Sunday, February 28th, the Batdorf Atlanta Roastery hosted its first Yelp Elite Party. We had over 120+ Atlantans come out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for manual brewed coffee, espresso drinks, Moroccan food, and chocolate and cookies from local bakeries. We also had live jazz, provided by Chimp Attack, our resident world jazz ensemble that features two of our roasters, Aaron Shively and Bryan Martin. It was a very nice laid-back feel, we opened the loading dock doors, and a nice breeze came through as the jazz, coffee and conversation filled the Roastery! We ran two espresso bars and two manual brewing bars. On the espresso bars, we had our own Chandler Rentz featuring the Timbales Blend, dishing out some really nice chocolate and caramel capps. On the other machine, we had Athens barista and fellow SERBC competitor, Dut Goodman, who featured our Ethiopia Worka Natural as SOE and making capps that tasted just like peaches and cream. Most of the attendees were (expectedly) most floored by the Ethiopian Worka station, both manual brew and espresso. Most had never had coffee that had those flavors before. On the two manual brew bars, we had SERBC Brewers Cup finalist and fellow ATL manual brew battle participant, Sean Maddox, who brewed our Eth. Worka via the Hario V60. Again, people were blown away by this coffee brewed this way, and as it was the first station upon entering, it was always busy. The second brew bar was manned by myself, using the Colombia Estrella Del Sur brewed by the Clever Dripper. As I was using this as practice for the upcoming US Brewers Cup, I brewed three at a time the whole time, and didnt stop for more almost two hours. I also used the time in the middles to discuss the coffee and method, just like I did in competition, and will in Houston in April. It felt a lot more organic not doing it for judges, Ill say. I heard several people tell me theyd never had a cup like the one the Clever made, and theyd never had a Colombian coffee that had those flavor notes.
Our Head Roaster, Aaron Shively, led attendees on a roastery tour, and a full explanation of where coffee comes from, and how its roasted. Folks were listening intently on every word he said. In the end, we had many happy, caffeinated folks, dancing next to the band, smiles on their faces, and their coffee lives changed forever. So many people had never had coffee or espresso like this, and I hope weve raised the bar for them forever. All the folks working had a blast, the attendees had a blast, and not only did Batdorf & Bronson win in the end, but specialty coffee did. (Special thanks to Chandler Rentz, Dut Goodman, Sean Maddox, Jason Cohen, Kyle Deroche, Mike Ferguson, Jenny Huff, Aaron Shively and Bryan Martin, and of course, my amazing wife for all they did to make this event a HUGE success. I couldnt have done it without them.)
You can read the attendees reviews on the event in these two places:
Yelp Elite Atlanta Party at Batdorf & Bronson Coffee http://www.yelp.com/topic/atlanta-thanks-so-much-for-coming-out-to-batdorf-and-bronson