The finalists for the 2014 eastern regional championship of the DaVinci Gourmet America’s Best Coffeehouse Competition have just been announced. Green Nature Coffee House, Thinking Cup, Commonplace Coffee Company, Café Grumpy, Mudhouse Coffee Roaster and Muggswigz Coffee and Tea will all be vying for one of six positions for the national championship in Portland later this year. The winner will be announced at the Coffee Fest in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center on 7-9 March, 2014. The Coffee Fest show will have over 200 exhibition booths and 80 classes and workshops. America’s Best Coffeehouse is a unique competition that creates a coffeehouse setting within the tradeshow where teams can recreate daily life in their coffeehouse. Competitors enter by submitting forms and a video of them in action. Three people form a team and work to serve the customers at Coffee Fest. They perform in a regular café setting and are judged on a number of aspects. They are judged on cleanliness, work-flow, teamwork, use of time, and quality and taste of beverages.
Fan voting takes place during the preliminary round of the competition that allows other customers to join in on the festivities and root for their favorite coffeehouse. Attendee Customers at Coffee Fest are also taken into consideration through the use of feedback forms that mainly cover employee hospitality and judge on taste. Teams never know when they are making a drink for a judge due to secret customers that order and deliver drinks to the technical judges. This helps judges know how consistent a coffeehouse’s beverages are.
