Coffee Fest + Latte Art Smackdown.

Anyone who has ever been to coffee fest knows it’s really only about one thing: The people.

And what happens when a bunch of coffee people get together?

A smackdown.

Before that though, a quick blurb about the coffee fest.

For the most part, it wasn’t anything too new from last year.  A few of the booths had some nice eye candy though.

Vita was rocking this crystal ball brew.  I can’t remember what its called or how it works, but I know it’s from Japan and it takes a long time to drip.  Apparently it also makes great iced coffee.  I saw it over at 49th Parallel during the summer doing just that.

 

Zoka Coffee had a lever machine as well as the new Victor Arduino’s.  They were serving up a single origin Ethiopian Sidamo when we were there, but I didn’t get to try it.

 

Colter pulled me a great shot over at the 49th booth, and Synesso also had some cool new machinery.  The latest edition has 3 individual pumps.  The days of waiting for a free group head to pre-infuse with are over!

For me though, the best booth award goes (once again) to Espresso Tools. In addition to having more than one retro/rebuilt espresso machine, they also held a latte art contest and gave away a skateboard.  Whether you wanted something out of pure novelty or for actual use, they had it all.

This machine gets an 11 out of 10 for cool factor, and for being so orange.  Check out the legs – oh wait, those aren’t legs.  Those are skateboard wheels.  Take that!

Complete with custom wooden portafilter handles, too.

Barrett Jones of 49th Parallel Vancouver won the skateboard.  Go Barrett!  That’s Drew in the orange – he came second.  Josh from Ritual Coffee in the middle there came third.

Oh, and I didn’t even mention the barista tool box shelf.  Tampers, shot glasses, and even wine corks.  They were also selling the best t-shirts in the whole show.  

But now for the main event – The Smackdown.

Baristaexchange.com and Victrola put on the event, over at the Pike St. location, and it was packed.  More than packed.  I’m talking, baristas everywhere, in every room, inside and out.  Thankfully, the enforced party rules kept everyone in line.  (well, most of us anyway.)

  

Before I go on anymore, I would just like anyone reading this to understand that one needs to actually go to a smackdown to really know at all what I’m going to try to put down into words right now.  It is something that anyone who loves coffee needs to experience first hand, for reasons I can’t even describe.  This being said, carry on.

Victrola was exceptionally loud and dim-lit, which is precisely the kind of environment that I love.  When we walked in they were taking all the names of those in the smackdown.  Obviously John, Chris and I all handed in our 5$ and signed up, among 29 others.

What made this smackdown better than any I had ever heard of or been too, was that instead of the usual “best art” or “pour in the most ridiculous vessel ever” competition, things were different.  This smackdown was done tournament style, with single elimination rounds.  2 names at random were called up to face each other in a one on one, lay the smackdown on your opponent, win or go home, pour off.  Whomever outpoured the other was showered down upon with praise, while the loser’s latte was poured into a garbage bin mercilessly.

Too harsh?  Too intense?  Don’t be stupid – this is the smackdown.

From the moment the first 2 names were called, until the bittersweet, heroic ending, the crowd was going wild.  In fact, as time went on, the cheers and taunts got better and better or worse and worse, depending what side of them you were on.  

We were particularly excited for Victrola hosting the event not only because Victrola rocks, but also because they use a Synesso.  Finally, a machine us crema kids know how to use properly!  

To insure fairness (and to save time and coffee I’m sure.) one of Victrola’s very own pulled all the shots.  She also scored point multipliers for having a wicked name, (Cai) and being photogenic.

John’s name was the first to get called between the 3 of us, and we were all pretty pumped.  Loud and dirty drum and bass hip hop was being blasted through the speakers as each barista went up to steam and pour, knowing full well it could be there last.  Unfortunately for both Johnny and I, our first pours were our last.  Both our pours caused a longer than normal deliberation from the judges, but no dice.  

No worries though, because one of us moved on to the next round:  

Chris.

Some of you may remember Chris winning the JJ Bean Throwdown a few months back, and before we knew it, Chris had laid the smackdown in Seattle not only once, but twice, advancing through the first 2 rounds.

At this point, Radiohead’s ‘National Anthem’ began blaring through the air.  The crowd cheered.  Things were getting serious.  (As a side note I do believe that “National Anthem” should be the official track of the Smackdown.  It very well might be already, but if it’s not, I am hereby proclaiming it.)

Vivace was being represented by a Chris as well (I believe) and as each round went on, he was proving to be one of the guys to beat.  He made it to the top 4.

The further the night went, the further Chris (crema) advanced.  Funny enough, he kept getting paired up against Victrola baristas throughout most of the night.

Things were especially tense during the moment below, around the final 8, when the judges spent what seemed liked hours deciding on who would move on.  Chris’ pour is on our left, or the judge’s right.  They would eventually end up doing a fake out here, taking Chris’ at first and pretending to throw it out, only to bring it back last second and pour out the other.  Everyone went nuts.  It was genius.

For some, the pressure was too much.

 

When Chris moved into the final 4, we knew something special was happening.  And sure enough, he eliminated yet another barista to move into the coveted finals.  From the original 32 competitors, only 1 stood between Chris and victory.  One of the hardest things to decide when you are up there on stage is what to pour, especially when you consider that 4 rounds had already been completed, so lots of the pour designs were starting to get repeated.  Johnny and I noticed that Chris’ final opponent, William Kevin from Caffe D’Arte, had made his way steadily through the rounds pouring a perfect 3 part tulip every time.  Before William poured in the finals we mentioned to Chris that if he pours the 3 part tulip again – the only way to beat him would be to pour a 4 part tulip.

Sure enough – WIlliam ended up pouring first and did a perfect tulip yet again, in 3 parts.  So what did Chris, in a hollywood fashion do?

He poured a 5 part tulip.  SMACKDOWN!!!!1!!11!

Everyone was cheering for Chris and Matt Miletto from Barista Exchange brought over an awesome espresso tools tamp and a t-shirt, while Victrola brought over all the cash from sign up.  Viva Barista!

What a night it was,

Thanks Victrola and Barista Exchange!  All hail the smackdown!  And Chris!

 

You can read a quick blurb about all this at Victrola’s blog as well, by clicking here.