Baristas want perfect cup of coffee

BOGOTA, June 4 (UPI) -- You think you know coffee, but compared to the baristas at the 12th annual World Barista Championship in Bogota, you don't know joe.

"This is not making a cup of joe," said Rob Kettner, 35, part owner of the Fernwood Coffee Co. in British Columbia. "It's culinary coffee at its best; it's real, true coffee; it's the exploration of coffee and how far we can take it."

Fifty-four of the world's best baristas traveled to Bogota, Colombia, this weekend for the annual coffee fest and the holy grail comes Sunday, when one barista will win a Nuova Simonelli expresso machine and a trip to Brazil's coffee growing region, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

American competitor Pete Licata, barista at the Honolulu Coffee Co., picks his own beans from Hawaiian coffee bushes. He then processes and roasts them himself.

"With competitions, you practice making cappuccinos over and over again," said Licata. "I would probably say I've made over a thousand drinks just in preparation for competition, you know."