A few weeks ago we brought some very important news to your attention: the US AeroPress Championship needed a host, in advance of the 2015 World AeroPress Championship in Seattle next month. Today we’re happy to report that the event has found a loving new home at Underline Coffee in Chelsea, on the island of Manhattan, New York City, and that said US AeroPress Championship will take place there on March 29th, 2015. Sign-ups are now underway.
Underline (511 W 20th Street) is owned by Brandon Tully, a passionate career coffee professional with 20 years of experience. To learn more about the event, and Underline, we reached out to Tully via email.
Hey Chris Tully! How did your winning AeroPress Championship hosting bid come about?
I saw the call-out on Sprudge and figured it was an opportunity for my young and off-the-radar coffee shop to get some attention, and I dig playing with AeroPress recipes. I responded immediately. New York City is making itself into a place to experience great coffee and I’m excited to be a part of it. I feel strongly that this shouldn’t be a time for quick, pop-up, cookie-cutter locations, and that it’s a great time for invention and experimentation to be shared with the customer.
That’s what makes the AeroPress rad, as in radical; it’s simple and flexible at the same time. If you look online for a standard recipe, as you might for any other brew method, you won’t find it—hell, you can even brew inverted. Try that with your v60!
Why do you think you were able to score the event?
Underline Coffee represents the movement of independently owned, Third Wave coffee shops in New York, with the AeroPress prominently featured on our bar. Pretty much everything in our shop was designed or built by us, or by like-minded craftspeople such as Kees van der Westen, or Chris Chekan of Monarch Methods. And we bring the intimacy of craft to the hubbub of New York City; it’s a cool contrast to celebrate the malleable potential of the AeroPress.
How can folks sign up if they want to compete?
How many people are you expecting for the party?
100-ish to 150-ish.
Who have you got lined up so far as sponsors?
Counter Culture Coffee, Baratza, Bonavita, City Cakes, and Aerobie.
Give us the time & date for this upcoming event so that it burns into people’s brains.
March 29th, 6pm, at Underline Coffee in Manhattan.
I started roasting coffee 20 years ago, and did stints as a barista, sales, marketing and training. I’ve wanted my own shop since the early days of watching the the beans churn in the cooling tray. My wife and I designed and built Underline from the ground up. We stenciled the floors, antiqued the mirror, built and installed the live edge tables and the thermochromatic bar top. In our place, we aim for intimacy, and want to share some of the greatest coffees in the world.
Who are you lining up to judge?
Judges include Cora Lambert (Box Kite), Deaton Pigot (Toby’s Estate Brooklyn), Erin McCarthy (Counter Culture Coffee) and Teresa von Fuchs (Irving Farm). MC for this event will be Ben Kaminsky.
Photos courtesy of Underline Coffee. Top image by Zachary Carlsen for Sprudge.com.
Sprudge.com is an official media partner of the World AeroPress Championship, and proudly partnered with Aerobie, makers of the AeroPress.
