Report - Day Five (Tuesday, 19 April)

the day of reckoning.

i got to the downtown cafe at 7:15am and there were already a few visitors from the show there having coffee. i smiled a lot, shook a lot of hands and answered a lot of questions in between making tons of calls on the cell phone to make sure that everything was ready for the party.

and then i had my first shot of espresso - and all was good with the world.
i don't want to sound arrogant, but that shot reminded me of why i work at Stumptown. coming so soon after a ton of coffee at the biggest coffee trade show... it wasn't just better, it blew those other coffees out of the water.
nice!

despite all my fears - and because of the incredible work and skill of the managers of the cafes - everything was in order. as the day went along everything fell into place. okay... so Klaus missed his train. okay... so various people who were not planned to attend turned out to be showing up. none the less, it was all working out.

and then the disaster. Lizz accidentally tore the tip off her index finger. one lead barista down. quick scramble and Tim and Blake jumped into the fray and we were off.

everyone was there. producers from all over the world. green bean buyers and coffee cuppers from everywhere. faces from the CoE, from the WBC, from magazines and the internet... superstars and legends and upstarts. i'd go into the guestlist but i'm sure i'd forget someone important so suffice it to say that it was everyone you might imagine who could possibly make it down from Seattle and the show.
the DJ was rocking the joint.
John from Navarre provided incredible tapas.
the folks from Dan and Louis' showed up with amazing oysters.
Kyle and Steve were whipping out amazing coffee drinks. Autumn and Ellen kept the whole thing on track. Blake and Tim poured gallons of beer to any and all.
we only had to 86 one junkie.

it was a really, really good party.
people seemed to have a great time.

i went to sleep smiling.
party of the year? i don't know... the last party i went to that was as good was in Iceland at the Nordic Barista Cup, but technically that was last year, so...

oh... btw... the single origin El Salvador CoE Las Nubitas shots were to f**king die for!!!