Louisville Barista wins at Columbus Jam!

The coffee community in Columbus, OH is pretty killer. There's several great shops, like Luck Bros. and Cafe Brioso, and recently they've been really consistent about holding monthly Barista Jams complete with latte art throw downs.

Louisville barista Kenny Smith just happened to be in town for December's competition and took first place! Perhaps a new rivalry is in the works?

-MJB

Events! Events! 'Tis official!

COFFEE EXTRAVAGANZA!
(Muhuhahahaha!)

There's been a slight buzz around town that there's actually a 'Louisville Barista' event in the works... it's finally here!

When: Monday, November 16th
Where: 1845 Gresham Road (Louisville, KY)
What Time: 7:00pm

What's going on exactly? Nothing formal... just a reason to get together and geek out about coffee! Latte art extraordinaire, Kenny Smith, has offered up a machine and some demonstrations! Plus, our "Hawaiian import" (thanks, MB-Dubs) John Letoto will be there with vacuum pots in tow to demo brewing techniques and as always- offer up exquisite conversations and discussions. Feel free to bring anyone and everyone. We're encouraging everyone (if you can) to bring a bag of their favorite roast along with a press-pot (or other brewing device) to assist in a sort of 'pot-luck' coffee tasting.

Not to mention, feel free to bring snacks, iPods and anything else you can think of contributing- the more the better.

So, no matter how great or small your coffee knowledge or barista skills may be, just come on out for an awesome night of coffee goodness!

Coffee Links

For my first post here at Louisville Barista I thought I would give some shout outs to the coffee blogs that I frequent.

In the coffee world James Hoffmann is a rock star. The fact that he's British only makes this World Champion Barista's video blog entries more interesting (I mean who doesn't think a British accent is cool? Scottish people perhaps?)

Hawaiian transplant John Letoto could know more about coffee than anyone else in Louisville- and he knows it. Don't believe me? Read his blog for a week and get back to me.

For a comprehensive look at coffee news Sprudge Report is your place to go. Just started reading it, but I've already learned a lot.

It may be the fact that I grew up reading Hans Christian Anderson stories, but I've recently been obsessed with the city of Copenhagen. The Coffee Collective is a coffee shop/think tank that is changing the way a lot of people drink coffee on the Continent. You can't taste their blog, but it's really insightful.

Barista Magazine could be the Paste Magazine of the coffee world. It's worth subscribing too.. on your RSS feed if nothing else.

enjoi

-MJB