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2011 Barista Competitions: A Year in Review

MadCap sent six competitors this year to the newly dubbed North Central Regional Barista Competition and Brewer’s Cup. Our lineup was as follows:

North Central Regional Barista Competition;
Courtney Vaquera,
Ryan Knapp,
Emily Byxbe,
and Trevor Corlett.

North Central Regional Brewer’s Cup;
Josh Dunigan,
Stacey Wieck,
and Trevor Corlett.

How we finished.

2011 North Central Regional Barista Competition:
1st Place: Ryan Knapp (coffees used Guama, Kenya and Third Coast Espresso)
3rd Place: Trevor Corlett (coffee used Los Lobos, Costa Rica)

2011 North Central Brewers Cup:
Stacey Wieck (Toarco, Sulawesi) and Trevor Corlett (Los Lobos, Costa Rica) finish in the top 6.

2011 United States Barista Championship:
3rd in the Country: Ryan Knapp (Luis Eider Reinoso, Colombia and Dideir Reinoso, Colombia)
4th in the Country: Trevor Corlett (Los Lobos, Costa Rica)

2011 United States Brewers Cup:
4th in the Country: Stacey Wieck (Luis Eider Reinoso, Colombia)

Needless to say we had an extremely fun year competing. It was very rewarding seeing new MadCappers do well, hearing different folk’s responses to our coffees, and participating in the barista community at-large. If you missed seeing the USBC and Brewer’s Cup finals you can watch it here http://www.justin.tv/usbcscaa/. Thanks for everyone’s support. We’re already excited for next year!

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NCRBC 2011

Last weekend was the North Central Region Barista Competition and Brewers Cup. This year for competition we showed up with 4 barista competitors and 3 brewers cup competitors. It turned out to be an action packed weekend and if you didn’t get to see it you can see video footage here.

Trevor and Emily both competed in the first round on Friday and Ryan and Courtney both competed in the first round on Saturday. The first round of the brewers cup all took place on Saturday with Stacey competing and Josh and Trevor signing up last minute. When all was said and done on Saturday, 2 of the 6 finalists in each competition were from MadCap. Stacey and Trevor made the finals in the Brewers Cup and Ryan and Trevor made the finals in the Barista Competition.

NCRBC 2011 Finalists

NCRBC 2011 Finalists.

I can assure you Sunday was action packed but to cut a long story short Trevor and Stacey found themselves somewhere in the bottom 6 of the brewers cup after they announced the winners. The big news came with the announcement of the North Central Barista Competition. With the results being Trevor taking 3rd place, Scott Lucey getting 2nd and Ryan Knapp earning the title of North Central Region Champ! Mr. Knapp earned all expenses paid to nationals in Houston, a free week long trip to Brazil in July sponsored by Cafe Imports, and a sweet 1st place trophy!

Ryan Knapp, NCRBC Champ

Ryan Knap, NCRBC 2011 Champ

So what’s next do you ask? Well, Ryan and Trevor now get the privilege of trying to win the title of U.S. barista champ at Houston in April. So in the meantime, ask about their competition coffees and ask for a taste. We think you might like it.

Article about Ryan’s victory on Fresh Cup.

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Hello 2011!!!

A long overdue update…

Let’s begin with the Good Food Awards. The last we had updated on our site we were announced a finalist back in November. Well mid January we headed out to San Francisco to accept the award for Central Region Good Food Award Winner for our Los Lobos from Costa Rica.

Good Food Awards

Ryan and Luis accepting our award.

We were met in San Francisco by our Los Lobos producer Luis Alfaro and his wife. It was a great weekend talking with foodies passionate about being great at what they do whether it was making pickle brine or chocolate. The winners also had the opportunity to serve their products to the shoppers at the Ferry Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. One of the best parts of this experience was the comments we heard over and over again at the surprise that there was “good coffee in Michigan”. We continually heard statements like, “Oh, I’m from the East side” or “I grew up in Big Rapids”. And many left stating that maybe it’s time they came back to Michigan for a visit. Yep, I think it’s time.

Ferry Market, San Francisco

Serving coffee at the Ferry Market, San Francisco.

Check out not just the other coffee winners but the winners in the other 6 categories as well at the Good Food Awards website.

Lastly, February began with the Local First Annual meeting and first ever LocalMotion Awards. MadCap was honored to have been nominated for both the Mover and Shaker award as well as the Triple Bottom Line award. When all was said and done we were both flattered and honored to have been awarded the Triple Bottom Line award. The award recognizes businesses that are dedicated to people, planet and profit or the Triple Bottom Line. It gives us at MadCap great joy to know that our efforts to provide high quality coffee that tells a great story does not go unnoticed. Thank you Grand Rapids!

LocalMotion Awards

Trevor accepting the Triple Bottom Line award at the Local First meeting.

Hello 2011! What a way to start a year!

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Say No To 20oz Drinks

Ryan, Naomi, and I had the opportunity last week to make some cameo appearances in an interview Fox News Chicago did at Intelligentsia regarding their removal of 20oz drinks from the menu. Honestly, I think Doug used us to support the cause. Hey, we’re all for it. There won’t be any 20oz coffees on our menu. Cheers to Intelly for making the move.

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The End of the Beginning…

[ Cue “Show Me What You Got” Single] It is my sincere pleasure to introduce you to our endeavor. Considering our lack of acquaintance, we will need to run through a lot, so bear with me. We’ll hit up the personalities of this effort soon enough, but I’ll lay down the primary details first. We have loved our Moon Monkey Coffee Shop. She has served us well as she fostered the development of our skills. What can we say, though? It’s time to grow up. We are growing up and out. Ladies and Gentlemen, competition, and downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, we are packing up our passion, skills, and sarcasm to bring you an exceptional coffee experience in the form of MadCap Coffee Company [ and Bad Ass Roastery]. With confidence akin to that of our friend, Jay Z, I may say that we will own it. Opening day lattes and capps will be marked with tulips and triples, as will be the standard everyday thereon out. We want you to vicariously live through us as we build this shop from the ground up. We are fusing our life into coffee for the sake of its perfection. We believe in the personal, communal, and global purpose of coffee; our joy comes from sharing it with others.

Without any further deliberation, I’d love to introduce you to the [soon to be] faces of MadCap Coffee Company.
-We will obviously begin with Trevor Corlett. Owner, barista, and Godfather- this man is why we are all here. With eight years of coffee industry experience, our boi has the coffee and entrepreneurial skills to show. He taught himself everything about the business from roasting to machine maintenance. His managerial skills have been compared to those of Empire Records [needless note: Trevor possesses an nonsensical amount of 1990‘s movie trivia in his skull] , nonetheless his commitment to coffee and its application have guided us down the caffeine trodden path of coffee culture. A.k.a. If our lives flop, we are holding him liable. This weekend, he will be competing in National’s with Ryan Knapp. You can identify him by the seemingly impenetrable watch he always wears. Titanium alloy, perhaps…
-Ryan Knapp is the right hand man. His job description encompasses roasting, training, and dominating the bar. Ryan has only had this love affair for about a year and a half, but his potential is unrivaled. Trevor passed off roasting to Ryan last year, and he has thrown his heart into every roast since. Ryan is serious about coffee, and to his credit, he won’t let us forget it. He is always reading, researching, and blogging about how he may further the quality of our product. He will be competing along with Trevor this weekend at National’s, and he may be spotted by his illustriously authoritative beard.
-Laura Feldman has, up to this point, been the secret shift leader. A promotion is underway, so I will update you with her official function. Off the record, Laura is quite the mediating factor in this whole equation. She is calm and cool like no other, and she holds more than her own (could that be an expression?) behind the bar. She has been, and will continue to be, proactive in addressing environmental and sustainability issues within the community. Laura has a unique contribution to MadCap’s story. Through credit manipulation and hard work, this girl is graduating a year early to move to Grand Rapids and start the shop. Laura may be found if you follow an incessant complaint about the weather. Our Cali girl isn’t too fond of snow, wind, or drizzles. It’s a good thing she’s moving to Michigan.
-As for myself, self-description is never any fun. I will cordially introduce myself as Naomi, and leave it at that for now. I have the authority to do that. I am the one writing.

Please, stay in touch, friends. This is going to be a brilliant chain of events, and we want you there from beginning to end. Speak soon!
Naomi

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CAFE HOURS

Mon – Fri: 7am – 7pm

Saturday: 8am – 7pm

Sunday: Closed

Contact

98 Monroe Ctr NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

info at madcapcoffee.com

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