Tamp This

I’ve worked at several New York slow food restaurants, so I was familiar with the values and concepts of the organization.  I was very also very excited to be a part of the 1st giant event to be held in the States, but I had no idea what I was in store for.  We heard about the event months ago since it was held in our new city, just a few blocks from our apartment in the Marina.  It was more than I could have imagined!  The other tasting pavilions were great, but nothing compared with the coffee tasting, tea came close with their 10 minute educational tea services, but coffee… wow.  Andrew, Tonx, and Eileen did a fantastic job, and Brent… wow, Brent was in charge of wrangling the volunteers, the all star cast was there, barista champions, green buyers, roasters, producers, equipment specialists, working together! There are other posts about the event, and many, many pictures, so I just wanted to say it was such a privilege to be a part of this, and if it ever happens again I’m volunteering now.  Thank you.

Also, slow food left Ritual a little short staffed so, it was a pleasure working with several out of towners.. so a big shout out and thanks to Ben Kaminsky, Nick Griffith (who just came in for coffee and saw us floundering and jumped on bar!), Danger Dan Griffin, and Jenni Bryant!  You guys are my heroes!

This post is helping me procrastinate on preparing for a weekend trip I’m leaving on tomorrow.  Chris Owens, Chris Baca and I will be renting a car and making our way north, potentially into Canada.  We’ll be stopping in the usual haunts, Portland, Seattle for CoffeeFest and Vancouver!  I’m very excited, but I have no idea what to pack….

I cut Ben Kaminsky’s hair out back… photos by Owens

check my flickr for some hopefully amusing photos