Just came back from one hell of a road trip. Andrew (Kopplin) and I drove to DC and back this weekend for Coffee Fest DC 08. That's the area that I grew up and most of my family is still there so the trip it self was nothing new. We left Thursday after we opened and drove the 17 hours thru the night. Arrived Friday afternoon ate, napped, and dropped Kopplin off with a friend so I could hang with my family and some friends. Saturday we went down to Coffee Fest early because I was entered in the Millrock comp. and had to be there early. I was nervous about the whole thing, and managed to remain nervous through out the entirety of the comp. It was the first time I have ever been involved in anything of the sort. It was worth it just for that reason alone tho. There were like 40 or so people involved this time 20 going friday morning and 20 going on saturday morning....vieing for a spot in the finals (top ten). I arrived to see the leader board with photos of some sweet art that had been poured. This certainly did not help the nerves. Being nervous was such an interesting experience for me. I just simply havn't really felt like that before. I have just never really been exposed to enough pressure to make my hands shake and my legs feel light/numb. It was kinda bogus. So the whole thing started and I sat and waited, in what felt like a cattle hold, for my chance to pour. Another pretty awesome thing about the whole event was getting to meet some really nice people. Being my first time at an event such as this it was very nice to see how friendly and down to earth most of the people were. My chance to pour finally came and my nerves kinda took over.....My hands were shakin pretty bad and well I tried to fight it but I didn't do such a great job of it. My pours were pretty mediocre and I certainly thought not good enough to get me back later that night for the finals. Fortunately I was a little hard on myself and I managed to grab the third place spot in the top ten for that nights finals. I was relieved for a bit to know that I was in the finals but of course.....I got more and more nervous as they approaced. Took a little break for lunch after the first round. Also finally got to experience Murky Coffee for the first time.......being from the area I had actually tried to go many times but always ended up not being able to make it for some reason or another. It was a decent shot for sure. The only decent one that I had really ever had while being at home (I have resided in the twin cities for a few years now). It was also my first CCC experience which was also cool. It was nice to see a shop about the same size as Kopplin's doing so well. It has been very rare that we ever see shops as small as we are. After lunch and shots I headed back to the convention center for the finals, and by this time I was pretty much scared shitless. I won't belabour the point finals came and finals went. I did pretty awfully. Nerves took over again and I didn't manage to win any money. Again the people I sat with were great, and this made the trip worth it in my mind. Some really sweet pours took the top three (well deserved I think). It was kinda surreal be a part of the whole thing but it was fun, I learned a lot about my self, and I really look forward to doing more in the future. I think my favorite pour of all that I saw though was one poured by this girl Jenny from Alterra Coffee Roasters. The semi final rounds she poured three rosettas the third one was one of the most beautiful I have seen. It was pretty neato. Go to Alterra and make her pour you face melting rosettas.