Michael Phillips

Finally.
Finally Mike.
And finally Intelligentsia.
Everybody's happy now? I hope so.
I am.
And how could Peter Deprez know Guatemala was that good?
I scored 3 out of 6. That's very average. You can notice I'm not so fanatic anymore as I was before. Most of the competition go up in level, but decrease in interest of the spectators. I suppose it's all a bit too complicated and since the points for taste went up it's harder to judge the presentations of the Barista's.
Probably we have to look into the rules again with special attention towards the public. When Phillips started his presentation the music was pumping through the speakers and people were shaking. Yeah! Can't we bring the music and words louder so everyone can enjoy what they are doing and not only the judges? Now 7 people enjoy the words and coffee and the other 70 or 700 are nothing more but wallpaper.

Final Results:

Michael Phillips (USA) 706 points
Raul Rodas (Guatemala) 691 points
Scottie Callaghan (Australia) 672.5 points
Colin Harmon (Ireland) 659.5 points
Soren Stiller Markussen (Denmark) 644.5 points
Stefanos Domatiotis (Greece) 632 points

Semi-Finalists:

Soren Stiller Markussen, DENMARK
Raul Rodas, GUATEMALA
Fabrizio Sencion, MEXICO
Kyle Straw, CANADA
Ana Lucia Hawit, HONDURAS
Michael Phillips, USA
Scottie Callaghan, AUSTRALIA
Yara Castanho, BRAZIL
Thomas Schweiger, GERMANY
Colin Harmon, IRELAND
Alejandro Mendez, EL SALVADOR
Stefanos Domatiotis, GREECE

(photo by confusebee - thanks)