Blog — barista championship

When our 2023 U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits champion Sam Schroeder concocted the Coffee Sherry, we all knew it was an instant winner: a smoothly-sweet, sumptuous coffee cocktail worthy of a romantic après-dinner lounge. Then along came Reyna Callejo, who just last weekend secured first place in the 2024 Coffee in Good Spirits Qualifiers. Hardly one to leave good enough alone, she’s taken Sam’s Coffee Sherry and done the unthinkable: removed all the booze.Instead, she’s crafted her very own NA sherry and absinthe (yes, from scratch), mixing them in place of their alcoholic counterparts. And the result is, stunningly, almost...

Wheels up to Denver: this weekend, March 3–5, we're headed out to the qualifiers of the 2023 U.S. Coffee Championships. And by "we," we mean the talented, passionate members of our team who have spent these past weeks in preparation mode for their respective events. Including Reyna Callejo, our Training and Innovation Director, who intends to woo the judges of this year's U.S. Barista Championships.

Recently, three of our team had the immense honor of representing Olympia Coffee Roasting and the Pacific Northwest overall at the United States Coffee Championships in Long Beach, California. Co-owner Sam Schroeder, Retail Trainer Brady MacDonald, and Downtown Coffee Bar Manager Alex Choppin qualified for this prestigious event by competing at the regional level in October. There, Alex placed Second in Brewer's Cup, Brady placed Second in Barista Championship, and Sam was crowned Northwest Barista Champion. At the U.S. Coffee Championships Sam, Brady, and Alex all had strong showings in the semi-finals round of each competition. Brady's routine focused on ingredients from the Puget...

Four of us from Olympia Coffee took a road trip down to Los Angeles last weekend for the Big Western Barista Competition to represent the Northwest Region in the Brewer's Cup and Barista Competition.  Honor Forte a Barista and our Wholesale Relationship Manager and Alexander Choppin a Barista and the Manager of our Capitol Boulevard store both competed in the Brewer's Cup.  Honor brewed our Kenya Gatomboya and Alexander brewed our Ethiopia Ademegorbota.  When all was said and done, Honor came 1st place and Alexander came in 2nd.  A huge win for both baristas and our company as a whole. ...