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If follow me on twitter, you saw I was doing one of my fav Sunday things to do yesterday, sitting at the bar at rockit pigging out, drinking coffee & reading the Sunday papers!  One story I found in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune Food Section is a much share today. It was about how Chicago based Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and their barista Michael Phillips (pic above from trib as well), won the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s 2010 United States Barista Championship in Anaheim, California! Again! For the 2nd year in a row!
I have not only been a fan for personal reasons, but because I support chicago so passionately, I have actual carried their chicago based coffee at my venues for years, in hopes to keep turning people on to chicago talent & product, so this all makes me very happy!  And now, I am just thrilled that he is going worldwide not only representing chicago, but the usa as a whole in London this June at the World Barista Championships. You have to check out this article and see the crazy concoctions he came up with that lead him to win it all – pretty impressive! And congrats man- keep up the great work!
ct-talk-barista-A_ctmain 0424 sr
If you follow me on twitter, you saw I was doing one of my fav Sunday things to do yesterday, sitting at the bar at rockit pigging out, drinking coffee & reading the Sunday papers!  One story I found in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune Food Section is a story i really wanted to share today. It was about how Chicago based Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and their barista Michael Phillips (pic above from trib as well), won the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s 2010 United States Barista Championship in Anaheim, California! Again! For the 2nd year in a row!
I have not only been a fan for personal reasons, but because I support chicago so passionately, I have actually carried their chicago based coffee at my venues for years, in hopes to keep turning people on to chicago talent & product, so this all makes me very happy!  And now, I am just thrilled that he is going worldwide not only representing chicago, but the usa as a whole in London this June at the World Barista Championships. You have to check out this article and see the crazy concoctions he came up with that lead him to win it all – pretty impressive! And congrats man- keep up the great work!

Chicago has good baristas, and the accolades to prove it.
Two lead baristas — or “educators” — at Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea’s Chicago locations placed earlier this month at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s 2010 United States Barista Championship in Anaheim, Calif.
Michael Phillips, who works at the Intelligentsia at 3123 N. Broadway St., became the competition’s first back-to-back winner and will represent the United States in June at the World Barista Championship in London.
Charles Babinski, who works at 53 E. Randolph St., brought home fifth place and will accompany Phillips to London as his coach.
At the national event, competitors had 15 minutes to prepare and serve at least 12 orders: four espressos, four cappuccinos and four specialty drinks.
For his specialty drinks, Phillips used beans he fell in love with at Coopedota, a small coffee cooperative in Costa Rica, while training baristas there in February.
In one he added a tart cherry juice, slightly sweetened, with sparkling mineral water and espresso. In another he reduced dates down to a sauce and added dark muscovado sugar to espresso, served with a shot of honey. The third was a full natural coffee with a reduction of lightly sweetened rhubarb, ginger and a shot of espresso.
Intelligentsia hopes to eventually serve Phillips’ award-winning creations but doesn’t yet carry the coffee.
“We’re trying to figure out a way to get this (coffee) into the shop. Maybe this summer,” he said. “The more people who ask for it, the more I can lobby my boss to let me do it.”
There will not be a third consecutive U.S. title for Phillips, however, as Chicago-based Intelligentsia, which has historically dominated the competition, decided before this year’s event that it would not participate next year.
“You can expect to see a number of folks from Intelligentsia become more involved on the other side of the table as judges,” Intelligentsia founder and CEO Doug Zell posted on his blog.
“Our hope is that in 2011 we can work with qualified baristas from our wholesale customer base to help foster regional champions and perhaps a national champion that does not necessarily come from a roasting company.”

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