[Photo: Liz Clayton]

Can man or woman truly defeat coffee? Trend-setting RBC NYC Coffee, located well out of any discernible tattoo district at 71 Worth Street, aims to find out this Thursday at an event as geeky and brew-forward as any New York's coffee scene has seen.

Beyond the world of mere latte art throwdowns, RBC instead is turning the focus of this homegrown coffee contest to pure flavor. (Believe it or not, in the more common barista sport of latte art competitions, the coffee doesn't even have to be drinkable!) Baristas and coffee geeks of all stripes will convene upon the space this Thursday at 7:15 (free to enter or attend) to brew-off to the death. Contestants will BYO brewing device and favorite method for preparing coffee with it.

RBC's ebullient director of coffee, Cora Lambert, says the filter-focused face-off was a response to what she sees as an increased interest in manually brewed, by-the-cup coffees in the specialty world today.

"People are interested in all these other ways of doing artisanal, by-the-cup coffees: woodneck, V60, French press, Chemex. But there seems to be no real competition built around people who are really kind of nerding out about brewed coffee. So we decided to put together an event focused on brewed coffee instead of espresso."

Alongside the competition will be the chance to play with two popular water delivery devices—could that sound any more boring? I swear it isn't—the Uber Boiler, from Ireland, and the American-made Luminaire LB-1, both of which allow brewers ultra-precise temperature control (and more) for their cup. Boston-based roaster Barismo will also be on hand with a blind filter taste test: the same coffee brewed on different devices with different kinds of filters (cloth, metal, paper, and so on), so leave those preconceived palates at home and explore.

The best brewers will walk away with treats from Portland's Coava, San Francisco's Ritual Coffee Roasters, Durham's Counter Culture Coffee, and Grand Rapids, Michigan-based MadCap Coffee. And, of course, free beer.

RBC NYC

71 Worth Street, New York NY 10013 (map)
212-226-1111