OK, so DC whipped Pittsburgh's butt again. But Pittsburgh beat Philly, so we've got that ;-)
Much as it would've been great to see Drew or Jake win the thing for Pittsburgh, we're really happy for Jeremy Sterner, your 2010 MARBC champ.
We first met Jeremy and Bethany Sterner three years ago at the MARBC when he entered as a barista from Caffe Pronto in Annapolis. He finished 3rd and decided to go to the USBC but was let go shortly before that competition (thanks Nick for the correction). He decided to compete anyway as a freelancer and had to scramble for equipment, supplies and coffee. A bunch of us pitched in to provide what we could. And the Sterners became friends.
Jeremy hooked up with Peregrine Espresso shortly thereafter, came in fourth at last year's event in Cranberry (but 2nd in our book!), and now he's got the 1st place hardware. To top it off, he also won the Millrock Latte Art championship earlier on Sunday, which pays $2500. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy or a sweeter couple. Congrats Sterners!
If there's an out-of-town shop worthy of emulation in Pittsburgh it would be Peregrine. All props to Ryan Jensen who not only elevated the old murkycoffee space into DC's best coffeehouse, but also for his continued contributions to the competitions as a volunteer, judge and an owner who's assembled an amazing team of talented folks that exemplify what the craft is all about and is willing to invest in them.
The Peregrine crew is a team. And while the awards are individual, you know Randy and Grant had a part in Jeremy's win and Jeremy and Grant had a part in Randy's 3rd place trophy. And both Randy and Jeremy had a part in getting first-timer Grant into the finals. It's a great thing to watch their camaraderie. One of the best moments was when Jeremy bolted from seat to give Randy a bear hug after Randy finished his finals performance. Like we said, it's a team.
While the MARBC and CoffeeFest are obviously about coffee, for us it's become much more about hooking up with friends we've made over the past five MidAtlantic competitions (and three Northeasts). It's touching when some of the kids we've met/judged/hosted come bounding over for hugs. We seem to have become some kind of unofficial aunt and uncle to a few. We love hearing about what the kids are up to - Sam Penix is now running Everyman, Anne Boatner is opening a shop at her college, Peter Droste started an espresso service company, And so on. It's great to see them advance and take on bigger roles in the industry.
Of course it's also fun to mix with folks closer to our age group. Coffee Tree's Bill Swoope is always fun to hang with and his dad, Bill Swoope Sr. was generous in picking up our tab for burgers Friday night while regaling us with wild stories about his trips to origin.
CoffeeTree and its various subsidiaries entered the MARBC for the first time with five competitors (including Johnny C.). While they didn't make finals (it's hard to do first time out), all of them also exhibited the kind of camaraderie that will do them well in future competitions. The CoffeeTree crew looked like they were having a ton of fun and did well in their performances while making a bunch of new friends and earning the respect of peers. We're hoping to see them again next year. And Johnny, true to form, upon learning he wasn't in the finals volunteered for machine maintenance on Sunday. He's a pro's pro.
Andi's daughter Alex Szep finished 4th in the Millrock Latte Art competition and also competed on the MARBC stage. She's all of 17. Watch for her in the future.
Melanie, Sam and Barista Magazine's Sarah Allen got into some serious discussion about why such a high percentage of barista finalists are guys over drinks that eventually made it to some ears from the SCAA. There's more to that story regarding the reactions to, but you'll have to ask Melanie.
We're disappointed we didn't take up Anne and Neil's invitation for tacos in their Brooklyn neighborhood. An escape from the chain food that was all around us would've been welcome, but at our advanced age, it gets tough to hang out late into the night every night. Besides we wanted to spend time with Sonja who was heartbroken over her performance slip up. So it was Cheeseburgers In Paradise over margaritas. We introduced the Schutte family to fried pickles. As we pass through NY often enough, we hope to accept their taco invitation later this year.
We got to spend some quality time with Jay Caragay, Mike Love and Troy Reynard (who gave us a wonderful pizza recommendation for our ride home). Mike is growing a ridiculous beard for a competition in Norway next year. He had some wild stuff to share about making espresso popsicles with his new 30-quart liquid nitrogen tank, as well as creating a signature latte that involved sous-vide french toast. Jay is Jay. Troy's annual Easton barista jam will now be in Providence with New Harvest Roasters this June.
Got to finally meet Jason Dominy. Ben Wilkinson is looking an awful lot like Kenny Loggins these days. Got a brief explanation of happily-married and "Muncied" Chris DeFerio's sig drink for next week's Great Lakes regional. He's a gifted storyteller in addition to a great barista, so that should be interesting.
I eventually got onto the show floor to get some questions answered about the Ambex at Kiva Han that I use for roasting our LaVerdad brand. Turned out I'm not as dumb as I thought. We've got some interesting and exciting developments on the LaVerdad front that I'll report on later once we confirm everything. And we tasted espresso made with Dippin Dots. No crema, but surprisingly not offensive - more like Aeropress than espresso though.
Great seeing Bob Garver again - he's almost got me convinced to go to Boston and judge again (but for the hotel costs!). Also got to catch up with Daryn Berlin, Phil Proteau and Peter Giuliano of Counter Culture (oddly about the only roaster we didn't talk with was one we use - Intelligentsia). No coffee event is complete without seeing Liz Clayton, who was running the Aroma Challenge (you identify aromas commonly found in coffees using a fragrance kit called Nez du Cafe). Melanie beat me at it, but I'm claiming a sinus condition. Gimme's Lance Nichols won the challenge, getting 13 of 18 correct. And pretty much everyone agrees 'toast' doesn't smell like that.
As far as the venue, let's say we're looking forward to having next year's event anywhere else. It's a long drive. And it's New Jersey, where a wrong turn can cost you a half hour. The competition room was cramped compared to previous events. Turnout was tiny compared to last year's competition in Cranberry. If it's not coming back to Pittsburgh, we'll take DC or Baltimore or even Philly before having to go back to the Meadowlands.
It's good to be home. Only one question - almost all the snow in the NYC area has melted. Why is there still a foot in our backyard?
Was great to finally meet you Rich! See ya again soon hopefully! Keep up the amazing work there!
Posted by: jason dominy | April 20, 2010 at 04:53 PM