USBC Competitor Michael Butterworth, Quills Coffee

SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2015 United States Barista Championship is made possible by direct support from Nuova Simonelli, Cafe Imports, and Bonavita.  All of SprudgeLive’s 2015 barista competition coverage is underwritten in partnership with Square and Urnex Brands. 

We’re proud to serve as official media partners of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, who produce these extraordinary events.

We reached out to each of the 2015 US Barista Championship competitors prior to their routines, to learn a bit more about them as competitors and coffee pros. We hope you enjoy these interviews!

MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH

Company: Quills Coffee
Number of years behind the bar: 3
Number of competitions: 3

2014 SERBC 5th place
2014 USBC not very well
2015 SERBC 7th place

Coffee: Bellavista, Colombia; El Eden, Mexico

Milk: organic homogenized milk

Signature Beverage: coffee cherry cola

this might change but:

cascara dem
kola nut syrup
sparkling water
Bellavista, Colombia espresso
lemon garnish

Secret Weapons: just my stunning good looks

Playlist: Sufjan Stevens, The BQE

Theme: The theme of my presentation is balance. Both flavor balance as a key component of tasty coffee and balance as an analogy to being a well rounded coffee professional in terms of good business practices, customer service, etc.

Total Practice Hours: 60+

Coach(es): My coach is John Letoto. He gave me my first cup of black coffee many years ago and is largely responsible for going down this rabbit hole in the first place.

Fashion: Raleigh denim jeans.
Uniqlo shirt.
possible a General Knot tie, but depends on how much I’m feeling those laid back SoCal vibes.

Trivia: I also write for Fresh Cup magazine and started a blog called The Coffee Compass.

Social Medias: mjbutterworth