it's a day off from work -- but not from coffee!!!
heh.

cupped two lovely coffees today. a Guatemala Antigua La Flor del Cafe and a Uganda Bugisu. both really nice, balanced, sweet. not "fireworks" coffees, but all the more wonderful for that.

i also played around a little with latte art for photos. i'm finding it is really hard to shoot latte art unless you go a bit less hard with the milk and focus on broad strokes rather than fine detail...



  still... a rather nice looking pour if i do say so myself!!

three shifts left.
i've talked to various folks about job opportunities - sadly all outside of the East Side. i don't want to relocate, but i want to be a barista. choices... tradeoffs...

i'm kind of psyched about one thing. i'm going to get to pull shots on my last shift with my two favorite espressos (Espresso Vivace's Vita and Doma's Vito's Blend). super cool!!

it's sort of ironic that this all happens right about the point where my skills really started getting to where i want them to be. my shots are solid pretty much all the time, my milk is solid pretty much all the time, my latte art is getting better all the time, my machine skills are solid...

everyone is asking why i'm leaving. rumours abound. it's kind of weird. small town i guess. no-one believes that i don't have a job lined up.

bittersweet

sadness.
in the midst of good shots and good drinks and good latte art and good customers and nice people - i can't help but feel time ticking. not just on my time at Spellbinder, but also on my career as a Barista.
am i really going to relocate away from Bishop?
am i really going to give up on being a Barista?