Last Minute Costumes? Be Your Favorite Coffee Brewer!

It’s Halloween and you still don’t have a costume?!? Look to some of our favorite coffee pros for ideas inspired by our most beloved brewers.

It happened. It’s Halloween and you don’t have a costume. Perhaps you were uninspired. Perhaps you were distracted by the storm that is the 2016 election or the accompanying news cycle. Or, more realistically, perhaps you are just a busy and tired barista who didn’t have enough time to come up with the most clever, poignant, and socially relevant costume of the year (you’ve probably seen a dozen people dressed as ‘Eleven’ from  Stranger Things  just today).

 

You still have time to run to your local convenience store and try to put something together. Maybe you can still buy a pre-made costume in a bag and be on your way. Or, you can say, “Dammit! I’m a coffee pro and I can figure out a clever costume to make  on my own!” But what to make?

 

Well, take a look around you. Maybe your costume could come in the form of your favorite, reliable coffee brewer. But which coffee brewer to pick? Obviously, the brewer you pick will speak to the person you are. So maybe it’s the brewer that would win ‘Best Looking’ in a beauty contest. The one you know many baristas have in their homes. The classic, timeless piece, like a little black dress that never goes out of style. The reliable, the understated:  Chemex. Katie Cargulio, the 2012  USBC  champ and overall coffee guru from  Counter Culture, demonstrates just how classy our forever favorite  glassblown coffee brewer is.

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Katie shows us that costumes can be both clever and stylish.
But maybe you’re an innovator. A traveler, a maverick. Maybe you like the flexibility of going wherever you want, whenever you want. And maybe your brew looks inverted one day, and bypassed the other. Never fear–Maciej Kasperowicz of Gregorys Coffee demonstrates how easy it is to be our most versatile, yet banned on most airplanes, brewer: the Aeorpress.
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Maciej is an innovator, both in his costume choice and design.

 

But perhaps Halloween is a time to recall a simpler time. One without TDS readings or scales or any fancy bells and whistles. I just want my coffee, darn it! And I want it rich, full of oils, and foreign. The French Press may seem like it’s out of style, but it’s always fashion forward in your book, as modeled by Emma Stratigos, also of Gregorys Coffee.

 

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Emma shows us that certain things never go out of style.

You might be reading these descriptions and thing, ‘Psh! These childish brewing methods are beneath me!’ You, sir or madam, are of a class beyond most brew methods. You enjoy the finer things, the sophistication of worldly items such as cigarette holders and bidets. To you, brewed coffee is weak and flavorless. Perhaps you should channel your preferred coffee brewer: the espresso machine.

 

Now, to be a whole espresso machine is just ridiculous, obviously. So where do you draw inspiration? Do you dress as a steamwand, dreaming of recreating your favorite microfoam from an Italian gas station that makes  the best cappuccinos you’ve ever had? Or do you go all-in and replicate a boiler, the true heart and soul of the espresso machine. No. You are more than any silly piece of an espresso machine. You are the messenger of espresso: the grouphead. Let Chad Bledsoe show you how to deliver the good word of espresso to the masses.

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To truly channel your favorite brew method, sometimes you have to sacrifice things. In this case, the sacrifice is primarily sight.
And for fun, people can pretend to pull shots. Not only clever but interactive.
It’s not too late to find a few pieces of cardboard and make your favorite brew method to share with others on Halloween. If anyone has any clever ideas or makes a cool coffee costume, please email them to me at ashley@baristamagazine.com and be part of our coffee Halloween celebration! And of course, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
About Ashley Rodriguez 413 Articles
Ashley is the Online Editor for Barista Magazine. She's based in Chicago. If you want to share a story or have a comment, you can reach her at ashley@baristamagazine.com.