So, I'm essentially here a day early in Seattle. Press pass in hand, and following Peter Giuliano's suggestion to download the SCAA app, and it contains a section for "member cafes", which somehow are thought to be giving samples and shots if you show them your press badge (this didn't come from Peter) but long story short, I'm killing a bit of time before I meet up with Sherman.

This app has a very good feature in that it will show on a GPS map where you are standing in relation to the cafe you choose.

So I see that they have Victrola Coffee Roasters only 3 blocks away! Blown over to find that the #1 destination roaster that I wanted to hit was actually just steps away.

The coffee gods have been quite good to me these past 3 weeks. Erna Knutsen, then Willem Boot. And now randomly today I get to interview Dennis Peseau, the head roaster at Victrola, who brought us a 96 point geisha last year. I'm just wrapping up a 4.5 hour tour and cupping of just this place.

I have the coolest story to share about him here, but my cell is about to die and it makes little sense to tap it out on a smartphone.

Maybe some more commentary tonight after Sherman arrives.

Ummm, my head just exploded a bit. Finished tapping out that stuff above and I get up to leave and turn around to see Pete Licata standing 3 feet away! He was gracious and allowed my intrusion to snap a quick photo of him.

Tom - you are like a kid in a candy store. I love it. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in Candyland. Thanks for being our vicarious observer.

Pete

The eagles have landed. There is a ridiculous amount of great coffee in this room, let alone the symposium. I am going to have to put some sleeping pills into Tom's water so that I can steal his coffee.

He's referencing my La Mula, that I brought just for him and I to enjoy. We need to find a better source of water, and I wish we could have figured out how to fit a small electric kettle in out luggage, but the weight restrictions limited that.

I found and bought an incredible natural Ethiopian from Victrola, that was literally flown in from Ethiopia instead of shipped via normal container.

Ok, since the Pete Licata thing was such a wild curve ball, I thought I'd have to share the proof.

That Mula does sound tasty. Once in a similar bind I found a small wand type water heater for $6 at Cost Plus World Market. There is one some distance from you in Belltown at Lenora and Western. I would bet you can find plenty of tasty coffee at the event however.

The Bonavita travel kettle is pretty nice.

So I just stood my ground (knees trembling) in a 3 way conversation about roasting with George Howell and Geoffrey Watts.

George went back and forth about the problems he's still having with a certain particular roaster, but he's holding out hope that things will improve because he believes in the capabilities of the machine.

The rust issue is heavy on everyone's mind, and isn't being met with current data that isn't already known.

I just this very second realized that James Hoffman is standing 8 feet from me and describing flaws in cupping practice and standards for descriptors.

I had no idea that the sensory lecture (a very brief, and somewhat open dialogue) turned into the hottest spot on the symposium tour.

I took my chances and spoke up on an issue and ended up going back and forth between George Howell, James Hoffman and had Geoffrey Watts re - approach me after the discussion to find out a bit more about who the heck I was. It turned into a wonderful conversation about his acquisition of Ecco from Andrew Barnett and his potential plans for the future of Intelly in San Francisco.

And looking across a new conference room, I'm seeing our own Marshall Fuss.