My son, Kristefer, goes to school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a Master Barista at Stonecreek Coffee. Once a month, there is a fun and friendly latte art throwdown competition hosted at different independent coffee shops in Milwaukee where baristas put $5 in a pot and compete against one another to see who can make the best latte art. Who knew there was such a thing??? I sure didn’t until Kristefer told us he was entering his 1st throw down held at his location. He was texting our family thread with his play by play, winning each round…Holy shit, this is real?? Then he was in the final 4 and lost to his Master Barista, who had 2+ years of experience vs. his 1 month, and got 3rd place on his 1st competition!!
After that, we went to 3 of these competitions. Let me tell you, these things are NUTS. Crowded, crazy amount of people, alcohol served, some shoulder to shoulder packed with people watching and cheering on the art! I actually felt like a hipster lol…
Tonight was at Stone Creek’s newest location in Milwaukee. What a cute coffee shop! Its on a corner and there is plenty of outside seating, with a few garage doors entering inside.
They serve wine and beer here too! If I were to guess, there was probably about 100 people here watching the excitement.
There were 32 baristas from all over Milwaukee, and Kristefer was called in the 1st bracket. I’m not sure why, but I always get nervous at these things. We made our way to the front right behind the 3 judges, and I’m watching him froth, take a deep breath, pour, shake his head, put the mug down and smiles….then his opponent puts theirs down….Shit…judges point to Kristefer’s mug!!! OMGGG HE WON THE 1ST ROUND!!
We sat down and enjoyed our alcoholic beverages while we waited for his next round….after a while, he was up next and my heart stops while I’m watching him froth, take a deep breath, pour, shake his head, put his mug down next to his opponent, and smiles. Dammit, he needs to stop drinking, I’m getting anxiety…Judges point to Kristefer’s again!!! WE WON ROUND 2!!
Everyone is screaming, clapping, and cheering him on!!! THIS IS NUTS!
We sit back down, and have more alcoholic beverages until the next round.
Crap, he is next…ok, I got this…I am calm. I…AM…CALM…Ok here we go…froth, deep breath, pour, shake his head, put the mug down, and smiles. WHYYYYYY does he shake his head each time??!??? WHY?? Judges point to Kristefer’s mug…WE WON AGAIN!!! More screaming and cheering, everyone is having a drunken time by now!! Round 3!!!
Ok, so we are all so excited and off to round 4! Anddddd now we are headed to the final 2!!!!!! Bottom one below is his winning latte art…
Ok…some nail biting, sweating, and a few heart palpitations watching Kris pour and do his own breathing with his drunken smile while he places his winning latte art down….Boys and girls, kids of all ages…..KRISTEFER WON THE LATTE ART THROWDOWN!!!!!! The crowd went wild!!
He won $250, bag of coffee, tshirt, stickers, head phones, coffee mug, Aeropress, and other small stuff.
Proud momma right here (:
xox~j