Aldo Coffee Company

Winners Announced in 3rd Annual Aldo Coffee Latte Art Contest

Jeanne-Marie Kraemer's name was pulled out of our ballot jar as the lucky winner of a $20 Aldo Coffee Gift Card!  Thank you Jeanne-Marie and the many, many other customers who voted in this years contest.

Now for our winners.  Amazingly, after three-plus weeks of voting, our tally after counting up the ballots Sunday morning was a tie for best overall.  Given we had no tiebreaker rules, we had to get at least one more ballot to break the tie between first and second, as well as the three-way tie for third.  So Rich came in shortly before closing to find one more voter. 

The only customer who hadn't already voted happened to be a Father Bill Bellrose.  And Father Bill cast the deciding vote.  So you can call the final results "divine intervention".  Here are the top three in each category:

Best Rosette Art:
First Place:  Lauren
Second Place: John
Third Place: Belle

Best Freeform Art:
First Place: John
Second Place: Lauren
Third Place: (tie) Lois & Sonja

Best Overall Latte Artist of 2008 (most votes both categories):
First Place: John
Second Place: Lauren
Third Place: Lois

Congratulations to our winners and thanks again to everyone who voted!

Reminder: Voting for Best Staff Latte Art Ends Saturday

If you haven't yet voted, please do - it could be worth a few free coffees!  One ballot will be selected at random to receive an Aldo gift card worth 20 bucks.  Staff winners and the winning customer will be announced Labor Day.

Let the Voting Begin: Our 3rd Annual Latte Art Competition Is Underway

It's on.  Our elite eight have had been snapping photos of their best designs for the past couple of weeks.  They've culled through the shots and selected one entry each for best rosetta and best freeform.

Now it's up to you to vote for your favorites.  Customer votes account for half the total points earned (the other half is up to a select jury of experienced, very picky, judges who, to the best of our knowledge, cannot be bought).

Your vote for the best art in each category not only helps determine our winner, but you can also be a winner.  On Labor Day, after all voting is tallied, we'll pick one completed ballot at random from all those submitted.  That person will win a $20 Aldo Coffee Co. Gift Card.

Tom Purcell cast the first vote at 11:32am.  Voting will end at 6:00pm, Saturday, August 30.  Winners will be announced on Labor Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Because two hearts are better than one.

Like Riding a Bike

Candace is here for a couple of weeks while on break from college.  Just to remind us she was back to speed she poured this nautilus (kinda blurry when you blow it up, sorry).

We're Dropping to Go Cups. All Drinks Now Served in Baggies

They'll look something like this.

Just kidding - we're not dropping to-go cups just yet.  This was Lauren and John's response to the Absurd Latte Art Challenge. 

Too bad they had Rich as a photographer, it really was well-defined art. 

Winners Announced 2nd Annual Aldo Coffee Latte Art Contest

Everyone is healthy again, so we were finally able to get the staff in one place for the awards (and took the opportunity to cup some New Guinea and Flecha Roja Costa Rica Direct Trade). 

We apologize for the week's delay in the announcement - we know some of you have been on the edge of your seats for days.  So without further adieu, here are your 2007 Aldo Coffee Co. Latte Art Competition winners:

Best Heart:    
First:  Lois
Second:  Lauren
Third:  John

Best Rosette:
First:  Lauren
Second:  Belle
Third:  Michelle

Best Freeform:
First:  Lauren
Second: Lois
Third:  John

Best New Artist (1st time competitor):
First:  John
Second:  Michelle
Third:  Sonja

Best Overall Latte Artist of 2007:
First:  Lauren
Second:  Lois
Third:  Belle

Congratulations to our winners ($150 in prizes!) and to all of our "Best of Pittsburgh" Baristas for competing.  And a special thanks to all of you who voted - a very nice turnout indeed! 

From the comments we've received, it seems this competition is almost as fun for you as it is for us.  We thank you for your continued support, encouragement and patronage.

We'll put a gallery up on Flickr in the next couple of days.  We'd have done it today, but we forgot to renew our pro account over there :-O

Let the Games Begin!

Our 2nd Annual Aldo Coffee Latte Art Contest is now underway.  All this week, through next Monday, our baristi will be trying extra hard to get the perfect latte pour in hopes of something camera-worthy and vote-worthy.

The rules are simple.  Any time a barista pours some latte art they believe is good enough for competition, they take a photo.  There will be three categories:  rosette, heart and freeform (whatever the barista wishes to make).  It can be any cup size, any drink, including chai.  They then pick out the three photos they believe best represent their work (one in each category) and enter them into the contest.

At the end of the 8-day competition period, all entered photos will then be posted in the shop.  From August 15-31, customers will be encouraged to vote for their favorites. 

Customer votes will account for half the total, the baristi themselves will account for 30% and the final 20% will be determined by a select panel of hardcore judges knowledgeable in the degree of difficulty of each pour.

Btw, these three are just the start.  And that one without the name on it... that's why Rich rarely does regular shifts behind the bar.  Although, in his defense he immediately poured a better rosette in a 20oz to-go chai.  But the customer was in a hurry...

Swan

We haven't posted any latte art in a bit and we wanted to get John a bit of exposure as he's a terrific barista and we've been negligent in getting new barista profiles done. 

So we asked John to do something so we could include a photo of him in the new website banner we're doing... and he poured this.

A swan.

Btw, the 2nd Annual Aldo Coffee Latte Art Contest will begin later this week and run throughout August. 

Photos will be posted in the shop beginning next week and you're invited to vote on best rosette, best heart and best "freelance".

Still No Snow, But There Are Snowmen in Town

Andi did this snowman a couple of weeks ago after Lindsay from Cafe Artigiano showed her the technique. 

Some of our other baristas are working on their own versions.

We would've posted earlier, but Rich couldn't figure out how to download it from his new phone camera.  Finally he just decided to email it to himself.