Colectivo barista Josh Wismans won first place in the 2014 North Central Regional Barista Competition (NCRBC), which was held in Minneapolis on the last weekend of October. This win qualifies him for a first round bye in the U.S. Barista Championships in Seattle next April.

Fellow Colectivo barista Mickey Comerford III finished in 20th in the competition.

Stone Creek Coffee also had an impressive showing at the NCRBC, with baristas Sam Brown and T. Ben Fischer finishing in fifth and ninth place respectively. As a result, Brown will also move onto the U.S. Barista Championships. 

The NCRBC is an annual competition for coffee professionals that gathers the best baristas from a five-state area in order to see who can cook and present the finest 12 espresso drinks (four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks) for four judges in less than 15 minutes.

Wismans' menu consisted of drinks featuring Ethiopia Kochere espresso, while his routine focused on the beverages' aromatics and used simple, high-quality ingredients to highlight some of the coffee's inherent characteristics. In order to emphasize the aromas, Wismans also dipped the outside rim of the serving glass in honey and rolled it in mosaic hops.

If you'd like to sample a taste of caffeinated victory for yourself, Wismans and Comerford will be serving their coffee concoctions at the Colectivo on Prospect on Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., while Fischer will be serving his signature beverages at RadioMKE. 

Or you could just wish Wismans and Brown a latte luck at the upcoming Barista Championships, which is sure to be a brew-tal battle, and we hope they both can grind out some good routines. They'll have to give it their best double shot.