Competition veteran Pete Licata won his second United States Barista Championship yesterday in Boston, beating out five other finalists and using a coffee from Colombia’s Arnufo Leguizamo. Licata recently joined the team at Kansas City’s Parisi Artisan Coffee after spending several years with Rusty’s Hawaiian, on the big island of Hawaii.
This is the second USBC championship for Licata, who also won in 2011 before going on to place second in the World Barista Championship in Bogota, Colombia. Licata will travel to Melbourne, Australia, next month to the WBC, held in conjunction with the Melbourne International Coffee Expo.
In other SCAA competition news, James McCarthy of Counter Culture Coffee is the 2013 United States Brewers Cup Champion, followed by Jonathan Bonchak, also of Counter Culture, who placed second.
The 2013 Roasters Guild Roasters Choice winner came from Caitlin McCarthy-Garcia at Equator Coffee. McCarthy-Garcia was using a Gesha varietal from Granja La Esparanza in Trujillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Each year, 10 finalists for the Roasters Choice program are chosen prior to the show.
Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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