R. Willbur

To continue on with information from yesterday… Like I said, congrats to the finalists of the GLRBC… I forgot to mention the Millrock competition. What a blast… and a crowd. I don’t know if it was really that entertaining, or if it had something to do with the baristas who were actually there, but there were a lot of people watching, and that was awesome. Scott Lucey and Chris Baca get to rock the finals today. So does Hiroshi from Purple(something) coffee in Japan. Sorry, can’t remember his store name right now… but Hiroshi comes from Tokyo to compete in these competitions all the time. This is the first time he made finals and I am very happy for him. Baca is at the top of his game and poured some very clean lattes… I would love to see Baca or Tiesel take home the heavy cash. Both of them have been in the top three for the last couple latte art battles, but neither have taken it yet. Good luck today homies!

The show floor was good times. I very much need to point out that The Roasterie is here in Chicago… and they brought the Mistral. It’s very clean now and beautiful. Many props to Jason Burton for A) being a cool guy and B) bringing some good coffee to the show and handing me the best macchiatto I’ve tasted on a show floor.

The Ritual kids and myself decided to bust out for some lunch. So, we busted over to this place called The Wiener Circle. Amazing. The kids working there are straight up. You walk in and immediately people are yelling at you, “Hey! You ready to order?!?” The hot dogs are damn good. Then they shoot at you with, “What’s on this Polish?” And you ask, “What’d you have?” To which they respond, “Everything.” Yeah… it’s great. Oh, and when you order fries. You get probably 3 lbs. of fries.

We ended the day at the Intelligentsia Party. Their roasting works is awesome. Very impressive. The kegs and wine were great. It was awesome to see everyone there. Nick Cho immediately got the dance party rolling and Ryan Jenson was definitely not scared to rock it as well. Marcus Boni was running around making sure everything went well… and it did. The party was his baby and he raised it right! Doug was happy to share the nickle tour with us… Oh, and major thanks to you Doug… I much appreciate the skate deck! Eventually we found the basketball hoop mounted on a wall… and that started a whole new realm of craziness. Oh, and I got to try Justin Tiesels full sig drink. Excellent!

The night ended in chaos as we roamed the streets of the industrial district looking for a cab… not fun. It was sleeting… Sleet people. That hurts when it hits your face… so not cool. Anyway, we finally found something and Aaron and I crammed into a cab with all the Rituals… We finally got back safe. Well, we’re about to head out for the finals of everything… time to get going… more later.

The post is named as it should be. By now, most of you have probably heard who the finalists are in the GLRBC… Anyway, I think its awesome when someone who really cares about coffee… genuinely… is successful. Mike is one of those people. Before he moved to Chicago to work for them, he was a home roaster and barista. He’s been passionate since before he was a professional. AND!!! He’s a really nice guy. I have met many competitors and the compassionate ones are the ones I respect. People like Scott Lucey, Chris Baca, Chris Deferio, and, of course, Jon Lewis. Anyway, congrats to all the finalists, but especially to you Mr. Phillips.

Today has been awesome. Good friends, good times, good coffee. We had a blast at the Millrock show! We’re lighting it up tomorrow too! My condolences go to my man, J. Tiesel! I wish he had made it to the finals. He’s the man. Bottom line. Tomorrow, latte art. His time to shine! I’m going to go party with the Tellie’s!