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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — We called for baristas, and you answered. On Thursday, September 9, 2021, the Whole Latte Love and Dalla Corte USA team joined a passionate crowd of espresso-lovers at the local café RoCoCo, or Rochester Coffee Company, at the Mercantile on Main at 240 East Main Street in downtown Rochester. Three judges picked Sapphire of @the_rogue_barista on Instagram as the winner for the night's $500 prize.
RoCoCo has long used a Dalla Corte XT Espresso Machine - 2 Group — a stylish commercial machine with independent control over temperature, flow, and extraction weight — at their café. Participants used this machine, with a RoCoCo team member pulling shots as contestants steamed.
$449.00 
Partake in the celebration of an industry icon with the Gaggia Classic Pro 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Espresso Machine. To commemorate this momentous occasion, Gaggia has inscribed its 100% Italian-made, semi-automatic machine with an artistic representation of the machine’s “two souls," the Acrobat and the Home Barista.
Baristas from local cafes, as well as the Buffalo and Syracuse area, attended the Latte Art Throwdown. Beyond the competition, there was also raffles that kept the excitement going during the two hour competition. One lucky winner went home with the Gaggia Classic Pro 30th Anniversary Espresso Machine from Whole Latte Love! Not to forget the Dalla Corte shirts and hats that were also gifted throughout the night.
The Gaggia Classic Pro 30th Anniversary Espresso Machine is a limited edition anniversary machine with artwork by Italian artist Pierpaolo Gaballo inscribed on it. Only 3,000 were made and Whole Latte Love is currently running a national contest to give away two additional machines until September 22.
$22,500.00 
The Dalla Corte XT is a commercial espresso machine that was designed with baristas in mind. With three groups offering independent control over temperature, flow, and extraction weight, specific brew profiles can be created for up to three different coffees. Compatible with Dalla Corte’s GCS and MCS technology, the XT can take the guesswork out of grinding and frothing for an incredibly efficient workplace.
While we’re all sick and tired of talking about Covid-19, we’d be remiss to not mention how much we’ve missed coffee events like this. Especially in Rochester, the specialty coffee scene is built upon and sustained through community. It was so nice to see folks from local cafes coming out to support each other, sharing laughter over lattes and cocktails. Everyone who competed from the bracket's very beginning to its final four should be proud of what they accomplished that night.
A few of the stories our team posted on @wholelattelove:
