Gregorys Coffee Olympics
Pour your heart out, but keep a steady hand: those are the simple yet dynamic directives to any coffee throwdown. Yet last Friday at Gregorys we went one step further in hosting the Coffee Olympics, or the Gregolympics (although that last one hasn't caught on).
What's this about a Coffee Olympics?
It's a throwdown-trifecta - a stone-cold slew of challenges: Not only was latte art put to the test, our baristas' sense of smell and taste were on trial in the Cup Tasters Challenge, and nuances of technique and timing in dealing with a hefty order were aggregated in the Workflow Challenge. Quite an ensemble of obstacles for our baristas to go o'er in order to achieve that herculean dignity once worn by the great coffee-maker, Marcialognomen - a mythical figure so illusive that he/she continues to evade even Nineteen Eighty-oogle.
But enough of the past. Some crumbled, some wept, but time - the great leveler - had its way and there stood a final victor in the shape of a team representing one of our stores. The first challenge to summon baristas to their post was the latte art throwdown. Each team sent out one person to pour a heart, another a tulip, and a final third to create a rosetta in randomly-drawn head to head match-ups. Points were awarded for winning each match-up, and bonus points for the best heart, rosetta, and tulip overall. See below for the stand-outs in each of these categories:
Lauren Perniciaro (left) kept the simple mantra in tow and poured her heart out to perfection.
Alex Lemonier (left) swiveled that milk like a set of hips from Saturday Night Fever.
Cassandra Peña (right) forged a more-than-perennial tulip in the minds of each and every witness.
Of the three, the first two have something in common besides great tekkers: they belong to baristas who hail from Fash Ave. Having won each individual match-up and these two 'best overall' titles, Fash Ave stormed ahead.
While milk was dipping on one end, another event was running concurrently that involved smells and sips of some gorgeous pour-over coffee. Yup, the Cup Tasters Challenge. See below for the king-without-a-crown of coffee tasting:
The man himself is Guillermo Minier from 33rd, who kept the coffee taster title he secured only months ago after his second week working at Gregorys. Nevertheless, he kept it by only a hair's breadth: In the event, baristas were presented with six sets of three cups each, in which two cups contain the same coffee and one cup contains a different coffee. The barista was then tasked with identifying the outlier in each set, with the most correct answers determining the winner. Guillermo was rivaled by Jennifer Vasquez from 80 Broad with both of them identifying 5 out of 6 coffees correctly. Guillermo, however, proved the value of speed in overtaking the tiebreaker with time - the great leveler; but with its advantages. Completing all six sets in just one minute, twenty-one seconds, others barely had the occasion to observe how any of this was possible.
Lastly came the Workflow Challenge with each team completing an order of six drinks, with gravitas and speed determining their final score. Given that the lay of the land was in their possession, the Park Ave team posted the second-highest technique score and second-fastest time to take home (keep home?) that event, defeating the marauding 100 Wall St. squad by one point.
Who said latte art isn't everything? Well in these Olympics of ours, the lead taken by Fash Ave in the art department was so above and beyond the competition that they could not be overtaken. As proceedings came to a close, they went home with the top spot, the trophy and caaash-money. Have a look at them receiving the trophy (belonging to antediluvian days) in the pic below, and congratulate them if you're stopping by their store!
