TNT Tomorrow (and also important announcement)

Sorry for the lack of updates recently! It’s been a crazy month, and even crazier week. Half of the Octane crew just got back to Atlanta after having an awesome week at SCAA/USBC. Lots of fun and excitement, but i think we’re ready for things to return to normalcy for a bit.

First off, there will be a TNT tomorrow night! It’s an extra special one, because it will be M’lissa’s last TNT as she is moving across the country soon! So come out and say good-bye and give her some love!

And now for the important(ish) annoucement…. Thursday Night Throwdown, starting tomorrow, will be happening once a month as opposed to weekly. The upside, however, is that they will be way more intense, the pot will be bigger, and very possibly there will be additional prizes thrown in. It’s going to be super awesome!

Keep checking back for more updates as the details come together. See you all tomorrow!

The Fifth Throwdown (a.k.a. the Three-peat)

Sometimes luck is just on your side. Josh Flail would say so. Dale Donchey, however, would not. When all was said and done at the Fifth Throwdown, it was a mere 1.5 points that kept Dale (who has regular appearances in the top 3 of the leaderboard) from his first TNT victory. Dale’s pour was beautiful, but Josh’s excellent contrast was just barely enough to push him to the Three-peat.

Mr. Flail has made an unofficial announcement of retirement, perhaps wanting to leave at the top of his game. Alas, there will be no attempt at a Four-peat. But something tells me this retirement won’t last forever…

NO TNT THIS THURSDAY

We’re sadly going to have to cancelled Thursday Night Throwdown this Thursday as M’lissa and I will be out of town. M’lissa, Danielle, and I are going to Durham, NC to the Counter Culture HQ to get Counter Culture certified. We’ve all wanted to do this for a while, but Danielle and I are competing at the USBC, so this is a great time for us to practice our routines, and get CC certified all in one giant tamping motion.

And don’t worry, TNT will resume next week (4/24). We’ll see you then!

The Fourth Throwdown

At the fourth throwdown there was tension in the air. The question on everyone’s mind: “Who will be first person to have their name on the banner twice?” Two of the three TNT Champions were in attendance (Brett and co. sadly have a two hour drive to Atlanta and so the Primavera crew can’t come every week) and when the steam cleared, one of the champions emerged as a champion yet again, and that man was Josh Flail. Two weeks in a row? Could there be a three-peat?

Here is M’lissa presenting the back to back winner with his winnings. (And yes, Josh is wearing a Team Ben shirt from when Danielle and I competed at SERBC)

Bikes to Rwanda Throwdown this Friday

This Thursday (tomorrow) we will be having our normal TNT, but in addition, on Friday, to kick off Octane’s Bikes to Rwanda benefit weekend, we will be having a throwdown as well. The rules will be the same, and we’ll have projection and all that fancy fun stuff, but instead the pot will go to Bikes to Rwanda. There will still be a rad prize package for the victor including gift certificates and coffee goodies (i heard something about a Bodum Chambord French Press) that will be well over the value of a normal TNT pot.

It’s still only $5 to get in on Friday, but we’re encouraging people to pay as much as they want to throwdown. It would be kind of awesome to see us latte artists be able to raise a nice chunk of money for this great organization. The espresso we’ll be using on Friday (and all month at Octane) is a Single Origin Rwanda Humure roasted for us by Counter Culture. So we’ll be using a Rwandan coffee to help raise money for Rwanda! <insert cheesy “full circle” comment here>.

It all starts at 8PM. There’s going to be a good grill out, good beer, and good friends, so pack your tamp and pitcher, it’s going to be the stuff of legend!

TNT on CNN.com!!!

For those who were around for the First Throwdown, you might have noticed a nice guy name Curt walking around taking pictures and doing some interviews. Well, he happens to work at this little place called CNN (not sure if you’ve heard of it or not, it’s this news place…….. hehe, i kid) and did a cool little audio report on TNT!

Check it out here!

The Third Throwdown

The story of Josh Flail is one of success combined with disappointment. Capturing 3rd place multiple times is sure to solidify one’s reputation as a heavy hitter, but for Josh, that wasn’t enough. He wanted more…

And at the Third Throwdown, he got more. He got a TNT victory and a spot for his name to be on TNT banner for all of time.

Here i am handing him his winnings, while we both make goofy faces.

The Second Throwdown

What an exciting week this was! The Primavera crew returned again all the way from Birmingham, and Brett was looking to defend his title. And for a good of half the competition, his name was in the number one spot on the leader board. It was……. until the last competitor of the evening, Octane’s own Matt McDaniel managed to slip into first, topping Brett by a mere 2.5 points. For those who don’t know, the order in which the competitors pour is picked at random, but we couldn’t have picked a more exciting conclusion if we tried!

Thanks again to everyone who came out this week! Here’s our new champion Matt, with his $90 worth of winnings.

Awesome!

This is what it’s all about!

Minor Rules Update

So our first TNT has come and gone, and it was amazing. Thanks again to everyone who came out and traveled both short and long distances. It was great to see the new and familiar faces all hanging out together and sharing a common bond of love for coffee. M’lissa and I are extremely pumped and grateful.

As it was our first official time of going through the whole thing, we learned a great deal about how the whole process flows, and we wanted to clarify a few things that we didn’t clarify as much the first week.

First off, we’re adding the following section in the Rules: “In order to participate, the competitor must have experience with espresso preparation and the equipment used to do so. In addition, the competitor must have experience pouring milk based beverages.” There will be a person at all TNT’s to show people how to use the La Marzocco Linea that Octane has, but we just want to put that in the rules so people aren’t caught unaware when they come out and realize what will be required of them to pour a latte.

There’s also one more addition: “If the competitor is not happy with his or her pour, then the competitor can choose not to submit it for scoring, by notifying an officiator.” In throwdowns all over the world, it is perfect acceptable to dump your own pour if you’re not happy with it. We’ve all screwed up pours before, and even the best have dumped theirs at some point.

We also wanted to highlight this section: “A selection of mugs will be provided for the competitor to choose from, but the competitor can bring his or her own mug of choice, as long as it is solid and non-patterned and has no logo or brand.” If there’s a mug you practice with, feel free to bring it! I know that when i pour latte art, there’s a specific kind of mug i like best and i get my best results with, and we want to encourage you to pour your best possible.

We’re going to have the rules printed out next time for everyone to have, but we want to strongly encourage you read the Rules post on this blog before coming out next Thursday. There’s a lot of useful information and tips to help you do your best pour possible.