The 2014 WBC event will be held in Rimini, Italy, just north along the Adriatic coastline from Nuova Simonelli’s headquarters in Marche. Rimini has loads of beaches, beautiful ancient Roman architectural wonders, and modern amenities for the seasoned convention-goer like yourself. Though Rimini itself is small, there’s no shortage of fun to be had along the Adriatic coastline, and destinations like the NS factory & museum in Marche and the sovereign microstate of San Marino are just a short drive or train ride away.

WBC Champion Raul Rodas prepares his signature beverage at the 2012 World Barista Championship in Vienna.

As previously announced, the 2015 WBC will happen in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the 2015 SCAA event. No, USBC baristas will not be forced to double-compete at this event; a stand-alone USBC event will be held earlier in the year, though details are not yet confirmed, because this is like 2 years away people. It’ll get figured out.

The 2016 WBC event will be held in Dublin, Ireland. World Coffee Events is based in Dublin, and perennial Irish Barista Champion / Tamper Tantrum guru Colin Harmon lives there, so what else do you need, really? This gives Dublin 3 full years to open who-knows-how-many news cafes in advance of the WBC event. Plus, have you ever been to Ireland before? We haven’t, but Sprudge contributor Julie Wolfson has, and she published this corking interview with Colin Harmon over at Cool Hunting back in 2012 – it will make you want to go to there.

Learn more from World Coffee Events online.

The post BREAKING: WBC 2014, 2016 Cities Announced appeared first on Sprudge.com.

If you’ve ever tried to order a coffee cocktail in a nice bar, you may have heard the question, “ A coffee cocktail or The Coffee Cocktail?” This is just your bartender trying to be cheeky. The Coffee Cocktail actually doesn’t contain any coffee at all, and dates back to the famed, revered, essential Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide, first printed in 1887. The cocktail is mostly port and brandy balanced out with sugar and a whole egg, which actually makes it a “flip” in the bartending parlance.

Now more than ever, this bit of behind-the-bar semi-snark – “A coffee cocktail or THE Coffee Cocktail?” – is increasingly out of place in the high-end cocktail world. The specialty beverage industry is rapidly growing to cater to niche markets and specialty libations, and focusing heavily on source materials of the very highest available quality. As leaps and bounds have been made in the quality coffee world over the last decade, well-heeled bartenders are taking notice;  quite a few successful and reputable coffee bars that are serving exclusively single origin espressos, and using coffee in various forms – bitters, cold brew, espresso, even manual brewed coffee – as a key component in delicious new drinks.

The so-called “speakeasy” cocktail bars in this day and age aren’t actually hush-hush at all, and the rebirth of the Golden Age of Cocktails has gained enormous amounts of hype and press and adulation. The role of the barista and the bartender has never been closer, and I’ve personally witnessed the talent pool of coffee service professionals being siphoned off by the financial, cultural, and creative lure of high-end cocktail service. It’s happening in Seattle, in New York City, in New Orleans, and countless other places. This is a new reality: the craft bartender with specialty coffee training. I know this career path well.

These craft barista bartenders (Bartistas?) come with a special set of skills and draw from a diverse set of influences. The high-end coffee world has its own set of heroes, and cocktails are no different. Great coffee cocktails should seek to fuse these two worlds together, and make full use of the talents of this new generation of barista bartenders. Here’s a few recipes I feel do our brave new world justice. Enjoy!

The Beccacino by Murray “The Blur” Stenson – Canon, Seattle

It is not an accident that the first recipe in this feature comes Murray Stenson, who is the best bartender in North America, a mentor to the world’s bartending community, and a certified cocktail icon. This drink has been around for roughly 30 years and is arguably the first craft coffee cocktail of its kind. As Mr. Stenson told Imbibe Magazine, “It’s an old Seattle bar recipe, But everyone who used to make it is either dead or in jail—or, you know, grew up and got a real job—so I’m about the only person making it anymore.”

The cocktail blends 1 oz of brandy, 1/2 oz Benedictine, 1/2 oz amaretto, 1/2 oz Irish Mist and 2 1/2 oz of chilled or cold brew coffee. Should you be making your own cold brew for this drink? Or should you pick up some tasty pre-made stuff from say, Stumptown if you’re reading this in Seattle, or Slingshot if you’re reading this in Durham? These are the kinds of questions bartenders ask themselves all the time, and coffee is just one more delicious element to consider, one more ingredient to carefully sort.

Built in a mixing glass and stirred. Strained into cocktail glass and topped with whipped cream. Thoroughly second wave, and totally delicious.

South of No North by Chris Langton – 1022 South, Tacoma

This cocktail achieves a beautiful balance while retaining delicate, yet complex sets of flavor. Mr. Langston recommends using an Ethiopian coffee for this drink, but play around with your favorite African and natural processed microlots to find the flavor you’re dig the most. For more on 1022 South, one of the best cocktail bars in the Pacific Northwest, check out this feature in the New York Times from Sprudge.com co-founder Jordan Michelman.

Mr. Langston’s recipe uses 1 1/2 oz reposado tequila, 1/2 oz of Cynar, 1/2 oz simple syrup and 1 oz of cold coffee with… *drum roll* a fresh egg white. I will give you bonus points if you substitute a fine mezcal for tequila, amaro Ramazzotti for Cynar, and some agave for simple syrup – this should class up the drink nicely, or at least give you an opportunity to nerd out about mezcal with your friends (this is pretty much my favorite activity BTW).

When working with egg whites or whole eggs, always do what bartender folks call a “dry-shake.” This helps emulsify the proteins of the egg and alcohol. A dry-shake contains no ice and is done as a preliminary shake before adding ice. Also, be sure to shake egg drinks slightly longer than a normal cocktail; this ensures a creamy drink texture, and makes the drink marginally safe(r) to consume

The Coffee Caipirinha by David Buehrer – Greenway Coffee, Blacksmith, Anvil, Houston

The caipirinha the national cocktail of Brazil, but it’s become a kind of informal national cocktail of the craft bartending class. Your classic caipirinha features a spirit called Cachaça, a rum-like spirit made from fermented sugar cane juice. Mr. Buehrer’s variation calls for a simple 24 hour infusion of Cachaça and fresh coffee beans – about 50g of coffee to 750ml of spirits should do nicely. I learned this variation on the Caipirinha from Houston-based cocktail afficiando / specialty coffee bar proprietor David Buehrer, while guest bartending at an excellent Houston cocktail bar called Anvil.

Once you’ve got your coffee Cachaça, now it’s time to put it to good use. Rather than typing out instructions on how to make a Caipirinha, I’m going to just go ahead and post the video you see above. It was put together by Novo Fogo, makers of what I consider to be the best Cachaça in the North American market, and features some excellent Seattle bartenders sharing their tips and expertise.

The Coffee Grog by Jeff Berry – PK-NY, New York City

What’s better than a perfect coffee cocktail? How about a perfect coffee cocktail on the beach! The Coffee Grog from PK-NY is the end all be all of tiki-style coffee cocktails. This drink (originally published by The New York Times) combines spiced rum with amaretto, cream, salted butter (!), and coffee sweetened with honey and infused with orange and grapefruit peels. Put that in your tiki mug, slather on some sunscreen, and repeat.

Revelator by Keith Waldbauer - Liberty Bar, Seattle

At the 2013 Northwest Regional Barista Competition, we knew we wanted to have a cocktail hour at Liberty. With the help of our partners at Caffe Ladro, EspressoParts, and Stumptown Coffee, we were able to create a custom menu of inexpensive craft cocktails and beer/liquor pairings. Among the cocktails, Keith Waldbauer’s Revelator was a crowd favorite.

The cocktail calls for two ounces of Reposado tequila, a half ounce each of Amaro Averna and sweet vermouth, two dashes each of Bittermens Hellfire Bitters and barrel-aged Cinnamon Kumquat Bitters, and a handful of whole bean coffee (we used Caffe Ladro’s Colombia La Plata). Stir and strain into a Nick and Nora glass. Top with a flamed orange garnish.

Untitled Drink #4

Published in “Toddy Cold Brewed: Simply Better Cocktails”

Here’s a simpler approach to a coffee cocktail made by some guy, somewhere, at some point, but published by the fine folks at Toddy in their “Toddy Cold Brewed: Simply Better Cocktails” guide. Here’s the deets:

1 oz of Rye Whisk(e)y, 1 oz of Cold Brew coffee, 1 oz of Dolin Blanc Vermouth, 1/4 oz of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur and a dash of Peychauds bitters. Stir and serve up in a cocktail glass with a thyme sprig garnish and lemon zest.

Alex Negranza is a longtime Seattle specialty coffee barista, USBC judge, and NWRBC competitor. While he still pulls the occasional coffee shift around town, he’s best seen these days at the bar manager at Liberty, one of Seattle’s best craft cocktail bars (and there are many). Mr. Negranza has written previously for Eater and Imbibe Magazine, and his cocktail work has been featured by The Seattle Times and Food & Wine, among others. Mr. Negranza has also worked previously for Sprudge.com as a special contributor, and his photo work anchored our 2012 USBC coverage from Portland.

The post 6 Thoroughly Modern Coffee Cocktails appeared first on Sprudge.com.

NWRBC was a three-day affair, and Sprudge.com was there to cover each and every competitor and routine in its entirety. Here’s a curated selection of our favorite tweets from throughout the day, sourced via the @SprudgeLive Twitter feed, along with original photography and a puppet, apparently. Relive the best from Day One here, and follow all our 2013 USBC coverage along The Road To Melbourne.

9. Michael Ryan, Caffe Ladro, Seattle

11:19 Mr. Ryan usesa color-coded flavor wheel as a prop for the judges. visual props = big points when done right.

11:22 he’s competing w/ @LadroRoasting‘s Colombia La Plata – Caturra, Huila department – learn more here!

11:27 Mr. Ryan’s sig drink set-up includes CO2 charger, fresh cut fruit, pepper grinder, buono kettle, hot plate bubblin’ up a reduction…

10. Jackson Ramone, Public Domain Coffee, PDX

11:35 Mr. Ramone is competing using a kenya nyeri roasted by @pdcoffee in portland – learn more, take some home

11:35 tartness, black pepper, and complexity in his kenya nyeri espressos – “black pepper opening up into cranberry” for his cappuccino course

11:43 simple, smart sig drink – blackberry syrup, lemon twist, soda & ice – easy, clean, fits the espresso, allows for uncomplicated sig drink station

11:49 all drinks down at 14:20, time to clean and …calls time at 14:45 as The Rolling Stones’ “I Am Waiting” kicks in.

11. Collin Schneider, Sterling Coffee Roasters, PDX

11:58 Mr. Schneider competes using two distinct coffees roasted by @sterlingcoffee – Colombia Ossa Pedregal and Brazil Passeio

12:02 some routines are science-y, or cocktail-y, or origin-y, but @sterling_collin‘s 15 minutes focus on the barista’s daily role as presented at Coffeehouse NW, a coffee bar Mr. Schneider manages

12:10 this is a really complex signature drink from Collin -  skimmed crema cream, fresh apple, apple gastrique, blended espresso

12. Kathy Hilberg, Backporch Coffee Roasters, Bend, OR

12:15 the @BackporchBend crew and @KathHilby are by far the longest traveled crew at #NWRBC – 327 miles, or around 5 hours

12:17 the folks at @BackporchBend have a pretty cool design aesthetic – check out their website: http://www.backporchcoffeeroasters.com/ 

12:20 Kathy Hilberg competes using @BackporchBend‘s own house “Backporch Blend” – a Latin American blend. “this is a dependable coffee, I use it everyday.”

13. Cole McBride, Visions Espresso / Velton’s Coffee Roasting, Seattle

12:35 “imagine you’re coming into my coffee shop for the first time…and i’m excited” – @colecoffee begins his #nwrbc routine with capps, & offers judges a small booklet -”they’re yours to keep, so please take them with you.”

12:37 worth noting that @colecoffee‘s stage set is perfectly matched to his attire – mr. mcbride is nothing if not an aesthete.

12:41 mr. mcbride tasted over 22 milks for his routine prep, eventually settling on a Battenkill Creamery in New York City – very popular with knowledgeable NYC area specialty coffee baristas.

12:44 mr. mcbride competes using a @veltonscoffee Kenya Gaturiri, yielding – “tangy black tea with plum and a silky body” – learn more by visiting Velton’s Coffee online

12:47 something special & gratifying about watching someone who has prepped & prepped & prepped & prepped finally do their run. Mr. McBride’s sig drink: sKenya espresso over honey w/ coconut oil, yuzu drinking vinegar, earl grey & rose hips, served in “rocking” glasses.

14. Chad Bledsoe, Case Study Coffee, PDX

1:00 Mr. Bledsoe serves an ethiopian yirg roasted by @casestudycoffee – their a part of Coffee Roasters United, a green coffee co-buying microroasters group based in PDX.

1:03 @CaseStudyCoffee has 2 spots in PDX – former Sprudge intern @joannakarenina recently wrote up their newest.

1:04 mr. bledsoe was a finalist in the 2012 #NWRBC #BrewersCup, placing 6th overall

15. Devin Chapman, Coava Coffee Roasters, PDX [Your 2013 NWRBC Champion! Way more details here!]

1:18 on his capps: “rich almond butter, constrained sweetness like honey, and a hint of dryness – sort of flirty.”

1:23 Mr. Chapman competes using @coavacoffee‘s Honduras David Mancia – currently unavailable to the public, but Mr. Chapman has personally visited this farm

1:28 “In a consumer-centric industry, baristas and farmers have a common goal – we work hard to provide a service for provision.” – Devin Chapman.

16. Brett Felchner, BARISTA, PDX

1:34 Mr. Felchner competes using “Agua Blanca”, a coffee from Pedregal, Colombia roasted by Portland’s acclaimed Heart Roasters. This coffee is of the caturra variety, grown at 1700, wash processed and dried on covered & raised beds

1:41 on his Agua Blanca espresso: cinnamon & all-spice “dancing along the palate”, with notes of red cranberry and subtle dark chocolate.

1:43 Mr. Felchner’s sig drink is a two-part number, incorporating both hot & cold – you’ve got cinnamon, all spice & chocolate, heated on stage and mixed with espresso; then topped with a cool cranberry cream, sweetened with agave.

17. Ryan Bisson, Caffe Ladro, Seattle

1:52  Mr. Bisson’s routine is focused on “unorthodox cupwares” – his espresso served in handleless “port sippers”

1:56 Ryan competes using @LadroRoasting‘s Colombia La Plata, from the Huila region of SW Colombia – learn more.

1:58 Sig drink takes an infusion of “schisandra berry” – if you aren’t sure what that is, and neither were we, you can learn more from Wikipedia.

2:07 @ryanbisson calls time at 14:58 – tough to choose a favorite from the @LadroRoasting competitors but he’s perhaps the most polished

18. Rick Cox, Seattle Espresso Supply, Seattle

2:11 mr. cox owns http://www.espressorepair.com/  – a longtime service & repair resource for the Seattle specialty coffee community.

2:14 as per @devchap, Mr. Cox is “The Xzibit of Espresso Machines – he will pimp your ride!”

2:19 mr. cox competes at #NWRBC w/ @coavacoffee‘s El Salvador San Sofia – learn more! take some home! flurm!

2:21 mr. cox is pouring all his capps tableside – the uh, the crowd is perhaps a tad bit rowdy for this, the last routine of #NWRBC – gonna guess that this late crowd rowdiness is a result of post-routine whiskey / brown spirits consumption.

2:23 mr. cox’s sig drink: grenadine syrup, coconut water, @coavacoffee San Sofia espresso, coconut & grenadine whipped cream.

Sprudge coverage from NWRBC made possible by direct support from Dillanos Coffee Roasters and Nuova Simonelli.

The post Competition: The Very Best of Day Two From NWRBC appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Seattle, Washington! It’s a city we know and love well. Your Sprudge.com Editors started this here web rag in the Stumpown Coffee Roasters cafe on Pine and Boylston, where our own Zachary Carlsen worked as a barista. Fellow co-founder Jordan Michelman is a University of Washington grad; we both grew up about 45 minutes south in Tacoma, Washington. And although we’re based in Portland now, our love for Seattle is on a never-ending good one, as the city is still home to some of our best friends and closest partners. What a great place to spend NWRBC weekend!

The Competition

The Northwest Regional Barista Competition kicks off on Friday afternoon, February 1st, beginning at noon PST. Day one is scheduled for noon to 3pm, and day two happens Saturday, February 2nd from 11am til 4pm. There are currently 19 people entered into the barista competition, and an astonishing 21 folks signed up for Brewers Cup. Brewers Cup first round will happen in traditional “silent auction” style, with a mystery coffee and no livestream coverage. The top 6 baristas and top 6 brewers will be called to compete again on Finals Sunday, which kicks off at 9am with a final announcement scheduled for 12:30pm sharp.

Here’s your complete NWRBC first round schedule and Brewers Cup first round schedule. The event itself takes place at Urban Enoteca (4130 1st Ave S), a simply gorgeous looking facility in south Seattle. Your Sprudge.com editors will be covering the event live from Seattle – follow our best-in-the-business live Twitter coverage via @SprudgeLive, and check back on the site throughout the weekend for original video, daily updates, competition best-of’s, and other assorted competition lifestyle ephemera.

The Parties!

Thursday: The party situation for NWRBC kicks off on Thursday, January 31st, at La Marzocco USA (1553 NW Ballard Way). Our friends & partners at LMUSA are throwing a nice big kick-off party, anchored by what should be a heated latte art competition that is structured to include coffee grading, latte art, and cupping triangulation. More details here via Facebook, but the event kicks off at 7pm, and will be DJ’d by your own Sprudge.com Mobile Disco services.

Friday: Sprudge.com has teamed up with our partners at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Espresso Parts, and Caffe Ladro to bring you an informal cocktail happy hour at Liberty (517 15th Avenue E). Join us from 5:30pm until 8pm for a specially crafted menu of deeply affordable cocktails and beer / shot pairings from new Sprudge collaborator Alex Negranza, plus free snacks and nibbles, and a whole lot of conviviality. Check out more deets here via Facebook! The event takes place in Liberty’s spacious and comfortable back room, and will end at 8pm sharp (giving you plenty of time to explore our Seattle dining & drinking guide).

Saturday: The big kahuna of the NWRBC weekend, a throng of folks will be taking over the Cherry Street Coffee House location at 5th and Denny for an evening of beer, bonhomie, music, and hot dogs. The event starts at 6pm and goes until 10pm, all hosted by the fine (and really very generous) folks at Dillanos Coffee Roasters. Dillanos is the event host for the weekend, and our coverage sponsor, and the sponsor of this giant party, and so thank you Dillanos, for being awesome.

The post Your 2013 NWRBC Party Time Super Mega InfoPortal appeared first on Sprudge.com.

This guide is the latest in our series of dining and conviviality guides geared around the traveling United States Barista Championship circuit. It is in no way the end all be all to how you should approach Seattle’s food and fun scene, and we highly, highly recommend that you avail yourself of further information from any number of fine Seattle-based publications.

Here’s some of our favorite bars, restaurants, cafes and more from the Emerald City. This is a personal list ours, and certainly not authoritative. If you’re looking for the au courant in Seattle fine dining, and lord knows there is one, nobody does it better than Eater Seattle and their regularly updated Heatmaps.

Walrus And The Carpenter (4743 Ballard Avenue Northwest) After Frank Bruni & Bon Appetit blew this place up beyond into the foodie stratosphere in 2011, things at Walrus And The Carpenter are finally settling down. Wait times are far more humane these days, the tourist hordes have thinned for the season, and Renee Erickson’s small modern dining room in Ballard can finally return to its true nature: a humble, uncomplicated locavore’s shared table of oysters, local cheeses, meats, and fresh seasonal veggies. Pacific Northwestern regional cuisine is actually very simple cooking – fresh things from the sea, patience in the smokehouse – and they do it with a gratifying generosity at Walrus & The Carpenter. Oh, and it’s totally oyster season right now, so if that’s your thing, find your bliss.

Georgetown Liquor Company (5501 Airport Way S) This bar and restaurant is close to the event space, located right off the train tracks in Seattle’s historic Georgetown neighborhood. We’re recommending GLC for those in need of a quick, inexpensive, excellent meal at a low-key and well-stocked bar. The kicker is, it’s a vegetarian place, but wait wait, don’t walk away…they make pretty much the best veggie tacos ever, and some of the sandwiches and salads are better-than-really-good. Super fresh veggies, fresh salsas, good ingredients, and totes within your weekend budget. Plus sweet pinball and free NES and SNES gameplay with lotsa games to choose from. A favorite!

Dick’s Drive In (Multiple Locations) Talk to a Seattleite-in-exile about Dick’s cheeseburgers, and watch their eyes glaze over. Get a Dick’s Special (a burger with lettuce, mayo, chopped pickles), a hand dipped vanilla shake and fresh-cut fries with a single 5¢ side of ketchup. Open late, always a scene outside, and Sir-Mix-A-Lot rapped about it – what more do you need?

El Camión (Multiple Locations) - There are three Camión trucks in Seattle, including one at 1021 Occidental that’s close to the venue. El Camión is kind of the perfect taco truck, in a city that has just a fraction of these eateries compared to say, Los Angeles, where the taco truck is woven into the very fabric of urban life, and available on seemingly every street corner (Seattle’s corollary to this phenomenon is the strip mall teriyaki joint). Really really good mole chicken plate, great fish tacos, great burritos, great fresh pickled veggies and salsas on the side. They take plastic! You will only miss like 1.5 competitors if you go on a lunch run here!

Paseo (4225 Fremont Avenue North) A humble institution with a line out the door every night, Paseo serves wonderful Caribbean food and makes one of the best sandwiches on the planet, the Caribbean Roast, with marinated pork shoulder on Cuban roll with lettuce, pickles, aioli, and caramelized onions. Great full plates available as well, and be sure to ask for grilled corn.

Our own Jordan Michelman wrote a guide to the city’s best coffee for Eater Seattle a few months back, and it’s a great road map for your weekend in town. For a long read, check out our Sprudge Guides entry for Seattle: “Chief Sealth, Tiny Mummies, And The Coffee City Of Yesterday… Today!“

Athenian Inn (1517 Pike Place) Completely bliss out on how unbelievably Seattle one moment can possibly be at the Athenian Cafe. Sit at their front coffee counter, and having an espresso. Their house coffee is Millstone; the espresso is Tully’s – but look to your left, and you can watch the ferries coming and going on the port. Look to your right, and it’s the hustle and bustle of the market. The coffee counter feels transported out of mid-century, preserved and protected, thank God, like so little else in Seattle’s historic coffee culture. They filmed “Sleepless In Seattle” here. You could not get any more Seattle-y if you tried.

Milstead & Co. (770 North 34th Street) The complete inverse of the Athenian is Milstead & Co. – chances are if you’re in town for the NWRCB, this place is already high on your list. If you’re unfamiliar with Misltead & Co., our own Jordan Michelman wrote like 2269 words on them for Seattle Met Magazine. You coffee will taste really good, and you should go here.

Stumptown Coffee On Pine (616 E Pine Street) Wild, guileful days of grey skies and calypso. Gloomy, brooding evenings of doom drone. The presence of music and ambiance at this cafe is more captivating, more wholly transformative than most any cafe we’ve ever known. Our website started here, and this cafe is very special to us.

Analog Coffee (235 Summit Avenue East) Seattle’s dreamiest cafe, a little vision down in the bottom pocket slope of Capitol Hill. Serving Herkimer, beautiful interior design, antique reel-to-reel in the restroom. Go here!

Espresso Vivace Sidewalk Bar (321 Broadway East) From our original Sprudge Guide to Seattle: “The Vivace cart on Broadway inarguably offers the best view of any coffee shop in Seattle, and the last time we visited, we sat and made a little list of what we saw. From a randomly sampled 15 minute interlude: overheard conversation snippets, auditory delights, funny looks, repeated requests for change, classic Seattle chilly glances (this passes for flirting in the Seattleite id/ego/super ego), assorted comings and goings at the Casa Del Ray apartments, the endless gray-scale rush of Broadway drama, diatribe and detritus, fashion plates in kitten heels and grandma tights, couples holding hands, ear gauges that would make a Maori warrior blink, incongruous joggers, someone that you used to know, scarves, caps, hooded sweatshirts (no matter the month or time of day), endless leather booty boots, blue jeans, more blue jeans, the beautiful and the hideous and the mundane, the fabulous, the befuddled, and the far too busy to care. We could sit there forever, and have.”

Because Seattle is bonkers bananas chockablock with amazing Asian food, from a diverse set of distinct ethnic backgrounds (each seemingly more delicious than the last).

Maneki (304 6th Avenue South) This is the oldest continually operated Japanese restaurant on the West Coast, and still one of its best. Maneki is special; family owned for generations, you must play by its rules and within its established hierarchies in order to score a table, but your reverence and patience will be greatly rewarded. Determine how many guests will be in your party ahead of time, and call the restaurant an hour before you plan to be seated. Be very, very polite on the phone; you are most likely speaking to the matriarch of the family that owns this restaurant, and she sets the seating plan throughout the evening. This is her show, not yours. Once you have your reservation, be sure to show up on time! Arriving even 10 minutes late can cause a serious delay in your seating time. But once you’re seated…get ready for a menu of serious rural Japanese pub and homestyle foods, alongside astonishingly fresh (and very affordable) sushi options. The miso cod collar is a must, as is the monkfish liver, which tastes like like foie gras of the sea. Their spicy tuna roll is unstoppable. If you’re seated at the front bar, consider ordering omakase, and if you’re seated at the back bar doing anything else is unthinkable. Groups of 5 or more can reserve a tatami room for more intimate service. Have fun!

Saigon Deli (1237 South Jackson Street) Like an entire night market crammed into one stall, so goes Saigon Deli, home to Seattle’s very best collection of Vietnamese favorites. The banh mi sandwich situation here is otherworldly, and costs like $4; get whichever you prefer, but the xiu mai meatball iteration especially does not suck. The space is crammed full of technicolor Vietnamese desserts, bubble tea, baked goods, and a steam tray hot counter that can be equal parts mind-blowing (get the tofu & green beans, the head-on whole shrimp with pineapple, and anything that looks like short ribs) and maddening (no, we aren’t sure what kind of fish that is either). Local rappers rap about it, local bloggers blog about it, and local Vietnamese people eat lunch here on the regular – what could possibly be more Seattle than that?

Kau Kau BBQ (656 King Street) An International District favorite for close to 40 years, Kau Kau is accidental fusion: their specialty is Cantonese bbq; the family has deep Hawaiian roots, so their pig work is impeccable; and it’s in Seattle, which means a sneaky deep menu full of awesome veggies. Your perfect Kau Kau lunch looks like this: 1 pound (to share!) of pretty much the best Cantonese BBQ pork ever, a nice order of fresh bok choy, and bottomless cheap hot tea. Bliss.

Tamarind Tree (1036 S Jackson Street) The inverse of Saigon Deli, located just up the block on Jackson, this restaurant is definitely recommended for a sit-down dinner during NWRBC. They’ve got high-end, nuanced versions of all your Vietnamese favorites, plus specialties like a tamarind and honey quail, or a 7 course “Flavors of Beef” tasting menu. The dining room is really elegant, which belies its location in the back of a series of increasingly ramshackle produce markets. Plus they have great cocktails and this red bean & coconut milk baguette dessert thing that is kind of a game-changer. Brave the weird parking lot and go here!

Just Go Eat Teriyaki Somewhere – Seattle’s teriyaki culture is not even remotely a joke. Seattle-style teriyaki takes grilled chicken, pairs it with sticky rice, douses it in a sweet-soy glaze, and piles it high next to a rudimentary salad of frankly not-that-fresh lettuce and poppyseed dressing. If you think this sounds gross, you have never tried it before. If you are drooling right now, you are from Seattle. Our favorite spots are U District’s University Teriyaki (4108 University Way), SODO’s Seattle’s Best Teriyaki (2445 Fourth Ave South), Capitol Hill’s Kyoto Teriyaki (803 East Pike Street), Georgetown’s Mikou Teriyaki (6519 4th Ave South), and Queen Anne’s Yummy Teriyaki (622 1st Avenue North). There are many, many more.

Befitting its latent passive-aggressive tendencies and Scandinavian cultural complexion, Seattle is full of great bars! Here’s some of our favorites, chosen for a wide variety of reasons elucidated below.

Top Choices:

Canlis (2576 Aurora Avenue North) A visit to Canlis might seem like a special treat on your NWRBC trip – and it will be – but this is also a great Wednesday night spot, or a lovely place to wind down on a Sunday. The dress code is only for parts of the dining room, while the bar is far more casual (though still gloriously classy). Live piano, a stunning selection of scotch, classic mixed drinks, plus inventive desserts and a rotating menu of specialty coffee service – a nightcap at Canlis is the best way to end any night in Seattle. 

Liberty (517 15th Avenue East) Kind of the perfect cocktail bar, Liberty is too classy to be a dive, but too comfortable to be pretentious. They’ve got what you’re looking for here – perfect 3-ingredient classics, wild tequila and mezcal cocktails, ever-changing new specials, and a deep bottle selection with dozens of bourbons, ryes, and especially fine scotches and single malts. Plus sushi! And Stumptown espresso.

Vessel (624 Olive Way) Another top cocktail bar in Seattle, Vessel is spacious, with an airy modern industrial design. Home to some of Seattle’s best bartenders, and some very thought provoking drinks in a city full of them. And of course they go deep on the standards and classic, and offer some of the smartest bar dining in the city. It does kind of seem like a bar that Tom Haverford would love, but remember, Tom Haverford is secretly a genius.

The Stumbling Monk (1635 East Olive Way) It’s not just a bar, it’s the bar, offering every Belgian beer you’ve never heard of in appropriate glassware. But more than that, this place seems to have been originally built on some sort of star-aligned portal vibe dimension loam. The Stumbling Monk vibrates with the energy of Capitol Hill; Stephin Merritt called it “the hum of youth and the drone of the pretty”, and all that high-proof beer sure helps. Go here to see and see and see and be seen.

A Pike Place 3-Bar Crawl – Start out at The Can Can (94 Pike Street) for their alternative lifestyle burlesque absinthe happy hour, between 6 and 8. The Can Can is deep down in the bowels of the street directly above the Market, and the space clearly rattles around with old ghosts and a hundred-plus years of history. So totally Seattle.

Then toddle across the street, down a back driveway thing, and into the Alibi Room (85 Pike St #410), another ancient space that’s been a thousand different things over the last century of Pike Place Market history. Today the Alibi Room can be a bit of a mixed bag – the DJ dance club in its lower floor is proto-douchey – but for the most part the place is classy and loud and fun, and the room itself feels old and special.

Back out into Post Alley, and you’ll walk down a flight of stairs, across Western Avenue, then down another flight of stairs to reach the Zig Zag Cafe (1501 Western Avenue). Zig Zag is one of Seattle’s most revered cocktail bars; today’s generation of top Seattle bartenders honed their craft by observing the legendary Murray Stenson from across the rails, and some were even lucky enough to train with him directly behind the bar. Mr. Stenson is over at Canon (928 12th Avenue) these days (which, holy shit, you want to see a scotch collection!), but the Zig Zag is still one of the very best bars in the city, with a charming, intimate atmosphere and a sense of hidden secrecy. A great spot for cocktails with friends after NWRBC.

Hooverville Bar (1721 1st Ave South) As a bar itself, is Hooverville going to change your life? No. No it will not. But it is exactly 1.5 miles away from the NWRBC venue, and it totally has local beer and pinball, plus lots of tables. In a weird quirk, Hooverville does not serve food, but is totally cool with you ordering delivery and has menus on hand for you to peruse. Probably not your final destination for the night, but a great place to unwind immediately after the event gets done for the day.

Jules Maes Saloon (5919 Airport Way South) A great bar and restaurant in what was once one of Georgetown’s many historic brothels, we just love Jules Maes, and drop by here all the time when work or fun brings us to town. It’s a bar food scene here for sure, but tasty and low-key, with a large dining room plus spacious back areas for pinball, ping-pong and pool. Definitely home to local beer on tap, including the good stuff from Georgetown’s own 9LB Hammer and Manny’s Pale Ale, brewing right down the block.

Sully’s Snow Goose Saloon (6119 Phinney Ave North)  You’re damn right, Sully’s Snow Goose! Seattle is lucky to have little bars like this, neighborhood joints that creak with character and just so happen to offer a super-serious lineup of local beers and traveling microbrews. Sully’s is one of Seattle’s only avowed “hockey bars”, and it’s tiny, and full of regulars. If you go here you are unlikely to see anyone else from NWRBC, which may be exactly what you need.

The Lookout (757 Bellevue Ave East) Another local’s favorite with stiff drinks and lotsa beer, plus pinball, bar food, and a gorgeous Space Needle & Olympic Mountains skyline view from the outdoor back patio. If you’ve never really explored Seattle before and want to see a cute little corner of it, The Lookout is a great choice.

Flowers (4247 University Way Northeast) A young Jordan Michelman frequently explored his palate and did college busywork here during the years 2005-2007. Classy two-tone checkered floor, mirrors on the ceiling, a storied world of bathroom graphiti, and lots of graduate students. If you bothered coming all the way up here, definitely get a shot at Trabant Coffee (1309 NE 45th Street) – open ’til 11PM. Against your better judgement, have a night cap at the college-bar-as-archetype College Inn Pub (4006 University Way NE).

View Seattle Dining Guide in a larger map

The post A Seattle Dining (And Drinking And Coffee) Guide appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Here is your complete Round One schedule for the 2013 NWRBC, hosted by Dillanos Coffee Roasters. 18 competitors total, all times at PST.

For the best in live, on-site Twitter coverage, follow us @SprudgeLive.

Friday, February 1st – 8 Competitors, beginning at noon.

1. 12:00 PM Justin Doyle, Independent, Salem, OR - @JustinSpirits
2. 12:34 PM Timothy Graham, Slate Coffee Roasters, Seattle - @TRGMusic @SlateCoffee
3. 12:53 PM Maxwell Mooney, Caffe Ladro, Snohomish, WA - @MaxwellAMooney @LadroRoasting
4. 1:12 PM David Matoba, Albina Press, PDX
5. 1:31 PM Victor Plasencia, Crema Coffee, PDX - @CremaPDX
6. 1:50 PM Lauren Lathrop, Public Domain Coffee, PDX - @l_lathrop @pdcoffee
7. 2:09 PM Brett Felchner, BARISTA, PDX - @brettboywonder @baristapdx
8. 2:28 PM Brandon Weaver, Slate Coffee Roasters, Seattle - @coffeeandbookz @slatecoffee

Saturday, February 2nd – 10 competitors, beginning at 11:15AM

9. 11:15 AM Michael Ryan, Caffe Ladro, Seattle @michaelcmryan @ladroroasting
10. 11:34 AM Jackson Ramone, Public Domain Coffee, PDX @jackson_ramone @pdcoffee
11. 11:53 AM Collin Schneider, Sterling Coffee Roasters, PDX @sterling_collin @sterlingcoffee
12. 12:12 PM Kathie Hilberg, Backporch Coffee Roasters, Bend ,OR @KathHilby @BackporchBend
13. 12:31 PM Cole McBride, Visions Espresso / Velton’s Coffee Roasting, Seattle @ColeCoffee @VisionsEspresso @veltonscoffee
14. 12:50 PM Chad Bledsoe, Case Study Coffee, PDX @defiancecoffee @casestudycoffee
15. 1:09 PM Devin Chapman, Coava Coffee Roasters, PDX @devchap @coavacoffee
16. 1:28 PM Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee Roasting, Olympia, WA @s_schro @olympiacoffee
17. 1:47 PM Ryan Bisson, Caffe Ladro, Seattle – @ryanbisson @ladroroasting
18. 2:06 PM Rick Cox, Seattle Espresso Repair, Seattle – @SEA_Espresso

The post NWRBC Round One Schedules – Day One and Two appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Cupcake Royale, a baked goods boutique serving Stumptown Coffee, have donated hundreds of cupcakes to Seattle’s City Hall in celebration of Washington’s first day of legal gay marriage. They’ve also donated cake treats to the big Gay Marriage celebration at Q Bar. (Above image via Mayor Mike McGinn’s Twitter)

Back in June, Cupcake Royale was lauded for raising $7,000 to support gay marriage. Royale sold a cupcake called “The Gay”, with $1 of each sale going to support measure R-74, which passed in November. Cupcake Royale’s owner Jody Hall has also supported the anti-gay bullying campaign “It Gets Better”.

The Gay

Planning on getting married in Washington soon? Cupcake Royale can totally help with that. And they make a mean affogato!

The post Seattle: Cupcake Royale Donates Treats For Gay Marriage appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Dateline: Seattle, “The City That’s More Blue Collar Than You Think.” It seems the fine folk’um at Baristas Coffee Company Inc. (BCCI) have placed a bid to acquire poor, bedraggled Tully’s, once a titan amongst Starbucks impersonators, now having fallen on bad times. It’s a move that has a lot of people buzzing! “Baristas said Tuesday it will bid through a new entity, Baristas Acquisition Partners,” the Seattle Times reports, “that includes several current Tully’s shareholders and other investors. None of them were identified.”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Baristas currently owns a number of drive-up kiosks in the greater Seattle area. They plan to continue operating Tully’s shops under the Tully’s name. The Tully’s roasting/packaging business is not apart of the deal, which was sold to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2009. More from the Seattle Times:

James Day, an attorney for Tully’s, questioned at a bankruptcy court hearing Friday whether Baristas could make a viable offer. He said the financial statement of Baristas, which trades publicly over the counter, “doesn’t look really strong.”

For the quarter ended June 30, Baristas reported total revenue of $357,000 and net income of $110,000. It had cash and equivalents of $16,000 and total assets of $865,000.

Baristas Coffee Company currently has a wildly popular Youtube channel and made waves earlier this year when they successfully trademarked the word “Baristas.” Stay tuned to Sprudge.com for more on the Tully’s buy-out; we’ll keep you abreast of the matter.

The post Tully’s Follies: Bikini Barista Barons Bid On Bankrupt Business appeared first on Sprudge.com.

B&O Espresso, “the first espresso coffeehouse and dessert café to exist in Capitol Hill” is closing after 36 years. This makes two historic Seattle cafes slated for redevelopment in 2012, as B&O joins the sad company of Bauhaus, who we profiled (and eulogized) here.

B&O Espresso is housed in a 1920s era building that, after losing its landmark status plea, was sold to developer John Stoner for 2.3 million dollars in 2008. We’ve spent quality time in B&O for dessert dates, casual meet-ups, and late-night group outings before we were 21. This cafe is very much part of the Capitol Hill historic cafe scene, located in a heavily foot-trafficked area on E. Olive Way and Belmont. According to Capitol Hill News, B&O Espresso will be torn down to make way for:

A six-story, 78-unit building with 3,600 square feet of retail and two live-work units at ground floor and underground parking for 52 vehicles on the parcel.

We look at this as a tragedy for the city of Seattle and its rich history of independent cafe culture. It is the opinion of this publication that historic cafes like B&O Espresso and Bauhaus have intrinsic cultural and historical value to the city of Seattle, and should be designated as landmarks or protected sites in order to preserve this history for future generations. Just as Boston protects and designates its historic bars, and Los Angeles preserves so many private residences and apartment buildings, so too should Seattle recognize its coffee bars as an important part of the city’s identity and cultural narrative.

These places are living history, and it sucks that the city of Seattle is allowing for them to be torn down. Just because that history happened in the 1990′s doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter, We believe Seattle’s historic cafes should be protected, and it’s something we’ll continue reporting on and advocating for as more sad stories like this one develop. What do you think? Sound off in our comments section below.

The post Seattle: B & O Espresso Will Shut Its Doors December 9th appeared first on Sprudge.com.

It’s been strange days so far for the 2013 United States Barista Championship competition cycle, with the kick-off event – the Northeast Regional Barista Competition – postponed due to complications from Super Storm Sandy. USBC regional action will finally get under way next week at the Southeast Regional Barista Competition in Atlanta, hosted by Batdorf and Bronson and featuring top barista talent from throughout the American south. Moments ago, Sprudge.com broke the news that dates and a site have been confirmed for the second round of regional competition, the Big Central Regional, to be held in Kansas City starting on January 18th and sponsored by Kaldi’s Coffee and PT’s Coffee.

Out here in the Pacific Northwest region, this year’s NWRBC event is slated for mid-February, and will be sponsored by Dillanos Coffee Roasters - more event details available soon. In advance preparation for NWRBC 2013 we were approached by Barista Guild of America chapter rep Laila Ghambari, with the idea of teaming up to create an innovative series of competition prep events. Sponsors and hosts have now been confirmed, and so we’re delighted to announce that we’ll be throwing a series of NWRBC prep events in concert with the BGA. It’s our sincere hope that these events will serve to educate and help elevate the level of competition at this year’s NWRBC.

The first prep event happens Friday, January 4th at Visions Espresso Service (2737 First Avenue South). The event will feature a mock competition routine from seasoned competitor Sarah Dooley, of La Marzocco USA. She’ll be scored by a team of certified competition judges, who will make their expertise and insight available to all attendees. The event kicks off at 5pm and goes until 8pm. There will be beer.

The second event happens in Portland, Oregon on the following evening, Saturday, January 5th at the American Barista and Coffee School (1028 SE Water Ave.) Your mock competition performer will be Laila Ghambari, of Caffe Ladro. The event kicks off at 5pm, and again, there will be beer.

Following each routine, judges will give their feedback to the competitor in front of a live audience. Audience members will have the chance to ask questions and receive rule clarification from our competitors and the expert panel of judges, including Marcus Young, a sitting USBC Head Judge. The goal for these events is education, fun, and an advancement of the sport / professional development exercise / whatever the hell these barista competitions we love so much actually “are”. Ooh and also, in a dream come true turn of events, your Sprudge.com editors will be on the microphone to fake-MC each routine. Let’s hear it for that first set of espressos!

NWRBC PrepFest is made possible by an awesome roster of sponsors:

Nuova Simonelli will have their competition-standard T3 Aurelia on hand at both events, plus staff from Nuova Simonelli North America will be there to answer questions and offer tips.

Mahlköenig are providing a competition-standard K-30 grinder for use at both events.

Sunshine Dairy are graciously donating their quality milk products for use during cappuccino time.

Visions and the ABC School are donating their space and time, so let’s hear it for our host sponsors!

Caffe Ladro is hooking both events up with coffee for use in the routines (and also for your drinking enjoyment).

These events are free and open to the public! We’ll see you on January 4th and 5th  – learn more and RSVP on Facebook! Seattle event is listed here, and the Portland event is listed here.

The post BGA and Sprudge.com Present: NWRBC PrepFest 2013 appeared first on Sprudge.com.