Yep, we did it tonight - a latte art throwdown. Five great baristas, 3 keen judges, 1 timekeeper, a $50 pot and a full house of spectators all waiting to see which barista would produce the best looking latte art of the evening.

First place winner, Braden Walter and second place went to Antonio Nesbeth. Congrats guys!

Many thanks to Eric and Kevin - judges, Matt from La Prima Espresso, awesome barista and an even awesomer guy, the really rad competitors, Megan - timekeeper and runner, Emily - awesome throwdown organizer, all you spectators for cheering on our competitors, eating all our pizza and drinking all the beer and the couple from Seattle for taking all the pictures (great to have you visit Tazza D’Oro). What a great night. I love this coffee business stuff.

I have to admit I did shout “YEAH” when seeing a picture of Tazza D’Oro on Batdorf and Bronson’s blog. Thanks B&B. Check out their blog and read it often or else all our coffee will be shut off (click here)!

And to one of our great customers, Dr. Jim B., who thinks I am not only obsessed with espresso and coffee but also with Batdorf and Bronson - all I have to say is sorry the intervention will not help at this point.

On Monday, June 23rd Tazza D’Oro will celebrate NINE YEARS of being in business, making great coffee and hanging out with our people. In many ways it feels like it was just the other day that we opened and when I think back to all the experiences and memories then nine years is about right.

I was telling Amelia about the first day of business - I was so nervous the night before that I asked Stephan and Kara to show up the next morning at 5 am even though we didn’t open for business until 7am. We had practiced and trained for 2 weeks before we opened so on the first morning we got everything done in a half hour. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves for the next hour and half so we re-cleaned and rearranged the whole dinning room for the hundreth time. Kara and Stephan were awesome - totally organized and confident. Then, finally our first customer - a large coffee and cinnamon roll, we rang them up and realized I forgot to put any money or change in the register. YIKES. BTW, our first day was one of the best days of my life and I will never, ever forget it.

Thank you to all the current and past Tazza D’Oro staff, Batdorf and Bronson, our coffee roaster, the Highland Park community, the Highland Park CDC, the great Senator Ferlo, ELDI, my family, friends and to all you great coffee lovin’ customers. I am reminded everyday how lucky I am to have Tazza D’Oro and to be surrounded by such awesome staff and customers. Mille grazie!

One of our great customers and coffee aficionado, Eric, sent us this link tonight on an article about the Chemex Coffee Maker and it’s inventor, Dr. Peter Schlumbohm (click here). The article quotes Schumbohm in a Time Magazine article written back in 1946 - “with a Chemex, even a moron can make good coffee.” Ok, we’ll give credit to Dr Schumbohm for wearing a really rad suit in the classic picture shown above and for inventing one of the greatest coffee brewing systems.

Along with a French Press menu, we serve Chemex brewed coffee daily and it’s awesome. If Dr. Schumbohm were still around I would say to him - yes, you have invented a great brewing system but garbage in = garbage out. At the end of the day it’s all about the quality of the coffee, quality and temperature of the water, grind and true passion for the coffee.

An article appearing in Barista Magazine made me an official mid-lifer today. The article titled, “Mid-Life Coffee” Learn more »

Usually this time of year at Tazza D’Oro we are licking our chops at the start of the Tour de France. But tonight it’s about the Penguins and game 6. We will be watching the game at Tazza D’Oro staring at 8 pm with some Troeg’s Brother Microbrews and several pizzas. Stop in. The licking of our Tour de France Chops will begin in short order. GO PENS!

Our last day in the Pacific Northwest was not about coffee. Learn more »

Over the last couple of days I had the chance to visit 5 or 6 espresso bars/coffee houses both in Olympia and Seattle all with very different personalities, customer demographics, and business models. This to me is always an amazing exercise and perspective.

The Northwest coffee scene is inspiring and sometimes intimidating. Today, my experience was a little different and maybe I’m a little different this time around too. The coffee scene/shops are so very mature here - the baristas, the equipment, the roasters, the customers, the coffee knowledge. The coffee culture and energy around coffee seemed so deeply ingrained and routine. The businesses seemed to be more focused and settled into their niches versus the frantic search for what’s new and next. Some say this has been happening for quite some time. And maybe I’m noticing the difference because I now operate a coffee house in a part of the country where the industry is exploding with energy and opportunity. I had the chance to observe and learn a lot today. I still believe that the Pacific Northwest will continue to raise the bar for all of us, develop new technology, advance training techniques and so on.

I left the day with my head spinning, my palate more refined and a sense of confidence in our vision for Tazza D’Oro and complete admiration, once again, for our exceptional coffee roaster, Batdorf and Bronson.

During the drive back to Olympia on I5, Oliver, Amelia and I had some very engaging discussions about Tazza D’Oro, training, third wave coffee, espresso extraction, sourcing coffee, sustainability, potential opportunities, detail upon detail of information and brain storming. Then as the sun burned off the cloud cover Mt Rainier appeared and in an instant everything seemed so insignificant and I was presented with another amazing perspective.

Hiking tomorrow either in the Olympic or Cascade Mountains depending on where there is less snow at the different elevations and mountain passes. We didn’t think about packing warmer cloths and snow gear. Oh well. But we are assured that no matter where we end up it will be beautiful. See photos from day 2 by clicking here.

Hi all-

Sending back the first pictures of our roasted micro- lot of Panama Esmeralda that we won in the May 22nd auction in partnership with Batdorf and Bronson. As it turns out, I couldn’t taste it. The night before we left for Olympia, my 2 week cough turned into one of my worst colds EVER. Have you ever had the experience of flying with a really awful cold? A travel experience I will remember for a very long time if not the rest of my life.

However, the folks sitting around the cupping table today were saying “WOW” a lot. At the end of the day Oliver handed me a small bag of roasted Esmeralda to take back to Pittsburgh. I think there is probably enough to make a French Press or Chemex. I can’t wait.

Oliver and I spent a couple of hours in the espresso lab learning some new espresso techniques. Tazza D’Oro baristas - more fun to come! Amazing day and somehow my cold felt better walking to the Oly Market on a chilly day. The flowers here are amazing. It’s hard to miss the sun with the emerald green of the grass and trees and the vibrant colors of all the Northwest flowers. During lunch we sat out over the bay and had the chance to watch a seal swim by with a flock of Sea Gulls in tow. Tomorrow we make a road trip to Seattle for an espresso bar crawl. The rest of my pictures from today can be viewed by clicking here.

Later-

Over the next few days I hoping to cup a lot of great coffee, do an espresso bar/coffeehouse crawl and get some views for my soul - Mt Rainier (if it isn’t raining). Wednesday, I head to Olympia, WA Learn more »