Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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freshcup.com | May 2014 41 industry professionals we consulted. Two years had passed since San Diego's coffee enthusiasts, both pro- fessionals and consumers, had been brought together to watch baristas demonstrate their craft, battling it out for bragging rights and prizes. Matt suggested that we follow what other cities had done, and create a sea- son for baristas to compete. In San Francisco, the Bay Area Coffee Community organized a season that, by its third run, had garnered national coverage. A simi- lar season was held by the Los Angeles TNT, and last year the two cities faced off to answer the question of which had better baristas. (Los Angeles won.) Each of our five TNTs, held at a different host café each month, have drawn well over a hundred people and garnered significant attention on social media. While we have not achieved the same level of publicity as San Francisco or Los Angeles, we've laid the foundation for barista involvement that will continue to foster commu- nity spirit and ultimately better local coffee. You might be asking yourself, why barista competi- tions? Why not cuppings or tasting events? There's much to be said for investing this kind of time and effort in baristas. Baristas who are passionate about coffee and likely to compete in a TNT are the greatest coffee ambassadors to any given region. Consumers listen to baristas, will go where baristas recommend, and buy what they recommend. Brand promotion and growth are natural by-products to these events, the same way they can be with regional and national com- petitions like the USBC. Anyone with a camera or cell phone could snap the photo—of a barista executing a winning rosetta—that goes viral. May14_magazine.indd 41 4/18/14 10:44 AM