The Big Eastern Comes to Durham


Published :    By : CCR      Cat :    Comments : 0

The Big Eastern  will be held at Golden Belt in downtown Durham January 17-19! For those not in the know, the event  features the premier baristas from the entire East Coast (including two of our very own), battling it out for regional bragging rights. Competitors are tested on technical skill as well as knowledge and passion for coffee, in a viewer-friendly way. Attendees will get to sample the drinks prepared by skilled baristas similar to the ones prepared in competition. It’s a free event and open to the public.

Carrboro Coffee, Open Eye Cafe and Caffe Driade will play a major role. CCR will host a pop-up Café in the lobby of Golden Belt, which will serve as a “hands-on” environment for baristas to work with various equipment. We want our pop-up Café to be a place to relax for the barista community where they can interact and learn from one another while enjoying a live stream of the competition upstairs.

Our Open Eye Café baristas & Carrboro Coffee Roastery employees will also take part in The Big Eastern competition in a variety of capacities. Two Open Eye Café baristas, Josh Kimbrough and Miles Murray, will be competing in the Brewer’s Cup and will also be making coffee for spectators on Saturday the 18th, 2-3:30pm. Open Eye Café and Carrboro Coffee Roasters has been involved in the Barista Competitions since 2003 and have had many employees garner top finishes regionally and nationally.

Our own Scott Conary will serve as head judge at The Big Eastern this year. Scott serves as Head Judge and Chair of the SCAA Competitions Committee, and plays an active role in World Coffee Events Instructional Design Committee, where he certifies judges and acts as Head Judge at competitions around the world. Scott has been the only Head Judge from the USA at the World Barista Competition for the past 6 years.

We hope you can all make it out to the Big Eastern this month. And don’t forget to check out all of the events planned around the main competition. Visit http://uscoffeechampionships.org to get the full schedule.

We’ll see you there!



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