The Annual Barista Competition for the Great Lakes region proved to be the largest and most competitive thus far. Shannon Smith, Retail Office Manager, and Jason Dama, Facilities Services, worked endlessly to prepare for the competition held from March 14-16. The two Stone Creek representatives were up against 33 other Baristi from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Each competitor had an allotted 15 minutes to prepare beverages for four sensory judges including a solo, cappuccino and a signature beverage created by the competitor. The beverages were scored on several criteria including taste, balance, persistence of crema along with the knowledge that the competitor had surrounding the espresso blend he or she chose to use.

Not only were there sensory judges to impress, but while preparing the beverages two technical judges surrounded the competitor to observe the grinding, dosing, tamping and all around technical skills of the barista. After the competition, each competitor was allowed time to speak with the judges regarding their scores and the constructive criticism will help build stronger training knowledge for competition specifics for baristi here at Stone Creek Coffee for future competitions. The competition was a tremendous amount of work to prepare for and a huge learning experience that wont soon be forgotten.

We would like to thank Liz Clayton from Twitchy.org for her great photos of our barista competitors. Check out Liz's site for more great photos from this event!

As could probably guess, we LOVE coffee!  You could also probably guess that there is an entire world of people out there that love it too.  From May 2-5, coffee lovers from all over the world will converge upon Minneapolis, MN for the Specialty Coffeee Association of America's 20th Annual Conference and Exhibition.  This event is a trade show for coffee industry profesionals and enthusiasts.  More than 500 exhibitors will showcase the latest and most innovative products and services in the industry.  The show will also be the venue for the 2008 United States Barista Championship.

Stone Creek Coffee will be exhibiting our wholesale products and services at this show.  Our booth number is 1825, and we would love to see you there!  If you are in the coffee business, or are considering entering it, you should really consider attending this show.  Learn more about this event, or register at the SCAA's Website.  Hopefully we'll see you there!

Tom, Kim and Laurie begin their trek through these African Coffees.

With Master Roaster Stephen Bybee serving as tour guide, the group continues to sample the best coffees Africa has to offer!

As the cupping comes to a close, Stephen takes an opportunity to talk about the coffees that have just been cupped. Soon, everyone will be back to "Spring Snow."

Last Friday's Stone Creek factory cupping was the first for spring 2008, and ironically one of the snowiest cupping days I've ever hosted. By the end of the day Milwaukee had received somewhere between 14-16 inches. The four coffees we cupped, however, all came from the virtually snowless climes of East Africa. With a fire in the fireplace and both cupping tables full to capacity, we made our way through samples from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.

The first sample on the table was a Kenya Peaberry from the Ntongoro district, which our cuppers unanimously described as bright, citrusy, cedary and a touch bitter. I believe the primary reason for some of these defects was a bit of underroasting on my part.

The next sample was an Organic Ethiopian Limu. This coffee had an extremely appealing body and texture, but most of us found the flavor to be a bit flat. Our retail manager, Athena, found more positive attributes in the flavor of the Limu than did the rest of us, discerning hints of cinnamon and spice and ultimately giving the coffee an eight out of ten.

A Kenya AA Tembo was our third sample, and our cupping group was divided on this coffee, several of us giving it sixes and sevens, while Tom gave it a three and Kim thought highly enough of this AA to award it an eight.

The last sample was, fittingly, the very best on the table, and how delightful that it was also a coffee that Stone Creek is currently roasting and selling. This wonderful coffee, a Tanzanian Hope Peaberry, beguiled us with Harrar-like aromas of fruit, berries, and chocolate, then amply rewarded our expectations with the rich flavors of fruit, plum, currant, and molasses. One of our cuppers described it as phenomenal and gave it a ten out of ten. I knew that this was a good coffee, but I wasn't expecting anything this overwhelming from a Tanzanian. My hope is to continue booking this coffee for our spring and summer purchases, and to keep it in our inventory until at least next fall.

As always, our Stone Creek factory cuppings take place every other Friday at 9 a.m. prompt. The next cupping will take place on Friday, April 4th.