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Three for Three: Belle, Sonja and Melanie All Make the MidAtlantic Finals

FINALISTS at the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Barista Championships:

Belle Battista, Aldo Coffee Co., Pittsburgh, PA
Jay Caragay, Spro Coffee, Towson, MD
Katie Cargiulo, murky coffee, Washington, DC
David Fritzen, Tryst, Washington, DC
Sonja Schutte, Aldo Coffee Co., Pittsburgh, PA
Melanie Westerfield, Aldo Coffee Co., Pittsburgh, PA

The finals are tomorrow morning.

It's been an incredible experience so far and one that will continue tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone who continues to give us feedback and encouragement to do even better.  This is a big deal, even if we don't win.

Thanks also to our roaster, Intelligentsia, who gave us an espresso blend that was astounding - blew us away as well as the judges, apparently.

Matt, wish you were here to help us represent the 'Burgh.  There was some LaPrima over at the Clover machine... guess that was Phil's doing?

We forgot our camera's USB cord, so no photos till we get back tomorrow night.  Miss y'all.

March 28, 2007 |

Tags: aldo coffee, barista, coffeehouse, macungie, marbc, mid atlantic regional barista, mt. lebanon, pittsburgh

Comments

Tom Moertel

Congratulations! Aldo -- and thus Pittsburgh -- claimed *half* of the slots in the finals. Way to represent the 'Burgh!

Best of luck tomorrow morning.

Cheers,
Tom

Posted by: Tom Moertel | March 28, 2007 at 06:08 PM

Natalie Boone

Congratulations to Team Aldo. We are very, very happy for you. Best wishes from all of us here in Westbury.

Posted by: Natalie Boone | March 28, 2007 at 06:12 PM

Tom Moertel

Whoops, I meant to write "half of the slots [for] the finals." A Freudian slip, no doubt caused by my great confidence that Aldo will do well *in* the finals.

Cheers,
Tom

Posted by: Tom Moertel | March 28, 2007 at 06:16 PM

Chris mayhew

Rock.On. That is super awesome. I'm also glad to see I am not the only commenter.

Posted by: Chris mayhew | March 28, 2007 at 06:29 PM

sibyl

Good going. The home town crowd is rooting for you.

Posted by: sibyl | March 28, 2007 at 07:00 PM

Mary

YAYYYY Aldo's!
Tell Sonja her kids are starving and I think Grant is at a brothel. Other than that...everything's fine here!
Good luck in the finals!!!
Mary Bender

Posted by: Mary | March 28, 2007 at 07:48 PM

Chris

Woot! The crema is rising to the top - good luck Team Aldo! Congratulations!!

Posted by: Chris | March 28, 2007 at 08:49 PM

Lauren

Michelle told me the good news and I just had to congratulate you guys!! Yay!!! We are so proud of you!!

Posted by: Lauren | March 28, 2007 at 09:39 PM

Cara

So proud of you guys! I knew you could do it!! BTW, Aldo is very happy, too. He's up on the couch with me with his head in my lap! SO CUTE!!!!

Posted by: Cara | March 28, 2007 at 10:35 PM

Phil Johnson

Hey, this is a big deal. Really big congrats to all involved, from the people behind the bar at Aldo to the customers who are getting their drinks. Better coffee in Pittsburgh is better for everybody; I'm very proud of you all.

PS I think that LP coffee might have come from my amigos at Gimme (Erin and Colleen). I sent them a pound of each of our espressos last Tuesday in vacuum-seals. First of all I thought Clovers were designed to highlight the nuance in single origins (none of our espressos are single origins) AND they were roasted last tuesday, so I'm sorry if they weren't quite up to snuff if you had some.

We should hang out when you get back.

Posted by: Phil Johnson | March 28, 2007 at 11:28 PM

rich

Phil, Thanks for the comments.
I don't know if anyone cracked the LP bags yet - there is a mountain of coffee bags over by the Clover. Those gold bags are sitting amongs Gimme, CC, Ritual, Intelly, Ecco and others... I took a photo that I'll send or post when i get back.

I (rich) was recruited as a sensory judge for this competition (not judging our folks, obviously) but have to sip a lot of espresso drinks from competitors. So I've been avoiding non-comp coffee for the most part.

Posted by: rich | March 29, 2007 at 07:35 AM

Michelle

Way to go...good luck today! I'm so proud to be part of this coffee "family".

Posted by: Michelle | March 29, 2007 at 11:27 AM

rich

Thanks to all for your support and best wishes. We miss out cafe and all of you.

We are done with the competition -- it was intense and fierce. All six fifnalits were excellent. We will have the results later this afternoon and will post them soon there after.

A beautiful day here in eastern PA, hope the same is true at home. We will be home later tonight.

Posted by: rich | March 29, 2007 at 01:12 PM

Chris mayhew

Hope I'm not stealing your thunder Rich, feel free to delete this.

http://coffeed.com/viewtopic.php?t=1165

2007 MARBC Champion: Katie Carguilo, murky coffee
2007 NERBC Champion: Chris Deferio, Carriage House Coffee

MARBC: 2nd=Belle Battista, Aldo Coffee; 3rd=Jay Caragay, Spro Coffee
NERBC: 2nd=Dan Griffin, Cafe Collage; 3rd=Dan Humphries, Coffee Scholars

Posted by: Chris mayhew | March 29, 2007 at 05:02 PM

Melanie

Thanks, Chris, we had to pack everything away before the announcement, then everytone just hit the road. We just got back.

Belle's score was fantastic! We are very proud of her and Sonja,they represented us well. I had fun, and we learned a lot and gained some respect, I think.

Many great performances, many great coffee people. Congratulations to all the winners.

Posted by: Melanie | March 29, 2007 at 11:29 PM

Larry

Woo-Hoo! Way to go guys! You did the 'burgh (especially Mt. Lebo) proud!

Posted by: Larry | March 30, 2007 at 01:37 AM

Len Sabo

I have been sitting on the edge of my seat to see who won - or - more importantly, how my buddies from Aldo's fared. I even got up in the middle of the night last night (@ 02:30) to look and see if something was posted!

3 out of 6 finalists were Aldos' crew! Woo hoo & YAY!!! ...and Bell took 2nd place!!! Congrats Aldo's on such a great showing at this years MA's.

Posted by: Len Sabo | March 30, 2007 at 07:50 AM

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