Insight Coffee's Third Thursday Throwdown!

I'm going to be posting about smaller, independent coffee shops in Sacramento because for my graphic design class, GPHD 145 (Visual Image, aka "magazine class"...even though we also have a campaign class), the magazine I'm working with my group on will have a focus on local coffee and tea shops that are non-chain. I live in Elk Grove, a suburb within the county and there is a Starbucks on every corner! No joke, even the ones in Target and Safeway. Yup. There's gotta be at least 15 Starbucks in our city alone. I usually go to Starbucks for the convenience and I love their drinks. But I also enjoy a small cafe in the middle of any downtown city. I want to be able to sit down and enjoy a freshly made coffee or mocha in the middle of the hustle and bustle. I grew up suburb but I love the city life. Well...I did grow up in Daly City as a child, which is the neighbor to San Francisco, which is why I'm so crazy about it.

For my contribution in our magazine project, I will be going to the events the local cafes will host. Tonight I went to Insight Coffee Roasters for their Third Thursday Throwdown. Insight has 3 locations, but this event takes place in their Capitol location (on 10th and K Street). TTT is a competition between coffee lovers who can show who can create the best latte art. They competitors are judged based on 4 categories: symmetry of pour, contrast between the white foam and the crema of the espresso, difficulty of the pour, and quality of the pour. Insight has been hosting this event since July, and they are a part of SPLAT (Sacramento Public Latte Art Tournament) along with 3 other cafes: Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, Old Soul, and Temple Coffee & Tea. All of these cafes host tournaments and earn points for a grand prize and the ranking of Sacramento's Best Latte Artist. In addition, the winner of this month's TTT will receive two tickets to see A Film About Coffee at the Crest Theater.

Insight hosts various events such as classes, seminars, and demos. Education is valuable to them, as they want to demonstrate to the public that we too can make awesome coffee. They get their coffee in the farms from different regions such as Central America, Brazil, Africa, and Sumatra.

Since Insight closes at 7 pm, I didn't get a chance to taste their coffee because TTT was from 7–9 pm. But since I will be coming back more (specifically for my project, but now I am more interested in their coffee), I will write about whatever I order. But since this entry is all about the event, here are the pictures I took: