The 2013/14 United States Barista Championship season begins Friday, October 25th in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the 2013/14 Big Central Barista Competition. This event is put on by the professionals at the Specialty Coffee Association of America, with whom we’re proudly partnered for the 2013 competition season. The event’s hosts are Cafe Imports and Wilbur Curtis Co., and the event’s official espresso machine sponsor is Nuova Simonelli. Sprudge.com’s coverage of the 2013 Big Central Regional will be made possible by direct support from Cafe Imports, Wilbur Curtis Co., and Nuova Simonelli. If you enjoy our work, feel free to thank these fine brands on Twitter.
Competition Schedule & Livestream
The event begins Friday, October 25th at 10:30 AM CST, and continues on Saturday, October 26th at 11:30AM. The final day of competition is Sunday, October 27th, and it too begins at 11:30AM. If you’re playing along at home, the event will be livestreaming via usbaristachampionship.org – and for the third year in a row, Sprudge will be livetweeting the duration of the competition. Please follow us @SprudgeLive on Twitter for constant updates of the action all weekend long, and get in on the game yourself by tweeting to the hashtag #BigCentral.
A full competition schedule, including times for the Brewers Cup compulsory and open service rounds, is available here in .pdf form.
The event itself happens at Uppercut Boxing Gym, located at 1324 Quincy Street NE in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Social Occasions Around The Event
Each day the competition will be showcasing some of the very best that Minnesota has to offer in terms of retail and food, including menswear from Greenwich Vintage, housewares from Forage Modern Workshop, shoes from the famed Red Wing Shoes, fine leather goods from Leatherworks, and food from Andrew Zimmern’s AZ Canteen. In addition to the on-site event fun, there’s good stuff happening each night in Minneapolis.
Thursday, October 24th –
#BCRBC hosts Cafe Imports are hosting an open house at their HQ from 2pm-6pm, located at 2617 E. Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis. This event is free, open to the public, and complimentary beer and coffee will be served. This is a great chance to check out the CI space, including their MPLS Coffee Mill training center and stunning cupping room.
That evening there is a TNT/Throwdown Party at 7pm hosted by Blue Ox Coffee Company, located at 3740 Chicago Ave. South in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Friday, October 25th
Even hosts Café Imports and event sponsors Colectivo Coffee Roasters are throwing a great party that night, at a very cool space called Architectural Antiques, located at 1330 Quincy St NE in Minneapolis. Guests can expect live music and libations from Colectivo’s own brewery, plus food from Nate Dogs and Gastrotruck.
Saturday, October 26th
From 7pm onwards, please join us at the Dogwood Coffee Company roastery at 1209 Tyler Street NE, for a giant party co-hosted by Dogwood and MadCap Coffee Company. Sprudge.com will be DJ’ing and there will be good beer and great vibes.
Also that evening there is an opening party for the new Spyhouse Coffee Roasters NE cafe, located at 945 Broadway St NE #250 in Minneapolis.
Food, Lodging, Etc.
Traditionally this section of the guide has meant us doing a bunch of research and interviews and the like, but wouldn’t you know it, Cafe Imports has gone above and beyond and put together a really great guide for hotel suggestions, dinner spots, day trips, and more. That guide is available here – we highly recommend it. Seriously, if we thought we could do better we would write our own, but this guide pretty much has you covered, so big ups to Cafe Imports for thinking ahead on this one.
We’ll see you this weekend in Minneapolis!
