The USBC finals are complete at the Oregon Convention Center and your 2009 United States Barista Champion is…Michael Phillips!

Phillips placed out of the Top 3 in the Great Lakes Regional, but he was convinced he could perform better and paid his own way to Portland to compete. Now he’s left holding the oversized novelty check, which will cover up to $7500 in travel expenses to Atlanta for April’s World Barista Championship. His face will also appear on the label for DaVinci Gourmet vanilla syrup. Phillips also won $1000, courtesy of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), a prize pack from Barista magazine and the adulation of the coffee industry.

Overall, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea dominated proceedings, taking four of the top five slots. Here are the final results of the 2009 United States Barista Championship:

1. Michael Phillips - Intelligentsia Coffee - Chicago, IL (730 points out of 870)
2. Nick Griffith – Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea – Los Angeles, CA (719.5)
3. Scott Lucey – Alterra Coffee – Milwaukee, WI (697.5)
4. Ryan Willbur - Intelligentsia Coffee - Los Angeles, CA (693)
5. Devin Pedde - Intelligentsia Coffee - Los Angeles, CA (658.5)
6. Mike Marquard - Kaldi’s Coffeehouse - St. Louis, MO (654)

This week, expect impressions from my first United States Barista Championship, including LobSpro, the punishing food selection at the Oregon Convention Center and whether there’s enough audience participation at barista competitions. [There's not.] You’ll also find posts about the PDX coffeehouse bike tour and unrelated reviews of Portland restaurants like Le Pigeon, Apizza Scholls and Higgins.

Related Posts

1. Interview with U.S. Barista Champion Michael Phillips
2. USBC Competitor Michael Phillips (Intelligentsia)
3. Impressions from my first United States Barista Championship
4. 2009 United States Barista Championship Finals
5. WRBC Champion Announced

1. Chris Mangandi, March 9, 2009:

   Just giving “a shout out” for this coverage as well as the coverage of other events and goings on provided by FOOD GPS. Great Job!
   Hope to see more visible coverage of the industry by other food and beverage publications!
   -Cheers!

2. Gourmet Pigs, March 9, 2009:

   Wow I like his story a lot Wouldn’t let himself be put down after placing out and then coming back from behind - nice!

3. mattatouille, March 9, 2009:

   “the adulation of the coffee industry” nice touch, and very true.

4. brad, March 9, 2009:

   Well, a shout for everything but the name “Food GPS”. As if I wanted to eat consumer electronics.

   Surely, there must have been better domain names available…

5. krista, March 16, 2009:

   Two of my favorite things dominated by men with similar names: swimming (Michael Phelps) and coffee (Michael Phillips). Now all we need is a Michel Philippe (o algo asi) to win next year’s Bocuse d’Or!

6. payday loans, August 27, 2009:

   I liked http://www.foodgps.com a lot. It has lots of useful info. This article is very professionally written. http://www.foodgps.com I will be back for sure.

This entry is filed under News, USBC 2009.