Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/139019
NINE BARS continued from page 49 story behind it, and then when I tasted the coffee I was blown away. It was really outstanding right off the bat—vibrant and sweet. Q: In 2011, you and Alejandro finished at the top with farm-focused routines. This year the top-three finishers all did very different things—El Salvador's was origin specific, Australia's was technical and yours was relatively "back to basics." What do you think that diversity says about the state of barista competitions? There were a lot of ideas out there this year, and a lot of those were more about the barista's skills representing coffee rather than talking about a farmer. You couldn't really go any further with the farm concept than what Alejandro and I did in 2011. We took it to a different level that year, but now it needed to go in a different direction, and that's exactly what happened. It opens a lot of doors for people competing next year to be able to do some really great things. I think it's a progression of the industry—we're going in the direction of knowledge, expertise and substance. Q: CHRIS RYAN A: VETERAN POISE: Pete Licata's WBC win earned him his 13th trophy in his ninth year of barista competition. One way we're seeing that is in the booklets competitors give to the judges with further explanation about their routines. Is there ever a danger of information overload? Because I judged last year, I know the judges have trouble following all of this information and writing it down while they're trying to make eye contact with the competitor. And so this was a way to reiterate the information. Competitions have reached the point where we have so much information to communicate that it's a struggle to say it all in 15 minutes. I had to cut out 75 percent of the information I had about the coffee so I could fit it into an understandable presentation. So the booklets are a great tool; you don't need an entire novel, but you need something visual that backs up your speech. A: Q:A: What did you do for your signature drink this year? I made a cocktail-style stirred drink with just three ingredients: espresso, bitters and simple syrup made with palm sugar. It was inspired by cocktailing techniques— I was looking into shaking and stirring. I think people mistakenly 50 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com think that you have to use alcohol to really represent a bartending technique. We limit ourselves in coffee because we don't feel like we are bartenders, but we technically are. So why shouldn't we use tools that you might find in a bar? I think it was the best signature drink I've ever made for competition—balanced and simple but with very complex flavors. Q: A: Tell me more about the company you work for, Parisi Artisan Coffee. Do you expect things to change there with the influx of publicity your WBC win will generate? I'm sure that the wholesale sales are going to go crazy, but I think they're ready for that. Parisi started six or seven years ago in Kansas City; it's owned by a specialty food company in town called Paris Brothers. And so Parisi has a solid infrastructure and a lot of support behind them. It's one of the first times I've worked for a company where they've really taken my lead on things and asked me for advice; they're letting me sculpt the entire company as far as coffee goes. So I think it's a really great opportunity, and it's a lot of fun so far.