Many retailers are timid about serving whole leaf tea by the cup, for good reason. It's not as simple as a tea bag. There are three easy methods we recommend which extract whole leaf tea beautifully. The traditional way to brew and serve tea is in an individual tea pot. Be sure to scald the pot first, and instruct customers to stop the steeping after 3 or 4 minutes. A French Press works great also: The plunging stops the steeping quite well. But pots and presses aren't practical for most retailers whose primary customer base buys cups of tea to-go. The best solution is to pack the whole-leaf tea into an individual t-sac -- which is simply an open-ended empty tea bag -- and then place it into the customer's cup. We stock these handy bamboo tea scoops that fit nicely into the sacs also.
We currently wholesale the following Certified Organic Rishi teas: Fair Trade Earl Grey, Fair Trade Golden Yunnan, Fair Trade Masala Chai, Fair Trade Blueberry Rooibos, Jade Cloud, Peach Blossom, Orange Blossom, Plum Oolong, Tangerine Ginger and White Peony.

Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company now offers wholesale customers an assortment of whole leaf Rishi teas. Whether you operate a cafe, restaurant, market, coffeehouse or hotel, your customers are ready for a whole-leaf tea experience. All the Rishi teas we are currently stocking are Certified Organic and Kosher. Many are Fair Trade as well. We chose Rishi for its hand-crafted, artisanal quality; fragrant boquet; full-body flavor; and beautiful blends. Just take a look at this Organic Orange Blossom Green. Rishi is a garden-direct importer, meaning that they work directly with the tea growers in Japan, India, Africa and China.

Wow! What a weekend!
A big thanks to all involved: All of our competitiors, volunteers, judges, sponsors, and of course Michelle Campbell with the SCAA.

Congratulations to Pete Licata the 2008 Midwest Regional Barista Champion from PT's Coffee Co.


Here are the top 3 finalists:

1 Pete Licata (middle)PT's Coffee Co. - Overland Park, KS
2 Alex McCracken (right) Kaldi's Coffee Roasitng Co.-St. Louis,MO
3 Robin Seitz (left) PT's Coffee Co. - Topeka, KS




There were a record 27 baristas competing with some of the biggest crowds ever for the MWRBC. It was standing room only at the finals.


We had a great showing of five Kaldi's baristas with two finalists: Alex McCracken took second place and Mike Marquard took fourth. David Fitterling (8th), Kristen Coleman (12th) and Alex Frankel (15th) all turned in fantastic performances.


Howard, Mike, and Alex warming up Sunday morning for finals.














Look at those shots -off the charts!





Another local presence turning in great performances were five competitors (serving Kaldi's Coffee I might add) from Cairdeas Coffee and La Gra Italian Tapas: Lou and Andrea Barrale, Erika Darrough, Justin Rau and Amber West.

It was an incredibly tight competiton with a mere 25.5 points seperating first place from fourth place. Here is the ranking order:

http://www.scaa.org/pdfs/news/2008_MWRBC_Ranking_Order.pdf


Check out the photos posted from the SCAA:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/

All of the regional barista competitions lead up to the US Barista Championship, held in conjunction with the annual SCAA conference, which is in Minneapolis this year. The winner of the 2008 USBC will go on to represent the United States at the 9th Annual World Barista Championship, hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe, June 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

One week to go before the Midwest Regional Barista Competition. This might possibly be the largest field of comepetitors to date at a MWRBC. Be sure to stop by to see the best Baristas in the area.

Check the link on our website for all the info.
http://kaldiscoffee.com/competition/index.html

Here are some pics of the competition area prior to set up at the venue - The Third Degree Glass Factory: