The Pacific Northwest has long been a hotbed for coffee culture as local baristas have worked to find new ways to develop their craft and showcase their talents. While many a working barista exhibit their talents by producing coffee drinks with exquisitely crafted latte art to their cafe customers, a new monthly competition has emerged that pits the best of the best in the Seattle coffee scene against one another in a barista battle royal to crown a Northwest latte art champion. The North West Latte Art League (NWLAL) began in the fall of 2013 by a group of individuals dedicated to fostering the northwest barista community by providing an environment for those passionate about specialty coffee to come together and share their skills while partaking in a little friendly competition. The NWLAL began in the fall with Seattle Coffee Fest and will conclude at the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Annual Event, which will be held in Seattle in April of 2014. Cafe Fonte in downtown Seattle put on the inaugural event in October and Broadcast Coffee on Capitol Hill played host to the November edition. Neptune Coffee in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood has recently been announced as the December event host, once again giving the Seattle coffee crowd a definite home field advantage. Latte art competitions are certainly not unheard of throughout the barista community. The Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT), which seeks 'to bring together and create coffee community, locally and globally, through the format of friendly competition,' has spread across the country with multiple variations and injections of local flare. Seattle's Trabant Coffee and Chai, for example, hosted the T-Rex Throwdown where participants' hands were bound at the elbows as they attempted to pour their latte art entries for an added degree of difficulty. NWLAL format consists of head-to-head match ups where each barista pours a latte to be judged against his or her competitor's latte by a panel of judges who rate the design based on difficulty, symmetry and overall aesthetic quality. The winning barista moves on to the next round and the loser is left a bystander for the rest of the competition. Aside from bragging rights, the champion barista can also claim prizes in cash, gear or both from event sponsors making the cash buy in well worth it. What distinguishes the NWLAL is that as baristas compete, they earn points which carry over from month to month, eventually leading towards the crowning of a season champion barista who will claim an even larger set of prizes and whose name will be etched into Seattle coffee lore. The community of Seattle coffee professionals has done tremendous work in promoting innovation amongst its members with events such as the NWLAL drawing the waning national spotlight back onto the Emerald City's coffee culture.