Southwest Latte Art Competition

On Labor Day weekend baristas from the Southwest will unite at Phoenix Cooks to battle head to head for the title of Southwest Latte Art Champion.

Alongside the latte art competition, a manual brew bar staffed with volunteers will showcase the delicious coffees of local roasters.

Coffee Lovers will have the opportunity to interact with various manual brew methods and engage baristas in conversation. Come join us at Phoenix Cooks!

09/03/2011  ||  Phoenix, Arizona  

GET YOUR SWLAC POSTER HERE!

—————————————————————–

// FEATURED BLOG POSTS // 

Check out the Southwest Latte Art Competition featured on some of these blogs!
Arizona Coffee
MyFox 10
Espresso Parts
Barista Guild of America
Bookmans Cafe
Barista Exchange
Chuggin McCoffee

The 2^nd Annual Southwest Latte Art Competition and brew bar held at Phoenix Cooks was a wild success! Thank you to the army of volunteers that showed up with a heart of service and put on a seamless event.

Thank you to the volunteer baristas on the brew bar for your hard work and adaptability – we see it in our cafes everyday, but working in a temporary brew bar provides its challenges. Thank you for rising to the occasion and doing what you do so well; serving coffee, educating customers, and striking up conversation!

Thank you Phoenix Cooks for giving a platform to engage attendees in conversation about how we do coffee. A special thanks to our sponsors; Nuova Simonelli, Espresso Parts, Bunn, Press Coffee Roasters, Cartel Coffee Lab, Coffee Reserve, Echo Coffee, and Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange.

We welcome you to add your pictures of the event to our public flickr event at, http://www.flickr.com/groups/swlac

Jason began his career in the specialty coffee industry through researching and attending the ABC Barista School in Portland, Oregon in 2007. Soon after, Jason bought a cart outfitted to serve espresso beverages and coffee via the Clover. His business, Van-Go Coffee (Tucson, AZ) had a dedicated following, experiencing the delicious coffees he served from Intelligentsia and PTs Coffee. In late 2009 he closed up shop to help another cafe transition to higher quality and producing excellence. Last year Jason moved up to Phoenix to help out in the Mesa Bookman’s Cafe and re-open their Flagstaff cafe. He is currently working on plans to open a coffee shop with Brian Clemens in the near future. After seeing him compete, we can’t wait to try one of his lattes!

Coming in 2nd place is Jamie Rice from Sambalatte in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 3rd place is Charlie Commanda from Macy’s European Coffeehouse in Flagstaff.

Thank you to all of our competitors for coming out and displaying your craft!

MyFox 10 visited Press Coffee at Scottsdale Quarter this morning!

Check out Arizona Coffee‘s post on the event this morning as well!

Check out the video!

Press Coffee Roasters: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

The Barista Guild of America is a trade guild of that consists of coffee professionals who are dedicated to the barista craft and coffee preparation. It is the official guild of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).

The BGA currently offers educational opportunities for baristas – from the basics to the cutting edge of current technologies. These classes are offered at regional and national events. More than a guild, the BGA is a community. Thank you to the Barista Guild of America for their support and sponsorship of the SWLAC!

Cartel Coffee Lab is a specialty coffee roaster with humble beginnings in January of 2008 in Tempe. Owner Jason Silberschlag was the sole roaster and barista at the time. Now with 4 locations, Cartel is an active voice in the specialty coffee community; continuously seeking the highest quality green coffee they can and using roast profiles that highlight the characteristics of that coffee. Cartel baristas have participated in both regional and national barista championships to further their understanding of farms, processes, and the final cup. We’re excited to serve a direct trade coffee from Cartel Coffee Lab on our brew bar!

A big round of applause for the generous prize donations from our next sponsor, Bookman’s Cafe!  Providing over 30 years of entertainment, Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange is an Arizona staple. With six stores covering Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, Bookman’s provides an exchange for used books, music, movies, video games, magazines, electronics, and musical instruments.  Currently, their Flagstaff and Mesa locations also provide patrons a place to relax while sipping on delicious coffees provided by Intelligentsia Coffee.

Coffee Reserve is a gourmet coffee business specializing in providing wholesale coffee to restaurants, offices, and markets. Their green buyer, John Gozbekian is long time professional in specialty coffee. With over 33 years of experience, John is a certified ‘Q’ grader, a teacher for the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and actively involved in the Roasters Guild and Barista Guild.  We’re excited to partner with Coffee Reserve and present their coffees on the brew bar.

Echo Coffee opened their roasting operation and café in April 2010 in Scottsdale. The owner, Steve Belt has a passion for growing not only his understanding and knowledge of coffee, but the knowledge of his customer base as well.  Steve participates in weekly roundtables with his green coffee supplier, Ron Cortez, to further develop his palate and roasting style. Working closely with Cortez Coffee gives Echo Coffee the opportunity to sample coffees alongside a seasoned coffee professional, Ron Cortez.

Echo is actively involved in the community; a prominent supporter of latte art throw downs. We’re excited to feature coffee from Echo on our Brew Bar this year.

Alongside the Latte Art Throwdown we’ll be serving locally roasted coffees to the public on various brew methods. To make the brew bar function much equipment and barista tools are required.

When in need of tools and wares we call up Espresso Parts, a company with over 14 years of innovation in the specialty coffee industry. Espresso Parts is continually researching and bringing customers the newest innovations and the best equipment, tools and supplies available. A big thank you to our barista tools and equipment sponsor, Espresso Parts for their support!