Rancilio Rolling Through the Midwest with Ramp Up Tour

Photo courtesy of Rancilio North America.

Espresso equipment maker Rancilio North America has nearly wrapped up its Ramp Up Tour, designed to engage coffee professionals throughout the Midwest.

After a number of sold out events with partner hosts in cities such as Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Omaha, the company last week pulled into Detroit as part of the 16-city tour.

Photo courtesy of Rancilio North America.”Ramp Up is essentially Rancilio USA wanting to engage with the growing coffee communities in the Midwest,” Ranciliio Marketing Manager Caleb Hamernick told Daily Coffee News. “Some communities are growing, some are established, but most are fairly overlooked in terms of awareness or larger events. Our mission with this tour is to learn about these communities, engage them with an education-forward event and create a platform to hear directly from leaders in each community… and of course have a fun time doing it.”

At each stop, Rancilio has been leading educational discussions on topics including espresso machinery and espresso extraction theory, as well as live panel discussions with local coffee professionals and a latte art throwdown.

Daily Coffee News photo by Craig Batory.

The Detroit event kicked off with a technical class led by Rancilio’s coffee and technical specialist, Maciej Ostrowski, who offered details on espresso machine mechanics, repair and maintenance. Rancilio coffee specialist Andrew Bettis led the espresso theory discussion, including advice and suggestions on how to diagnose and address some common quality and consistency issues.

Following these, Hamernick led a panel conversation with Detroit-based coffee professionals Willa Jaffe, manager at Madcap Coffee Detroit; Monica Isaac, owner of Cairo Coffee; Josh Longdorf, co-owner of Anthology Coffee; and Sam Schaefer, owner of Mockingbird Coffee.

Daily Coffee News photo by Craig Batory.

Later in the evening, baristas from throughout the Motor City area competed in head-to-head pours, with each round determined by the roll of customized Oatly dice with a different pour style on each side.

Rancilio set up two mobile stations, each equipped with a two-group Rancilio RS1 machine paired with two Compak E10 espresso grinders. Anthology provided a vibrant Ethiopia Koke for espresso, the pitchers were provided by Slow Pour Supply, and Oatly provided all of the milk.

Remaining stops for the free but limited-capacity series of events include a quick trip up to Brooklyn, New York, at Partners Coffee (formerly Toby’s Estate Brooklyn) on Aug. 15, and stops at Square One Coffee Roasters in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (Aug. 16) and at Deeper Roots Coffee in Cincinnati, Ohio (Aug. 18). The remaining schedule is on Eventbrite.