to the bottom of the sink through a suction cup. Th e other end is like a tree with three branches, and each branch has a scrubber at the end. "It saves the time of having to pick
up the glass and put the dishrag in it," she says.
NORTHWEST PACIFIC
Thump Coffee Bend, Ore.
In a coff eehouse where the espresso machine is being used from opening to closing, having a smaller machine in the back helps things run more smoothly. Kent Chapple, owner of Th ump
Coff ee, keeps a La Marzocco DS3 on the back counter so his baristas can train, practice and experiment on it without slowing down the line of customers.
"It's amazing how having a dedicated
training machine helps the training process," Chapple says. "Our production machine is always in use. It's hard to get practice time." Baristas have to know what they're
doing to keep the line moving quickly, and repeatedly making drinks is how they get good, he says: "It takes a lot of practice, and we can't aff ord to practice on our customers." His customers expect great quality
drinks, because his shop is a destination spot in downtown Bend, Ore. His shop is in an 80-year-old brick
building a little off the beaten path on a shady street at the edge of the downtown core, next door to a wine bar and a restaurant, across the street from a luxury hotel and a boutique clothing shop. The five-year-old, 1,000-square-
foot shop is well loved by its customers—that much is obvious by what hangs from the ceiling. Several
thousand little planks of wood dangle from the exposed beams overhead, each bearing a wish or affectionate message from a customer. At the bar, blank planks and magic
markers are always at the ready. They add to the rugged feel of the shop, with its stained, poured concrete floors, wooden tables and exposed red brick walls. Th ump is a home away from home
for many customers—about 80 percent of Chapple's business comes from regulars, he says—so the baristas are always busy. Th at's why the backup espresso machine is vital. "It takes a lot of practice to develop
the skills you need to make a quality drink," he says. "It involves repeatedly pulling shots and observing what you did to pull that shot. You have to pull hundreds and hundreds of shots to build these associations." Since the shop installed the DS3, his
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