Our Best Hope...
...for bringing home the gold at this year's World Barista Championship, held this weekend here in Seattle, is local barista trainer Phuong Tran, who works at Zoka Coffee (a favorite of several of my officemates):

The United States has never produced a barista deemed to be the planet's best, and for those Americans who have been following the run-up to the World Barista Championship - an admittedly small but passionate bunch - the question is whether Ms. Tran can beat the Scandinavians, who have dominated the annual competition since it began five years ago. When she competes on Sunday, judges will examine everything from the color of the crema (that thin, hazelnut-colored slick that appears at the top of a well-drawn espresso shot) to the "persistence" of the foam. They will also poke around behind Ms. Tran's workstation, watching the angle of her elbow as she tamps the grounds, clocking the time it takes her to "extract" the shot - too much time makes a shot sour, too little makes it bitter - and peering into cups as she pours. She will get 15 minutes to prepare 12 drinks: four cappuccinos, four espressos and four cups of her somewhat mysterious signature offering, the "crimson sage." Ms. Tran does not like to reveal much about the crimson sage, for competitive reasons. But this much she will tell: It involves espresso, sugar cane juice, white pepper powder, sage leaves and crimson shot glasses.

Man, we gotta beat those Scandahoovians!