LIVESTREAM HERE, STREAMING LIVE.
Sunny, funny, misty, blissful Santa Cruz, arguably the most Northern Californian place in all of Northern California, and home to the 2013 Southwest Regional Barista Competition. This is the 6th and final regional event in the 2013 USBC competition season, and what a season it’s been – look back through all of our coverage here on The Road To Melbourne.
Can we be real here for a second? Each of these regional events is its own special little snowflake, but the SWRBC is like a blizzard of greatness. A truly remarkable field of competitors – more than 30 barista competitors alone! – doing battle at Top of the Ritt (101 Church Street), a gorgeous open venue on the top floor of a condo development in downtown Santa Cruz. You’re never more than 10 minutes from the beach; you can smell the ocean everywhere you go; and if you’re anything like us, SWRBC is a great excuse to spend time in Verve’s caps lock STUNNING downtown cafe (1540 Pacific Avenue), just blocks from the venue. Sounds like a good time, man. Far out.
Schedules:
Here’s your complete SWRBC Round One schedule! We’ll have the Finals Sunday schedule up just as soon as they’re announced on Saturday afternoon. And here’s a complete schedule for Round One at the Brewers Cup, presented in traditional “silent auction” style. We’ll be covering both events all weekend via our @SprudgeLive Twitter feed, home to the very best live event coverage in specialty coffee. Along the way there will be puppetry, video interviews, goofs, and a lot of fun, so stick with Sprudge for content from SWRBC all week long.
Parties:
On Friday, March 15th there will be a hosted happy hour at Top of the Ritt, which is perhaps-not-coincidentally where the actual event is being held. Expect music, drinks, some nice conviviality, and easy walking access to whatever strikes your fancy that night in Santa Cruz. This event begins at 7pm and is totally free.
Saturday, March 16th is the big one: an epic “Saved By The Bell / high school dance” theme party at the Verve Coffee Roasters roastery (104 Bronson Street). There will be hot dogs, beer, ice cream floats, a freaking skate ramp sponsored by La Marzocco USA, a latte art competition, and the late 80’s teeny bopper DJ services of Your Sprudge Editors. How much New Edition can we play? Do you love Debbie Gibson as much as we do? Let’s find out. This party begins at 6:30pm and is, again, totally free, courtesy of event hosts Verve Coffee Roasters. Last year’s SWRBC blowout was a highlight of the entire regional season, and we think this year’s is gonna be even better. Bring your skate deck!
Here’s a cool flyer for both parties, in that classic top-notch Verve design style:
Sprudge.com’s coverage of the SWRBC is made possible by direct support from Verve Coffee Roasters. The entirety of our 2013 USBC regional, national, and WBC coverage is sponsored by Nuova Simonelli.
