Friday, July 15, 2005

   from Nick

Little local relevant tidbits

Always with our ears to the ground...

- From the rumor mill... Word has "on the street" in Capitol Hill that the old "Antiques on the Hill" space a couple of blocks north on 7th St SE from murky capitol hill will be occupied by a coffeehouse chain that's looking to expand in the area. No, not Starbucks, Caribou, Cosi, or any of the 'usual suspects.' Stay tuned. FYI... our take on it: "The more the merrier!"

- From "Washington Business Journal," July 15, 2005: "... The new Navy League building is introducing four restaurants to Arlington's Courthouse neighborhood. Coming soon: Five Guys, Sala Thai, Robeks smoothie and juice bar and Fire Cree, a casual eatery. Oh crap... Five Guys? There goes my girlish figure!

- The U.S. Barista Championship committee has approved the first ever Mid Atlantic Regional Barista Competition for 2006, and murky coffee has the honor of being named the host. It will take place during late February 2006 in Washington, DC at a location to be announced. For your information, the 2006 US Barista Championship will take place at the SCAA Conference in Charlotte, NC in April 2006, and the World Barista Championship will be in Bern, Switzerland a month or two later. Many of the murky coffee crew have had the privilege of participating in these competitions as competitors, judges, and volunteers. So though DC might not be getting the Olympics any time soon, we can look forward to what many are calling 'The Olympics of coffee!'

- Speaking of competitions, we're putting together our 2005-2006 barista competition team together as we speak, and in a couple of weeks, we will have our in-house barista competition, with baristas from both shops vying for a chance to compete in the South East Regional Barista Competition, hosted by Counter Culture Coffee, to take place in Chapel Hill, NC in September. We'll be sending a team of two. Talk to your barista and ask them if they're competing. Our in-house will take place at murky coffee capitol hill, and yes, we will welcome spectators. Saturday, July 30th, at 7:00pm.

- It's intended for coffee professionals, but feel free to check out portafilter.net. It's a group-blog from an 'all-star team' of coffee professionals from around the country, and includes a weekly-ish podcast.

- In case there are any folks who are reading this who are thinking about, or planning to, or already have opened a coffee shop, ESPECIALLY in the DC area, feel free to send us an email or give us a call! murky coffee is all about improving coffee quality anywhere it can, but we're about community first. We'd love to get to know our colleagues around the area better!

- If you haven't RSVP'ed yet, there are still some spots open for our "D.C. GeekFest IV - Espresso Tasting XXtravaganzza Part Deux" event, taking place this Sunday (the 17th) at 7:30 PM at murky arlington. Scroll down to the July 8 post to read more!

- Finally, please vote for us on WashingtonPost.com's Best Bets 2005! Especially if you're a guest who uses our wi-fi, what better way to show how much you appreciate what we provide you than to go over there and cast your vote for us? Even if you don't use the wi-fi, we have a really good shot at winning this year, but only if we have your support. Thanks!!!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Archives

  • February 2004
  • March 2004
  • April 2004
  • May 2004
  • June 2004
  • August 2004
  • September 2004
  • October 2004
  • November 2004
  • December 2004
  • January 2005
  • February 2005
  • March 2005
  • April 2005
  • May 2005
  • June 2005
  • July 2005
  • August 2005
  • September 2005
  • October 2005
  • November 2005
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007