The La Colombe Brew Crew and other members of Team La Colombe travelled across the country to Seattle for this year’s Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event. While there was plenty of play and team bonding in our safehouses, the business at hand kept us quite occupied. Co-owner Todd Carmichael and Philadelphia single-origin QC James Klapp also managed to keep their focus to compete in the US Brewers Cup. La Colombe was the only company in the coffee industry to send two competitors forward to the finals. Todd lead the way, being crowned the national US Brewers Cup overall runner-up, while unveiling his greatly-discussed futuristic glass brewing contraption, dubbed “The Dragon.” James also took a very respectable 4th place using Kalita wave drippers and his beloved “Dumbonavita” kettle. We were able to snap some behind-the-scenes photos of last week’s event, which you can now check out below.

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James Klapp on the plane with Team La Colombe
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La Colombe Featured at Slayer Espresso Bar
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James Klapp’s Setup – Kalita Wave drippers and scales with some green coffee as prop
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Team Sampling of James’ Coffee Before Competition
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James’ Modified Bonavita Kettle Dubbed “Dumbonavita”
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Free Samples of Columbia Geisha, which James brewed for the Competition
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JP’s Custom Embroidered Dickie’s Shirt
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Ben, Manager of Our Philly Cafes, Cleaning James’ Equipment
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Brian From Our Philly Sales Brew Crew Standing Guard Over Todd’s Dragons
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The Dragons
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Team La Colombe Watching the Competition
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Todd Setting Up for Round One
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Todd Being Interviewed Before First Round
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Todd Preparing Coffee for the Judges in Round One
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Full House to Watch Todd Brew for the Competition
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JP Watching Todd Brew
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Todd Being Focused
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James’ Coffee for the Competition
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James Being Interviewed Before Competition
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James Brewing in the Round One
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Team La Colombe Watching James Brew
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La Colombe Chicago’s Joel Brewing on Steampunk
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Todd & James With the Rest of the Finalists
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Todd Waiting for the Finals to Begin

 

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Team La Colombe Rally Bandana
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James Waiting for His Turn in the Finals
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James Double-Fisted Brewing in the Finals
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Behind the Judges
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JP & Corey (From Chicago Sales Team) at the Finals
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Todd Waiting for His Turn at the Finals
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Todd Brewing in the Finals
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Tadd Talking About What He Is Doing in the Finals
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Team La Colombe Supporting Todd & James
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Todd & His Runner-up Plaque

 

7 comments

  1. Mine, too Larry. I’m glad to hear it will be back. The season goes WAY too fast! It’ll be some long months before we get to see it again!

  2. Great stuff! I love the show and I love the coffee! I really look forward to both! Thanks and stay save!

  3. Wonderful photo blog! I love being able to keep up with what goes on at La Colombe. I am very happy to see the progression of skill sets and execution of them over time. Congrats to Todd and the team!!

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