Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea’s Michael Phillips Wins SCAA’s Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition; Qualifies for 2008 United States Barista Championship
MILWAUKEE, Wis., USA (March 24, 2008) – Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition (GLRBC) judges – hosted by Alterra Coffee Roasters – affirmed what frequenters of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea in Chicago have known for quite some time. Michael Phillips prepares an amazing cup of espresso, cappuccino as well as his own custom coffee beverages.
Phillips dazzled both the judges and the crowd in winning the hotly-contested event. By outperforming the GLRBC’s other 29 top baristas, Phillips receives an expenses-paid trip to Minneapolis to participate in the nation’s premier coffee competition, the 2008 United States Barista Championship (USBC) on May 2-5. The USBC occurs in conjunction with SCAA’s 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition, traditionally largest gathering of coffee professionals of the year.
Fellow Alterra Coffee baristas Justin Teisl and Scott B. Lucey from Milwaukee finished second and third, respectively. Phillips’s colleague, Matthew Riddle of Intelligentsia, won last year’s event held in Chicago.
The GLRBC featured premier baristas from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Phillips and his challengers delivered 12 coffee beverages – four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks of their choosing – in 15 minutes while being critiqued by the event’s seven judges. The SCAA-certified judges evaluated the competitors on taste, beverage presentation, technical skills, station cleanliness and total impression. The GLRBC is one of 10 regional barista competitions SCAA presents to encourage the skill and artisanship of the barista profession and culminates with the USBC.
Phillips’s signature drink – an espresso version of the popular cocktail, the Mai Tai – especially impressed the event’s arbitrators. “I have had an interest in mixology for awhile and the Mai Tai was the first drink I really worked with and developed to a successful level,” Phillips stated. “It transitioned to coffee very naturally.”
The frothy coffee concoction consisted of a mixture of espresso, a brewed Colombian micro-lot (La Planada) coffee, an orange reduction made from Cara Cara navel oranges and his own homemade version of orgeat (an almond-based syrup.)
“Through his championship performance, Michael demonstrated the true artisanship involved in the barista profession,” said SCAA Executive Director Ric Rhinehart. “The Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition as well as our other nine barista events serve as a platform for these expert professionals to showcase their expert preparation skills, which ultimately provides our consumers with a more pleasurable and distinctive cup of specialty coffee.”
POSTED: Wednesday, March 26, 2008