Drrrrrty South, SCAA Style

Colleen Anunu (Roasting Department Manager), Janet Murray (Purchasing Manager), Anne-Marie Robles (Director of Wholesale) and myself (QC Guy) decided to drive down to Atlanta for the annual SCAA trade show. Yeah, real smart guys, 15 hours in a 2001 Hyundai Elantra, with people you work with every single day. DEDICATION folks, DEDICATION.

As usual, Colleen found a way to have a good time along the way. The weather was beautiful, and spring was in swing and we saw some beautiful scenery along the way. We were still happy at this point to be heading down to the show to see our peers, friends and seek out cool new equipment, services and ideas!

Grassroots marketing. Oh yeah.

I finally met my homie Edwin Martinez, owner of Finca Vista Hermosa, a coffee farm in Guatemala in the Huehuetenango region. His coffees are exemplary, and as a matter of fact, we will be talking to this man (a.k.a. tallest Guatemalan I have ever met) more often (wink wink). He was hosting the World's Coffee tasting Championship which me and Colleen entered for fun. Congrats to our buddy Ben Kaminsky for taking the title!

Tasting some coffees, all brewed on the Technivorm and roasted to the same Agtron level so we could not detect difference in color with our naked eye.

Colleen Anunu, doing her thing. Preparing to taste some coffees.

Chris Baca, of Ritual Coffee Roasters pouring some delicious capps at the WBC bar.

Baca's Latte ART! Word! Throwdown yer talent SON!

Lance Nichols our equipment man working the Barista Magazine booth! He is also a mean Wii playing machine.

This is the super hyped up Slayer espresso machine. This booth was PACKED all weekend. We wish these guys the best of luck, they have built a beautiful machine.

One of my closest partners in coffee, Jeremy Tooker, owner of Fourbarrel Coffee in San Francisco spent some devoted time on the Slayer machine pulling shots of espresso. He pulled me the same coffee, two different ways...one was buttery, almost savory and the other was super acidic and sweet like a glass of creamy Hawaiian Punch and chocolate. Insane and delicious.

Gwilym Davies, man of the week. World Barista Champion from Hackney (UK). This man lives on a boat with his wife and son. Well deserved win, a true barista and a passionate coffee person. He used Square Mile Coffee Finca San Jose, humble and true to coffee as an experience. Even these folks loved our Panama Hartmann Honey!. We sent them some all the way to the UK. get it while you can, we only have a few left! Congrats to Gwilym Davies!

The south was warm, green and beautiful! Thanks Georgia, West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania! Til next time. If you want Gimme! Coffee served anywhere south of Upstate New York, let us know would ya? We loved it there.