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Chris Baca and Drew Cattlin of RitRo rolled into Portland the other day (on their way back from Minneapolis, part 2 of their epic USBC road trip) and I got together with them and some other friends — Clara from BTR, Kevin and Billy, and Brent — for some cold ones at the Crow Bar yesterday. And because we’re total nerds and unable to separate ourselves from the intensity of last weekend’s USBC, we did a lot of talking about it. And here’s what we came up with: Kyle Glanville is super.

Now, that’s not news to anyone, I don’t think. He’s humble and smart and funny and dedicated. I am so very proud to have him as the 2008 U.S. Barista Champion. I know there was a lot of snippiness on the Conference blog about who people liked and who they didn’t and judging people by their company, but regardless of how you feel about Intelligentsia, there’s no getting around the fact that Kyle Glanville is one hell of a guy and a frickin spectacular competitor. I first met Kyle when he and and Daniel Humphries worked at Victrola in Seattle. He’s the same guy then as he was now. And the best part is, he’s the same guy he’ll be when he hits the stage in Copenhagen next month. Wait — did that sentence make sense? You get my point. Take a trip down memory lane by watching Phil Busse’s cool 10-minute doc Barista! — 2:10 minutes in is the Kyle we know and love.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=0KQ4F1ClxAY]