Back here at VCR headquarters, things are humming along while we wait for Lizzy’s performance at the USBC up in Portland. Aside from all the nervous energy and computers streaming the USBC, it feels like a pretty standard day around here. The coffeebar is firing off cappuccinos, Sean’s cupping coffees, Ian’s roasting, Jonathan’s keeping the place in order, and the roastery production team is in a blur of bagging and shipping out coffee. But all this will come to a screeching halt at 3:16 when Lizzy hits the stage. If you’re like us and don’t want to miss it, here’s the link to the live stream: usbaristachampionship.org
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Here’s the rest of the info to keep up with team VCR at this year’s USBC.
Thursday, 4/19
3:16pm :: Lizzy Sampson
Friday, 4/20
2:57pm :: Chris Baca
Saturday, 4/21 – Semifinal Round
12:30pm :: Chris Baca
3:32pm :: Jared Truby (had a bye for the first round after winning SWRBC)
Sunday, 4/22 – Finals
TBD :: 6 competitors will advance to this round
Related Links
Competition Schedule / Schedule of Events / Check our Twitter for the most up-to-date info
We couldn’t have asked for a better event. Thanks to everyone who came out and made this year’s SWRBC what it was. A huge congratulations to Jared, who won the Barista Competition, and to Lizzy who took 3rd place! We also want to mention some of our wholesale partners who made a huge impact in the Brewer’s Cup, by taking 3 of the 6 finalist spots. Great work Bellano, Single Origin, and Fix Coffee Co!
Overall, we can’t say enough. We had such a great time, and would love to do this again!
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We also owe a huge thanks to the following people and companies who worked behind the scenes as some of our ‘official/unofficial sponsors’ of this event. Thank you so much!
Our Customers here in SC :: Thanks so much for coming out and supporting Verve!
Innerworkings :: for the official t-shirt sponsorship, and great service – thanks to Kurt Nelson.
Promo Logo Mugs :: for the event mugs, and for being the nicest people on the planet
Sprudge.com :: for such great coverage of the SWRBC
NHS and Santa Cruz :: for printing our event skate decks, shirts, and posters — Thank you Paul Merrell and Cari Herod
Pomp & Circumstance :: for the amazing space decorations
Top of the Ritt (Kevin Melrose) :: for the perfect venue and top-notch service
Corralitos Brewing Company :: for the beer!
The Penny :: for party-time ice cream & desserts
Whole Foods Capitola :: for donating all the food and drinks for our judges and volunteers
Tristan, Michael and Addison from the 515 :: for bar tending our Swanky Soiree
Natvia :: for the photo booth at the Swanky Soiree
La Marzocco :: for the mechanical bull and the Stradas at the latte art throw down
Ted Holladay and Impact 831 :: for the amazing photos
Cris Mendoza, Mike Wiser and Crew :: for the sound and video
Brandon from The KRATE, and L-Boogie (Lauren from our Pac Ave store) :: for spinning the hottest wax this side of the Mississippi
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Here are some photos of Jared’s winning performance yesterday.
What a day! I think we got a week’s worth of excitement out of our opening day this year. See below for some photo highlights from the action. We had a perfect sunny day, a ton of great competitors, a crazy line for the 4th and 5th machines, and a killer party & latte art competition at our Seabright Roasting House. Now we get to do it all over again, starting with the surf session starting at 7:30 this morning. I hope you rested up — big day ahead of us!
The wonderful folks at the SCAA have a link up for CP190 registration @ SWRBC! If you’ve been thinking of getting your level one certification or just had the urge to spend a little time with Scott Lucey you should click on the link below and book this bad boy. The link for sign up is Here: CP190/SWRBC Note! There is one link for Friday testing and one link for Saturday testing. We’re limited to about 25 people total so the sooner you sign up the better.
CP190 will be held at our Seabright Roastery located at 104 Bronson St. According to google maps it’s six minutes from the event venue and I would have to concur. Since I’m such a nice guy I even hooked you up with a little map action. See you there!
View Larger Map
Stacey and I spent some time in the training lab yesterday just on the grind cleaning that bad boy out for our Friday night SWRBC Party. It’s gonna be a banger. Our good friends at Corralitos Brewing Company are going to be bringing a couple different beers including Streetlevel Stout, a session type amber infused with curacoa tea and brewed with our Streetlevel espresso, as well as Corralitos Dark, a black IPA. For tunes we’ve got our boy Brandon at The KRATE on the one’s and two’s pushin’ all killer no filler through the speakers. If you need fresh fits while in town the KRATE is your spot and it’s just a few blocks from the SWRBC venue. Lastly if you wanna get down and dirty starting at 7pm you can ride the mechanical bull. What? Yes. Mechanical bull. Thanks to the wonderful people at La Marzocco USA we have this hot piece of equipment. Word is they’re carting in a EP Strada to have in addition to our MP in the lab. Anyway, I drove all the way to Salinas to check this bad boy out and as you can tell it looks pretty choice. Friday the 9th. 6-9pm. 104 Bronson St. We’ll see you there. 
So we’re two weeks away from getting down with the SWRBC. Lizzy’s been practicing…have you?
Here’s a little teaser that one of our fabulous customers made while Lizzy was sneaking around in the lab the other day. Big ups to Derek Dockendorf for getting the hot shots.
Also, the Dream Inn has extended out special SWRBC room block pricing until the 1st. I’ve been assured that once the 1st comes the pricing will be gone forever so book now or forever hold your peace. Book it here: SWRBC/Dream Inn. See you there!
“Sometimes it’s long days of cupping, sometimes it’s long days of traveling, and sometimes (like today) it’s long days driving all over the mountains in the back of pickups meeting our farmers…..”
-Colby Barr/Coffee Buyer, Owner
We’re officially one month away from the SWRBC. If you don’t have a place to stay yet and don’t want to sleep on my front porch (in the chilly coastal cold while I’m nice and warm inside sipping on hot chocolate and snacking on bruschetta toped with prosciutto) you should probably book a room at the Dream Inn. They’ve extended the discounted pricing for us until next Wednesday the 15th. That’s six days to keep you from being in the dog house (literally).
Here’s the Link: Dream Inn Discounted Rate.
#1 / Origin Trips
Colby Barr (Green Buyer, Co-Owner) and Sean White (Head Roaster) are headed to El Salvador next week, immediately followed by an extended trip to Ethiopia and Kenya. They’ll be meeting up with our producers and tasting hundreds of great coffees as they work to focus in on what lots we’ll be buying this year. Stay tuned for trip reports and pictures right here on the blog in the coming weeks!
#2 / Free Cuppings at 41st
The cuppings at our 41st avenue cafe are hands-down the best way to stay on top of our rotating offering list. Every Friday at noon, one of our super fun staff members leads the cupping. It’s totally free, and allows for learning all about each coffee’s origin, while tasting the unique differences between each one. No sign ups required, just stop in and join in the fun.
#3 / Bike Races
We just finished up sponsoring the Surf City Cyclocross Series. It was a great time! Sean rips on a bike, and always finishes up near the top in the elite classes. Ryan and I decided to join him by racing with the beginners this past weekend. Hopefully people don’t judge Verve by our Cyclocross finishes… big E for effort though, and we can’t wait until next year to give it another go. Thanks to Surf City Cyclocross, and to everyone who came out and made the races so fun for us to be a part of. We’ll definitely be seeing you next year!
In an effort to make the SWRBC event expand beyond the boundaries of just a competition we’ve decided to bring BGA certification testing into the mix. If you’ve been at all interested in taking your BGA level one certification test but don’t know if you’ll be able to make it to Portland this year you should do this: Grab the next train to the central coast, shred a surf with Truby, win the latte art throw down, rip up some single track on the mountain bike rides, and get your level one certification while your at it. There’s more info on the BGA’s level one program here: Level 1. It’s the building block that all other advanced skills can be based on and moves us one step closer to speaking the common language that is specialty coffee.
If that’s not enticing enough we’re brining everyone’s favorite Barista — Mr. Scott Lucey — to sunny California so he can find out what having a tan feels like, while leading the charge in level one testing.
Stay tuned, we hope to have an early sign up sheet up by the end of the week. Holla!
