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By Sarah Allen en Photos by Kirk Mastin Mastin I'm almost late as I coast across the Broadway Bridge, headed for the Portland train station. We're far into February, and the air is dry and strangely warm. I arrive, and there they are—Sarah Dooley and Anna Gutierrez—both bundled in Northwest-y scarves and with rosy red cheeks as they runy r to greet me. We're all pretty excited: we've been planning, and looking forward to, this day for weeks. uar , an nd there the s as t I turn the music down, and then off completely, as the vocal pitch the car intensifies. We talk over and around each other, loud a d h ho h in in ud and happy, as I pilot the car toward the southeast industrial neighborhood where we'll nal co ee meet up with Laila Ghambari, the third in this troop of professional coffee azing co time has taken some serious planning. I invited Sarah a d Anna to schedule, so we coffee, their role n w Wrangling three busy coffee professionals into a full day o hangout h and Anna to l day of hangout come down from Seattle, and Laila to clear her Portland s hed could spend an entire day talking about their work in co ee as women in a male dominated industry, and their reflectio ctions on what is is women I've assembled. Our mission: to drink loads of amazing coffees in gh t e day a out as many top-notch Portland cafés as we can; and talk through the day about the issues most important to them in their field. internationally regarded as the specialty coffee mecca: the United States' Pacific Northwest. ecial ed S No First, a Chemex. We gather at a round table in a spot of sunlight inside Water Avenue Coffee and sid sip our freshly brewed Kenya Karatina AA, and the conversation effortlessllessly turns to women in coffee. We're talking about Liindsey Kiser of Peregrine Espresso's recent Southeast Regional Barista Competition win, and how awesome it is. Laila says, "I want to beat her." erio s. " st, a Chemex. W p our f eshly b d t e co eregr d ho ila s ys, " wa (ba ist aga co her She's dead serious. "Women have to be really good to get to that level. The truth is that not a lot of women are doing this (barista competitions) so it does need to be poininted out." She looks around the table. en ha e t Sarah looks into her cup. "I always feel like I'm competing against myselflf f first,t," she says softly. "I hope girls watch us compete and think, 'I can do this, too. Look at her—she's kicking ass.'"'" rah a d L ila ha e N lo ks aro nd t e t Sarah lo ks in t m d think, 'I ca Sarah and Laila have been competing for years—both made the finals of the Northwest Regional Barista Competition (NWRBC) in 2011, and Laila placed second at this year's Regional. She's gunning hard for the United en co est Regio al B eting f r y s—b h made t e f nals o d L la her c " she s ys s I al I ho etin etitio s) so i does need t e. e r ally g be d to get d o t." S ef ee. W e talkin ed K y t s t nds y K heast Regio al B st men a r le es' Pacific www.baristamagazine.com 61