One of Quills own fine baristas, Philip Revell, will be representing Louisville at the Coffee Fest Free Pour Latté Art Championship in Chicago, IL. Quills’ patrons are familiar with Philip’s beautiful designs, making tulips and Rosettas in lattés and macchiatos every chance he gets. We are so proud/impressed/elated/pumped he has been selected to compete in this national competition.
One of the nation’s largest gatherings of coffee geeks meets in different cities throughout the year. Chicago will be hosting Coffee Fest from February 18-20, a perfect opportunity to highlight all the wonderful coffee happenings in the Windy City and the Midwest region.
Coffee Fest is home to the who’s who of coffee, roasters, distributers and geeks alike. Being a part of the coffee world at large is part of Philip’s excitement. “It’s neat to think about this being a part of the coffee scene at-large, to be a part of that, competing against some of the best baristas.”
The competition will be held over three days, with four rounds including semi-finals and finals. Set up tournament style, entrants will go head-to-head, winners of each round then competing against one another. The first and second place winners will receive some hefty cash prizes, enough to make anyone get practicing on the steam wand.
Philip will be going up against sixty-three other competitors, selected from a photographic portfolio of design submissions. “Because it’s such a big competition, I thought I would get in. But then I saw the bracket and I was like ‘Wow, this is a big deal’,” Philip said of his acceptance. Sixty-four competitors may seem like a lot compared to the fifteen or twenty that are in the local competitions, but considering Coffee Fest draws thousands of people, to be part of this selection process says a lot about the skill Philip brings to the table.
Philip will be hailing Louisville along with Sunergos baristas Kenny Smith and Jessie Harriot and local native Ryan Soeder. This cadre of coffee aficionados will be helping to put Louisville on the coffee coinsure map.
Even though the competition is serious and entrants are obviously going to win, the Louisville coffee scene has been a place of learning and growth and that extends to the competition. “Everyone is really excited about going. They’ve been supportive of me,” Philip said of the encouragement he received from the other Louisville baristas.
The coffee culture in Louisville has been growing dramatically over the last two years and this influx of baristas into Coffee Fest is a mark to the level of skill and commitment to coffee happening in our home city.
More about Coffee Fest:
http://www.coffeefest.com/Event/Attendee/Default.aspx#lac
More Latté Art: