You just never know. For the first 13:30 of her performance, Sonja was killing it. Shots looked good, cappuccinos looked good and the presentation was heartfelt and emotional. The scoresheet reviews confirmed that.
Then a brain cramp. After skimming the crema off her final set of shots for her signature drink, she was supposed to add the remaining espresso to a puree before frothing. Instead, she frothed without the espresso and started layering the puree on the first two drinks. She caught herself, but in trying to compensate for the mistake, forgot to use all the espresso.
Perhaps flustered at the error, the last minute just went downhill.
As there wasn't 1 ounce of espresso in each drink, the judges had no choice but to give her zeroes for that part of the performance. Not suggesting she would've made the finals anyway, but experience leads us to believe she lost 20-24 points in that final 90 seconds.
It was a shame because she really worked hard the past couple of weeks and knew her Burundi Bwayi coffee forwards and backwards.
While Sonja is out, Jake Liefer (ex-Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea) and Drew Van Arx (21st Street) are in the final six, joining the Peregrine trio of Jerremy Sterner (2008/2009 finalist), Randy Kindle (2008 finalist) and Grant Machamer. Rounding out the group is former murky barista and 2009 finalist Allie Turner.
The finals start noon-ish. Good luck to all.
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