Barista Confession: Bronwen Serna

I think she is awesome. Too bad that I never had a chance to meet her nor the old and famous Hines Public Market Coffee during my second visit to Seattle.

The New, 2008 USBC Champion.

Originally uploaded by SCAA Blog.

Kyle Glanville!

As If You Were There.

If you got time to kill over the weekend, you can watch the US Barista Competition LIVE, and be sure to check with the schedule.

2008 USBC Competitor: Jay Caragay

The outspoken, energetic, and very likable Jay.

2008 USBC Competitor: Kyle Glanville

Kyle is one cool dude. His answer to what he would like the judges to remember his performance at 5:50 mark is simply awesome.

Cool Shirt.

Cool Shirt.
Originally uploaded by Spinnaker007.

I have been eyeing this shirt for some times, but I kept delaying to own one because I didn’t need another T-shirt. What changed my mind was its cool design, and I got to show my support to the coffee shops I like. There are a few more on my list, and their coffee I like to try.

Any woo, I ordered a doppio with the shirt, and it was pulled by Jesse at the Intelligentsia Millennium Park Store. The dark chocolate crema with a syrupy body. The temp was perfect to sip without fearing of burning the mouth. The flavor of Black Cat was intense and scrumptious. It was a goodness of the goodness. Since that shot was so good, I asked Jesse if he would compete in the barista competition in his future, his answer was no. I understood his response, because it takes a certain type of the personality to be in front of a large crowd and to be scrutinized by the judges.

Talking about the barista competition, the US Barista Competition is this coming weekend in Minneapolis Minnesota.

The New Champ!

08-03_GLRBC_0093
Originally uploaded by Intelligentsia Coffee.

Mike Phillips is the newly crowned 2008 Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition champion. I don’t know him too well, but I regard him as a really cool guy. It is truly fantastic to see him represents Intelligentsia and the Great Lakes Region at the US Barista Competition in May.

LaMill Coffee Boutique.

People in SoCal got a new coffee place. LaMill Coffee Boutique, which is less than a mile away from Intelligentsia in Silver Lake, CA.

In addition to your typical espresso based drink menu, it is the first coffee shop in the world to have the United States Barista Competition (USBC) tested signature drinks. I believe Eton is its head barista.

So people in SoCal, please tell me how you like it if you have a chance to visit LaMill Coffee Boutique. Here is a video clip from Metromix.

Repeat!

finalists
Originally uploaded by tonx.

Not quite. Matt is not able to defend his title. Heather from Coffee Klatch, the 2003 champion recaptures the top spot this year, and becomes the first 2-time champ. Her lovely personality will represent US well in World Barista Competition in Tokyo.

1st Heather Perry
2nd Pete Licata
3rd Matt Riddle
4th Chris Deferio
5th Kyle Glanville
6th Peter Middlecamp

The Final 6.

Reg Barber's handiwork
Originally uploaded by CoffeeGeek.

WOW! Who da thunk it! The field is made up with three (out of seven) regional champions and one first timer from Black Sheep, St. Paul, MN.

In no particular order:

Matthew Riddle, Intelligentsia, Chicago, IL
Heather Perry, Coffee Klatch, San Dimas, CA
Chris Deferio, Carriage House, Ithaca, NY
Kyle Larson, Stumptown, Portland, OR
Kyle Glanville, Intelligentsia, L.A., CA
Peter Middlecamp, Black Sheep, St. Paul, MN
Pete Licata, PT's, Overland Park, KS

Here We Are, Once Again.

The 2007 United States Barista Championship (USBC) is in Long Beach, California this weekend, which means I’ll be checking for any related news and pictures on my laptop regularly.

I am surprised to learned two former champions, Phuong Tran (2005) and Dismas Smith (2002 North American Barista Competition) are coming out of their sabbaticals to compete in this year’s event. How exciting!

I am sticking with my best guess from my early post entry.

Western Regional Barista Competition.

Kyle at the WRBC
Originally uploaded by tonx.

One of my favorite baristi finished a close 2nd place at WRBC last weekend. Kyle G., everybody.

Steve-O!

Steve Fritzen
Originally uploaded by Spinnaker007.

I had a quick chat with Steve from Coffee Hound a couple of days ago, also to congratulate his top finish at the 2007 Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition. Steve is helluva great guy and he always wears a smile. On the phone, he told me the point difference between 1st place and 3rd place finish is merely 23 points, and Steve’s 3rd place score almost matches the top score from last year’s United States Barista Championship (USBC). Matt, Amber, and Steve, this trio is going to be hard to beat at the 2007 USBC in Long Beach this May. I see one from Western Regional (Kyle G.) and 2 from Pacific North West join the hunt for the national title…

2007 Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition.

The final announcement of the 2007 GLRBC championship concludes the 3 day Coffee Fest in icy and snowy Chicago. It is great to see friends at the show, but at the same time feeling disappointed for missing the others.

This year’s barista competition is like Deja Vu all over again. Steve Fritzen is 3rd, Amber Sather is 2nd, and Matt Riddle is again the GLRBC champion, the same sequence from previous year. I like all three of them, but there could only be one winner, and it is hard to watch the disappointment from some contestants.

Final 6.

Final 6
Originally uploaded by Spinnaker007.

Intelly dominates the Great Lake Regional Barista Competition again. All four of its baristi who entered for the competition will compete for the top spot in the final tomorrow.

I spent all day on my feet, walking the crowded show floor, playing with La Marzocco GS3(I love to have one), drinking tasty espresso, and snapping some competition pictures in between. I didn’t eat anything except my breakfast and a couple of the protein bars… I am totally exhausted!

The 6 finalists are (L to R):
Kristin Marks, Metropolis Coffee
Amber Sather, Intelligentsia Coffee
Matt Riddle, Intelligentsia Coffee
Mike Phillips, Intelligentsia Coffee
Chris Kornman, Intelligentsia Coffee
Steve Fritzen, Coffee Hound

Liquid Pea Ravioli.

Hungry In Hogtown

Billy Wilson’s superior performance at NWRBC last October won him the title. His signature drink - “espresso caviar” sure generated a lot of interests.

I had been surfing the net to figure out how it was made. From what my understanding is, that you need to mix espresso shots with the sodium alginate solution, then use a syringe and drop-by drop this solution into a soup of calcium chloride. The chemical reaction will form a thin layer outside of the espresso/sodium alginate solution, within a minute, you will have those little espresso caviars. Here is a video clip shows how it is done.

There are many possibilities, different flavors and different shapes. You can do tea, juice, chocolate or whatever, into shapes of a sphere or noodles. Even Anthony Bourdain was impressed with this liquid pea ravioli.

Road to USBC 2007, Round 2.

Jon Lewis (2nd) Billy Wilson (1st) Kevin Fuller (3rd)
Originally uploaded by American Barista & Coffee School.

Northwest regional that includes Alaska, Washington and Portland has a new champion, Billy Wilson, from Albina Press in Portland, Oregon.

His jellylike pearls signature drink is call, "Espresso Caviar", which I guess looks similar to these little globules. These tiny coffee flavored babies require a syringe to produce, it is quite interesting (thanks to Ben from Chemically Imbalanced for many informative links).

According to one of the top finishers, Kyle Larson from Stumptown Coffee Roasters predicts a tough challenge for all competitors at the US Barista Competition in Long Beach, CA next April. So I guess there will be 3 finalists from NWRBC and 3 finalists from GLRBC fighting for the crown of the USBC 2007. : )

Some pictures from the NWRBC uploaded by American Barista & Coffee School and OldTimeyDave.

Road to USBC 2007.

USBC Edition Syrup
Originally uploaded by ThaRiddla.

Nick Cho of Murky Coffee won the season opener as the champion of the Southeast Regional Barista Competition last weekend. Here is the list for the upcoming regional competitions. Who will be on the next Da Vinci Gourmet syrup bottle? I hope to see Matt doing a repeat. Then again, I like to see Amber from Intelligentsia or Steve Fritzen of Coffee Hound representing US in WBC.

Funny. Entertaining. Informative.

MARBC 2006 the six finalists with Nick Cho
Originally uploaded by jpscoffee.

Nick Cho (3rd from the left), is one of the Portafilter.net podcast personalities, who is also the bigwig at Murky Coffee. Nick has an informative, but even more so, funny and entertaining coffee blog. Check it out when you have a chance...

Matt, The News Maker.

Matt of Intelligentsia, the 2006 USBC champion, and 3rd in WBC, has a taped special that will be on the CBS local news at 10PM this Sunday, July 9th. I am not sure if the local CBS News website will have the real-time video stream or not. If I find the link later, and I’ll post it here.

Added on 7/16.
Better late than never. Now you can see the clip of the special news segment.

This one is from ABC about 2 months ago.