USBC

Hey, Josh here,

So recently I had the honor of getting to participate in the United States Barista Competition at the 2007 USBC. This was quite a growing experience in a way that I had not anticipated. The obvious is how much I learned about coffee. Pulling better shots, tasting things I had never tasted before, and talking about coffee in a vernacular which I am only now beginning to ascertain. However, I did not count on the friends and community I would encounter there. No secrets, just excitement. I had just watched a documentary on the growing and exportation of Ethiopian coffee titled Black Gold before going to the competition and had began thinking about what coffee REALLY is. Is it this amazing beverage that through snobbery and years of shelling out big bucks becomes a beverage of the pretentious, or was it something beyond that. After watching some of the most amazing baristas in the world strut their stuff and learning so much with and from them backstage, I found my answer. Coffee is a drink. However, in the right social context it helps people to sit down, slow down and socialize. It can bring people together of all walks of life and make you think, "Wow, up until this cup of coffee I would have never talked to this person." Furthering that thought, I think that coffee is still just a drink. When compared to something say...like the Gospel, it makes me wonder why it is so hard for me to sit down over that and share my love for Jesus with people. Coffee I can do, but Jesus is a lot harder. But why, coffee is just a drink, Jesus is God and infinately more valuable and important. It makes me think that I am trying to share the Gospel, instead of just letting the Gospel speak for itself... kind of like coffee does. Any thoughts?
-josh