The 2010 barista competitions have finally come to a close with the U.S., being represented by Mike Phillips of Intelligentsia Coffee and this years U.S. Champ, having brought home it’s first first place finish in the World Barista Championship. We’d now like to take this opportunity to look back and share MadCap’s competition successes with everyone.
First off, for those of you who haven’t heard or been exposed to our barista competition shenanigans here is a short run down. The short and sweet of it is that individual baristas are given 15 minutes to prepare and present 12 drinks to a panel of judges. The baristas are judged on taste, technique, presentation, general knowledge, cleanliness, and more. Picture something like the Iron Chef but all coffee. For more info see the USBC’s website. And now for the results.
MadCap’s competition year began in March at the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition which was hosted in Milwaukee by Alterra Coffee. The level of competition at the Great Lakes has always been pretty intense. Those Great Lakes supply water to a lot of passionate baristas and once a year you get to see them all in one place sporting their Sunday best. This year also boasted one of the best turnouts with over 30 baristas competing for the prize of regional barista champ or at least one of the top 6 spots guaranteeing them a spot at the United States Barista Championship (USBC). With that being said, by the end of day two when they announced the 6 finalists MadCap found they had two baristas going onto the finals along with two baristas from Intelligentsia Coffee and two baristas from Alterra Coffee. You couldn’t have asked for a more exciting and heartbreaking finals. In the end Trevor Corlett finished 2nd and Ryan Knapp finished 4th guaranteeing spots for themselves at the USBC.

GLRBC 2010, Top 3

Moving on to the United States Barista Championship which was held in Anaheim, California. The USBC was being held in conjunction with the SCAA Trade Show which also hosts a variety of other coffee related competitions. One of these competitions was the first annual Thursday Night Throwdown, which is a head to head bracket style latte art competition. The only requirement for participation being a five dollar buy in the MadCap baristas decided to give it a go. Four hours later and more lattes than I care to think about MadCap found itself with two baristas in the final 8. After all was said and done Trevor took home top prize which included a check for $1000 and around $400 in cash. Needless to say it was a great way to start the weekend.

2010 TNT Latte Art Champion

Now the USBC consisted of 50 first round competitors with the top 15 moving onto the semi-finals. At the end of two days of first round competitors MadCap once again had two baristas moving onto the semi-final round. The semi-finals consisted of the top 15 from the first round as well as the regional winners who received automatic semi-final bids. When it was all said and done Ryan Knapp finished 8th in the country and Trevor Corlett finished 11th.
In retrospect we were pleasantly surprised with our finishes this year. We were really excited about our coffee and excited to share it with people who don’t abide in our great state of Michigan. Competition has been a great opportunity for us to interact with the greater coffee community at large, see what others are doing and share what we are doing. We are really excited about the upcoming competition year. MadCap has some great up-and-coming baristas that are anxious to get their feet wet in the competition arena and we have some great coffees that we are really pumped about sharing. So as we get closer to this next year of competitions stay tuned to our website for opportunities to come down to the shop and see what it’s all about.

For detailed play by plays of both the GLRBC and USBC check out Twitchy.