When the ranking for the 2013 United States Barista Championship had been announced, the finalists looked just exhausted, so we wanted to give them some space to be with their friends and family, and decompress. Since then, I’ve been able to chat with all six of them about what was going through their head during the final round of the 2013 USBC. Today through Saturday, we’ll be posting these short Q&As with each of the six finalists, one per day. We hope you enjoy getting inside the heads of these coffee masterminds as much as I did.
TREVOR CORLETT
MADCAP COFFEE CO.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Sarah: Congratulations on a super awesome performance at the USBC, Trevor! Now that you can reflect on it, how do you feel about how you performed in the final round?
Trevor: I felt great about my finals performance. Honestly, in the six years I’ve been competing this was the most comfortable and enjoyable time I’ve had. I may have been a little too comfortable but I was really excited to be sharing the concept and the coffee I had with the judges. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Sarah: Is there anything you wish you would have done differently in the final round?
Trevor: I think I would have said more. That’s a big statement for me, I know, because I tend to ramble. However, I would like to have been able to expound more on the opportunity for consumer engagement through the topic of seasonality as well as discuss the science of it more. Ah well, there’s always next year.
Sarah: We’d love to hear more about the coffee you used…
Trevor: I was using the Didier Reinoso from Colombia. Didier is a producer that MadCap has been working with for almost three years now. I first fell in love with the coffee on the cupping table when we were tasting a bunch of different Colombians on a table blind. I fell in love with two coffees off the bat. It just so happened that the two coffees were from two brothers with neighboring farms, Didier and Luis Reinoso. Also, because they have two harvests a year it was the perfect coffee for presenting the concept of seasonality. On a side note, this wasn’t the first time this coffee has made a USBC finals appearance. Ryan Knapp actually used both Didier and Luis’ coffees in 2011 when he finished third in the USBC. So technically Didier has 2 third place finishes at USBC.
Thanks, Trevor! And thanks again for the part you played in making the 2013 USBC finals so exciting!
Stay tuned for our next one-on-one post-competition interview with another USBC finalist tomorrow…
