The espresso class is $300! Do you get to bring anything home? Like a tshirt and bag of beans? That price is more than double what they cost from roasters in DC.

It looks like Counter Culture is charging $200 for a full day espresso class through their training center in DC. But training pros and home enthusiasts is a primary purpose of those Counter Culture venues, and they have a lot of potential students to draw from. I don't blame a small regional roaster like Cuvée for charging what they need to charge to make their classes work. There were only two people in the class I attended, which was taught by their #1 expert-not someone that person trained to train others. So yeah, it would be cool to live in a market served by a Counter Culture training center, but we're pretty far from those resources in Central Texas. That's part of what makes Lorenzo's classes such a unique resource.

I didn't ask for a t-shirt or coffee, as I happened to have a bag of their coffee at home already and already have one of their t-shirts. I'm sure they would have given me either or both if I had asked.

[FWIW: A full-day class with an award-winning barista at Klatch is $500: http://www.klatchroasting.com/Barista_a ... g_s/46.htm.]

I don't feel bad about complaining. They are located in the outskirts of Austin and therefore have less overhead than cc does. I am going to be in Austin soon and I'd like to enroll in a course for fun, but not for the price of a used super jolly.

Totally understand. I wasn't recommending Cuvée's classes as a destination. But for those of us in Central Texas, paying $300 for a professional quality training is a better bargain than traveling someplace like Chicago or DC where CC has a training lab, certainly in light of Lorenzo's resume.

If you want to do something coffee-related while you're in Austin that is free, fun and educational, check out a cupping event at Houdstooth's Lamar location. They cup three coffees at 1:30 pm every Monday and Thursday. Pretty informal and casual. Four to six people usually show up. High quality crew at Houndstooth.

Multi-roaster coffee & spirits venue in Waco (complete with modbar):

http://sprudge.com/dichotomy-coffee-waco.html

Flat Track Coffee makes NYT article on "Eclectic East Austin":

http://nyti.ms/1gHNU9W

I went to Cuvee's espresso class yesterday and had a blast! You get to be trained by the current #1 barista in this region, they run you through the entire roasting process all the way to making rosettas with milk art. They provide lunch, but that's the only take away (I was hoping for some beans but I purchased some). It was awesome. I totally recommend doing it. I met everyone there including the owner and really thought it was an extra special experience. For comparison, I have been to classes at Peregrine and Counter Culture DC. This was sort of a mix of those two with the personal hands-on approach of Peregrine and the rote coursework of Counter Culture, plus learning about roasting. They really helped me iron out some of the wrinkles in dialing in my espresso, and at least know what I was screwing up with regard to proper foaming of milk. High recommend!

In honor of SXSW, Sprudge has published a good overview of noteworthy coffee shops in Austin:

http://sprudge.com/drink-coffee-austin-sxsw.html

Noticed Flattrack appears to have opened in or next to the skate shop near ACC on west 12th street. Going to check it out soon, my only experience was at the main location and was less than lackluster (the barista was no bueno).

Glad to hear you liked that class. I have that on the to do list at some point this year.

Zagat had a nice article on a few folks behind the Austin coffee scene:

http://www.zagat.com/b/austin/7-austin- ... uld-know#1

I think they could have added Ethan; he was a driving force at Frank before he moved to Cuvee. He knows a lot about coffee and is a really smart guy to boot. (Sheesh, I wish I was that smart.) I think Lorenzo is gonna have to make some room there.

In other news, Once Over is getting into roasting, which is exciting for me because they do not favor bright espresso.

And in case you're wondering where that non-bright espresso is to be found, that'd be Medeci or Once Over. Houndstooth, Brew & Brew, Flat Track, and Cuvee are peddling the bright stuff. I guess Thunderbird is too.

And finally, Houndstooth had another coffee and cheese pairing, which was a lot of fun. There were four pairs; my favorite was pair #2 which was Counter Culture's Kilenso plus Pedato (sp?) cheese. Cheese was from Antonelli's.

I'm like you - I don't really prefer the bright espresso blends that are common with 3rd wave shops. Houndstooth usually has 2 coffees for espresso, though, and one of them is usually dark enough to get some more caramelly/sugar browning flavors.