MARRG Past Events

After putting the roaster back together we headed down to Stella's in Willis Wharf for some lunch and a conversation with Peter Gebre, an Ethiopian importer. A big thank you to Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company Inc. for buying us lunch and to Peter for making the trip down from D.C.!

After lunch it was back to coffee. As people took turns roasting on the Ambex, the rest of us used the color tiles that Don and Marilyn Spence brought with them, played with our Le Nez du Cafe sensory kit, and cupped coffee. There was quite a bit of discussion, referrals to the cupping handbook, and comparison cuppings with grind size, sample size, and water amount. For me this was the highlight of the weekend. Calibrating palates with other coffee professionals and especially seeing the passion for what we do permeating the entire afternoon. I was about to burst out of my geeky skin I was so excited that we could get together and do this! Thankfully there aren't any pictures of me jumping around like a kid on Christmas morning.

Bocce as a pre-oyster roast festivity began and it pains me to say it but Don M. and Russ took Joe and I to school, although our comeback was cut short by darkness and hunger. A great evening of socializing, raw salty oysters fresh from the Ocean, Don's pork, steamed clams, roasted oysters, and a huge bonfire capped off another incredible day. I can't thank our hosts, Kristin and Jamie, enough for putting together such a great weekend!

Sunday morning saw us wrap up in style. We ran to the Exmore Diner and picked up breakfast for the crew and had a great green discussion with Emily from Cafe Imports. Thank you Emily! We discussed a few organizational items and direction for our big meeting in June. We all said our goodbyes and headed off in our separate directions for home. Thanks to Russ and Paulley for photo documenting our weekend! For those of you who would like to see all of the incriminating photos head to Russell's photo site. I apologize in advance if I missed something, so make a comment if needed.

-- Brian

Okay, maybe we didn't take it over. We didn't get keys to a city or have any parades in our honor (next year maybe?) but we feasted like royalty and had to beat the paparazzi off with sticks. Okay, it was only Paulley and his camara. And his subjects weren't exactly aggressive.

The pre-weekend festivities began Thursday night at this amazing re-habbed restaurant called Kelly's Gingernut Pub in Cape Charles. Great food and a really nice beer selection. Kelly showed us the before pictures and it was incredible what he has done there. Friday started out easy for reasons I won't go into right now. We headed over to Kristin and Jamie's new coffee shop for breakfast and naps on the comfy couch. There was a thrift store next door where Don leant me a quarter to buy a forty year old children's book "A Day at the LBJ Ranch."

From there we ate some lunch at a local soda fountain. For some reason Tommy ended up buying six packs of gum, breath mints, bottled water, a teddy bear, and a box of Girl Scout Cookies from the clerk. All in separate transactions. Next up was a kayaking trip graciously provided by Southeast Expeditions where we took over the back channels of the shore on our journey to plunder a local winery, Chatham Vineyards.

We finished out the afternoon getting cleaned up for the first official event of the weekend, dinner at the Eastville Inn Restaurant. Coffee Holding Company hosted this incredible dinner in an historic Inn. Crab cakes and Chatham Vineyard wine. Fresh local food just can't be beat! Many thanks to Coffee Holding Company. As you would expect, coffee discussions were the main topics of conversation.

From there we went back to Jamie's cabin and had to listen to Russell cry as his Tigers lost the World Series. During this time Don Merritt - our resident "Tim the Toolman"/McGyver - was out in the back keeping an eye on his smoker filled with pork and a highly secret rub recipe. He had this wireless control that not only kept temp readings but summoned and directed his gremlins to protect his cooker and torment me as I stumbled around the yard in the dark. (I'm just reporting what I witnessed).

Saturday morning found us loading up vehicles and heading down the road to Kristin's house where Eastern Shore Coastal Roast is located. A couple of tents for the weekend didn't fare so well from the wind off of the ocean the night before, but we straightened everything up and got down to business tearing apart the roaster. Joe Davis from Ambex Roasters walked us through a tear down and maintenance class. Thank you Ambex!

-- Brian

Our first event went off well June 2-4 on the campus of Virginia Tech. VT was gracious enough to lend us the coffee shop space for us to hold our training and provide dorm rooms for cheap lodging. Thirty roasters attended (from Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) including a couple of growers and a couple of roasting technology people. Here's a rundown of what happened.

Friday night was check in at Deet's Place and into the dorm rooms. We then went across town to Vintage Cellar where they held a private beer tasting for us. They really rolled out the red carpet for us and in turn we rolled out the checkbooks. Here's what they sampled for us:

Czech Pilsner: Burgerbrau
Tetley's English Ale
Sinebrychoff Porter
Stone IPA
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Aventinus 2001
Rochefort 10
Dogfish Raison D'Extra


We also sampled a raw milk Manchego, an Irish Cheddar and an English style layered cheese. The name escapes me at the moment. The remainder of the night was spent either back at Deet's sipping on the fantastic beers we'd just bought, conversing, and taking a late night behind the scenes tour of the upstairs dining facility.

Finally, what event is complete without using child labor? ;-) This proud father wants to thank Ian and Cohen for providing entertainment, enthusiasm, and most of all hard behind the scenes work to make this weekend possible for everyone!