USBC 2009
For once I am not displeased that one of my predictions was wrong: Mike Phillips has won the US Barista Championship. I previously mentioned that I was afraid that the coffee would be the deciding factor; not necessarily a bad thing in general, but definitely antithetical to a barista competition. It appears that I was completely off my rocker when I posited that. Good.
Good thing #2: Mr. Phillips regularly works the bar, and trains the baristi at the Broadway Intelligentsia (in Chicago!), which means that he’s directly impacting drink quality. I have nothing against people who aren’t line baristi in competition, but that kind of ability has a more immediate impact when it is used to serve customers.
It is troubling that most of the barista talent appears to be concentrated in the Intelligentsia organization. This is good for Intelli, and good for Intelli’s customers, but indicative of a disparity in how the barista profession (which is still emerging in this country) is treated within coffee companies.
