UPDATE: August's Durham Thursday Night Throwdown is Thursday, August 27, 7 p.m. Our friends at Cafe Helios in Raleigh are hosting/sponsoring the event!

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Thursday Night Throwdown
Cafe Helios (Raleigh)
Thursday, August 27, 7 p.m.
free + open to the public / $5 to compete

Cafe Helios
413 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC, 27603
919.838.5177
http://www.cafehelios.com/

Please join us!

Thanks to everyone who came out and to all of the participants in Durham's first-ever Thursday Night Throwdown latte art competition hosted by Copa Vida with milk graciously provided by Homeland Creamery (and coffee from Counter Culture). Baristas from Caffe Driade, La Farm Bakery, Open Eye Cafe, Morning Times, Joe Van Gogh, Cafe Helios, Bean Traders, and Counter Culture Coffee's staff competed. Judges were Dan Kehn (h-b) and Scott Conary (Carrboro Coffee Company).



The winner, Michael Harwood of Caffe Driade pictured with Counter Culture's Lem Butler (left):



The winning latte:



Plans are in the works for the next one. Thanks, again!

Thanks to Copa Vida, Homeland Creamery, Lem, and rest of the Counter Culture crew for setting up this event. Honestly I was shocked by the turnout (12 competitors and around 40 spectators). Scott and I had a quick review of the judging criteria and some test scoring. He has more experience than I do, but we still were within 0.5 point for nearly all of our scores. It was good fun and the winner took away $60, three bags of coffee (Aficionado, Toscano, Rustica), and a Counter Culture t-shirt.

As the evening wound down and before the winner was announced, I chipped in the $5 entry fee so I could try my hand at the WBC Nuova Simonelli Aurelia. You only get one chance and I was surprised how well it turned out (the pour looked like it might gush, but calmed down; I like the on/off toggle steam switch). Scott showed me no mercy on scoring. I think that Lem might have cut me a little slack seeing that I wasn't eligible to actually win anything (not that it would have mattered!). I placed in the middle of the pack and could not resist taunting some of the Counter Culture employees that I squeaked by them in the final tally. This prompted one (unnamed) competitor to challenge me for a little one-on-one the next morning.

I arrived quite late as usual at our Counter Culture get-together. Like the night before, I followed the rule of "one turn only" at the machine, which wasn't a problem since someone else had already dialed in the grinder. Nathan kindly took photos of the action:


Preparation: Counter Culture Coffee vs. Home-Barista.com

(Yes, I know my shirt was "colorful". It was a birthday gift from my dad, and I've grown to like it).

Now before looking at the results, I should point out that my competition arrived long before I did and practiced a few pulls before the official round began. One would expect this extra time behind the bar would offer an advantage, but in this case it proved an opportunity for me to engage in some friendly banter that may have knocked him off his game (e.g., "Oh my, that didn't pour well at all! I feel really bad about this competition, like I'm kicking a puppy or something." ). Or at least that's his post-game analysis.

So without further ado, the results:


Results: Counter Culture Coffee vs. Home-Barista.com (click above for larger images)

This was a pretty typical pour for me: A wannabee rosetta, more commonly known as the "blooming onion". My competitor's subsequent pours were better than his entry above, though they all exhibited the Brasilia look (i.e., two cheeks and a thong ). The talking smack - mostly on my part - continued. The Throwdowns will be the last Thursday of each month and I'm promised a rematch. I'm used to getting whooped when it comes to latte art, so I have no plans to practice and every expectation of losing.

Well, maybe not.

sweaner wrote:Dan, you clearly won that battle.

It was the shirt. I'm convinced that it was the shirt.

Not only do I like the shirt, but I like the 'bloomin' onion' rosetta, too. They tend to be more intricate and lacy. Less 'hinge' on your hand, and more bell tower bell ringing motion, and you'll get bigger leaves, pointier rosettas.
Something tell me that you'll either keep them coming back for re-matches, or you should get a coupla bags a week for providing the entire CCC crew with the motivation required to get them practicing their latte art on the customers!

Bob_McBob wrote:What brand/size of cups do you use for the competition?

Actually I think competitors were free to choose any cup they wished and they ran the gamut from traditional 6 ounce cappuccino cups to latte bowls. My personal favorite is the ACF cups. SCAA competitions are more strict about volume and shape, but this was a friendlier do-as-you-please competition.

Yes, that's right.

Interesting story, Dan. And you clearly won. Thank you for sharing and thank you all for the photos. It was an interesting read.

July's Durham Thursday Night Throwdown is tomorrow night!

Thursday, July 30, 2009
7 p.m.
Copa Vida
2816 Erwin Rd Ste 201
Durham, NC 27705
(919) 383-4900

Hope to see you there,
Nathan

Latte Art Rumble in Durham, NC!

Thanks to everyone who came out and to all of the participants in Durham's July 2009 Thursday Night Throwdown latte art competition hosted by Copa Vida (with coffee from Counter Culture). Baristas from La Farm Bakery, Sosta, Helios, Open Eye Cafe, The Daily Grind, and Counter Culture Coffee's staff competed.

L-R: Judges Michael Harwood (barista at Caffe Driade) and Scott Conary (Carrboro Coffee Company) pictured with Counter Culture's Lem Butler:



The signup list and the the pirate treasure:



The scoreboard:



Ryan Ross and Miles Murray, having thrown down, hold down the front row:



The winner, Tommy Gallagher (Counter Culture Coffee NY Tech in town to pick up a Linea) pictured with Lem and the winning pour (projected on the wall above Tommy's hand):



A closer look at Tommy's winning entry:

Greetings from Durham, NC:

Our friends at Cafe Helios in Raleigh are hosting/sponsoring the local Thursday Night Throwdown this month!

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Thursday Night Throwdown
Cafe Helios (Raleigh)
Thursday, August 27, 7 p.m.
free + open to the public / $5 to compete

Cafe Helios
413 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC, 27603
919.838.5177
http://www.cafehelios.com/

Hope to see you soon. Thanks!

Michael Harwood of Caffe Driade claimed another victory at this week's Raleigh TNT @ Helios. Congratulations on a second win!

Michael in super-fast action:




Cindy Chang of the WBC (and formerly of Counter Culture):




Master of ceremonies Lem Butler and judge Lydia Iannetti (both of Counter Culture):




Michael with the sweet prize pack:




The winning pour:



Thanks to everyone who attended and competed (representing Helios, Busy Bee, La Farm Bakery, Poets, Open Eye, and Driade) ... and to judges Lydia and Ian Dunn (Helios).

The next area competition is September 17 at Busy Bee in Raleigh. Hope to see you there!

RDU-TNT: Thursday Night Throwdown in Raleigh 9/17!

Raleigh's Busy Bee Cafe hosts this month's installment of the latte art challenge Thursday Night Thrown!

Thursday, September 17. Signup @ 7 p.m.

http://www.busybeeraleigh.com

Sorry for the late update. Last week's Raleigh Thursday Night Throwdown was a lot of fun, well-attended, and quite competitive. As a kick-off to our Counter Intelligence Coffee Camp, we had folks from as far as Chicago. Raleigh's Busy Bee Cafe hosted this month. Thanks to all who attended, competed, and lent their time to making this possible!




The master of ceremonies, Lemuel Butler, showing off part of the prize pack:




The crowd:




The judges:




The top three finishers: 3 Phil Proteau (Counter Culture Coffee Philadelphia), 2 Lydia L. (unaffiliated barista!), and 1(!) Jason Dominy (Dillworth Coffee):




The winning pour:



Again, thank to all for a lovely evening. I'll post the date and location for October when we have it.

Best,
Nathan

a few more photos of the 9.17.9 throwdown @ Busy Bee in Raleigh on our Flickr page. Thanks!

We had another solid turnout at last week's Durham Thursday Night Throwdown. A lot of familiar faces, anyhow. The friendly competition among this dedicated group of baristas is fun to see evolve.




Christine and Marie Callan of Copa Vida!






Judges Miles Murray and Lem Butler (also master of ceremonies).


Miles decided to throwdown, after all, so I stepped in to judge his efforts with Lem.


Miles' last-minute entry ended being the pour of the night, so he won the T-shirt and coffee and cash. No one cried foul. Handshakes, hugs, and congratulations were plentiful. Thanks to everyone who attended/competed/made the event possible!

Join us at Busy Bee Cafe in Raleigh on Thursday, November 19, for the next installment of RDU-TNT!

Thanks Nathan for posting the writeup, wish that I could have made it. Work has been nothing but long hours and weekends of late. I will try to make the next one!

Thanks to everybody who came out to last night's TNT at busy Bee Cafe in Raleigh. Emily Hester from Cafe Helios won from among the dozen or so baristas who threw down. I'm still waiting for a shot of the winning latte (sorry!) but wanted to go ahead and post these:











Again, I'll post Emily's pour ASAP. And, December 17 RDU-TNT will be @ Cafe Helios!