If You're Still Wondering What's the Difference Between a Great Dedicated Barista and PBTC...

Somewhere in the middle of a discussion about whether future barista competitions should use a standardized sponsored grinder vs. the current "bring your own" option, a discussion on "what's a real barista" broke out. 

It might seem testy, but only if you didn't watch the end of last night's Pens/Flyers game.

Best quote:
Chris Baca (WRBC winner, 4th USBC):
"I hope I'm not thrown in here...I'm down for the little guy. I feel like I am the little guy; the grinders I've used for competition were purchased by me, not my company. I drive a beat down bucket and generally don't eat/go out at all so I can scrape together cash to get my beloved coffee toys. I do get support from my company in many ways though and it's tough to say, but the big money will always be at the top. A few underdogs will pop up here and there but if you look back the top spots are consistenly dominated by big companies who can afford to dump tons of money and time into the competition. Do I get jealous of the people with more resources than me? Sure. Do I have more resources than the really small guys? Sure. But it is what it is and standardizing the comp grinder wont change any of that."

That's true love.