I'm currently sitting at a PC within the backpackers were I stay, and trying to just handle what happened the last few days.

Arrived at the World of Coffee yesterday, at around 10am, just a few minutes before Eric Wolf (german Champion) had his heat. And a few things made the experience a bit crazy:

Did you hear about the Clover? I did. While listening to the portafilter.net podcasts, while reading some blogs of some american coffee addicts. The first thing happened when we arrived was that I saw a machine that I somehow recognized. At the very moment I asked myself what it actually was, a thought crossed my head: Oh my God. It's the Clover. It's the $9000 single cup brewing Clover I heard so many professionals raving about. And it was just standing in front of my eyes. I really didn't believe it at first.

The next thing, when we entered the competition room was like a stab in the face to me: a shiney brand new La Marzocco GS3 sitting there, waiting to be taking home from me ... oh, I seem to be dreaming. It's just a price for the master himself, the next World Barista Champion.

Then there was this voice that I recognized, but couldn't associate a face with. No wonder, well, it was Nick Cho from the portafilter.net podcast fame. I never saw him or met him personally, but just heard im on the 'net.

Amazing.

I haven't even talked about the competing champions from all around the world. Eric, who did a pretty great show, and took 8 seconds overtime because the judges forgot to tell him. Klaus from Denmark, who did a performance that made me shivering. It was astounding. He was so calm, so passionate, so professional. And with every word he said, every move he made, you knew that he just lives coffee and damn knows what he's actually talking about.

It was great to see Steve, Jim, James, Gary, Joey and Marcy from toomuchcoffee.com - getting faces to the nicknames, talking in the real world, having a beer and much fun in general. I wished the Mocca Club was not that far away (Vienna ... hhhmm), and I wished that Stafford was just around the corner. I sure would be a regular at the Mocca Club and also watching over Steve's shoulder while he roasts, and trying to catch up with cupping and things.

And Bern. I fell in love with this city the moment we arrived. It's just plain beautiful. I like the style here, the people are pretty nice. Yesterday, I've been to two random restaurants, and I got pretty darn good food at both (ok, ok, ok, admitted, it was expensive. But Good! Man!). Do that in germany and chances are high that you get some pretty average to bad food.

I like the architecture here. And the feeling and look when driving over the Kornhausbruecke into the city is just divine.

All in all, it's really a great and inspiring experience being here. The best thing is: there's still one day to go. Tomorrow are the World Barista Championship finals, to which Jim is attending. Unfortunatly, Eric didn't make it. From the people I saw, he definitly should have been there, but I just saw a few. Ah, and tomorrow I can sip one more coffee made by the clover - the bolivian number one Cup of Excellence maybe? Ah, it's fun. And there's so much more to say, but I'll stop raving now. Back to Germany tomorrow, and we'll sure be having fun at the Leineweber market in Bielefeld in the Store!

Update: I added some links to give you some background infos on what I'm actually talking about :)