Our dear friend Michael Elvin has been honored with the “2013 Weekly Volcano Best of Olympia” award for “Best Barista”. Mr. Elvin operates Bar Francis inside an all-ages music menu in downtown Olympia, serving Four Barrel Coffee from a 2009 WBC Atlanta edition Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II. The Weekly Volcano reports:
He tells a group of customers that he got a new cell phone in December and hasn’t yet figured out why he can’t get voicemail on it. One laughs and says, “Really?”
“Hey, there are more important things – like making you a coffee,” he says.
“One of the reasons that I wanted my own café is I really enjoy the interaction,” he says. “People ask me: ‘How is it working every day? Aren’t you just exhausted?’ I say, ‘I kind of get a three-day weekend because I only work the one job Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And going to work is kind of like hanging out.”
Bar Francis official site here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Volcano, it’s a spunky little alternative weekly covering happenings and doings in the south Puget Sound, serving Tacoma, Olympia, and all points in-between (like Lacey, and Dupont, although nothing really happens there). As not unproud native Tacomans ourselves, we always pick up the latest copy of the Volcano when we’re in town. The paper is carried at coffee bars like Bluebeard Coffee Roasters and Metronome, as well as fine bar-bars like Parkway Tavern, Magoo’s, and Puget Sound Pizza (plus countless other places).
We think it’s really cool they have a “Best Barista” category, though it got us wondering: Why don’t more alt-weekly’s do this? Are we missing something? Does YOUR favorite alt-weekly newspaper honor the best baristas in your city? We genuinely want to hear about it, so please, sound off in the comments below!
