It’s hard to believe it is upon us… The World Barista Championship. I am heading out to Tokyo on Friday and will be there for a week. I am sure I will have some stories to tell. (I may even bring my camera, who knows?) I return on Friday and then head to the opening of our Silver Lake coffeebar, which is slated to open at 6:00 A.M. on Tuesday August, 7th. I am looking forward to the dream-like haze that the jet lag will supply.

For the most part, I love being on airplanes as in today’s completely connected world, air travel seems to be the only place in society where you are allowed to be legitimately out of touch (with the possible exception of being off the grid somewhere at source). I’ll certainly get some reading done on a flight that is only 13 hours and 21 minutes direct from Chicago O’Hare. I am also eager to reconnect with the great people that define this industry in a place that I have heard pleasantly described as otherworldly and fantastic.

In other coffee news, our new crop Direct Trade Centrals are arriving (and thus far have been stellar) and we have a Yirgy in our midst that I scored a 97 and averaged a 95 from our Quality Control Team. It is Direct Trade in transition and will be Direct Trade next year. It is perhaps one of the best coffees I have ever tasted (honestly). It is a coffee that is intellectual yet, eminently drinkable. We should see it, and all of the Centrals, in our stores in the next couple of weeks. We have also been tinkering (= constant, ceaseless improvement) with Black Cat Espresso formulas recently and I think you will soon see something that will be utterly remarkable. More on that as it develops…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Coffee, Direct Trade, Los Angeles, WBC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.