Batdorf and Bronson’s Andy Lee has been one of the faithful TNT competitors since day one. For months now he has practiced and practiced and practiced and on the night of the Seventh Throwdown, he tasted the sweet fruits of his labor. The sweet fruits came in the form of cold hard cash and an iPod Shuffle (provided by sponser Ripple).

Look at the intensity in this man’s eyes. Makes me quite proud…

Hey, guys, just a reminder, this coming Thursday is the next TNT. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month! I’m so ready for another one! We have confirmed that the winner of this week will be receiving an iPod Shuffle thanks to our Platinum sponsor, Ripple, along with the pot! Bad ass.

We’re still in the process of making TNT bigger and better, and look for huge doses of awesomeness in the July TNT. It’ll be pretty much the same, just a lot more exciting and cooler. As just a teaser, in July there will be prizes for not just 1st, but 1st through 3rd. It will be great.

Come Throwdown this Thursday and win yourself an iPod!!!

First off, let me apologize for the painfully long gap between posts. I’m sorry. My excuses are as follows: (1) SCAA/USBC required a lot of recovery time, catching up at work, etc. and (2) my computer decided to fail completely and erase my hard drive, causing me to loose a lot of stuff/everything. Now on to the post….

The Sixth Throwdown was a bittersweet one, because it was the last day of Octane’s beloved Coffeeboss, my dear friend and TNT co-founder, M’lissa, before her and Chris (my latte art sensei) moved across the country. It was an exciting contest, as both M’lissa and Chris competed. M’lissa’s pour was good, but she knew she could do better. My memory sucks, and this throwdown was a while ago, but i believe Chris went last. In any case, he killed it, proving he is a master of his craft, and now his name is on the banner forever.

However, let the record show, M’lissa was awarded an honorary “Coffeeboss Bonus Pour” to submit for judging, even though it wouldn’t count. She tied (down to the half point) Chris’s score. So even though Chris’s name is on the banner, M’lissa is up there in spirit. And whatever is Chris’s is M’lissa’s anyways, right?

I had a super cute picture of the both of them which i was going to post here, but as my hard drive decided to end it’s life you’ll have to pretend.

{imaginary cute picture of Chris and M’lissa}

We’ll miss you guys!

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!

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…

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!

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)

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!

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!