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Brew Ha Ha! Barista Competition To Be Held On August 18 Wilmington, DE. – August 1, 2007 – Brew Ha Ha!, a locally-owned specialty coffee retailer, will be holding its Brew Ha Ha! Barista Bowl on Saturday, August 18 at 10AM at its Concord Gallery store at 3636 Concord Pike. All Brew Ha Ha! customers and the general public are invited to watch ten of Brew Ha Ha!’s most talented baristas whip up espressos and cappuccinos and generally strut their stuff in front of a team of judges, while enjoying free coffee, food, and live music. Party down! During the month of July, Brew Ha Ha! customers voted for their favorite barista in their favorite Brew Ha Ha! store. The highest vote-getter in each store will represent their store in the August 18 competition. The winner of the competition will then go on to represent Brew Ha Ha! and Delaware in the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition. If a Brew Ha Ha!’s barista wins the regional competition, he or she will be eligible to compete in the National Barista Competition finals in Minneapolis next May. Then, it’s off to the World Barista Championships the following summer! So, there’s quite a bit at stake here. And for the customers as well. If a customer has voted for the barista who goes on to win the Brew Ha Ha! Barista Bowl, that customer is eligible to enter a drawing to win a brand new Saeco Vienna Black espresso machine and two hours of training with Brew Ha Ha!’s Barista Trainer. So customers please – come out on August 18 and cheer for your favorite barista to take home the prize! The contestants will be judged on several factors, including taste (most important), technical skills, speed, and overall presentational panache. Judges will evaluate the baristas based upon a number of technical and sensory parameters. The technical parameters include everything from espresso shot dose and timing to the number of clean cloths used to wipe down the equipment and work area. There are 26 technical criteria in all. The 16 sensory criteria evaluate the taste, body and “mouthfeel” of the drinks. For a cappuccino, the milk must be correctly textured so that it has a shiny, smooth and bubble-free finish that is free-poured into the espresso, allowing the espresso to rise to the surface and blend harmoniously with the milk. Brew Ha Ha! competed in the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition, but failed to walk away with the grand prize (we wuz robbed!). But we will not be deterred. That’s why we’re holding competitions such as this one. We are on a crusade to show the world that Brew Ha Ha!’s own baristas, hailing from the perceived hinterland of the Delaware Valley, are able to create espresso drinks equal to or superior than baristas from Seattle, New York City, even the Grand Caffes in Rome. Much like the care that goes into making fine wine, micro-brewed beer, and Belgian chocolate, Brew Ha Ha! places great emphasis on hand-crafting espresso beverages using traditional artisanal Italian techniques passed down through generations. More and more, it seems that we live in a mass-market world, where automation and throughput are the watchwords (what the heck is “throughput” anyway?). What gets left behind in the dust is true attention to detail and a focus on doing the simple things very well. That is why Brew Ha Ha!’s primary focus is on becoming experts in the art of coffee, instead of hawking DVD’s, Disney paraphernalia, and other retail tchatzkahs. We recognize that there are many paths that we can choose, but instead of being all things to all people, we choose to be great at coffee. The payoff? A perfectly made espresso (the God shot, we call it) is a rich and full-bodied beverage, with a hint of sweetness – it will taste like fresh-ground coffee smells. The milk will be sweet and silky. The flavor of the drink will not need to be masked by multiple syrups and tons of sugar; it will stand alone in its richness. As coffeevangelists, our quest to create heavenly espressos and cappuccinos won’t end until we die...unless they’re pulling “God shots” in the afterlife. Alisa Morkides is the owner of Brew Ha Ha!, an espresso-driven coffeehouse business with twelve locations in New Castle County and Philadelphia. Best of Delaware winner for thirteen years in a row. On a 1993 vacation to Italy, Alisa was overwhelmed by the quality Italian coffee culture and decided to ditch her boring financial planning job. Six months later, she opened her first store in Greenville, Delaware. Morkides is an admitted “espresso-aholic” but is trying to take life one day at a time. Brew Ha Ha! baristas chosen to represent their store in the August 18 Competition:
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