Barista Competitions: What Do You Need to Be a Coffee Champion?

Barista competitions are the epitome of barista excellence. Whether it’s a regional, national, or world championship, they will stretch you to your limit. By participating, you’ll hone your skills and discover how great your love for coffee really is.

I’ve had the privilege to compete, judge, and coach in barista competitions over the last eight years. Getting up on that stage is no easy task, but I believe any barista who sets their mind to it can achieve it. Because competing is about more than technical skills. It’s also about attitude.

So let me take you through what attitudes you need to achieve your best – whether in a barista competition or simply in your daily coffee shop routine.

SEE ALSO: Should The World Barista Championship Use a Compulsory Coffee?

Neil Gouws competes in the Western Cape 2017 Regional Barista Championships in Cape Town. Credit: Lee Henriques & Neil Gouws

Discipline

Training for competitions isn’t easy. Waking up early or turning down plans with friends and family so you can perfect your espresso recipe soon gets boring – but if you want to succeed, you must have the discipline to do this.

You need to practise every part of your routine until you can do it without thinking. And don’t just practise your routine; practise your timing. Practise your presentation. Practise every single aspect that you are being judged on. Practise it as often as you can, no matter how tired you are or how long your day was at work.

Doing so will refine your skills, build your confidence, and enable you to perform with consistency and precision. Your discipline to the craft is what will help you to grow as a barista and compete against the best.

Donovan, Byron, and Ishan (left to right), three South African coffee champions. Credit: Ishan Natalie

Consistency

Consistency is key in coffee – and consistency is key in training, too!

Consistency is linked to discipline, because it takes discipline to practise something until you can do it the same way every single time. However, it also takes meticulousness and precision. Don’t settle for “good enough”. Whether it’s your espresso TDS or your latte art symmetry, turn a critical eye on every element of your competition presentation and make sure that it’s the same each and every time.

Of course, you don’t want your presentation to seem robotic, either. You have to allow your passion to shine through and really demonstrate your flair. But these shouldn’t come at the expense of consistency.

By making sure you can consistently produce the best coffee you’re capable of, you’ll ensure you perform at your very best. This will allow all your effort to really pay off when you get up on that stage.

Donovan Mclagan, three-time South African Cup Tasters Champion. Credit: Angeline Mclagan

Passion

Combine good coffee with passion and you have a recipe for perfection. Your passion for coffee is what will drive you to live out your coffee dreams. It will keep you focused when you’re pulling practice shots at 5 am or pouring peacock after peacock to get perfectly consistent designs.

But passion doesn’t just happen. You need to nurture it. Go to regular cuppings, latte art jams, and coffee events. Spend time with the people who inspire you to be a better barista. Follow people you admire on Instagram and join Facebook groups so you can keep your finger on the coffee pulse. Learn as much as you can about the different elements of the industry. Work out why you love coffee and keep that at the forefront.

Do all this and your passion will flourish.

Harry Mole in the 2017 South African Cup Tasters Championship. Credit: Shannon Venter

Confidence

Believe in yourself and what you are doing. Competing is hard, but when you feel that you’ll never perfect that latte art design or that signature beverage, you need to have confidence in yourself and keep going.

This journey can be incredibly rewarding if you don’t give up. And the more coffee you make, the more your confidence will grow. So if you find your confidence dropping, remind yourself of how far you’ve come. Take a step back from the issue and pay attention to all the other ways you’re improving, from your sensory analysis to your grinder calibration.

Also, you should surround yourself with people who know more about coffee than you do and will give you honest but encouraging feedback. Their support and critiques will help you become even better.

Neil Gouws competes in the Western Cape 2017 Regional Barista Championships in Cape Town. Credit: Lee Henriques & Neil Gouws

Respect

Coffee isn’t just an incredible beverage full of complex flavours. It’s also the product of hard work across the entire supply chain. The blood, sweat and tears that are sown into coffee-growing lands is far more than we in consuming-only countries could ever understand. Roasters have spent years mastering their craft.

There are so many facets to this industry that we don’t see, but researching them and respecting them gives us more respect for this drink – and the drive to do our best. It motivates us to pour our passion and energy into brewing the best-possible versions of those beans.

Winston Thomas, 2017 South Africa Barista Champion. Credit: Lee Henriques & Winston Thomas

There are many more character traits, skills, and behaviours that competitive baristas possess, but these are the foundations of any champion performance. So before you start refining your stage presence, travelling to origin to find different coffees, or experimenting with recipes, start working on adopting these five attitudes. They’ll help you on the journey to becoming a champion barista.

Written by Shaun Aupiais.

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90 Years And A New Machine: La Marzocco At HOST 2017

At Last There Is Coffee For Dogs

I love my dogs, all three of them—four if you count my 11-month-old daughter who exhibits some startling pack behavior. Sometimes I wish I could share my love of coffee with them; just a man and his best friends sharing a big ole dish of joe. It would be great. But it would probably kill them, so I can’t.

But it seems that at least one other person in this world expresses a similar sentiment. That one person is Agota Jakutyte, the creator of Rooffee (ugh), coffee for dogs.

Now, before we go any further, that name is terrible. As Motherboard points out, it is uhhhhh shockingly similar to “roofie”, the colloquial name for rohypnol, also known as the date-rape drug. It is pretty much the worst possible name. Why not just rely on the shared “aw” sound and go with Dogfee? It’s better than Rooffee. Jakutyte tell Motherboard that the name is a combination of “ROOTS + COFFEE” and that any aural resemblance to “roofie” is pure coincidence, which of course it is because who would intentionally name their product after the date-rape drug?

In fact, from here out, I’m going to do them a favor and refer to it as Dogfee.

Dogfee, the coffee for dogs, actually contains no coffee, because again, coffee is bad for dogs. What it contains instead is “a bunch of herbs and vegetables like dandelion root, hawthorn, chicory, burdock, and carrots” and is “intended to be drank by both pets and their humans.” But Dogfee is intended to be made like coffee, kind of. A rather bizarre video from their Kickstarter campaign shows the brew being made using a French press with coconut oil. So it’s really more like bulletproof dogfee.

This is not Jakutyte’s first interspecies product line; she is also the owner of Shoo, the maker of natural shampoos for dogs and humans alike. Shoo also sells logs from hazelnut trees for $10, but I’m not sure those are for humans.

Anyway, Dogfee is also supposed to help with weight loss, if that’s something you or your dog would be interested in. Jakutyte tells Motherboard it makes dogs “less hungry and less food obsessed.” It presumably is the same for humans? I dunno.

Have you ever thought you wanted something and then once you got it, you realized you never wanted it at all? That’s been my 400-word journey with Dogfee. I think my pups and I will continue to share apple slices and peanut butter. But maybe you still want to share a cup with your chubby Chow Chow. If so, grab some Dogfee.

And for those worried about a “Rooffee” showing up on their billing statement, don’t worry, Jakutyte has already said they will be changing the name. Might I suggest Dogfee?

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 © pierrelidar31/Adobe Stock

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Why Erika Lee Vonie’s Coffee Masters Win Matters

We have a new Coffee Masters champion, and her name is Erika Vonie. Since first stepping on to the coffee competition stage in 2014, this is Vonie’s first championship win, and it was hard-fought, requiring five-plus hours of total stage time throughout the weekend and a nail-biting head to head finale against Agnieska Rojewska of Poland, another seasoned (and quite decorated) competitor.

Vonie and Rojewska had never met before the New York Coffee Masters competition, which Rojewska describes as being “a fight but [a] friendly one.” That competitive camaraderie was embodied in a moment I observed from the audience, leading into the final round. Rojewska had already advanced; Vonie was waiting to hear the result of her performance against Christos Andrews (of Seattle’s Ghost Note Coffee) in the semifinal round. The future finalists stood together as announcements neared, chatting about their mutual love for Darth Vader (whom Rojewska likes to create in lattes and Vonie sometimes embodies), seeming genuinely excited at the prospect of competing against one another.

“[I became] immediately infatuated with Aga,” Vonie tells me. “Even if I got knocked out in the first round, that connection would still have become a highlight of the weekend. She kicks so much ass, and made it to easy to connect through her amazing sense of humor and her beyond-obvious level of talent.” This feeling of connection and support between competitors at the Coffee Masters was palpable, and remarkable to me. I’m typically a spectator at barista competitions, where the finalists tend to be mostly male, and the feeling in the room is a bit more self-serious.

The two NYCM finalists have also competed at the national level of barista competitions in their respective home countries, with Rojewska having twice achieved the national title in Poland. In both Europe and the United States, the balance of assumed male and female national competitors (there is no other official option for those who identify outside of the perceived gender binary) is skewed toward the men, a trend which extends to the World Barista Championship (WBC) as well. A leading voice on this topic is Cerianne Bury, who has written extensively on the trend of women not competing, and those who do compete not advancing, in officially sanctioned barista competition tournaments. One potential aspect Bury identifies as an element of competition that could change a competitor’s performance is gender; specifically whether you are competing against someone of your same gender or someone who identifies differently.

I asked Erika Vonie: did competing in the finals against someone who also identifies as female make a difference? She responded by talking to me about an earlier competition experience running cross country in high school, which she described as being akin to running through the woods with a pack of girls. “[W]e were all pushing ourselves harder, feeding off each other’s energies when we felt low. We were all racing against AND with each other simultaneously. So my sense of competition with women is a camaraderie. Surround yourself with a powerful women who keep pushing you as hard and as fast as you can go, because ultimately, we all benefit the better we are.”

In discussing her feelings on competing against men, the words “must destroy” and “dominate” came up. “I often have felt like the lone woman when it comes to these competitions, because I have been,” says Vonie. “From the jump my team has always been men, as they are my employers, coaches, and fellow competitors.” Being the “lone woman” in a sea of male-identified competitors seems like a less-than-ideal scenario. But the Coffee Masters final felt different; perhaps it had to do with the gender of her opponent in the final, but it could also be a result of the competition format itself.

Rojewska and Vonie backstage at Coffee Masters.

The experience of competing in the Coffee Masters is vastly different than competing in a barista competition, something both NYC finalists expressed to me at length. “I almost never talk to my fellow competitors at USBC this much,” Vonie told me, adding, “it’s so serious and there’s so much heartbreak. It’s very hard being a normal person during [barista] competitions.” Rojewska echoed those same sentiments. “In Polish championship we know each other for years,” she said. “We compete together many times so we are friends, but there is always a lot of stress in the back room.”

Which is not to say it’s a stress-free environment at the Masters. There’s a $5,000 cash prize at stake, for starters—Vonie is using her winnings to start up her own coffee roasting project. But the format of Coffee Masters seems to work as a catalyst for making connections with your fellow competitors. This in turn allows those competitors to feel a bit more at ease on stage as a result.

Elsewhere in her critical work on the subject, Cerianne Bury identifies one of the biggest issues facing the barista competition circuit: there is little-to-no correction for cognitive bias in judging. She discusses that the things we like or expect to see from competitors differ between male and female competitors, and that these expectations may ultimately color the scoresheets, especially in the points allotted for vague concepts like “professionalism” and “appropriate apparel.” Vonie has been marked down in the past for issues relating to her clothing on stage—a pretty obvious choke point for latent bias and in-group favoritism to creep in. “If the length of my skirt makes you think I’m less professional than my panted competitors,” Vonie tells me, “then maybe you shouldn’t judge, because you’re obviously judging the wrong things.”

There are no such point scores allotted at the Coffee Masters, where instead the available bonus points for categories like “overall impression” and “charisma” are judged on the competitor’s ability to talk at length with their judges about the intricacies of their routine, or serve coffee to the watching audience during down time. It might be a coincidence that competitors like Erika Vonie and Aga Rojewska—technically gifted baristas at the top of their field—would reach finals in an event like Coffee Masters, instead of bogging down on sexist nonsense like skirt length in the US Barista Championship.

Vonie with Ezra Baker of Share Coffee, Vonie’s coffee partner for the signature drink round.

But whatever the reason behind Vonie and Rojewska’s individual successes, and Vonie’s eventual win, the fact that female-identifying (and queer, and non-binary) competitors are excelling at the Coffee Masters is a win-win for everyone. It’s both important and fun, as anyone who witnessed the thrilling two hour final battle between Vonie and Rojewska in New York can attest.

Either competitor would have made a great champion, and yet, there’s still miles to go. It is 2017 and there’s never been a female-identified World Barista Champion. Meanwhile on the Coffee Masters stage, your new champion is a woman set to start up her own roasting company with the prize money, and the event can still do better by empowering, mentoring, and coaching more competitors from backgrounds underrepresented on the stage. I think the 2017 Coffee Masters finals at the New York Coffee festival was an important moment for the wider coffee culture, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

Bailey Arnold is a coffee professional based in New York City. This is Bailey Arnold’s first feature for Sprudge Media Network. 

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The Tale Of The Dead Man’s Latte

Getting a cup of coffee is not the honest ritual it used to be, sacred as a clean bra, or saying grace before a meal, or reading a magazine cover to cover. Such activities ground a person, more effectively even than religion. These days, coffee is decorated. It is too distracting to fulfil a person’s real need for a hot bitter sip, the caffeine shiver, the get up and mojo required to face every goddamn new day. Now getting a cup of coffee is an event, demanding the creation of a mood, demanding several decisions, demanding appreciation of the fern leaves and hearts, swans and dragons, snails and apples that unnecessarily appear in coffee cups, which themselves are much smaller than they used to be.

It makes me tired. And what is wrong with the world in which my son, graduated with a Master’s degree, can only find work making coffee? Not even making sandwiches and coffee. He stands in one place all day every day, behind a coffee machine that looks like a Camaro, and pours pictures in people’s lattes, which those people then cover with landfilling plastic lids and slurp while texting and driving.

And what is wrong with the world in which my son is dead? The unbelievable shit frequency with which I forget. Yesterday I walked into the fancy cafe where he used to work. I say “fancy” with a box of iodized salt; I wouldn’t blame anyone for mistaking it for an industrial design studio with chandeliers in bad imitation of the decor at Versailles. I walked in for the first time since it happened, likely sporting a sour look on my face. I never have been able to pretend to like a stupid person or a stupid thing. What could be more idiotic than the establishment in which my son earned minimum wage for the last two years of his life? He always reminded me that it was minimum wage plus tips. Oh honey, hold the door. The place still made me sick. But he did all he could to calm me down about it, try to make me enjoy myself when I came to visit.

He invented a coffee design for me called the Jackson Pollock. Maybe I’m a hypocrite, but I got a kick out of it. I mean, the fact is that Blake could make one of those fern leaves in three seconds, and he made a point of taking about two minutes on my latte, allowing the brown foam to set a bit, then laboriously drizzling trails of white foam across the surface. Usually he ended with a big blob, slightly off-centre, whatever was left in the pitcher. Once he almost got fired for the appearance of my coffee, until I told the manager to calm his soul, I had studied art history in college, I was just fine with an abstract design. I’ll never forget the look on Blake’s face. His scalp pulled back so his shaggy bangs rose above his eyebrows, his wide were wide. He was mortified. I was damn proud of him. That was less than a year ago.

The worst part of Blake’s accident has been feeling that I have lost my partner in crime, my son, for whom I wanted the world and who apparently cannot even experience my indignation any more. The impact of the other car broke his collarbone, and they put a foam brace on him, even though he was probably already gone when the bones shattered, so that his corpse wouldn’t be deformed. Not that they told me any of this beforehand. I went in to see him and thought they must have made a mistake; he was just injured. In fact, he’d broken his collarbone in fifth grade; it was probably the same place. I was so relieved. I thought, Why in hell would they bother with a brace, if he was dead? He looked just like he had the first time around. The funny solemn way he would sleep with a little smile on his face and his hands folded over his stomach like an old man. The attendant at the morgue got flustered, and even as I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach, I was embarrassed. Christ. Blake, not my husband Bill, was the one who, I always comforted myself, would understand what I meant.

I walked in to the cafe, the only woman in the place not wearing ankle boots (more like sprained ankle boots, I always say to Bill), and ordered a regular latte from the girl at the till. She was new and I had to make a point of refusing to even consider any modifications, or a five-dollar scone with jam for another dollar. She was very kind to me anyway and had that sexy young girl’s bedhead; Blake would have liked her. I waited even longer than usual for my cup of coffee; I was grim but cheerful about it for twenty minutes, then I started to look for any sign of a legitimate problem. Nothing. The girl at the till was still happily taking orders. Men in dress pants and expensive sneakers were walking out as if they needed to take a pee, trying to balance recycled cardboard trays in one hand, reefing on their electronic car keys in the other, shouldering open the double doors. Blake’s cafe used to be the main branch of a bank, for crying out loud.

I peered around the topknot of the woman in front of me, probably a philosophy professor. The young man standing at the espresso machine was, in fact, moving very slowly because of his collarbone brace, which held his neck stiffly straight, like those snakey woollen scarves Blake and all of his friends were always winding around their necks starting the first of September. He couldn’t look down to see what he was doing, which was why he was taking so long to make every drink. Furthermore, he was sticking his ass out in order to put his eyes at the right level, which was causing a traffic disaster behind the bar. His hair was falling over his face, not improving the situation. I tried to see what he was doing, but the woman with the topknot stood firm.

The next minute, she swooped in to take a compostable cup from the counter, turned around, and almost crashed into me, spilling her coffee. She looked down at her duffel coat and back up at me. What did she expect? I stood in the same place the whole blooming time. Not my fault if she didn’t consider the fact that there was a line of people behind her. I stepped out of the coffee that was spreading all over the floor and looked over to check on the handicapped barista’s progress.

He was standing up straight, half turned towards me and the redhaired woman like he wanted to know what the problem was. He looked about the same height as Blake and he had the same bony wrists and faded ballpoint pen reminders Blake always had scribbled on his hand. I could only read one, something about picking Mom up at four o’clock. He was wearing one of Blake’s t-shirts, the green one I kept throwing out because it had bleach stains. It was in even worse shape than I thought, a big rip, one of the sleeves hanging off. At the back of his neck, his hair puffed over the top of the foam collar, as if it had been growing over it.

I stepped back and bumped into the person standing behind me. The barista reached for the velcro that fastened his brace and turned around.

Above the stray chest hairs poking through above the ratty neckline of the green t-shirt, Blake’s collarbone looked like a shiny red goose egg. A sharp white piece of bone was sticking through the skin and blood was trickling down into the fabric. It was already crusted with blood, the red stains were turning brown. He was trying to stand up straight, but he looked like a marionette doll someone had jerked around too roughly; his chest seemed to be caving in while his shoulder was dropped and thrown back.

He was looking somewhere past me. There were beads of glass stuck in his stubble, in the oval shapes that only surprise a person who’s never seen a shattered windshield, and his face was evenly covered in blood, like someone had painted it, except where it had been washed away by the tears trickling out of his eyes, which they never blinked at all, and snot coming out of his nose. There was glass in his eyelashes that I always teased him should have featured in a mascara ad.

He was looking for someone. I tried to think of something to say that wasn’t stupid, but before I could speak up he made a funny little nod and the shard of bone in the goose egg poked out farther. From somewhere on my left, the philosophy professor reappeared.

Blake pushed a compostable cup toward her and opened his mouth. Pieces of his teeth sprayed out and bounced off the counter. It was like some clumsy person spilled a cupful of dry rice. The redhead professor leaned in toward him, smiling, elbowing me. I just stood there. He didn’t look at his mother once. He gestured, modestly, at the coffee he had made to replace the one she’d spilled and oh god he told her it was an abstract design.

Lizzie Derksen is a Sprudge contributor based in Edmonton, and the co-author of Project Compass, an experimental novel out now from Monto Books. Read more Lizzie Derksen on Sprudge.

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A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

No doubt you’ve already tasted Brazilian coffee: this is a country responsible for around 30% of the world’s green beans. And Minas Gerais, where Belo Horizonte sits, produces half of that.

Yet this isn’t just a coffee-producing region: it’s also a coffee-consuming one. As specialty coffee and experimental fermentation become more common, so too do Belo Horizonte’s third wave coffee shops.

If you’re coming to this coffee capital, whether for holidays, a business trip, or the Brazil International Coffee Week (Semana Internacional do Café – SIC), I’ve created a specialty coffee shop tour that will allow you to taste some of the city’s best coffees.

SEE ALSO: Interview With James Tooill: Brazil Is The Future of Specialty

Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Belo Horizonte: A Must-Visit Coffee Destination

Belo Horizonte is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, the world’s largest-producing region. With a 2016–2017 projected harvest of 31.5 million 60-kilo bags, this state produces more coffee than the entire country of Vietnam, the world’s second-largest producing nation.

Minas Gerais sits in the southeast part of Brazil, with Belo Horizonte nestled between the very mountains that help it to produce high-quality coffees. In fact, this state is the birthplace of several award-winning coffees that have been recognised both in Brazil and internationally.

There are five different producing regions within the state: Cerrado Mineiro, Sul de Minas, Mantiqueira de Minas, Chapada de Minas and Matas de Minas. Together, they make up more than 300 producing municipalities and over 150 years of coffee history.

What’s more, Belo Horizonte is the location of the fifth Brazil International Coffee Week (Semana Internacional do Café – SIC). Last year, the event saw over 14,000 visitors, over 30 cupping sessions with 2,250 cups tasted, 68 workshop speakers, and more. Commerce worth R $25 million (nearly US $8 million) was started during the exhibition. The event includes educational programmes for producers on specialty farming and processing methods, a Re;verb symposium, and more.

And then, of course, you have the city’s coffee houses, where you can try all of the wonderful coffees from across the country. So let’s take a look at them.

Busy day at Noete Café Clube. Credit: Noete Café Clube

Why These Five?

There are so many great third wave coffee shops in Belo Horizonte, so I want to make one thing clear: these aren’t necessarily the “best” five (because that’s an extremely subjective decision), and I haven’t tried to rank them in order of quality.

Instead, I chose my five personal favourites that, as a local to this city, I think make for a great introduction. Everything from the coffee to the staff and the atmosphere makes these five coffee shops stand out.

The view from behind the bar at OOP. Credit: Tiago Damasceno for OOP

1. Noete Café Clube

Begin your afternoon at Noete Café Clube, and you won’t just get a great coffee: you’ll also get a passionate explanation of the story behind the cup. Just ask your barista and they’ll happily explain why they picked that coffee, how they roasted it, and more. Don’t turn up too early, though: they roast during the mornings and only open the café at 2 pm.

Where	Rua São Domingos do Prata, 475.
Atmosphere	Homely – like a large farm kitchen, where the smell invites you in
Espresso Machine	Astoria
Grinder	Astoria, Hario V60 Electric coffee grinder
Brew Methods	Kalita Wave, Hario V60, AeroPress, Chemex, French press, presca (a Brazilian method), siphon, Clever, cold brew, and espresso
Must-Try Drink	The Lemon Cold: Tahiti lime, ice, cold brew, and sparkling water
Food	Sandwiches, bread with eggs and ham, pão de queijo (baked cheese rolls), types of bread, cheeses, omelette, and more
Retail Offerings	Own-brand roasted coffees, brewing devices, artisanal cheese direct from the producer Armazém São Roque

 

The café area of Noete Café Clube. Credit: Priscila Pinho

2. Intelligenza

Personal relationships, great sensory experiences, and technical excellence: Intelligenza works to blend these three characteristics into one great coffee shop visit. They have a variety of stellar coffees and their space is also a comfy place to spend an hour or two.

Where	Rua Paraíba, 966
Atmosphere	Modern and comfortable
Espresso Machine	Astoria two-group
Grinder	Baratza
Brew Methods	AeroPress, Hario V60, French press, Chemex, and espresso
Must-Try Drink	Cocobrew: cold brew with coconut water served in a coconut
Food	Cakes, pies, and pão de queijo (baked cheese rolls), with vegan options available
Retail Offerings	Roasted coffee, brewing devices, filters, mugs, tea, t-shirts, and more

 

Get comfortable in Intelligenza. Credit: Priscila Pinho

3. Academia do Café

Academia do Café is more than just a coffee shop. It’s also an SCA-licensed school and coffee roastery (and it even has some coffee plants growing out the back). They work to not just sell coffee but also demonstrate what it represents to both consumers and producers. And their final goal is always to provide the best possible cup.

Where	Rua Grão Pará, 1024
Atmosphere	It feels just like home, even down to the coffee shop’s dogs
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco Linea two-group
Grinder	Mahlkönig and Vitoria for espresso, Bunn for manual brewing
Brew Methods	Hario V60, Clever, Chemex, French press, AeroPress, cold brew, and espresso
Must-Try Drink	A latte or cappuccino; prepare to be impressed by the latte art
Food	Cakes, sandwiches, cookies, and pão de queijo (baked cheese rolls)
Retail Offerings	Roasted coffee, brewing devices, mugs, t-shirts, filters, grinders, and more

 

Step inside Academia do Café. Credit: Priscila Pinho

4. OOP

Step outside OOP and you’ll be met with street noise. But step inside and you’ll feel like you’re walking into a new dimension. In fact, it’s like stepping into an art gallery that plays with the senses. And the coffee? Well, they like to experiment with that, too. Come here for a new experience, whether it’s the delicious drinks or the unique conversations.

Where	Rua Fernandes Tourinho, 143
Atmosphere	Urban, cool, and artistic
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco FB80
Grinder	Bunn and Casadio
Brew Methods	Hario V60, AeroPress, French press, and espresso
Must-Try Drink	Manually brewed coffee – it’s like a work of art
Food	Cakes, cheesecakes, jam with canastra cheese (from Brazil), pão de queijo (baked cheese rolls), and sandwiches
Retail Offerings	Own-brand roasted coffee and brewing devices

 

Slow down with a coffee in OOP. Credit: Priscila Pinho

5. Café Américo

If you want to come in, call through the window – your voice is the doorbell. But even though the door might seem closed, you’ll find that this place is open to a wide variety of people. You’ll meet producers, baristas, roasters, investors, coffee lovers, and more. Café Américo is less a coffee shop and more a coffee factory, with people coming together to share experiences. Not only will you get to drink freshly roasted coffee and build new relationships, but you’ll also experience the jeitinho mineiro, the Mineiro way of life.

Where	Rua Silva Jardim, 389
Atmosphere	Welcoming
Espresso Machine	None
Grinder	Baratza and Bunn
Brew Methods	Kalita, Clever, V60, AeroPress, French press, and Chemex
Must-Try Drink	Cold brew
Food	Cookies, cinnamon rolls, cakes, cheese, and jams
Retail Offerings	Roasted coffee, cold brew, and cookies

 

Warm welcomes and warm furnishings in Café Américo. Credit: Priscila Pinho

And now we come to the end of our coffee shop tour of Belo Horizonte. You’ll have tried a wide range of amazing Brazilian coffees, food, and brewing methods. But if you find yourself with more time in this city, or just incredibly thirsty for great coffee, don’t be afraid to step off the beaten track. New third wave cafés are opening all the time – get out there and explore. Who knows, you may find your new favourite spot?

Written by Priscila Pinho, barista and journalist.

All views within this opinion piece belong to the guest writer, who is a local of Belo Horizonte, and do not reflect Perfect Daily Grind’s stance.

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Houston: A Halloween Throwdown At Inversion Coffee This Saturday

Did you know that the song The Monster Mash is actually a song about another song (and associated dance) also called The Monster Mash? I read that the other day and it messed me up pretty bad. But that’s the sort of Halloween tid-bit that’ll make you the (after)life of the party going on this weekend. And if you’re in Houston—here on out referred to as Boo-ston—you can use that hot gozz at Inversion Coffee’s Halloween Throwdown.

This will be Inversion’s second annual Halloween Throwdown and it is sure to be a ghoulish affair. Costumed baristas will be getting down on some head-to-head latte art action, and this time, the milk won’t be screeching because it’s being improperly steamed. There will be a Halloween photo booth, and a tasty assortment of treats will be provided by Chicken Box Delicious and Morningstar, which for Halloween we can call by its real name: SATAN! Beelzebub, maker of delicious donuts!

A look inside Morningstar’s donut operation.

And just because it’s a dead man’s party doesn’t mean they can’t do good by the living. All proceeds from the Halloween Throwdown go to the Montrose Center, a Houston-based organization empowering the LGBT community and their families to “enjoy healthier and more fulfilling lives.”

It all gets going this Saturday at 7pm at Inversion Coffee. For more information or to RSVP, visit the Halloween Throwdown’s Facebook event page. So go have fun, you groovy ghoulies and pour like your life depends on it. Because, it just may! mwahahahahahaha

Ok it doesn’t, but let me have this one. I really love Halloween.

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 Inversion Coffee

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