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.
