbucks, taylor_maid, third_wave, trish_skeie, zoka_coffee

22 Comments »

Is your barista worthy? The Specialty Coffee Association of America is holding their annual convention in Charlotte, NC beginning April 7. One of the main events coinciding with the conference is the 2006 United States Barista Championship. From Business Wire: Barista Champion to Be Revealed from Among Nationwide Competitors; The Specialty Coffee Association of America’s [...]

Tags: Barista, barista_championships, barista_magazine, coffee_marketing, espresso_machines, home_espresso, krups, scaa, Starbucks, superautomatic_espresso_machines, verismo

3 Comments »

Over the past couple of years, San Francisco has undergone something of a revolution in great espresso. Although the quality revolution has yet to trickle down to the typical corner café, great changes have taken place at the upper eschelon. At the forefront of this revolution is a troika of relative newcomers: Blue Bottle Coffee, [...]

Tags: barista_magazine, best_coffee, blue_bottle, cafe_organica, cafe_reviews, coffee_roasters, deruta, duane_sorenson, elektra, embarcadero, eton_tsuno, hayes_valley, la_marzocco, mission, panhandle, ritual_roasters, san_francisco, sf_cafes, Starbucks, stumptown, third_wave, torrefazione_italia

4 Comments »