mie

a very short trip to atlanta is about to end, as i am in schipol airport amsterdam on my way back to oslo. kaffa's roast master and two of the managers of java and mocca were sent to atlanta by their respective employers, and for the first time i went there a bit on my own to teach cupping and hang out. turns out a lot of people did that, so i was in good company of other coffee friends sleeping on hotel room floors, housing with local friends ("civilians", as the wonderful liz clayton of twitchy said about hers) or in very cheap business hotels. so many faces to see and hands to shake, ref pic of me and sarah kluth of intelligentsia shaking hands after important meeting at their booth where we decided to only drink nice coffee forever and ever.

i had a hard time figuring out the city geographically, but i had some very delicious meals with various amazing people. i was excited to teach cupping to people and share my ideas about how to become a better cupper in the "advanced" class. walking around the fair is most often more like walking two steps, talking to someone, walking again, talking - i visited a few booths, like the slayer espresso machine that's been notoriously blogged about lately, intelligentsia, la marzocco and cup of excellence.

the world barista championship was won by gwilym davies from the uk - he did such an amazing performance! humble and all about coffee. the partying after was a lot of fun. in particular, i liked showing up wearing a button with his face on. in general, more people should button their faces. oda almighty, the best barista in norway right now placed 17th with our coffee in the grinder. we were hoping to do better, but the competition was tough. SCAA's "coffee of the year" was won by our exporter in colombia, virmax, that helped us with the competition lot, so all in all, it was good coffee and good times.

the first us cup tasting championship was also arranged. i received a text from ben kaminsky after the finals sunday afternoon: "won". congratulations, cupper ! but i still don't get it - why the americans are so crazy about dragging things out. i thought the three rounds of the usbc was a bit too much, but hey, also the cup tasting, with 6 competitors in the semi finals and 3 in the finals happened over three days. perhaps it was all about cupping with a fresh palate for every flight or some other reason. but it would have been more fun watching if it was a longer show. none of my bizniz, i know, but i kind of like being opinionated about these things.

back in oslo work is piling up. it's weird how much fun it is to travel in coffee, and so labour intensive it is to prepare for and then get back from it. even if it's just for a few days. well worth it, though. see you all next year in londres !!