1st Ever Intelligentsia Non-Barista Barista Competition

It started out innocently enough… testing Black Cat every morning, sampling it out to everyone who cared to try. But when things started getting ugly – too many drinks the night before perhaps, or a touch of the early-morning crazies – whatever the cause, the only viable solution was a showdown.

Competitors were given 5 minutes to prep the La Marzocco Gs3, and another 5 minutes to pull 6 picture-perfect single shots (that’s 3 extractions, triple basket, split into two 1-oz shots) of Single Origin Black Cat Espresso – Organic Bolivia Anjilanaka. That’s right, the same coffee Mike Phillips used to win the US Barista Competition in Oregon.

Competing in the first-ever non-barista competition on April 28, 2009 were Jason Lips, Roaster/QC Specialist and Allen “Al” Trousche, Master Blender, esq. Those kind enough to judge on last-minute notice were the inimmitable Sarah Kluth and Jesse Crouse of the Quality Control Lab, Mike Kearby, Josh Brown, and Chris Kornman (Roaster/QC Specialists) and Chris Hallien, Director of Coffee.

After careful consideration of both the discernible characteristics of the shots pulled and an analysis of the presentation, style, and facial hair of the competitors, scores were tallied and the winner was announced. Jason Lips was crowned the champion with a total score of 510.25, with Al in close behind at 503.75. No one’s exactly sure what the numbers mean, but we’re pretty certain there’ll be more of these competitions in the future.