Just finished up at SCAA. Unfortunately I only got to visit the show today. First impressions were good. I enjoyed watching the USBC finals. Some good commentary by Nick Cho and James Hoffmann and some very strong performances from the finalists. Congrats to Kyle Glanville for his win.

This is the first SCAA conference I've attended. The show was considerably larger than the Coffee Fest shows I've been to before. There was no lack of stuff to see. I'm a bit of a techie so took a quick tour around some of the machine vendors. I liked the new Dalla Corte machines. Boy the Super is a pretty tall beast (for a home machine) when you see it in person.

Sampled alot of espresso. Did I say I sampled alot of espresso. Wow, I got my fill today! That said, there didn't seem to be as many roasters there as I would have expected. Those I did try were good. I was pleasantly surprised by Alterra coffee's. Their espresso blend was quite good, a solid chocolate/caramel base note with a spicy almost cinnamin finish to it. Very nice.

Overall, a great show. I could have easily spent another half day on the floor and I would have enjoyed attending some of the seminars.

Cheers

Ian

I'm kinda disappointed that you haven't published the vid for the only one representing the HB'ers! Not to mention Tucson!
Jason Calhoun, the only HB'er to compete. No Shop, kit manufacturer, or Roaster sponsors. When the MC went to announce where he worked, it sort of caught him off guard that he was a 'hobbyist'.

Jason Calhoun, 'Really' independent

I was there rooting Jason on. He hopes to open a shop sometime in the near future, but I give him mad props for competing without a lot of support. He got some competition help from PT's and used their coffee in the comp, and is inspiring for all the hobbyists out there!

- Matt

This morning we were talking about the performance of our local barista champ, Lem Butler. He didn't place into the finals, but Lem demonstrated impressive professionalism under pressure. A mishap with a container of honey throws his timing off, but never his composure. Despite losing time for two cleanups, he still finished under time. In fact, he finished precisely in the amount of time he announced at the beginning of his presentation (14:53).



Below is a photo of the signature drink he prepared during a practice session last year:


From A winning espresso specialty drink