Now that all the Rushes have been Crushed (well, almost. Denver still has a Rush to Crush August 14th), what’s there left to do but to listlessly run out the clock on the summer doldrums, right? WRONG! Europe’s raucous good time The Barista League is coming to America at the end of August! For the first time ever, the Scandi-lous coffee competition is crossing the Atlantic and will be making landfall in Portland on its way through a four-stop coast-to-coast tour.
Taking place over two weeks, The Barista League is a face-paced contest where teams of two baristas compete in three different skills challenges—barista skills, sensory skills, and a mystery round—for coffee dominance. To decide the winners and losers, VIP judges will be on hand at each event, and these VIPs know competition. We’re talking multiple USBC Champions (Laila Ghambari, Cole McBride, Kyle Ramage, Lem Butler), a multi-time Chinese Barista Champion (Jeremy Zhang), a Coffee Masters New York Champion (Erika Vonie), and a World Barista Champion (Pete Licata).
The murderer’s row of judges is intimidating enough, nevermind the multiple US Barista and Brewers Cup Champions (Andrea Allen, Dylan Siemens, Jenna Gotthelf) and a 2018 USBC finalist (Sam Neely) competing. Sorry about your luck, pretty much every competitor at the Kansas City event.
But the results are far from decided, especially when everyone will be competing for such an incredible prize; the winners of each event will win an origin trip courtesy of sponsors Ally Coffee!
The Barista League 2018 US Tour hits the road on the following dates:
August 30 — Portland, OR — Black Rabbit Service Co.
September 1 — Kansas City, MO — Workbench Coffee Labs
September 6 — Greenville, SC — Ally Coffee
September 8 — Philadelphia, PA — Ultimo Coffee
Spectator tickets for each of the events are $5 and can be purchased via The Barista League website. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project (ASAP), an organization that “works to prevent wrongful deportations by connecting refugee families to community support and emergency legal aid,” per their website. The Barista League is also asking those able to match their $5 donation, which can be done at the time of purchase. For more information, visit The Barista League’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Top image via The Barista League
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