Monday, October 27, 2008

South Central Regional Barista Competition

He'll tell you he's not, but Isaiah is about to be a full-fledged competition barista.  What's that, you ask?  Well, it's like the Iron Chef, except with coffee.  It's like American Idol without the singing.  It's like the World Championship of Magic!

This is not like the competition we had at the DoubleShot in August or the competition that Isaiah competed in at CoffeeFest in Seattle (though that was a big step for this little coffee town).  Those were contests solely based on the designs poured on the top of your latte (along with other unseen, pivotal factors I suppose).  The competition Isaiah will enter this weekend is about the formal presentation of coffee drinks.  

Here's how it goes.  He'll have 15 minutes to prepare three drinks for each of four judges.  It's supposed to be a formal dining experience, so he'll address the judges and describe to them what he's doing and what they'll be experiencing.  The three drinks he'll serve are a single espresso, a 6 ounce "traditional cappuccino" (known as a latte in most US coffeehouses), and a "signature drink" of his own making.  Each competitor will come up with their own signature drink, and that's pretty much what everyone remembers about the performance.  Isaiah is using the LONGFELLOW, a drink that has been in the DoubleShot storehouse for a long time.  I won't blow it and tell what the Longfellow is right now, but to say that it's a combination of flavors and taste sensations that blend in their complexity.  Scoring is based on presentation, cleanliness, accuracy, timeliness, quality, and approximately 100,000 other gauges.

Isaiah and I are driving to Austin for the South Central Regional Barista Competition.  He will compete Friday in the first round.  Another group of competitors will perform on Saturday and the top 6 overall will go on to compete Sunday for the title.  Whoever wins Sunday will compete at the next level (United States Barista Competition) in Portland in March.  And believe it or not, there's also a World Barista Competition, which will be held in Atlanta in May.  This whole thing is a pretty prestigious affair in the world of Specialty Coffee.  So wish Isaiah luck.

Because we'll be in Austin competing, the DoubleShot will close early Thursday and Friday.
Thursday 10/30  7a-130p
Friday 10/31 (Halloween)  7a-130p
Saturday resume regular hours (9a-3p)

posted by Brian at 4:06 PM 3 comments delicious digg

Friday, October 24, 2008

Tulsa Run

We're not going to be selling coffee at the Tulsa Run tomorrow.  Instead of finishing at Veteran's Park, the race will end at the Bokarena.
So you have to come to the DoubleShot to get coffee tomorrow.  We open at 9a and close at 3p.  The only problem is, how will you get here?  

This pisses me off.

Maybe I shouldn't get pissed about this, but I am.  The Tulsa Run will be shutting down every street around here, making it damn near impossible to come to the DoubleShot.  The race starts at 9a, and it's 9.3 miles, so you can expect some of the walkers to take three hours to finish.  I know they don't care that our business will suffer on one of our busiest days of the week.  So I'm going to tell you one way we figured out you can get here tomorrow.  It's inconvenient, but you should be able to get here.

The race goes from downtown on 3rd and Boulder to 15th, east to Utica, south to 21st to the River, up the river and back downtown on Denver to 2nd Street.  See a map of the course here.  From my house, I think it's almost impossible to get here, so I'll probably ride my bike.  But hopefully you won't be in the same predicament.

If you can get downtown, north of 15th street and east of Denver, you can come to the DoubleShot.  For those of you southeast of 21st and Utica, that's going to mean you probably have to go all the way to Lewis and then back down 11th to downtown.
At that point, go south on Cincinnati (one block east of Boston).  At 13th street, you'll need to be in the far right lane because all the lanes go in different directions.  The left lanes enter the BA expressway.  Second to right goes to 15th and you'll be stuck there forever.  The right lane goes over the expressway, over 15th street, and sets you down on 18th at a stoplight.  Turn right there, go one block to Boston.  Turn right again and we'll be there on your left where we always are.

Maybe if you get close, you can park on the other side of 21st street and walk 3 blocks to the DoubleShot.  The rivertrail that goes through Maple Ridge from 31st St to Maple Park goes right by here.  That's a nice walk.

Anyway, sorry about the difficulties.  I'm not happy about it.  But hopefully you'll find a way to drink delicious DoubleShot Coffee tomorrow.

posted by Brian at 8:52 AM 0 comments delicious digg

Monday, October 20, 2008

Party


We can't get enough of you so we decided to have a party.  The espresso machine will be open late Wednesday night to accommodate Paul McEntire's art showdown.  You know... showdown.  He's about to take the show down?  So you need to come really look at his photo genius and talk to the man himself.  It's a good time for you to buy one of the photographs, stand back and critique all the others, and drink more coffee than you really should.  (Is that possible?)
You're all invited.  So stop by Wednesday from 7-930p.

posted by Brian at 1:25 PM 0 comments delicious digg

Sunday, October 05, 2008

I don't know if you've noticed...



But there's always something going on at the DoubleShot. If you think all we do is sell coffee, you should sit down at the counter and listen for a few minutes.

Paul McEntire has been displaying his show from the Capitol Gallery here on our walls. I don't need to brag on Paul; you can come in and see for yourself how amazing his work is. The show will be up for a couple more weeks, so come in and check it out. If you're particularly fond of one, buy it! Each one is for sale for $300.

The McEntires are great people and anything you can do to support their work is definitely a good thing.

posted by Brian at 8:44 AM 0 comments delicious digg