Baristas In Shops Getting Coffee ~ Day 2

Handling that MUCH coffee on day 2....

That's granola and milk in my coffee cup for those judging at home.

Yesterday I was a veteran with a decade plus drinking experience in the industry. I handled my intake like a champ. Each sip calm, cool, and collective. My conversations didn't bounce around too much. Today the caffeine was still in my system, and ran alongside more brews of coffee. My head is spinning, and I could probably rap like this today. By the way, happy 23rd birthday PT's. 

Regardless, day 2 of Baristas In Shops Getting Coffee took a different flavor.

Wednesday, February 3rd / Set up at PT's Coffee - Crossroads, KC
Order: An El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro (from coffee hall of famer, Aida Battle) 
pourover and bag of granola

Ian Davis joined me this morning, and talk about someone balancing a lot in the air right now. Ian is owner of Blip Roasters here in KC's historic West Bottoms. His coffee roaster + cafe was basically destroyed by a fire less than a week ago. What I dig about Ian is that he built his business on his own back along with friends, but a ton of hardwork and sweat was put into it. KC has one of the strongest coffee communities in the country, and it's great to see other colleagues step up to help. The partnership with Broadway Coffee  and release of the new Colombia Antioquia Auction Lot is a perfect example. Here are a few other stories on Blip's fire and rebuild: Feast Magazine, Recommended Daily, Sprudge, Daily Coffee News, KMBC - Kansas City and The Pitch. 

I explained to Ian what I was doing with this Baristas In Shops Getting Coffee and he said I bet that table over there are coffee guys. I couldn't really tell, but I approached them anyway. It happened to be Jon from Hidden House Coffee in Orange County and the alias Albus DumblePour from Onyx Coffee Lab. Had a great chat with both guys, and introduced them to Ian. Jon was kind enough to share some of his competition coffee, which I'll brew up this weekend. Also, tried to encourage us to do a Caffeine Crawl in Orange County. I won't rule it out.

We wrapped up our chat, and I engulfed my granola so I could get over to the Convention Center for day 2. I know I'm not covering happenings during the completion, but I had some great conversations over there too. I'm missing several people, but thanks for the time Patrick Burns of Palace Coffee in the Panhandle, the legendary Gianni Cassatini with Nuova Simenelli, Tom Billionis owner of The Coffee Ethic and Cherry Picker Package + Fare, and "Panda" with Visions Espresso.  Also, excited to get the new Unofficial Guide To Coffee In Kansas City put together by Jerry Ponzer. It's good stuff, so track him down for one.

Thursday I'll be camped out at Thou Mayest from 8:30am to 9:30am, and will include a few quick chats during the first 45 minutes at the competition. Drink on, friends! Oh, and bring plenty of water. - Jason