Barista Magazine

DEC 2014 - JAN 2015

Barista Magazine is your home for the worldwide community of coffee and the people who make it.

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23 www.baristamagazine.com and sessions. Presentations included in-depth explorations of coffee origins like Rwanda, Brazil, and Guatemala. Also coffee itself was the subject in classes like the history of espresso, blending strat- egies for roasters and baristas, palate building, and more. Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, attendees could also practice on various machines and improve their hands-on skills in latte art, hand brewing, batch brewing, and espres- so machine maintenance. Meanwhile high-profile coffee pros par- ticipated in panel discussions on numerous topics including poverty at origin, starting a coffee business, improving restaurant cof- fee, the effects of coffee leaf rust in Central America, collaboration in specialty coffee, and the always-popular "How Did You Get There?" where panelists spoke about how they found their jobs, moderated by one of the original MANE organizers, Gerra Harrigan from InterAmerican Coffee. One of the most popular parts of MANE was the batch brew pavilion hosted by Wilbur Curtis, where Tyler Bruno manned a couple of Seraphims while a Gold Cup Brewer served up a variety of coffees for attendees to sample throughout the day from roasters like George Howell, Irving Farm, One Village, and Equal Exchange. Troy Reynard from Cosmic Cup, who was an original organizer and host of the event eight years ago, sounded somewhat awed by the huge audience as he intro- duced this year's event keynote speech. "MANE," he said, "is about passion and education. When we started, we were just 40 baristas. And now we're filling the con- vention center!" Tim Wendelboe, 2004 World Barista Champion, and owner of the eponymous Tim Wendelboe Coffee in Oslo, Norway, participated as a panelist, taught an espresso workshop, and gave a well-re- ceived keynote to the full auditorium. In his keynote, Tim spoke about his journey in coffee from a precocious barista at an old-school Oslo chain café to the owner of his own café, an award-winning roaster, green buyer, and entrepreneur. "My goal," he said, "is to change coffee, and I'm doing it my way. But I'm just at the beginning." "So what are your goals?" he asked the audience. "Why are you sitting here listen- ing to me? Why are we here as an industry and where do we want it to go?" The last question really resonated in a setting like MANE because it cuts to the core of the event's heart: building and supporting an industry and a community. MANE is set to continue to grow and thrive as long as attendees respond like they did at this year's event, which meant already making plans to come back next year. —Kenneth R. Olson While the MANE Conference originated in Pennsylvania, it has found its permanent home in Rhode Island. In prior years, the event was held at the New Harvest Coffee Roasters' roasting facility. This year, however, in order to accommodate more aendees, it moved to downtown Providence's Rhode Island Convention Center.

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