It’s completely nuts how lovely the weather is here in London… like, London? Really? 82 degrees?? Just a few days ago, my friend Kim, who lives here, was warning me to bring a heavy jacket and a wool sweater. And yes, they’re in my suitcase, but they’ll be staying there if the weatherman is right and this sunshine continues through the week. Fine by me!
The only problem with this weather, however, is that the ceiling of the Olympia event space, where Caffe Culture and the WBC and many more events are being held this week, has a domed glass ceiling, and I cannot convey how dastardly boiling hot it was in there today when Kim and I went to check that the WBC programs and Barista Magazines that we shipped last week had arrived (they did — phew!).
But like the ever affable Cosimo of Nuova Simonelli told me with a shrug and a smile, “It won’t matter in the end ”the competition will be fantastic!” And I know he’s right — this is one of the very best coffee events of the year! And there was another reason that Cosimo was smiling: check out these competition machines!!! They’re HOT!
It was so nice to run into so many friends from around the world today: Jon Lewis from Cup of Excellence; 2x Norwegian champ Oda; last year’s Danish champ, Morten; Anastasia and Gary from Beyond the Bean/Sweetbird; Enrico from La Marzocco; Katrin from Kaffitar in Iceland; and many, many more… what a great group!
And of course, this whole thing wouldn’t be happening without THIS guy:
But it hasn’t even started yet! Tomorrow is the big day — competition starts in the morning! Check out the schedule for the list of competitors, and be sure to watch the competition online HERE. And please keep checking back to this very blog for updates and photos throughout the 3-day competition!
Yay London!
