Seattle adventures and more...!

Well, I'm currently situated in the Portland airport, just chillin', waiting for my flight to board. It's been an incredible 10 days and I have loved most of it. I've also learned something about coffee and about myself. Bottom line, at this point, I am just excited to get back and start to really develop the potential that Kopplin's has... We just decided to pick up one of the Roburs from this past weekend. So, in a few weeks we'll be rockin' that beast... Which makes me extremely happy! I've been working with Andrew to make him a rockstar as well... We have a very bright future ahead of us...

So, I spent Saturday in Seattle... I went to visit the Coffee Fest Show, but ended up mostly just chillin' with the homies... and by homies I mean kids like Scott Lucey, Chris Baca, and Tony Serrano... We did have lunch with Steve Vick as well... Actually, in exchange for some coffee, I gave that fricker a ride up to Seattle. That was fun. We stopped in Olympia for a cup of Clover at Batwicks & Bronsons (Or whatever the name is, sorry, I'm tired)... We both went with the Kenyan. Not bad.

Once in Seattle, I hit the show floor and stopped by the Barista Mag booth... FINALLY, I signed up for my subscription... Apparently now I'm set with issues until 2008. Heck yes... I moved from Barista Mag to Zoka... caught up with Chris Davidson a bit... Big congrats to Zoka's head roaster... His Paladino Beer is now going to be featured in a local pub... There are even possibilities of it moving beyond there... Someday I'll get to try it.

Once I was done chatting with the Zoka crew, Chris Baca called me... I ran downstairs to catch up with him, Lucey, Tony, Vick, Justin from Alterra, and Al (Sorry, Al, but your name is entirely too complicated for me to remember it's full form at this point)... Anyway, the group all piled into Baca's mom's Explorer and busted over to Victrola. It was cool to see a Synesso at work in someone else's shop. I think I may have learned a thing or two from just watching. We left Victrola to get lunch at a place called "The Honey Hole." Amazing food, great beer, messed up name!

So, my set is now complete. Once out bellies were full of food and beer... ah! Beer... We went over to Vivace... Right before I left for college, I visited Seattle with some very noncoffee people. I explained the significance of Vivace to my friend Mike, to which he replied, "Dude, let's steal a suvinere..." I told him no at the time, but within 5 minutes after we left we both revealed out booty... demitas spoons... Again, before returning to college the second time, I was in Seattle with Brent Fortune picking up my friend Devin. We visited the new vivace... and when we left, my bag contained a demitas cup... Now, with the help of Lucey, Baca, Serrano, & Co... I have completed the set with a saucer... Hooray. David, if you read this... Don't hate me. This would not have been done if you were not the "holy grail" of espresso.

From Vivace we bounced back to the show floor. Baca and myself took over a GB5 at the ESI booth and started pouring the latte's... this would not be the last of our impromptu latte are expositions... We left the show and headed to Casa De Alterra and enjoyed several PBR's... which do taste better when consumed with a guy from Milwaukee. From there, we bounced to the Visions espresso party... where, when we realized the GS3 was on, the next big latte art exposition began! Before we knew it, everyone was trying to pour the design Chris Baca's been pouring in competition... you know, the heart with the wreath thing...

Well, I need to get running soon. My plane is being cleaned and we'll be boarding soon. I head to San Fransisco first. Then I have one hour to chill. Then, I board a plane at midnight to fly into Minneapolis. I land at 6 AM, then I have class at 7:45... but wait, it doesn't stop at that. I have to run by Kopplin's to drop off the Hairbender I am bringing back... yes, we will have Hairbender! All Grapefruit infused and shit... It will be available tomorrow too! Yeah! I'm actually carrying it with me to keep it in a pressurized cabin and everything... Well, Portland it's been great! Billy~ Thanks for the drinks today. If you haven't heard... Mr. Wilson will be returning to Lava Java to work a guest shift on Nov. 11... wish I could be there. Peace.