Sunday, February 28, 2010

Western Regional Barista Competition

I typically enjoy about 30% of the new things that come from the state of California, but I will say that today the golden state, along with Hawaii, brought forth amazing barista ingenuity and class. I was particularly intrigued by Pete Licata's winning performance, where he successfully (evidently) stacked two separate espressos with two separate grinds, on top of each other in one portafilter. And here's the kicker: they were both coffees from Hawaii. He was using one coffee from Maui and another from Kona. They were both grown at around 1200 feet! Pete works for Honolulu Coffee Company. Congrats on the creativity and solid performance Pete! Stay tuned for the Mid-Atlantic Regional on March 5-7 in the Meadowlands, the Great Lakes Regional on March 12-14 in Milwaukee, and the NorthEast Regional on March 18-21 in Boston. The competitions can all be watched live on the USBC website.