Finals Results – MRBC 2009

This is the 2nd annual Mountain Regional Barista Championship, and the 2nd year that the amazing Mike Strumpf of Allegro Coffee Company (the event host) has organized another great opportunity for baristi from the Rocky Mountain region to get together and demonstrate their passion for coffee and raise the level of awareness and quality of what’s in the cup. Mike organized fantastic PR coverage of the event, including several articles in the local news media and a segment on the NBC Channel 9 local 5 pm news. Check it out on Mike’s blog.

The Open Round was held on Saturday and the following 6 baristi qualified for Sunday’s Finals:

Jesse Bladyka of Coal Creek Coffee, Laramie, WY
Greg Lefcourt of Ozo Coffee Co, Boulder, CO
Robin Crosby of Coal Creek Coffee, Laramie, WY
Philip Search of Sole Coffee Roasters, Boulder, CO
Emily Kryska of Caffee Sole, Boulder, CO
Thai Patton of The Cup, Boulder, CO

Results of Sunday’s Final Round:

3rd place- Philip Search
2nd place- Jesse Bladyka
1st place- Greg Lefcourt!

Above results via Mike Strumpf’s blog and his post on coffeed.com. Congratulations to Greg Lefcourt and all the participants!!! By winning this regional championship, Greg automatically qualified for the semi-finals of the 2009 United States Barista Championship to be held in Portland on March 5-8.

2009 Mountain Regional Barista Championship

Next weekend, Allegro Coffee Company (wholly-owned subsidiary of Whole Foods Market) will host the 2nd annual 2009 Mountain Regional Barista Competition in Denver (Thornton), Colorado. Professional baristi from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will be competing from January 16-18, 2009 for the right to participate in the United States Barista Championship in March 2009. Last year’s winner, Jon Lewis, has assumed a key role with the Cup of Excellence program and will not be participating, which should open up the field.

Mike Strumpf of Allegro Coffee Company (which is again acting as host) commissioned us to create sets of custom cobalt blue cappuccino cups for the top three finishers (hand inscribed by the artisan with the event and place of finish) and custom black cappuccino cups for each competitor. Last year, Allegro awarded red espresso cups to the top 3 finishers and black espresso cups to all participants, so baristi who competed last year and are coming back this year will be able to collect both espresso and cappuccino cups.

The winner will receive 6 Terra Keramik cobalt blue cappuccino cups plus a TORR espresso tamper handcrafted by Cafe Kultur in Germany from FSC-certified Palisander wood with a stainless steel base.

Good luck to all the participants! We will post the final results after the competition.

Thank you Mike and Allegro Coffee for selecting Terra Keramik to create these prizes for your regional barista championship.

Canadian Barista Championship, Montreal, Oct 21-22, 2008

Here are the final results (courtesy of John Manzo) of the Canadian Barista Championship held in Montreal on October 21-22 in conjunction with the Canada Coffee & Tea Show. Six of the 14 first round competitors qualified for the final:

1.	Sammy Piccolo	Caffè Artigiano	Vancouver, BC	569.5 pts
2.	Spencer Vieghweger	JJ Bean Coffee	Vancouver, BC	562.0 pts
3.	Joel May	Fratello Coffee Company	Calgary, AB	555.5 pts
4.	Chad Moss	Transcend Coffee	Edmonton, AB	551.5 pts
5.	Phil Robertson	Phil & Sebastian Coffee	Calgary, AB	527.5 pts
6.	Anthony Benda	Café Myriade	Montreal, QC	517.5 pts

The winner for the fourth time is Sammy Piccolo, who is both the Manager of Caffè Artigiano’s Burnaby (Vancouver) location and an owner (together with his brothers Michael and Vince) of 49th Parallel Roasters, also located in Vancouver. Sammy will represent Canada at the next World Barista Championship planned for April 16-19, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. He placed an unprecedented 2nd, 3rd and 2nd at the 2004, 2005 and 2006 World Barista Championships (three consecutive top 3 finishes). He did not compete after the 2006 WBC, and the following two years, Colter Jones and Mike Yung represented Canada at the WBC, with Colter placing a strong 7th in 2007 and Mike finishing an excellent 5th at the WBC earlier this year. Both Colter and Mike represented Caffè Artigiano (Mike is still there and Colter moved on to 49th Parallel Roasters). In summary, the Caffè Artigiano “barista gang” will have represented Canada for 6 consecutive years at the World Barista Championships! Wow!

Congratulations to all of the competitors for elevating the quality of specialty coffee and exhibiting a true passion for your craft. Chad Moss and Anthony Benda may be a little disappointed with their placings (Chad won the 2004 South Australia regional barista competition; Anthony placed a fantastic 3rd at the Canadian Barista Championship in 2007 as a first-time competitor), but we congratulate both on their achievement to train for months and represent their artisan craft so well. Both Chad and Anthony competed with Terra Keramik espresso cups and cappuccino cups, as did Laura Perry (who unfortunately missed the finals) of Bridgehead Coffeehouses in Toronto. We thank you for placing your trust in our handcrafted, eco-friendly “competition grade” products. We also have a special partnership with Anthony (full disclosure!), who provides content for our online marketplace, including videos, recipes and tips around everything that is coffee and espresso.

And of course John Manzo would like me to mention that Western Canada continues to rule (see his blog) the Canadian coffee scene barista competitions (sorry Anthony!). 🙂

We also encourage you to check out the archived video coverage available at ustream.tv, as well as Liz Clayton’s coverage of the competition and Anthony Benda’s wrapup.

We’re BAAACK!!!

We’ve been busy the past 6 months growing and expanding our online marketplace at terrakeramik.com and although we continue to be busy (especially with the holiday season only a few weeks away), we are excited to share with you some of the things we’re doing on this blog. We’ll be posting in the next few days, so check back! Thanks.

Finals Results – MRBC

28 baristi participated in the first-ever Mountain Regional Barista Championship. The Open Round was held on Saturday and the following 6 baristi qualified for Sunday’s Finals:

Anita Fried – Logans Espresso
Nolan Dutton – Conscious Coffees
Vajra Rich – Sole Coffee Roasters
Susan Price – The Black Cup
Jon Lewis – Long Story Short Coffee
Heidi Bickelhaudt – Trident Cafe

Results of Sunday’s Final Round:

3rd place- Heidi Bickelhaudt
2nd place- Nolan Dutton
1st place- Jon Lewis!

Congratulations to Jon Lewis and all the participants!!! By winning this regional championship, Jon automatically qualified for the semi-finals of the 2008 United States Barista Championship to be held in Minneapolis on May 2-5. Please read Jon’s blog to learn more about the event and the participants. Also check out Mike Strumpf’s blog (Allegro Coffee was the host).

Baristas Abuzz With Caffeinated Competition is a great article about the Region’s coffee scene with short biographies of 4 competitors.

2008 Mountain Regional Barista Competition

The Specialty Coffee Association of America presents the 2008 Mountain Regional Barista Competition, hosted by Allegro Coffee Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Whole Foods Market), in Denver, Colorado on February 29 to March 2, 2008.
Professional baristi from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho will be each preparing and serving 4 espresso, 4 cappuccino and 4 signature drinks in a 15-minute competition. The winner of the 2008 Mountain Regional Barista Competition qualifies for the 2008 United States Barista Championship.
Mike Strumpf of Allegro Coffee Company commissioned Terra Keramik to handcraft sets of custom red espresso cups as prizes for the top three finishers (hand inscribed by the artisan with the event and place of finish) and custom black espresso cups for each competitor. As host of the 2008 MRBC, Allegro was interested in prizes that both commemorate the special event and also represent functional gear that the professional baristi could use in their cafés.

Buon Amici’s Coffee Special Promotion

Buon Amici’s Coffee of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is offering an exciting limited time promotion:

Derek Lucas, co-owner of Buon Amici’s Coffee, is one of Canada’s leading baristi. He won the 2007 Canadian Western Regional Barista Championship and placed 6th at the 2007 Canadian National Barista Championship. Derek purchased a small lot of the Esmeralda Special Geisha coffee, which was auctioned by La Hacienda Esmeralda of Panama on May 29, 2007 at a record $130 per pound of green (unroasted) coffee beans. Derek had used our Terra Keramik espresso and cappuccino cups during the 2007 Canadian Barista Championship, and we are thrilled that he chose to serve the Esmeralda Special Geisha coffee to his customers in Terra Keramik cups.

Buon Amici’s Coffee
Unit 110-645 Tyee Road
Victoria, BC V9A 6X5
Canada

www.buonamicis.com

You better hurry, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy this amazing coffee served in Terra Keramik cups!!!

Canadian Barista Championship, Toronto, Sep 16-17

Just a quick late post with the results of the Canadian Barista Championship held in Toronto on September 16-17 in conjunction with the Canada Coffee & Tea Show.

The results of the finals (6 best baristi from the open round and 2 regional champions) are as follows:

1st	Mike Yung	Caffe Artigiano	Vancouver, BC
2nd	Cady Wu	Wicked Cafe	Vancouver, BC
3rd	Anthony Benda	Café Santé Veritas	Montreal, Quebec
4th	Colter Jones	Caffè Artigiano	Vancouver, BC
5th	Mark Krause	Espresso Post	Collingwood, Ontario
6th	Derek Lucas	Buon Amici’s Coffee	Victoria, BC
7th	Brette Richard	2% Jazz	Victoria, BC
8th	Kimberly Staveley	Matter of Taste	Kitchener, Ontario

Both Mike Yung, the winner, and Anthony Benda, the 3rd place finisher, are first time competitors.  Colter Jones, the defending 2006 CNBC Champion, finished 4th. Colter had placed a strong 7th at the World Barista Championship held in Tokyo in July. Mike Yung will represent Canada at the 2008 WBC.

With the Canadian Barista Championship, Terra Keramik continued to supply several competing baristi with our line of handcrafted espresso cups and cappuccino cups. We appreciate the trust placed in our products by Anthony Benda (Café Santé Veritas), Colter Jones (Caffè Artigiano), Andrew Legg (Transcend Coffee), and Jeremie Thompson (Bridgehead Coffeehouses), all of whom competed with our cups.

Andrew Legg and Poul Mark have started a Transcend Coffee blog with photos of the Canadian Barista Championship. Also check out the Dwelltime coffee blog of Barrett Jones, himself a top Canadian barista and brother of Colter.

Several people have posted competition photos on flickr, including Liz Clayton (who wrote a nice article for Barista Magazine), Rich Westerfield of Aldo Coffee, Poul Mark of Transcend Coffee, and James Hoffmann, the current WBC champion.

US Barista Championships, Long Beach, May 4-7

Heather Perry wins championship, only two-time USBC champion (2003 in Boston, 2007 in Long Beach)

Updated as of May 18

Leading up to the 2007 United States Barista Championships (USBC), the media has taken an increasing interest in the barista profession as well as the human side of preparing for an intense and highly competitive championship.  That’s great news (pardon the pun)!  However we still have a long way to go to raise awareness among the coffee consumer.  For example, a Krups-sponsored survey, which asks what is the definition of “barista”, received responses varying from a lawyer (barrister in the UK) to someone who loves burritos. About 33% of the survey respondents knew that a barista is someone who prepares and serves your cup of java.

The Chicago Reader portrays one professional barista’s preparation for the 2007 United States Barista Championships (USBC) in its article The Best Barista in the World? about Intelligentsia Coffee’s Matt Riddle. Matt is the 2006 US barista champion and finished 3rd in the 2006 World Barista Championships (WBC) (highest placing ever by an American).

Chow (an online food and drink blog) followed the progress of Murky Coffee’s Katie Carguilo (winner of the Midatlantic Regional Barista Championship) as she prepared for the USBC. Check out the initial article and the follow-up article. Katie qualified for the USBC semi-finals (top 25 baristi) but (unfortunately) did not make the finals.

Mark Prince and his team at Coffeegeek are summarizing have summarized the SCAA Conference and the US Barista Championships in their daily report covering May 5 (day 1) and May 6 (day 2) and May 7 (day 3).  The daily reports provide really nice coverage (including photos) of several baristi, including Jay Caragay, Jon Lewis, Kyle Larson, Billy Wilson, Matt Riddle, Peter Licata, and Nick Cho.  You will see Nick Cho using the Terra Keramik espresso and cappuccino cups.

Dan Kehn of Home Barista summarized the 6 finalists’ performance in a series of photos. The photos of Peter Middlecamp show him using the Terra Keramik espresso and cappuccino cups.

Several attendees have posted photos on Flickr and videos on Youtube. Here’s a selection with credits:

Photos by Coffeegeek’s Mark Prince.

More photos by Mark Prince.

Mark Prince photos of barista Matt Riddle.

Photos by Espressoparts’s David White.

Photos by Intelligentsia’s Tonx.

Photos by Aaron Duckworth of Espresso dell’Anatra.

Photos by ghostbarista.

Video clip of barista Eton Tsuno by DevonTS.

Photos by dogmilque.

Championship Results

Competitors prepared and served 12 coffee drinks: four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks within a 15-minute timeframe. Judges focused on station cleanliness, taste, beverage presentation, technical skills and total impression.

We are honored that three competing baristi, Peter Middlecamp (finalist), Nick Cho (semi-finalist) and Daryn Berlin (semi-finalist) chose our Keramik espresso and cappuccino cups to hold and serve their culinary and artistic creations during the 2007 US Barista Championships.

Below are the preliminary final results. Final results will be posted as soon as they are available.

USBC RANK	NAME	COMPANY	CITY, STATE	REGION	SCORE
Final Round
1st	Heather Perry	Coffee Klatch	San Dimas, CA	West	701.00
2nd	Pete Licata	PT’s Coffee	Overland Park, KS	Midwest	671.00
3rd	Matthew Riddle	Intelligentsia	Chicago, IL	Great Lakes	669.00
4th	Chris Deferio	Carriage House	Ithaca, NY	Northeast	668.00
5th	Kyle Glanville	Intelligentsia	Los Angeles, CA	West	663.50
6th	Peter Middlecamp	Black Sheep	St. Paul, MN	Great Lakes	563.50
Semi-Final Round
7th	Jon Lewis	Bumper Crop	Newman Lake, WA	Northwest	615.50
8th	Kevin Fuller	Albina Press	Portland, OR	Northwest	612.00
9th	Chris Baca	Ritual	San Francisco, CA	West	610.00
10th	Phuong Tran	Lava Java	Ridgefield, WA	Northwest	598.50
11th	Billy Wilson	Albina Press	Portland, OR	Northwest	597.50
12th	Michael Phillips	Intelligentsia	Chicago, IL	Great Lakes	591.00
13th	Amber Sather	Intelligentsia	Chicago, IL	Great Lakes	590.50
14th	Robin Seitz	PT’s Coffee	Overland Park, KS	Midwest	565.00
15th*	Alex McCracken	Kaldis Coffee	St. Louis, MO	Midwest	564.00
16th*	Nick Griffith	Coffee Klatch	San Dimas, CA	West	564.00
17th	Nicholas Cho	Murky Coffee	Arlington, VA	Southeast	563.50
18th	Eton Tsuno	Groundwork	Los Angeles, CA	West	561.50
19th*	Lucky Rodrigues	Temple	Sacramento, CA	West	556.00
20th*	Katie Carguilo	Murky Coffee	Washington, DC	Midatlantic	556.00
21st	Maki Campbell	Zoka	Seattle, WA	Northwest	553.00
22nd	Steve Fritzen	Coffee Hound	Bloomington, IL	Great Lakes	545.00
23th	Kyle Larson	Stumptown	Portland, OR	Northwest	523.50
24th	Daryn Berlin	Counter Culture	Durham, NC	Southeast	520.50
25th	Yaelle Levine	Barefoot	Santa Clara, CA	West	515.50
First Round
N/A	Justin Teisl	Alterra	Milwaukee, WI	Great Lakes	N/A
N/A	Sonja Schutte	Aldo	Pittsburgh, PA	Midatlantic	N/A
N/A	Scott Lucey	Alterra	Milwaukee, WI	Great Lakes	N/A
N/A	Josh Modrzynski	Coffee by the Books	Pasadena, CA	West	N/A
N/A	Tatiana Becker	Trabant	Seattle, WA	Northwest	N/A
N/A	Sean Kohmescher	Temple	Sacramento, CA	West	N/A
N/A	David Hermann	The Roasterie	Kansas City, MO	Midwest	N/A
N/A	Kyle Hill	Zoka	Seattle, WA	Northwest	N/A
N/A	Lem Butler	Daily Grind	Chapel Hill, NC	Southeast	N/A
N/A	Lorrie McCullaugh	Trabant	Seattle, WA	Northwest	N/A
N/A	Dismas Smithe	Borogrove	Everett, WA	Northwest	N/A
N/A	Dan Griffin	Cafe Collage	New York, NY	Northeast	N/A
N/A	Sean Douglas White	Groundwork	Santa Monica, CA	West	N/A
N/A	Jay Caragay	Spro	Towson, MD	Midatlantic	N/A
N/A	Scott Hladky	JP’s Java	Austin, TX	South Central	N/A
N/A	Dominic Taylor	Barefoot	Santa Clara, CA	West	N/A
N/A	Gail Nelson	Cafe Verrazzano	Lakeside, CA	West	N/A
N/A	Rafael Aguiar	Jones Coffee	Pasadena, CA	West	N/A
N/A	Ariel Meltzer	Coffee Hound	Normal, IL	Great Lakes	N/A
N/A	Chris Berola	Latte Land	Prairie Village, KS	Midwest	N/A
N/A	John Johnson	JP’s Java	Austin, TX	South Central	N/A
* When a tie occurs, the USBC will break the tie by counting how many “6’s” and “5’s” each competitor received from the judges. The competitor with the most top scores will win and break the tie.

Credits: Competitor information from Coffeed (Nick Cho, Billy Wilson, Jay Caragay) and Aldo Coffee (Rich Westerfield). Finalist results from Mark Prince, posted on Coffeed by Jim Hoffmann. Overall results from Dan Kehn at Home Barista.

Some Take-Aways

We were disappointed with the coverage during the 3-day event from both the traditional media as well as the blogs and forums and agree with suggestions from the coffee community that event organizers should consider contracting coverage to a PR firm that has experience organizing media coverage for a large, championship caliber event. 

We would also appreciate if the SCAA considered additional rule changes to make the event more transparent and accessible to the coffee community because that would help increase awareness of and appreciation for the barista profession. Just a couple of examples:

Publishing the competitors’ scores immediately following the judges’ scoring decision. [Update: as of May 18, the SCAA which organizes the USBC has not yet published the above results on their public website].

Video clips of competitors’ performances for those interested but unable to attend. [Update: Several industry participants have agreed to work together to organize better media coverage for the 2008 USBC].

It would also generate more interest and enthusiasm for what is a terrific championship event! [Update: Apparently the US Air Guitar Championships, scheduled for June, is attracting huge media coverage].

Mother’s Day…

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Gift Ideas

For her and him, consider Terra Keramik handcrafted espresso cups, cappuccino cups and coffee mugs. Clean, simple designs and rich, saturated glazes in eight funky colors. Each piece is accented in platinum and hand-signed by the artist. Espresso cups holds a 2-ounce espresso shot and cappuccino cups hold a 5-ounce latte. Tulip shaped with round, interior bottoms.

Triple fired for maximum durability. Lead-free and cadmium-free glazes for an absolute food-safe finish. Dishwasher safe.

Handcrafted in Switzerland since 1984.

And to make a really bold statement, match the cups with a FrancisFrancis espresso machine available in equally funky colors.

Terrakeramik espresso cups Exclusively available at www.terrakeramik.com. Espresso cups $28 or save 10% when you buy a set of 4 of the same color. Cappuccino cups $32 or save 10% when you buy 4 of the same color.

FrancisFrancis X5 espresso machines Available at www.illy.com, www.wholelattelove.com, www.aabreecoffee.com, etc. Retail price approx. $650.

FrancisFrancis X1 espresso machines Available at www.illy.com, www.wholelattelove.com, www.aabreecoffee.com, etc. Retail price approx. $800.