This is a spin-off from the HB/CCC thread in the marketplace (I didn't want to keep inundating the thread) about the new Atlanta training center.

I had asked when it would be open, but am also interested in what will be going on in the location? It sounds like it will only be a training ground, so will there be any retail aspect to the locale, or is it only for 'skill-honing'?

Curious and excited,
Matt

Hey yawl...

The space in Atlanta will be very similar to our space in Charlotte and our training room in Durham: focused on cupping, barista training, and coffee education. There will not be a retail component. However, the space itself is not far from Octane, a CCC customer and excellent coffeehouse.

At all our training centers, we offer espresso, brewing and cupping classes to the public and to our customers. We always practice our tradition of 10:00 am Friday cuppings, which everyone is always invited to. We like to make the spaces available to passonate coffee people as a lab, training ground, and meeting place. So, there is definitely a public component to the centers, though there is no retail there.

In the typical week in a training center, we wil have a class or three, perhaps the beginning espresso lab or the brewing lab (both of which are full-day classes). On days when there are no classes, you might find a person who is planning a coffeehouse training at the espresso machine. Or, CCC folks running a blending session with a restaurant who wants to make a custom blend. Or a competing barista training for a barista competition. Or a working barista who wants to get away from the shop for an afternoon and work on their latte art skills. Or a gang of home espresso enthusiasts who want to bring in their equipment and compare it with commercial equipment, talk coffee, and trade shots.

The idea with the centers is to raise general coffee awareness and education in the community. Also, it is a practical place for our customers and others to perfect their coffee skills and products without interfering with their day to day business. The hope is that the training centers will serve as a tool to help make the coffee in a given area better and better.

We just closed on the space in Atlanta, and have not yet begun the buildout. We just purchased a really great machine (you guys will LOVE it) for the space. It will be a good couple of months before we get it up and running.

Peter G

Thanks for the reply Peter, I can't wait!

PeterG wrote:Or a gang of home espresso enthusiasts who want to bring in their equipment and compare it with commercial equipment, talk coffee, and trade shots.

For example, you can read about our formal La Marzocco / Cimbali Junior shootout. Needless to say, Counter Culture engages the local enthusiast community and has been an invaluable asset to this site's research.

By the way, for those living in the Triangle, we meet at their Durham location on most Fridays at 7:30am. If you would like to join us, contact me and I'll add you to the mailing list. We meet at Pheasant Creek Coffee on the first Friday of the month.

I hope I will be able to get up there, and that there will be some events in the afternoon/evening/weekend (when I would be able to make it).

Either way, best of luck.