WBC Atlanta
This last weekend David and I journeyed up to Atlanta for the World Barista Championships! We were rooting on barista Michael Phillips of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea as he took on 50 other competitors from all over the world. The United States has never won the WBC, and with an ever-growing movement towards specialty coffee here in the US, the anticipation has been building with every competition.
We drove up on Thursday and threw ourselves straight into a mess of baristas at Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge, where there was a latte art throwdown to kick off the competition. In what must be a record, 64 baristas threw down in a head-to-head competition of who can pour a better-looking six ounce cappuccino! Of course, I had to get in on this. It was nerve-racking, but in the first round I took down the barista trainer of the Swiss national team with a nicely infused tulip.
But, in the second round, I got a pretty rough draw in Sammy Piccolo— the Canadian national champ. “Don’t kick my ass,” he said to me— and then we poured. It was fierce, I’ll say, but, yeah, in the end he got the better of me. But barely! The judges remarked that if only my tulip hadn’t been slightly off-centered then I would have had him. I’m happy with it— and as for Sammy, he went on to become the #2 barista in the world.
At the end of it all, Gwilym Davies, the barista from the United Kingdom took the top honors of World Barista Champion. The United States placed third. It was an awesome experience and here at Bella we’re already gearing up to dip into competition next year.
- Jonathan
