Congratulations to Ben Put, of Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters, for winning his second fourth consecutive Prairie Regional Barista Championship last weekend in Calgary. Mr. Put will be joined at the upcoming Canadian Nationals by Jeremy Ho (also Phil & Sebastian), Shane Hauser (Transcend Coffee), and Daniel Lodewyk (also of Transcend), who were the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers in the PRBC, respectively.
Competition coffee in Canada works on a much earlier schedule than most of the rest of the world, meaning that their regional weekends will continue on throughout the summer – up next is the Central Region, happening July 24-25th in Toronto. This all coalesces in a stunning (and likely very polite) final denouement at the Canadian National Barista Championship on September 9th and 10th, at the Toronto International Centre (which is like an airport convention hall, or so we’ve been politely told).
Check in with the Canadian regionals here on their official page, and read some nice PRBC blog coverage (with photos!) here via the Jon Lin Blog. Follow the Canadian bizzaro competition schedule all summer long on Sprudge.com.
Ben Put photo via Jon Lin’s Flickr photostream.
