Milwaukee			Portland
Cody K	62		billy wilson	66
Alex S	61.5		daniel gunther	65
Brett F	61		tim r.	62
Josh W	57		andy albina	51
Scott L	57		matt h	45
Jerimiah W	56		matt m	41
Sam B	53		jeffery	41
Colin W	43		alex m	40
RJ R	42		parker	37
Nate H	21		ryan	36
total	513.5		total	484
prelims
	513.5			484
cody	63		tim r.	59
alex	49		dan g	72
brett	66		bill w	70.5
total	691.5		total	685.5
semi final
	691.5			685.5
brett MKE	62.5		dan - Portland	64
	754			749.5
Final
	the closest throwdown in history

Here are your links for tonights city to city throwdown

Scheduled to be live on UStream Friday at 1pm, continuing through the weekend.

Join the BGA for a brisk bike ride through St. Louis' historic Forest Park. We'll stop at some of the best cafés in town for free coffee and finish at Velocity Café where we'll be joined by anyone with a love for coffee at the BGA MWRBC welcome party - food + beer + barista throwdown. Don't miss out!

p.s. Bike Rentals will be available for $5/hr.

Baristas from the Great Lakes region converged into Grand Rapids over the first weekend of October. Madcap Coffee played the privy host of “Coffee Talk” which was a barista jam held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Coffee Alliance as well as the Barista Guild of America.

The quickest summary would tell that this was an event connecting the seed to cup with a focus on the future. Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa, Huehuetenango, Guatemala started off the jam with a informative and insightful talk about coffee growing, harvesting, processing, export/import, roasting, and you guessed it, preparation. The positive twist is when it comes to preparation, or brewing as it is often called. This twist is the important call to attention that, yes, as great as it is to see more baristas getting better, it can’t be forgotten how valuable our customers are. Edwin spoke very clearly with the opinion of an outsider. Making espresso to him is a very scary thing, as it might be to many. As we pave the road of quality, baristas must remember to include customers on our journey. “Make something your mom would like.”

Other highlights include a dosing dialogue by Chris DeMarse from the Coffee Institute, a brewing discussion led by Jesse Crouse from Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, discourse on latte art tips and tricks Chris Deferio from the Coffee Institute, Scott Lucey from Alterra Coffee spoke his thoughts about the next level competitor and improving as a barista. Edwin also led a discourse on sensory skills and their application to cupping. Before the grand finale throwdown, Talya Strader from Intellgentsia, Colin Whitcomb from Atlerra Coffee, and Ryan Knapp from Madcap sat as a panel and discussed with the group some key topics for career baristas. The event will go down in the books as another in which the host wins the throwdown. Congratulations to Trevor Corlet, the man behind Madcap with his winning pour.

by Heather Perry

The BGA Executive Council just wrapped up a long weekend participating in many firsts. It all started on Thursday when the BGA held the first testing session for BGA Credentialed Examiners. With 20 participants, including SCAA Board Members, we started the day by reviewing the practical test that participants hoping to become Level 1 Certified Baristas will have to pass. We then moved on to the hands-on portion where EC members Scott Lucey and Phoung Tran posed as "good" and "not-so-good" baristas hoping to pass. After everyone had taken the exam, Phoung and Scott regrouped and calibrated. By the end of the day, the BGA had 20 Credentialed Examiners who can now offer the BGA Level 1 Certification Test. If you are interested in becoming a BGA Level 1 Certified Barista, contact an examiner in your area and schedule your testing time today!

The next two days were devoted to what used to be the September Conference Committee Meetings. This year the SCAA restructured the committees, guilds, and councils and this annual weekend meeting will now be known as the Leadership Summit. Traditionally the BGA Executive Council would use this weekend to review what worked over the past year and map out plans for the year to come. This year, however, we decided we would participate in the first ever Instructor Development Program that has been designed by SCAA Board Member and Chair of the Professional Development Committee, Ellie Matuzsak, and her team. This program is structured to help better prepare instructors to teach and lead SCAA labs and lectures. Not only did the two days cover how to teach and work with adult learners, but a day was spent reviewing, updating, and creating SCAA labs. The work that was put in to this effort was unbelievable, and the labs offered at Anaheim will be better than ever. The BGA also achieved writing the layout of three more classes for BGA Certification: "GRIND, DOSE, TAMP 201", "Bar Efficiency and Workflow", and "Manual Brewing Methods." By the time Exposition makes its way to Anaheim, the BGA will be offering all Level 2 certification classes.

During these two days the EC did get a chance to sneak away and discuss official BGA business, such as more updates to our website, getting the word out about member benefits, creating a great USBC Café, and of course, a great barista camp coming next October.

The final day of the weekend was for the SCAA Board meetings. Traditionally, the BGA EC would be on their way home - but for the time ever, the Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees and Guilds were invited to observe and represent themselves. Scott and I attended the full day meeting and proudly announced that membership is up over 100% over last year. We were also happy to report that Certification is moving along and that the plans for a BGA Camp are in full swing and we hope to secure a location by the end of October. The invite from the Board to the Chairs was not a one-time thing, the Chair and Vice Chair will be invited to two board meetings a year, really giving us a chance to make sure we are represented and that the board understands our needs to help us better grow.

All in all, it was an extremely successful weekend. We hope that you continue to see the effects of all the hard work continually put in by your elected board. If you are interested in running for a Chapter Representative spot, or perhaps joining the BGA Executive Council, we will be doing a call for nominees in the next few months - so keep an eye out for the nomination form in your inbox.

Check out my full report on the recent SCAA Skill Building Workshop in NYC at my blog.

Here are some photos of learning to encourage you further:





It was a great event and I owe a big thank you to Ben Wilkinson, NE Chapter rep, for his hard work during the event!