Monday, January 22, 2007

Barista Competition

Shaky Tree attended our first Midwest Regional Barista Competition (MWRBC) hosted by the Roasterie, in the awesome space at Boulevard Brewery. This was a great weekend for meeting other crazy coffee folks, learning lots, and having fun. From a competitive standpoint, it was a "go through the motions" shot in the dark for me (micah)... with most of the competitors training for months or even since last years competition, 3 weeks was not going to be good enough. You can check out more of my personal thoughts on my blog. However, in the bigger picture... everything that we set out to accomplish, we did. Shaky Tree helped the event happen by volunteering in several different capacities, and we gained valuable experience for future competitions.

The Barista competition is a great way to raise the bar of excellence in your shop. I have already felt the tug of judges comments today as I have made coffee for customers. For a quick explanation of the competition take a look at my post on our MySpace page blog. We met others who are working towards excellence, and initiated many bonds to create community around that passion. The Shaky Tree crew is better than we were last week... and we'll continue to push to get even better.

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