quite possibly the coolest card i’ve ever received in my postcrossing experience. in russian it says “a real man makes coffee in chemex.”

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113860438560024188064/albums/5739457379539791441

so last week i went to portland to do a whole bunch of coffee geek stuff. first was an all-day event called barista nation (their slogan is “no barista left behind”).

barista nation portland from the balcony of the wonder ballroom. illy was a huge sponsor, so much so that the entire event was free. i took the “becoming a virtuoso,” “using historical coffee advertising to inspire modern day marketing strategies” (which was awesome), “from latte to arte,” and “passion without borders: the art of the barista in italy and america” workshops. in the end i didn’t really learn much that i didn’t know already, but it was fun to hang out with the italians and play with the new viper machines.

outside the oregon convention center.

welcome!

relaxing at the stumptown annex in belmont. i had the most amazing coffee i’ve ever tasted, rwanda huyu mountain. i almost bought a pound but was put off by the price, though once i got home i was like “man, i shoulda done that” so i went online and ordered some anyway. there are some great coffees coming out of rwanda these days. nice that business is successful there given the civil war tragedies and such.

i can’t take a decent photo to save my life (ultra-shaky hands), but i got this one with my tablet and it’s not bad. it’s lorenzo perkins competing in the semi-finals of the USBC. lorenzo’s from austin and he’s a god. a genius. and the nicest guy ever. he also proctored my level two BGA test; when i obviously blew it (again) i was like “see you at barista camp for attempt #6,” and he gently says “well, we’ll see what comes back.” such a sweetie. sooooooo thrilled that a woman won the USBC this year — congrats Katie Carguilo!!

once again my inability to “mingle” at parties and stuff left me feeling lonely. i can’t figure out how to make friends anymore, apparently. it’s so frustrating.

but portland is nice. really cool and friendly people, a lot like austin. funky neighborhood shops and all that. i had a couple days between barista nation and the expo to kill so i went exploring and saw the rothko show at the portland art museum, ran into coava coffee purely by accident, etc.

on the way home i stopped at mcdonald’s in the denver airport and got a sausage biscuit meal that included a coffee. people claim it’s better than starbucks, so i gave it a shot, but it was awful. and i thought “i’ve just spent a week among the finest coffees in the world and i just *can’t* drink this crap, if only out of principle…” so i dumped it and got something from caribou — not that much better, but at least recognizable as coffee.

i spent so much fucking money on this trip — totally messed up my flights and spent way more extra in fees and stuff than i could really afford. don’t know if i’ll recover in time for barista camp this fall. saving money is hard on a part-time barista wage.

i think my overall enjoyment of camp was overshadowed by level 2 test angst this year. clearly what i need to do is just say “fuck it, whatever” and go into my next attempt totally not caring.

So, I have no pictures. My hands shake so much I can’t take a focused photo for the life of me.

But.

Camp was awesome, as expected. They took last year’s feedback and implemented it which was much appreciated — more hands-on time in the classes and not keeping us up until midnight every freakin’ night…

I went to some classes where I felt I was weak in a given area, and took the Level 2 BGA certification test for the third time — still haven’t passed it. But when I saw who did — people like Lorenzo Perkins and Dan Streetman — I didn’t feel so bad anymore since I don’t measure up anywhere near those guys.

It was lovely out there as always. Hummingbirds everywhere, and I saw a bluebird for the very first time! I’ve never lived in/near their habitat so i’d never seen one before.

Felt more comfortable this time since I kinda knew people from last time. And my cabin mates were all rad. 5 women in one cabin and no conflicts at all — crazy.

I’ve got a lot of stuff to practice when I get home. I need to get my home espresso machine adjusted — maybe then I can get some good latte art practice in.

Subject: coffee con

From: rothko

Date: May 1, 2011 3:18:04 PM CDT

To: friends

so i’m here in houston at the final day of the specialty coffee association of america’s expo. the us barista championship finals are underway this very minute. rooting for the hometown boy from caffe medici. they have a couple computers here in the hall near the competition. much easier to write here than on my phone…

i’m so ready to go home. i’m here all by my lonesome and it’s getting to me. i know a ton of baristas here but not very well; people i met at camp last fall. i was a loner there too.

the more i go to these scaa events and barista guild things, the more frustrated i feel with my current position. [ … ] but i’m impatient and easily discouraged. mathew is such a great support for me though. he’s my biggest fan. i miss him a lot; going home tomorrow morning. i was gonna go home this evening but then i found out that the barista guild party isn’t until 7 tonight. hell if i’m making a 3-hour drive after that.

stayed at the four seasons at it was one of the convention hotels with a special priced block for attendees. i didn’t realize overnight parking was THIRTY FUCKING DOLLARS A NIGHT until i checked out. OUCH. and i made a mistake — my stupid credit card only has a $1500 limit. given my current balance i had just enough savings to transfer to the credit card to give me space to put the hotel on it. but then i went and got all psyched for barista camp and when i heard registration was open i was all “christ, i better register early before it fills up”, so i laid down the $600 for that on that card, leaving me once again with no room on the card for the hotel. so i had to use one of our joint cards. SUCKTASTIC. i checked out this morning and the bill was way more than i had imagined. fucking parking fees. i need to put aside $150 from each check to get rid of that balance before we go to virginia in august. that’s quite a big percentage of check given that i make less than $300 every two weeks. but that’s my mistake and i’ll live.

i have spent thousands of dollars on my own professional development and will continue to do so, i’m sure. on the one hand i don’t care, because it’s all for me, but on the other, i wish it were more appreciated by my current employer, who probably would never send a lowly barista anyway.

i’m moving to a crappy super 8 on the highway for tonight after the barista guild party to save some money. i have between now and 7 when the party starts to get over there but i’ve gotta wait until they announce the winner of the barista contest. man, i hope lorenzo clinches it. he’s the first one from the south central region to ever get this far. number 5 is currently competing; one brewer’s cup competitor and one more barista competitor to go (they’re alternating each contest’s competitors), and then the long wait for the results. sooooooo exciting. 

it’s so fucking cold in this convention center. that’s the way it always is, though — i’ve been to conventions here several times and it’s always like welcome to houston; 95 degrees outside and 55 degrees inside. layers are key.

anyway, that’s my tired and cranky report from the SCAA 2011 Expo. whee.

rothko

john cunningham of topeca coffee was unable to go to camp pull-a-shot, so he talked to me for a bit to get a feel for what it was all about. here’s the write-up of our conversation:

havespoonwilltravel:

At the 2010 Roasters Guild Retreat I met a guy called Barista Alex. Alex Negranza is a barista in Seattle and a blogger for WhyNotCoffee.com (which I highly recommend). One of the things that we talked about was the first BGA (Barista Guild of America) retreat “Camp Pull-a-Shot”. The…