As the proud Media Sponsor of the United States Barista Championship since 2005, Barista Magazine has always compiled and produced a beautiful printed program that serves as a guide, collectors item, introduction to the Regional Barista Champions and the Regional Brewers Cup Champions, all the party info for the SCAA show, and much more! 2013 is no different. This year’s Official United States Barista Championship.U.S. Brewers Cup Event Program is at the printer right now! But we thought we’d give you a sneak peek at some of the most popular content in the program, the Regional Barista Competition Champs and Regional Brewers Cup Champs profiles.
CHARLES BABINSKI
SOUTHWEST REGIONAL BREWERS CUP CHAMPION
G&B COFFEE
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
You have very successfully competed in the USBC in the past. Why were you interested in branching out into the Brewers Cup this year, in addition to the barista comp?
I competed in Brewers Cup a few years ago and didn’t make it out of the first round in regionals. My thinking this year was that if I was going to do one competition, I might as well do them all. One of the most fun things about these competitions is when you can make them an extension of what you do every day and what interests you. Manual brewing is a good bit of that so it’s an easy fit.
How is the way you prepare for the Brewers Cup different than preparing for the barista comp? What are specific challenges of each?
For the Brewer’s Cup regionals, there is only so much you can prepare. You don’t know what the coffee for the compulsory round is going to be, so it’s just responding to that specific challenge and praying you make it on to presenting in the finals. On the chance that I made the finals, I just had faith that I had an amazing coffee.
I dig the casualness of the Brewer’s Cup presentation. The focus is on being able to simply and clearly present a great coffee. Barista competitions are much more a controlled, planned presentation. It isn’t just sharing a coffee and a method ”it’s creating an experience and conveying something exciting and interesting. At least in my case, that takes a lot of time and effort to get down.
How’s G&B going? Tell us about what you and 2008 USBC Champ Kyle Glanville have started up in L.A.
G&B is going great. Our pop-up at Sqirl in Virgil Village has been going strong for about six months now and we are getting ready to open a shop on Larchmont in the coming months. Exciting things! The pop-up has been a great opportunity to do a very exciting/intimate/exciting/chaotic service and work with a company that takes their food as seriously as we take our drinks.
